Lighting strikes twice

I just spent 15 minutes of my time that I cannot ever get back googling around to find out the probability of lighting striking the same person twice.

Apparently there are no statistics for that.  What a waste of time.

On the up side, in the last 15 minutes I did learn that if I live to be 80 years old I have a 1:10,000 chance of being struck by lightning.  I'll take those odds.

If only those odds applied to the kind of lightning strike that I'm referring to.

My particular kind of lightning would be spilling on electronics, namely computers.

I'm sure everyone remembers when my old Mac computer found it's untimely demise on our way home from Mexico at my hand and a misplaced cup of Sprite.  If you missed that, please feel free to read all about it. Warning, it's a sad story.

I was so sad, but that computer was 4 years old and probably needed an update anyway.  Plus, Chris couldn't really be mad at me, because I had been throwing up all day when I spilled on the computer.

We waited for 2 months, saving the money and then went to Portland and bought a new Macbook Pro (gotta love a tax free state). 

I loved my new computer and pledged my undying love to it by making a promise I would keep liquids very far away from it forever and ever.

I was rock solid on my promise and even admonished guests when they tried to bring liquids into my computer's personal space.

Then I slipped up and got a little lax with my promise.  I had my computer on one end of the dining room table and I was crafting on the other end, when my clumsy slip of the hand knocked over a full glass of water and it ran down the table and engulfed the computer. 

I leaped into action grabbing it out of the water and wiping it off immediately.  I figured it would be fine since the computer was sitting closed on the table far away and it barely got wet.

I wiped it all down and I dried it off and then tried to turn it on.

Then, nothing.

Oh no.  I've been through this before.

Before I completely broke down and melted into a pile of mush, Chris reassured me that it would be fine and we needed to let it dry over night.

The morning came and I ran downstairs and crossed my fingers, held my breath and prayed while pressing the power button.

All 3 seconds of pressing the power button down seemed to last hours.

Then, nothing.

No power, no sounds, no screen lighting up. Nothing.

Then I had a meltdown.

We saved for months to purchase this new computer, and in 3 weeks time, I ruined it.  Literally 21 days.  I only was able to keep my computer safe for 21 days. Seriously?

I felt horrible, wasteful, irresponsible, hasty, sad and a million other emotions.  I couldn't believe I had done it again.

I had no warranty, no way to fix it, no money to buy a new one.  I had nothing, except a 2nd broken laptop.

I put it back in the box and raced to the Apple store hoping against all hope that they would be able to fix it.  Those geniuses are amazing. Maybe they could do some magic and fix it.

I walked in holding my computer in one hand and the smallest shred of hope in the other.

When the welcome girl asked me what she could do for me, I burst into tears.  Remember that puddle-in-the-middle-of-the-floor person I was talking about earlier?  Yeah, she showed up at the Apple store, in front of tons of complete strangers.

This girl was so nice and got me all set with an appointment to meet with a genius. She even tried to comfort me.  Pretty sure that was not in her job description.... maybe that falls into "other duties as assigned."  She suggested I head to Starbucks and calm down, then come back for my appointment.

Boy, she is good.

I had completely pulled myself together and I held my head high as I walked into the store again and headed back to meet my genius. 

I was sweating profusely as I explained what happened to my genius, Adam.  I held it together and fought back the tears during my description.  Adam was amazing and bolstered my hope by telling me he would try switching out the battery, that it probably would be just fine.

I must have sweat at least a gallon while Adam was in the back.  Every time the door swung open I would hold my breath.  Finally when he came back I tried to read the expression on his face.  He was completely emotionless.  He must be trained for this.....

He finally explained to me that the battery was not the issue, that there were water droplets inside the case and that he was not sure the extent of the damage.  When he started to explain my repair options to me, I started to tear up, but fought back a full on meltdown (like before).  All I heard was $750 repair fee, 1 week, unrecoverable.

Then Adam made my day, my week, my year.  He said he was going to waive the repair fee and fix it for me for FREE.

That is when I lost it. Again.  That also may have been when I stopped breathing all together.

I wanted to crawl across the counter and hug him (don't worry I didn't).  I just thanked him over and over again, while wiping my tears away.

I was overwhelmed by his kindness and my gratitude.

Apple is a wonderful company and Adam was an amazing representative. I am a customer for life.

I received my newly fixed computer back in the mail just days after dropping it off.  It was all fixed and they recovered everything that was on the computer!

I heart Apple.  I heart Adam even more.  If you are looking for a company that still believes in amazing customer service, look no further than Apple.

I think it goes without saying that my no liquids promise has been renewed and strengthened. 

Lighting will not strike 3 times.