I think my cat was acting out...

So my car broke down a couple of weeks ago. It was doing the same thing it did the last time it broke down, so I was rather upset. It stopped moving on a Friday night, as I was driving a friend around later in the evening.

Fortunately I know a tow truck driver, so he came and took me to the shop where I had it fixed last time free of charge. I drive a partially nice 98 Honda Accord. The clutch master cylinder went out in it. If any of you car people out there know, this year was very annoying, as in order to replace it, you had to do the Whole unit, slave lines and all. Part $415. Since this was the problem I thought the guy had fixed, he did it for half the labor and threw in an oil change to boot. Labor $187. Took 4 days to order the part and get it installed.

What does all of this have to do with my cat you ask? Well, since I was vehicle-less I had to find Some way to get back and forth to work. My friend lived within 2 blocks of my work, so I, being the smart one that I am, just crashed on his couch til it was done. Well, my cat was a very vindictive little thing. Part Siamese, all crazy.

During the time that I was gone, she decided to get up and start drinking the fish's water from his bowl. She also spilled the food all over the floor. Here's where this can present a problem. At the moment, I do not have a computer desk. I have my comp sitting on the ledge of the fireplace. My fish Was on top of the mantle piece. It sort of looked liked this:
Yes, I know, don't look safe. But it's been like that for months! Well, I finally get my car fixed, and decide to run home for my lunch break. I'm on the phone as I walk through the door, and notice something small on the floor, but pay no mind. I'm sure the cat had just found something to play with, and left it in the middle of the floor (was actually right about that)

I walk towards the couch to set my jacket down, and notice there are little black things on one of the cushions. As I take a closer look, I notice the side of my computer is laying on the ground and that the little things are actually rocks. I look down behind the couch and see broken glass a giant puddle and lots of tiny rocks. (turns out the thing in the middle of the floor was my fish...)

My computer was still on, but there was nothing on the screen. The little LED's on the bottom were red, indicating no signal... I did a little deducing and figure that this is what the trajectory must have been:



Now, I'm pretty sure it was the force of the connection that knocked the side of my box off. And there was Some water on top, some of which got into my brand new digital camera... However I didn't notice any large amounts of water in the bottom of the case, so I wasn't sure what exactly was going on.

Now, probably for most people in this situation, their computer would have been 100% OK, but no, not me. For you see, I like to make sure my computer stays nice and cool. So I made sure to buy a case with Lots of ventilation. It kind of looks like this on top:


So basically, most cases are closed on the top, and if a little liquid was to happen to come in contact with it you could probably just wipe it off. Not mine though. No, instead, just a few drops decided to find their way through the nice open vent on top and drop into the case. And what, pray tell, is directly below the vent? That's right video cards!

So a tiny, (and I mean minuscule) amount of water dripped down on top of one of my video cards and arced. Bye Bye GeForce 8800... Fortunately there are 2 of them in there and I did only lose the top one.

Since then my camera has dried itself out and seems to be working pretty good still. I am still only running one of my vid cards but it is doing alright I guess... oh, and my cat... ya, she's got herself a new home. You should all be proud, as far as I know, she's still alive out there somewhere.

R.I.P. Butch