EDsight

Do not place drinks near your notebook. Or, you’ll end up experiencing what I went through.

Today, I spilled a glass of ice water on my Dell Latitude D630 and it went blank! Desperate attempts to dry it with a hair dryer could not recover the machine.

Eventually, I had to do what I don’t normally like to do — get the Dell repairman in. What’s worst is that I do not have “Complete Cover”, meaning that I would have to foot the cost of any damage. Now I know what “Complete Cover” means!

The experience over the helpline was bad, no thanks to having a call centre based in another country. After numerous calls, they finally decided to send somebody over — after getting us to pay $130 via credit card.

Upon arrival, the serviceman wanted to change my motherboard immediately. I stopped him and asked if he could open up the notebook, dry the motherboard and check if that would work.

Thank God the notebook booted up normally after this procedure.

You can’t imagine the thoughts that went through my mind. It’s almost as if a close family member had died! I was wondering what to do. Why was my last backup in December? Why did I put the mug so close to my notebook? Why must this happen to me?

Anyway, lesson learnt — no more mugs on my working desk.

Last Saturday, my family joined 55,000 others in the packed National Stadium to watch Singapore play Malaysia in the Asean Cup semi-final.

The atmosphere was akin to the good ol’ days in the 1970s and 1980s when the stadium was filled to the brim with up to 75,000 screaming fans.

While the crowd was there, the Kallang Roar was not quite there. Yes, there was the occasional Kallang Wave. But the roar, it just wasn’t loud enough. There were moments of awkward silence when nothing was heard. In fact, it’s at times like this that I really appreciate the commentary at ESPN and Star Sports.

Guess there’s a whole new generation of football fans that need education, or rather, the opportunity to experience the Kallang Roar again.

Let’s hope the Lions’ Den will roar to live tonight in our match against Thailand.