The Day the Gadgets Died

/rant on

Okay, does anyone else think we have too many gadgets in our lives?  Let's look at the lowly quesadilla maker.  Personally, I just make quesadillas in a skillet.  Is that not socially acceptable any more?  Am I just not "with it" if I don't have a separate machine that doesn't make quesadillas? Seriously...at what point did we decide that we have to have a separate gadget for every single thing we do?

And why do entire families go out to dinner and spend the entire time on their phones rather than talking to each other? Anybody else seen that spectacle?

And don't even get me started on the new CFL lightbulbs that require a hazardous waste suit to dispose of if they break in your house.

/rant off

I'm just ticked today because a gadget tried to ruin my life yesterday.  I ran off to work and was on a conference call when I received an email from J. that scared the poop out of me.  He was getting ready to leave for work after me and noticed that the back was popping off of his Samsung cell phone.  The battery was swollen a little bit and he tried to force the cover back on.  That's when flames started shooting 3 FEET OUT FROM THE PHONE.  So he did what every sane person would have done to keep from burning themselves and dropped it.  On the carpet.  Which then started to catch on fire.  He said he stomped on it to try to get it out but it just wouldn't go out.  (Lithium ion battery fires are notoriously hard to get out.)  The good news is that he finally got it out and he wasn't hurt.  The carpet?  Not so much.

Thank goodness he didn't forget his phone when we he went to work, as we easily could have gotten a call that our house was on fire.

Guys, batteries bulge when they are defective or overcharged.  I actually knew that because we had one happen at work, and I should have told J. that.  Folks, don't overcharge your phones.  And, if you see a bulged battery, get it out of your house and take it to an authorized disposal spot.  THEY ARE DANGEROUS. Just watch this or read about this poor guy, this woman or these people - they would tell you the same thing.

On top of that, our dishwasher has decided to go on strike.  Everything works except the start button.  It did this about 6 months ago and we got it back up and running by flipping the breaker off for a day and then waiting for a day or so.  I guess it just needed a vacation, because it's worked fine since then.  J. says it's a control board issue so there goes several hundred dollars. Pbbbbbtttt!

Now I have to wash dishes by hand.  Oh the humanity!  And there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Just kidding....  But I know lots of folks in today's society that would just die if they had to.  Me?  I think life would be a lot better if we didn't have all these gadgets.

Signing off the Internet to go to my high-tech computer job.  A very, VERY.....