When Belkin first showed me its Washable Mouse several months ago, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the thing. It's hard to explain precisely why, but there's something undeniably appealing about a piece of electronics that can be submerged in water. Belkin's demo of the device involved the mouse covered with water in a fishbowl. Neat, sure, but I've seen plenty of gadgets go there before.

Subsequent press images featured the mouse being held under running water, which begs the question: Just what is making all of these mice so damned dirty in the first place? The answer is simple: food. We're all multitaskers here, and at some time or other we've all managed to splatter drinks and pieces of food shrapnel on our mice.

That naturally led me to the next question. Sure, the thing can handle some running water and a few frightened goldfish, but is it food-proof? What would happen if you accidentally splattered some breakfast on the thing, or, oh, I don't know, dropped it into a big bowl of vegetarian chili? I mean, who among us has bumped an elbow, only to lose our optical mouse in a vat of chocolate pudding?

Breakfast:

If you're like me, you tend to eat breakfast at your desk. I'm a bagel person, but from time to time, especially on cold days like today (it was about 10 degrees when I came through the door this morning), nothing hits the spot like a nice, warm bowl of oatmeal. The Washable Mouse's buttons and scroll wheel performed admirably in the Quaker oats. The same, sadly, can't be said for the optical portion of the mouse. My advice: If there's a good chance that you're going to be dropping your mouse into a bowl of oatmeal, make sure that you get everything but the clicking out of the way first.

Dinner

We were in a Southwestern mood tonight and opted for a big bowl of hearty Hormel vegetarian chili. Oh crap, there goes the mouse again. The verdict: The buttons and scrolling stood up to the Hormel challenge, like the proverbial fork in a bowl of Dennison's.

Dessert

Nothing says dessert quite like an oversize bowl of chocolate pudding. But man, if I had a dollar for every computer accessory that I ruined in a heap of chocolate deliciousness, I'd be rich. Bill Cosby rich. Thankfully, I now know that I can eat my gigantic bowls of pudding, secure that no matter how many times I accidentally submerge my new Belkin Washable Mouse, I'll be OK.

Snack

Let's face it, most of the eating folks do in front of their computers consists of between-meals snacking. I call this late-night treat the "gamer's cocktail." It's a stew of deliciousness--a mixture of mashed cheezy puffs and Red Bull, exactly the kind of midnight pick-me-up you need to squeeze those last few hours out of your week-long WoW marathon. Despite--or perhaps, because of--its magical Taurine-centric powers, the mouse performed better in this primordial soup than in any of the other trials. I had full use of its buttons, scroll wheel, and even partial (if shaky) functionality of the optical sensor. Game on!