I must be having a Luddite moment or something, but it’s getting ridiculous, the number of rechargeable and portable electronic devices we have these days. I mean, just in the past few days I’ve had to charge my PDA, charge my cell phone, charge my cordless razor, charge the digital camera (only to find out the battery was dying and useless), charge the video camera battery (only to plug the camera into the outlet directly anyway), and charge up my mom’s laptop as I worked on it.

And it gets worse: flashlights, a portable handheld vacuum sitting on my desk, remote controls for the TV, VCR/DVD, digital cable, and stereo, myriad battery-powered toys the kids have, the cordless phones. Don’t yet have a portable music or DVD player, video game system, or my own laptop—but I suspect it’s all a matter of time.

Okay. All done. Back to coveting electronics, rather than disdaining them: I’d kill for a camera phone and a WiFi-enabled laptop…