So the other night, as I was cleaning my desk drawer for 'pesach', I was thinking about the irony of the whole thing. I never, not ONCE, ate in my drawer. On the other hand, I glanced over at my laptop, and I saw a couple of crackers resting on it. I mean, cleaning is hungry work!
And then I realized that most likely, the three most chometzdik things I own are my laptop, my cell phone and my iPod. (In that order.)
And yet, they are neglected in the spring-cleaning frenzy we impose on ourselves. But the more I think about it, the more I understand this thing I once read. It was the account of a technical support representative, which I will paraphrase here.
"A customer called complaining that her brand new keyboard stopped working. After trouble-shooting for a while, I could not find anything wrong. I probed a bit, until I finally discovered what had happened. The customer had decided to clean her new keyboard. She soaked it in the bathtub overnight, and then she removed each key and cleaned it individually. Then she couldn't figure out why it was no longer working!"
When I first heard this story, I laughed. I mean, how silly could someone be? But now it all makes sense! Obviously, this was a very machmir customer, who simply could not use their keyboard without cleaning it properly. And if it breaks...shoin...it breaks. What could you do? All in the name of a chag kasher v'sameach!
And so, if I disappear for the entire week of pesach, you'll know that I've sold my laptop with the chometz, rather than soak it overnight in the bathtub. Cuz I've learned my lesson already... ;)
And then I realized that most likely, the three most chometzdik things I own are my laptop, my cell phone and my iPod. (In that order.)
And yet, they are neglected in the spring-cleaning frenzy we impose on ourselves. But the more I think about it, the more I understand this thing I once read. It was the account of a technical support representative, which I will paraphrase here.
"A customer called complaining that her brand new keyboard stopped working. After trouble-shooting for a while, I could not find anything wrong. I probed a bit, until I finally discovered what had happened. The customer had decided to clean her new keyboard. She soaked it in the bathtub overnight, and then she removed each key and cleaned it individually. Then she couldn't figure out why it was no longer working!"
When I first heard this story, I laughed. I mean, how silly could someone be? But now it all makes sense! Obviously, this was a very machmir customer, who simply could not use their keyboard without cleaning it properly. And if it breaks...shoin...it breaks. What could you do? All in the name of a chag kasher v'sameach!
And so, if I disappear for the entire week of pesach, you'll know that I've sold my laptop with the chometz, rather than soak it overnight in the bathtub. Cuz I've learned my lesson already... ;)
24 comments:
pesach cleaning isnt spring cleaning. ur not supposed to make urself insane cleaning every single crack in ur laptop
EP- You sure? Cuz my bathtub is full of the microwave, the vaccum cleaner, and our two other computers, not to mention assorted chargers and batteries which are all being soaked for a week, so I dunno when I will be able to soak my laptop. :-p
LOL!
I'm an experienced keyboard cleaner, I take it apart. More for the thrill than the actual cleaning though:p
I once looked at my keyboard, as i used to eat at my desk constantly. notice USED to. BLEK!
I haven't thought about selling my laptop and not using it over Pesach, I need it though for school work, so I guess I'm gonna have to clean it.
I actually remember in 11th grade, my computer teacher told us, the first rule is that you can't eat or drink over your computer.
and Funny how you wrote about it.
Also, as a side point, I'm very into not having germs. So knowing that I sometimes eat when I'm by my laptop, I make sure to always clean my hands before I start typing. and it's really gross how at the library, your sharing the same keyboard as everyone, and people still eat there while their at the keyboard.
Insp- your joking, right? You really take em apart??
Shorty- ugh. I *don't* want to hear.
JSB- please dont take me seriously. I was kidding. I guess me and you dont have that in common. I am forever eating at the computer. ;)
I'm totally serious, it's fun! :)
How do you clean a laptop anyway, without breaking the keys? I'd love to know- usually I just toothpick mine.
Insp- oh my goodness. Are you bored? Can you please come here and finish my work for me?
NMF- what is the point of toothpicking your laptop? To drive the chometz further into the cracks?
We use canned air on the keyboards. It blows out the dirt and crumbs quickly, cleanly, and safely. It's great. Then for sticky stuff on the surface, you can just use a cloth with a bit of alcohol or something.
By toothpicking it- I move the chametz gently out of the cracks and onto the other side of the keyboard. I'm too scared to take it apart :)
TCI- Wow, I really didn't think it was so serious.
NMF- Gosh, I am very ashamed to admit how un-jewish I am. I really was kidding about all this. I didn't think that I needed to actually WORRY.
UhOh- you mean you don't scrub every inch of your house within a centimeter of your life? :)
NMF- you don't want to know. We managed to scrub the entire kitchen in 3 hours tonight! Well, that was after we did a bunch on thursday, and with a team of 4 people scrubbing...do we qualify as properly jewish? ;)
Not entirely sure....it took me 8 hours to do the kitchen....and then I spent 3 hours last night just kashering my neighbor's granite shayish.
I'll assume you're kosher for Pesach though.
enjoy your vacation!
NMF- perhaps I wasn't clear enough. We spent about 7 hours on it on thursday, plus some time earlier. Then 3 more hours tonight. And we have a pesach kitchen so this wasn't kashering, just cleaning and covering.
RG- WHAT vacation?
yea, I know you were joking...I eat at my computer too!
For those of you who are really worried, there is nothing like waving a vaacum cleaner in the general direction of your lap top. For me my car was THe worst - now that is real hard work and is my home on wheels so no escaping that chore....
Great blog you have going on here :)
JSB- who doesn't? ;)
FR- oh my I found the greatest thing, I gotta find the link... I found a USB powered mini vacuum cleaner, meant specifically for cleaning computers! It was at xtremegeek.com but I don't have the link now. If anyone wants to post it I'd appreciate it. :-)
Oh, and thanks for the compliment! I never refuse em!
That is really cool, here's a link to it, and it's cheap, I think I may just buy it! Thanx for sharing!
JSB- what's the story? Did you buy it? Lemme know how it came out...
I didn't buy it, cause when I shared the link on twitter, Moshe said it was junky. But I still think the idea is cool, so maybe I'll order it for fun!
JSB- thanks for the info. ;)
And that whole company is full of some very cool stuff. We get their catalog and have a blast looking thru it. I've never made an order tho.... :-)
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