I’ve spent the bulk of a three-day period trying to figure out why my keyboard suddenly thinks that an O is the letter 6.

That’s not the worst of it.

The letter I has become number 5. The letter J is the number 1.

It’s like the computer’s keyboard has transformed into a Ouija board, and the ghosts are pissed. (I swear I didn’t visit any weird sites.)

Quoting a song by Kristofferson, “Why Me, Lord?”

Everything had been fine the day before. I checked. The last action performed on the computer had been watching The Big Lebowski for the seventh time in the same week.

Now, this was the most un-dude event possible. (Yes, that’s a movie reference.)

I immediately did what every IT professional does: I Googled it.

It turns out that it’s a common problem.

According to more than one internet user, the problem was caused by their cats jumping on the keyboard.

No internet user mentioned had a single idea which keys had been pressed. No internet post had a reverse keyboard shortcut for it. All we know: It was their cats.

There were several suggested fixes for The Keyboard Issue. Within three days it’s safe to say that I tried every single one of them.

Reboot. Reboot again. Press these buttons. Don’t press these other buttons. Reinstall the keyboard drivers. Try other keyboard drivers. Set it to UK, US, and Ukranian-layout keyboards – all with no effect.

It was frustrating to say the least. (And that’s really, really the least.)

And then suddenly, nearing the end of the three days spent imagining that I had a clue what I was doing, the issue was fixed.

Not in the way you’d think.

A cat jumped on the keyboard, then jumped off again.

The keyboard was fine.

 Without a doubt, it was the weirdest thing that could have happened. Do your cats kibitz your bridge games?