I'm lucky to be posting this.  I was watching an old episode of The Computer Chronicles and I got nostalgic for my old 486SX which, of course, I ditched a year and a half ago.  I knew I would regret that. 

But I did keep the HD.  So I dug that up and thought "Why not?"  I turned off the juice to my box, cracked open the case, uninstalled my backup HD, and replaced it with my 200MB Seagate ST3243A.  I turned on the power and, keeping the case open, tried to boot my machine.  The Seagate actually started to spin and that surprised me but I couldn't get past the Compaq boot up screen.  I mean, I knew it was a long shot that my computer would recognize the drive but whatever.  So after trying this and that I turned off the computer and uninstalled the Seagate. 

I thought that while I was in there I would finally install the HD bracket around my backup HD before I reinstalled it.  When I first installed the drive I was so excited that I neglected to install the bracket.  It's just been kind of sitting in my case ever since.  So I screwed that all together and then all I had to do was screw the drive bay back into the case.  But those little screws get away on you right?  So it rolled into the case for about the fifth time and I used my Leatherman to roll it into a corner of the case. 

Then I tried to pick it out with my fingers.  Do you see the problem here?  If you read carefully you'll notice that I didn't turn off the power this time!  I only turned off the computer!  So course I've got my gold wedding band on and wouldn't you know it?  I get the     *!SHOCK!* of a lifetime!  I mean it lasted a good two seconds!  It was an awful sensation!  So I yelled real loud and pulled my hand out of there.  For some reason my nipples were throbbing like sin.  I know, I know, but that's what happened.  Stars thought she smelled something weird.  I mean she was standing right there and saw it all happen but afterward she thought she smelled something.  Probably my burning flesh.  But then she was all like:  "Don't worry.  It's good for you.  It helps with your arthritis.  Unfortunately, I don't have arthritis because I use a Model M exclusively now but that's another matter. 

I was positive I had fried the motherboard and I was scared to turn the computer back on.  But I didn't and it did so I guess everything worked out alright in the end. 

There are several possible morals to this story.  One being "Don't get married."  I'm kidding, I'm kidding.   I love being married.  OK, so maybe instead "Take off conductive jewellery when working near an electrical source."  Second would be turn off the power before you crack open that case and make sure you keep it off if your hand is going into your box.  Right.  Third would be buy a Compaq computer because they're pretty hardy machines.  Either that or buy Seagate HDs because they're not too bad either.  And lastly, they need to change the word 'electrocute' so that it no longer contains the word 'cute.'  Electro Cute.  I mean that sounds like a pretty good deal right?  It's really not.