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June 2008
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Wired

I needed to charge my mobile last night, so I reached into the bag where I keep all my wires—I have a lot of wires, despite the wifi age.

For my Nokia phone I have two chargers—one for Europe and one for the States. The European charger doesn’t work in America when you only pass it through an adapter, so I bought a charger from Radio Shack for my time in the States. Since I am spending time on both sides of the Atlantic, I cannot get rid of either charger.

I have the power cord for my computer—plus the cable that locks it to furniture or pipes in offices or hotel rooms where it might otherwise get swiped. I also have a straight through power adapter so that I can plug it in when I’m in the States.

For my computer, there’s also a spare Ethernet cable in my bag for those occasions where a hotel has wired net access, but no WiFi. I’ve needed this cable about once every six months, so I am hesitant to get rid of it.

With my digital camera I have a lot of accessories: the cable to move pictures from camera to hard-drive. One time I forgot this cable and bought a drive that could take the cards from the camera and move the pictures to my hard-drive. The new drive has a huge advantage: it doesn’t use the camera’s battery power when moving pictures, which helps extend battery life. Naturally I also have the charger for the camera—which is American, so I need an adapter to use it in Europe.

My iPod requires its own cable for updating podcasts and charging. I also keep a spare pair of headphones for my iPod because the in-ear bud headphones eventually die, usually when I cannot get to a store to buy a new one easily—like Monday, when the right ear bud stopped working mid-afternoon, unless you moved the wire to just the right spot.

All of this adds up to a not inconsiderable weight when I’m traveling.

5 comments to Wired

  • I have similar wiry woes.

    There was a time when this raised eyebrows at airports, but not anymore.

  • Disenchanted

    Yeah, I have that same problem with the iPod headsets!

  • Anonymous

    Man, that thing to attach the laptop to something stable in the room is a great idea! We’ve had problems with such considerations in the past… hmmm…

    Oh and hey, your comment form remembered me! YEA! I am loved! 😉

    Hope you’re having a great time in Lisbon.

  • Whoops, I guess it didn’t really remember me… now I am one of the Anonymous minions!

  • @cliff1976: The only airport where my stuff causes surprise is the Leipzig airport–every other airport I fly through security.

    @disenchanted: I think i like the cheap headphones since even expensive ones seem to die this death after awhle.

    @Snooker: the cable was given to me by my IT dept… it’s excellent, although some hotel rooms are far more challenging than others!