2.19.2008

Taking Charge...Literally

I enjoy jewelry when I remember to put some on, but I've rarely bothered to actually bring jewelry along when traveling. I finally found a way to repurpose the travel jewelry case my grandmother gave me years ago.


The contents?
1. cellphone wall charging cord
2. cellphone earpiece wall charging cord
3. camera battery recharger & cord
4. camera download cord
5. iPod download cord

Which doesn't include what's already in the car:
6. cellphone car charging cord
7. iPod car/wall charging cord (the only two-in-one on the list!)
8. portable 1 GB USB flashdrive

Can I live for 5 days without all of these cords? Sure. If I don't expect to use any of the items that they support.

The phone is for safety and coordinating with friends, the camera for recording the fun moments we'll have together, and the iPod for sanity during the 14 hours of driving I'll do. And I know I could pare them down, but every time I do that, I regret not bringing a certain one.

I know, I know. Our parents pulled over and used a payphone if they needed to and listened to the radio or sang songs. They survived without taking hundreds of digital pictures each year. Even
I remember rationing my shots/rolls of film on childhood vacations.

But life has changed, and I don't mind all that much. I like the convenience of my digital tools and toys. And I have gadgety, techie proclivities.

What I want is for someone to invent a truly universal charging system. A surface that I simply lay any of my portable electronic devices on that will charge them up while they sit there without proprietary batteries and cords cluttering up my life.

Aside: As I write this, I'm half watching NOVA's Ape Genius while I tape it for possible classroom use. Recently chimps in the wild have been witnessed fashioning spears and hunting smaller mammals, our DNA is over 99% identical, blah blah, the narrator reminds us that "in a very short time humans have gone from" living a chimp-like lifestyle to industrialization "so it is only a matter of time before" chimps are complaining about the number of charging cords they have to drag around the forest. Oh, sorry, that last thought was mine.

Riddle of the Day: (Scene from Ape Genius.) A peanut is placed at the bottom of a foot long clear plastic tube strapped vertically to the inside of the bars of a chimp's enclosure. There are no stick-like tools at all available for getting the peanut in the bare bones enclosure and the tube cannot be unstrapped or flipped over. How do you get the peanut?

Answer to be posted when I return from the road trip.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm. In my house, the solution would involve screaming and/or bashing one's head against the tube until it broke. But I'm guessing that's not it.

Chelsea said...

I'm glad I'm not in your house! ; )