A Tangle of Cables

I'm leaving town tomorrow for a visit with my Mom and my sister for a few days.

For a weekend trip, I can live with just my iPHONE since I can get email, internet, music and have a simple camera. But, I can't write a long email and I can't search the internet very well. I can't access my files. For a longer trip, I have to take more electronic gear.

My iPHONE, laptop, Kindle and camera are going with me. Plus a couple of flash drives. Everything on this list except the flash drives needs to be charged. Four cables for four devices. I keep them all in the same place, in a tangled mess in a desk drawer. Some are long and some are short. They all have different ends to them which is how I can tell them apart.

All these devices are dual voltage so when I go to France, I just have to change the plug and I can charge them all using the same cables. So, the cables go with me everywhere.

I'm afraid to lose them, especially in France. Where would I get a replacement? So, I pack all the cables in my carry-on luggage along with all the devices.

I used to wonder why I always got picked for additional security screening at the airport. A middle-aged, nicely dressed white woman. I finally figured out that it's the cables. They probably look suspicious on the x-ray, perhaps like a primitive bomb.

It's a bomb, alright. A bomb of tangled up cables.

With all the technical achievement required to make these great devices, you'd think they could come up with a universal cable and plug system. It would save a lot of confusion, and the TSA could focus on the real terror threats.