How to recover from desk spills

At Houstonist, we often scour the Web for the latest dirt with a beverage nearby: Diet Coke for the good days, something else for when things get rough. Occasionally, we'll get so excited over the latest car-chase news that our drink will go flying — sometimes right into a piece of electronic equipment that isn't supposed to be covered in wet, syrupy substances.

Imagine how excited we were, then, to learn via Lifehacker about how to clean out electronic stuff that's gotten gunked up by foreign substances. The test case was a wireless router that had mineral buildup inside as the result of a leaky ceiling, and the procedure sounds pretty easy: Let the equipment dry, take it apart, rinse the circuit board under a shower head, blot with toilet paper, leave on a warm surface to dry and then clean any residue from the circuit board using a solvent. Though the cleaned router didn't work like new, it did work — and that's better than nothing.

We were also fascinated by someone in the Lifehacker comments section who told cleaning spilled-on computer keyboards by putting them, keys down, in the top rack of a dishwasher with the dry cycle off. It supposedly works like a charm — we can't wait to try it! (For the record, Houstonist doesn't take responsibility for what might happen as the result of your DIY electronic rescues, but we would love to hear your story if you decide to try one.)