Nightmare at Mobile Tech Manor
Yesterday began like many other days in the Manor, early to rise with some light feed checking and blogging. Early commute to Big Oil Co. and hard at work by 6:30. Busy day and then off to the coffee shop by early afternoon to make an ink post that was surprisingly controversial. Then it was back to Mobile Tech Manor where an unthinkable horror awaited.
I went into the home office and popped the HP 2710p into the dock as usual and answered some email with it. I returned a couple of phone calls and then spun around to the big desk where all the gear lives and to my horror I spy a little puddle of brown liquid between the MacBook Pro and the Fujitsu P1610. I look at this and touch it and find it surprisingly thick and sticky in nature. I clean it up carefully and then have a look around. That’s when I got really sick as I see that this event, whatever it was that left the puddle on the desk, splashed everything on the entire desk!
Getting sicker by the moment, I assessed the extent of this splashing one device at a time. The MacBook Pro thankfully was closed and sitting in the Lapworks Aluminum Stand and while the lid was totally covered with splashes they turn out to be superficial and I clean it up and it’s just fine. The Fujitsu P1610 was not so fortunate as it was closer to the little puddle. It was sitting in its dock in slate mode and the entire screen was covered with this now dry but sticky residue from the unknown liquid. It took me a long time to get the screen clean but I determined that since the lid was closed no liquid got into the keyboard which is very fortunate. I removed the battery and have set the Fuji aside for a day or two to make sure it’s completely dry.
Every other device docked or sitting on this desk was splattered by the liquid. This included the iPod and the HTC Advantage but the splashes were very minor and I cleaned them off carefully. Once I got every device cleaned I removed everything to clean the desk itself. The entire time I was cleaning everything I was trying to figure out how this happened, or rather what exactly happened. There is an air conditioner vent above this desk but examination of the vent does not show any leaking happened that I could tell. Even if there was a leak I can’t imagine what could leak from there that would be the brown sticky substance that I was cleaning off everything.
It’s a big mystery at this point. The only other possibility would involve the two teens who were out of school for the holiday yesterday but it’s unfathomable that they were involved. They never go into my office and I can’t believe they did so yesterday so at this point I have no clue what happened. I am now living in fear that it will happen again with all my gear sitting on the desk. I am very unsettled by this. I deliberately took no photos of this as it’s not something I ever want to see again.
Ectoplasm?
I mean, have you had any grunts in the night or history of objects getting up and moving about on their own?
If everyone in the house has a solid alibi then you need to start considering more exotic explanations… like this one perhaps?
http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/Eating_Disorders/type_night_eating_syndrome.asp
But seriously, this sounds almost malicious in nature. You best find out if there’s a vandal in the house or if you have some kind of battery leakage…
Somebody was playing with your stuff and spilled something. Time to get the polygraph out.
Brown sticky residue splattered all over the place does sound a bit like Coca Cola, when opening a bottle under high pressure (or after dropping some Mentos in it).
Sure the kids where not around?
it was me…
I knew it was you, medah4rick! I will hunt you down and take care of you.
Klaatu barada nikto!
….you never know.
I’m inclined to agree it sounds like an over-pressurized soda can was opened on that spot and not cleaned up. But if that vent is directly above the puddle, I’d seriously consider opening it up and taking a look. The splatter could be from the impact of drops falling from the vent. Condensation from the AC could be collecting and mixing with whatever muck is in there.
What a nightmare!
We had a leaking air con here which produced a brown sludge when we opened it up, although this wasn’t sticky… tend to agree with the coke can theory!
No, here’s the real mystery. Why do your kids get Columbus Day off?
What’s Columbus day? I hope it¨s not for that guy who claimed that he was the first to discover America when it’s now known that many others got there before him.
The whole time I was reading, I was thinking of the picture, and thought something leaked out of you LCD, perhaps some overheating and melting.
But, if your LCD display is OK, and all your devices are OK (what about the laptop?), I’d go with the kids and mischief.
99% chance it was the teens. Wet your finger and dab it in some of the residue- lick it, I’m guessing it’s pop.
Go dump a beer on their xbox and cell phones, deny any involvment and call it even.
@ John in Norway: Don’t knock Columbus Day. For the first time in ten years, I got that day off too. They can give CC credit for splitting the atom for all I care, as long as I have the day free.
My money is on this answer:
A can of coke was accidentally spilled upstairs. It was cleaned up as best as possible with no one realizing 70% of the contents wound up down the vent and into your office.
“Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward.”
– Sherlock Holmes
The answer is rudimentary. The cat did it.
What? You say you have no cat?
You do now.
If this isn’t guilt, I don’t know what is!
http://www.wordlab.com/uploaded_images/Cat-773062.bmp
It was probably Coke, Pepsi, root beer, or something else similar. Key here is that you indicated it was sticky – hence, some kind of sugar/glucose/fructose containing liquid. Unless, of course, you have sort of industrial strength sealant that just happens to be lying around in your office waiting to spill.
… I like the “blame it on the cat” answer though…
Hmmm…
You just ditched Vista on the P1610 and went back to XP. Now you find your desk and devices ravaged by a suspicious brown goo. It can only mean one thing. Microsoft sent this through the interrwebtubbules as a little message to you…another little gift from the Vista team. Forget about ghosts. Worry about SP (sticky puddle)-1.
Before blaming anyone (you guys are quick to judge young people heh?) taste the thing and be more enlightened.
I am happy to report that the P1610 is OK. I let it sit for over 24 hours and it starts and runs with no ill effects so far.
It WAS the cat! Honest!
You forgot to mention the very odd smell of the liquid. It smelled – yuck.
Ewww. Good thing you didn’t taste it to see if it was soda.
Now, the question is, why did the cat think your desk looked like a litter box?