family

Electronics Hell

How many cords do you need to travel to france???

I borrowed a DVD player from friend.  Noticed that the AC adapter for the wall charger was missing, so, I decided, surely the igo would sell a tip to convert and charge it at the airport.  I then visited my neighbors.  They were taking us to the airport this morning so I thought we should discuss departure time.  During the discussion, B mentioned she has an igo as well, it has a huge charger with all sorts of cords and such.  I thought, “Great, I’ll borrow hers and return mine…saves me some $$”  We woke up this morning frenzied, but not too crazy.  S dropped us off at O’Hare, we made it through screening with not one single problem.  As I was putting the laptop back in the bag I realized…..I forgot the laptop charger.  AGHHHHH.  WTF??!!  So we made it to our gate, I took the sack of igo cords and pieces and went to Brookstone.  They do not sell an igo tip to go with the laptop or with the DVD player.  So, here I am, completely panic struck.  What am I going to DO?  I finally decide to by an igo laptop charger.  $89 later I am sitting in the flight waiting area and I decide to charge the itouch.  Well, the little tips I do have don’t fit on the apparatus that the neighbor gave me.  Not only that, but I left the itouch wall charger where??  That’s right folks, plugged into the WALL at home.  So, I have the laptop issue figured out, I now have to buy another converter to plug into the laptop to charge the phone and Nintendo.  What about the DVD player you might ask?  Not only does it not have a wall charger, but the charger that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car is broken.  I should have stuck with my first instinct and focused on charging things in case we have no wall power.  But, I got all sidetracked with cords, power and buttons.  As I sit here on the plane $100 poorer with no good solutions, I am reminded that the kids can actually draw or read if they get too bored.  It is a good thing too, cause I forgot the DVD case at home anyway.  Here is a photo of just some of the cords and attachments I have.  Mind you, they don’t work.

p.s. Luckily Big Sister is sent some DVDs to us via the grandparents 🙂

Well our bags are nearly packed…
I am hoping I don’t need this and can return this and the 3 adapters, but just in case….

Yesterday as I was putting the idea of the bags together I realized I have these Leap Pad electronic books that will be great for A to use on the plane.  All I needed was a couple of the books and cartridges.  Took a drive down to Toys r us and was shocked.  They don’t even make that older version of the leappad anymore.  I couldn’t believe it.  Is it true that I was shopping for these things 6  years ago?  Where did the time go?  So, I may not be taking these things on the plane, I have lost way too many of the cartridges to make it worth carrying the them on the plane.  That doesn’t mean that we’ll be traveling light at all.  How many gizmos does it take to go to Europe?  I’ll tell you, about 9 million.  Not only that, but I spent a good deal of the day wondering how I am going to keep the things charged.  I called Delta to see if they have outlets on in coach.  Apparently, we hit the jackpot on the way there.  OUTLETS.  The way home it is unclear because Delta hasn’t updated their entire fleet.  I am hopeful we can get seats with chargers.  Just in case, I needed a solution to the inevitable power drain of movies and games.  Since I didn’t plan this far enough in advance, I couldn’t do any bargain shopping.  I stopped in at Radio Shack and bought an igo.   With the igo, I bought an adapter for the ipod, the nokia/blackberry and the nintendo ds.  Here’s what we are taking for the plane:

  • A wealth of apps downloaded onto the itouch
  • 2 additional ipods with kid movies, spongebob, chowder and other silly shows
  • Maze books
  • puzzle books
  • books
  • bendaroos
  • travel games
  • coloring books
  • markers
  • colored pencils
  • paper
  • journals
  • portable dvd player
  • laptop
  • we’ve also decided to bring snacks, it sounds like there might not be as many snacks on international flights as their used to be

I am really getting excited.  Oh, the items listed here are just for the plane.  I haven’t even mentioned the camera, camera charger, tom tom and other things that require power.  No wonder we use 80 percent more energy than our neighbors.  For Christmas I need a solar back pack.