Weekend of mishaps!

Many of you know that I spend my summer weekends out at our lake cottage. It's only 12 miles from our house, but it's world's away.

I am an idiot, though, and forgot to unplug our laptop when we left last weekend. So, this weekend, after one night of one big thunderclap, we got there on Friday to find our laptop fried. That sucked.

Then, Friday night, I noticed my hot water wasn't hot. I had a bad thermocouple- so a friend was simply going to replace it. Well, one of the "in" lines was tight, so the gas valve cracked as he was trying to remove it. Uh-oh. So, a fried laptop, and a dead hot water heater. $1000 or so to fix both. (I'm fixing the hot water heater- he's getting the parts, but I'm putting it back together).

That really bummed me out. But, on Saturday, even without a shower, I managed to relax and spend some time on the lake. I guess things in my life are great- and things can always be fixed or replaced. My family is doing great, and so I am. That's the important thing.

Still, I can't believe how dumb I was to not unplug the laptop from the phone jack! Duh!

Bummer....

What did you do to piss of karma? I'll bet you kicked a puppy, didn't you?

laptop wasn't plugged into a surge protector?

oh crap. PHONE JACK!!!????.

that does suck.

You are right, the important thing is that you and your family are healthy but it doesn't make the sting any less. (Fried a computer myself last year)

Have a better week!

My surge protector has a phone jack thing in it as well.

So with the cost and all the work ahead of you does that mean you won't be competing against us.

ummm.... i don't understand how leaving ur laptop plugged into the phone jack fried it? I've never heard of that. But it still sounds like you had a junky weekend, hope your week get's better

HotTrailerBrew said:

ummm.... i don't understand how leaving ur laptop plugged into the phone jack fried it? I've never heard of that. But it still sounds like you had a junky weekend, hope your week get's better

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Yep, happens all the time.

How about home owners insurance? They will often cover a computer for electrical damage due to storms. Might be cheaper to pay deductible than to buy a new laptop.

I feel for you, Yoop! We lost a computer LAST NIGHT in a storm. It was one we'd bought about 3 months ago.

And we replaced our rotisserie motor on the grill, which fried really quickly. Put a chicken on and the damn thing crapped out in less than an hour. Damn Brinkmann!

I like your perspective on things, Yoop.

Bedlam said:

I feel for you, Yoop! We lost a computer LAST NIGHT in a storm. It was one we'd bought about 3 months ago.

And we replaced our rotisserie motor on the grill, which fried really quickly. Put a chicken on and the damn thing crapped out in less than an hour. Damn Brinkmann!

I like your perspective on things, Yoop.

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Sounds like a similar weekend for you guys!

I didn't have a surge protecter on the laptop, because we always unplug it when we leave on Sunday afternoon (except for the one time we really needed to unplug it and put it away!). It's dial-up out there, and even the phone line is brand new. We just put it in this spring, so we could keep up with our 17 year old and 19 year old when they aren't with us out at the cottage.

I'm working today, and tomorrow, and I think I need to brew to forget about my little problems. I think I'm going to make a starter tonight, so at least my brewing will go well (I hope!)

Homercidal said:

Yep, happens all the time.

How about home owners insurance? They will often cover a computer for electrical damage due to storms. Might be cheaper to pay deductible than to buy a new laptop.

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Absolutely. About a week after I bought my first house, I had a thunderclap like you described. Hit the power pole outside my house. Took out my TV and refrigerator. My insurance policy wasn't even a week old, but they paid up.

Oh, and BTW, if you use your cellphone as a modem, you don't have this problem in the first place...............:cross:

Bernie Brewer said:

Absolutely. About a week after I bought my first house, I had a thunderclap like you described. Hit the power pole outside my house. Took out my TV and refrigerator. My insurance policy wasn't even a week old, but they paid up.

Oh, and BTW, if you use your cellphone as a modem, you don't have this problem in the first place...............:cross:

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Well, I don't have a cellphone, and even if I did- there isn't any cellphone coverage at my cottage! (I do have a pay-as-you-go tracfone, which is fine for the traveling I do).

I have $1000 deductible, so I'm just resigned to losing the laptop. I have a guy looking at it, to see if it's fixable but I'm not optimistic at all.

Bummer on the laptop. I lose power frequently, but the lightning tends to hang out at the south end of the valley. By the time it gets here, it's gone though 5-6 transformers. Plus, the house feed is underground. The computer isn't plugged into the phone line, just the Sat. dish. That's not likely to get hit as it is close to but below the chimney cap. That's cast-iron and grounded.

Then again, lightning is less predictable than a cat.