in which I am the Goddess of Geek. Almost.

I'm typing this post on Sweet Baboo's laptop. This is HUGE, because for about two months his keyboard hasn't worked. Baboo, normally fastidious in his habits and routines, for some reason got into the habit of placing his laptop on the floor.

Next to the bed.

Directly under and in front of his night table.

On which rests a cup that holds at least 20 ounces of ice water at night.

Aiyee. Do I need to tell you what happened next? I felt bad enough for him not to say anything. Myself, I keep my lap top on my dresser at night. I'm afraid I'll step on it when I get out of bed to attend to my middle-of-the night pee or dealing with a hot-flash.

Anyway. The laptop was off but open when the water hit the keyboard. As soon as I realized what happened, I yelled, Don't turn on the computer!! Unplug it and take the battery out!! Luckily, the computer was off. Whew! But just then, as Sweet Baboo lifted the computer to take the battery out, he hit the "on" button by mistake. That was the end of the keyboard. The computer would turn on, but the keyboard didn't work. I connected an old keyboard to the laptop, and it worked fine, so I knew it was just the keyboard. Well, hoped it was just the keyboard.

When we took the computer to CompUSA, they wanted $140 to replace the keyboard, and that was if nothing else was wrong. I was offended both as a geek and former poor by that price. I told Baboo that we'd get him a wireless keyboard for now, and I'd see if I could get one online and put it in myself. Then I found on on ebay for $20, and got it. Then I stalled for a while.

The thing is, I really hate working on computers. It's nerve wracking for someone who is not detail oriented to do something that requires careful attention to detail. Plus, I kinda sorta said that I could fix it the same I say things like, "Ironman? Why not?" The words just leap out of my mouth before my brain can say something like, SHUT UP! The last time I removed or added components to a computer it was a first generation Pentium. That would have been in, let's see, 1999 maybe? I have NEVER worked on a laptop before.

So, I put off Sweet Baboo for quite a while. Then I said I'd take it in. Then I stalled on that. For two months he carried around a laptop and a wireless keyboard. Poor Baboo. Bad wife. No biscuit.

Finally after coming back from officiating at the olympic triathlon championship in Dallas he told me that because he'd been carrying an extra keyboard they pulled him aside and made him undergo extra security checks. Plus, it was kind of sad seeing him there, with his laptop at the end of his knees, tapping away on his extra keyboard.

So today, finally, I decided to sit down and figure this out. I found a service manual online (I'm the Google Queen) and greedily saved it to my hard drive, and had that open whilst I removed the tiny little screws and--WTF, what is a ZIF CONNECTOR?

Soooooo, I looked that up. Oh, okay. But I had to fiddle for a while to figure out how to open and close one. My tecchie days are long behind me.

The first time I put in the keyboard, I had to remove the battery and then remove about nine tiny little screws with a little tiny screwdriver. Then I put in the keyboard, put the computer back together, put all the little tiny screws back in, inserted the battery, and turned it on.

They keyboard did not work.

$hit.

So, I removed the battery and then removed the nine tiny little screws with the tiny screwdriver and stared at the ZIF connectors. Ooohhhhh, I get it. It goes like this. I put the computer back together, put all the little tiny screws back in, inserted the battery, and turned it on.

The keyboard worked! For about five minutes. Then it stopped working. So, I removed the battery and then removed the nine tiny little screws with the tiny screwdriver and and retightened the ZIF connectors. I put the computer back together, put all the little tiny screws back in, inserted the battery, and turned it on.

Again, it start working. Then it stopped again. I hit some of the F buttons at random, and then it started working. Then it stopped again.

$hit.

I started this on Baboo's computer, but had to finish it on mine. I'm still trying to figure out what's up, and hoping it's not because when you by a used keyboard off ebay, this is what you get.

Still, I've earned the GeekGirl nickname for today.

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