48 hours later....

While walking outside to take a break with a coworker, I noticed a red car parked nearby and a blonde head popping up from behind the open trunk. It's D, our computer technician and networking manager. Uh oh...
What is SHE doing here??

My mind flashes back to the still disassembled laptop drying upside down next to my desk, every back panel taken off and all of the keyboard keys still in a baggie.....

CRAP! Hmm.. maybe she won't go into my office area....

After the break I venture back into the building. Ah, so far so good... the coast is clear! I round the corner to my desk area and suddenly here comes D out of NOWHERE.

D: "Hey E, do you happen to know if there are any laptops returned to us from some of the field personnel that were termina--...."
.....

Her voice trails off as she spies the laptop lying flat on top of the boxes, bottom end facing up, with all of the panels removed... I'm pretty sure at that point if I had told her the truth I probably would have witnessed the world's first network-manager-to-enraged-Gorgon transformation.

She hadn't seen that the keyboard keys were missing.. thank GOD... My mind was racing faster than a pimped out street car pumped full of NOS and my heart was making a game attempt at keeping up with it....

D: "What happened...?"

Me: "Oh, that? I swapped out the hard drives.. Ron's laptop looked newer, and you know how much I like new-looking equipment! I know, silly me..."

I am SO going to Hell....

D: "Um.. ok... *eyebrow raised*... well I came by today to do some work and to pick up the extra laptops. I guess we have a few new people who need them."

SHIZNAT.

Me: "Sweet. No problem! I'll put the panels back on right after I return this phone call I missed from one of the Zone Managers and I'll come find you in the other building. Fifteen minutes or so sound ok?"

D: "Sure." Great.

One problem: The laptop has been drying since Monday, and I haven't even ATTEMPTED to turn it on. I have NO clue at this point if it works.

D walks out of the office.

**Begin Mission Impossible: 4..........

I wait until she's gone, and I immediately clear off my desk, lay the laptop on it, and dump out the baggie of keyboard keys and plastic components. One by one, I start popping the keys back on, sometimes resorting to the mini-screwdrivers to help me align and connect the plastic components that go underneath each individual key. My hands were shaking as I raced to get them all installed in the proper spots.

Hmm... wouldn't it be funny if I accidentally swapped a few keys so that whenever someone typed an "F" key it would type the "J"? Heh heh....

But not today. Today is all about covering my ass and no one knowing any differently but me, my office coworkers, and my readers.

Fast forward 8 minutes. All the keys are in place. I flip the laptop over and insert the hard drive I'd swapped out to put mine in the dry laptop. After that, all of the panels were in place.

10 minutes have gone by. I put the battery back in. It's the moment of truth.
I take a deep breath and tell my coworker, "Ok, here we go... cross your fingers for me!"

I push the power button.

And the mother#*!@& turns on. I test all of the keyboard keys, and they all work!

IT'S A MIRACLE!!! *E does the happy dance*

15 minutes, and the laptop is in the bag, with D.

Whether all of the other things, like USB, VGA, and the DVD drive works? I guess we'll leave that to chance ... Oops!