Coffee VS Computer

Yesterday was a little crazy. My 13-year-old son was going to give me a hug (gasp), which is an extremely rare occurrence as he has gotten way to old to need Mommy's hugs and love. He bumped my coffee cup, which tipped over and spilled onto my keyboard (double gasp). My son, my husband and I acted quickly to begin cleaning up the mess, turning off the computer, and getting it tilted to keep it from running into the components within. We left if off for 24 hours, standing on its side, and crossed our fingers.

Meanwhile, I received not one but (gasp again) TWO emails from popcornreads.com. I won not one but (dare I gasp again lol) TWO books from two separate giveaways that they were hosting. So, here is my weekend haul (which I really needed after everything started going a little crazy around here).

First up, I received an email that I had won The Wandering Falcon

Traditions that have lasted for centuries, both brutal and beautiful, create a rigid structure for life in the wild, astonishing place where Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan meet-the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). It is a formidable world, and the people who live there are constantly subjected to extremes-of place and of culture.

The Wandering Falcon begins with a young couple, refugees from their tribe, who have traveled to the middle of nowhere to escape the cruel punishments meted out upon those who transgress the boundaries of marriage and family. Their son, Tor Baz, descended from both chiefs and outlaws, becomes "The Wandering Falcon," a character who travels among the tribes, over the mountains and the plains, into the towns and the tents that constitute the homes of the tribal people. The media today speak about this unimaginably remote region, a geopolitical hotbed of conspiracies, drone attacks, and conflict, but in the rich, dramatic tones of a master storyteller, this stunning, honor-bound culture is revealed from the inside.

Jamil Ahmad has written an unforgettable portrait of a world of custom and compassion, of love and cruelty, of hardship and survival, a place fragile, unknown, and unforgiving.

Then within minutes, I received another email. It began like this, "What were the odds! You won a second giveaway!! I think this has only happened once before." It further went on to explain that I had won Being Someone Else

Some believe violence foreign to our nature. Dan 'Sticks' Hetrick, retired chief and now consultant to the Swatara Creek police department, knows better. We put a lid on our natural tendency to violence when we started living in groups, devising moral codes to hold it in check and allow us to live in harmony with others. But, deep down in the id-the site of instinct-there's always that tendency to violence. When an out-of-state reporter is found murdered at a disreputable bar the tendency to violence spirals in the rural Pennsylvania community, and the investigative trail keeps bringing Hetrick and his team back to the family of a wealthy doctor who has come home to retire. Hetrick and his protégé Officer Flora Vastine are joined by an old friend from his State Police days as they unravel old secrets and mysteries in a tale with as many shocking twists as a country road.

As for my computer, things turned out okay. My disk drive was stuck shut from the stickiness of the sugar I load my coffee with, but we seem to have gotten it all cleaned up. Although, I have not yet put a disk in to assess if there is any damage to the eye, but it did not appear to have gotten that far into the drive. The number keys that reside to the right side of the keyboard (as well as HOME, END, PGUP, AND PGDN) were all pretty sticky. We cleaned them out with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol, and although still a little stiff, they appear to be working just fine. Hopefully, the last bits of sugar will turn to powder and disappear like dust. We did open the hard drive area, and it does not appear that any coffee got into there. The battery compartment was also clear. Overall, fast acting/thinking on the part of mainly my husband, with a little help from my son and I, seems to have saved my computer from the worst of what could have been when an almost full cup of coffee loaded with cream and sugar was practically poured out on my computer.

So my insane weekend was chocked full of good luck and good fortune. I am looking forward to reading/reviewing my new books when they arrive. :)