Geek Tales

I'm no different than any other power user. I like gadgets, and I always find a reason or an excuse to buy what I want or what I need.

So one day I invite my new girlfriend over to my house. After getting a short tour of the house, she excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She comes out shortly thereafter and says "Oh, I think you left your PDA in the bathroom."

I check my pockets, and pull out my smartphone and my Asus MyPal 620. "Nope, I have it right here. I use that PDA for bathroom reading...and solitaire."

The girlfriend (who lets say is not computer savvy) then says "You have two PDAs, and a computer phone?"

I pause for a moment, look around, and say "uhh...actually, I think I have seven of them."

"Seven??? Whatever for?!"

Well, not wanting to spend the evening explaining the technical limitations of many of the older devices, and the impending need to have up-to-date technology in order to perform necessary tasks and other requirements, I don't go into the reasons why I bought and kept all those devices.

Those who appreciate the internal workings of handheld devices will understand and appreciate why one pocket PC was a bedside alarm clock, one was a recipe database, another was an address book, one was a universal remote control, and one was just there as a calculator. I didn't even include my handheld PC (a Sharp Mobilon with an LCD screen).

To this day, my girlfriend has not set foot in my computer room, where eight important machines are in use, performing critical day-to-day operations.