Never Throw a Cord Out

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

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