This story begins with a remote-controlled centipede.
And how many stories have that preface?
Yet it’s true. My mother’s boyfriend (Roger) is a big kid at heart. And to me, that’s very relatable. I too seek excuses to wander the Nerf isle, chuckling merrily at the myriad of mischievous machinations–made by malicious Man. How I long to fork over the $150 for the battery-powered chain-fed fully automatic Nerf LMG. And I totally would, were I to have a son instead of a daughter.
But Roger’s sense of humor provides the excuse, and I find myself buying him the toys that I secretly want for myself. And he in turn does the same to me. And so, I found myself with a really cool remote-controlled centipede.
[End preface 1]
I collect electrical cords. Sure, proprietary monitor ports have given way to VGA, then to DVI, then to HDMI; but what of those old and still-functioning peripherals? They might be re-purposed one day, and then where will I find one of those old cables? So I keep them all, in a cardboard box, in which they’ve amalgamated into some form of insulated copper Gordian Knot, but I know that the moment I throw one out, I’ll need it. And despite Liz’s protestations to what she considers “hoarding”, the box remains.
[End preface 2]
The centipede has an internal battery which cannot be swapped. I find that unusual for a toy. And equally unusual is that the toy did not come with a charging cable, given the clearly-labeled charging port on the centipede’s ventral service. It was a situation of little importance given the far more demanding obligations at hand, but it irritated me. And so, I dove into the box, looking for a cable–any cable–which might fit the connecting port on the centipede’s underbelly.
And found a cord I did, much to my surprise. Yet, the cord’s other end was USB, which made me really wonder what it’s original purpose was. No matter, what I needed then was an adapter.
But then I considered–how many different charging cables terminated in USB? To answer, I dug through the box some more. I found (before I grew weary of knots): USB micro, USB mini, and the unknown and aforementioned centipede charger. I considered: wouldn’t it be nice if I could plug them all into something akin to a charging station?
And then I found the old USB hub, which was powered. Huzzah! I plugged the hub into an outlet, then the various cables into the hub (including the centipede-charger). And sure enough, the centipede indicated successful charging via glowing eyes. And now, I can plug additional devices into the hub to charge alongside the centipede.
So what started as a very insignificant dilemma turned into a more expansive solution. I now have a charging station on the tech shelf for any modern electronic which might need a battery charge.
And they’ll all have a centipede guardian.
–Simon