$400 bottle of beer

I am beyond angry at myself right now. I'm also kind of angry at my cat, but truthfully I'm trying to pass blame that lies with me exclusively.

Last night I was sitting at my kitchen table, sipping a beer surfing the net on my laptop. The laptop is a screaming fast gaming/multimedia laptop I bought last August, to replace my obsolete gaming desktop. I'm one of the few PC gamers left so while it cost 4 times as much as a new 360, I felt it was a worthwhile investment.

I put the bottle of Bud Light down on the table next to my laptop. Popeye, the half-blind and half-retarded wonder kitty, saw me sitting and wanted some attention. He jumped up on my lap from my right as I was reaching for the beer. He startled me and knocked into my arm. My hand, which was inches from the beer bottle, hit the bottle with just enough force to send it into a slow motion wobble.

OK, it wasn't exactly a slow wobble. I saw it happen in slow motion as I reached for the beer but before I could grab it, an ounce or two had splashed out and onto the keyboard. I jumped up, flinging Popeye across the kitchen, and grabbed some paper towels. Within about 4 or 5 seconds the computer shut off. I unplugged the power and started wiping down the keyboard as quickly as I could, and flipped it upside down to remove the battery and whatever other components I could.

I kept the laptop in that position overnight, with a towel under the keyboard and a fan blowing between the two. I want to wait for it to be completely dry before I attempt to turn it back on but I am fairly certain that the damage has already been done. I called HP to inquire about the cost of repairs. "Roger" (I doubt that was his real name) kept me on hold for 5 minutes to come back and tell me that it's not covered under the warranty. Wait, damage caused by a corrosive liquid and my own stupidity, isn't covered under the manufacturer's defect warranty? Get the fuck out!

Long conversation trimmed down to one sentence, the cost will be $398 to repair the laptop. I am going to try to turn it on tonight and see if I can at least back up my data to my network hard drive but again I'm fairly certain that I'll be dropping 4 bills on a laptop that I spent $1300 less than a year ago.

And yes, I finished the beer. For $400, you bet your ass I finished the beer.