The Perils of Plugging In
My grandpa’s house (may he rest in peace) is pretty old, built in the 1960s. The walls are concrete, the roofing sheet metal, but the floors are good old narra (kinda like oak). So the wall sockets are pretty old too.
This morning, I plugged in my laptop’s power cord. And for the first time in my life, a ball of sparks blinded me.
It was a good thing I didn’t plug the other end into my laptop. A fuse blew, protecting the rest of the house’s electric system. But it wasn’t enough to save an electric fan from burning out. And thank God plugs are wrapped in rubber!
Thus I learned to plug in one end of a charger into the wall socket, before plugging the other end into a gadget. After everything looks safe.
Of course, it also makes sense to have an old house’s electric system upgraded. Shelling out money for new wall sockets and wiring, and the cost of their installation, is worth it. Because I feel really lucky that a burnt out laptop power cord and electric fan were the only casualties of my little electric fiasco.
One thing’s for sure: the whole experience really woke me up!
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POSTED IN: Living as a Freelancer
1 opinion for The Perils of Plugging In
b5media - This Week in the Business Channel
Mar 19, 2007 at 8:45 am
[…] Rico at Contract Worker writes about The Perils of Plugging In, showing why today the dangers of not upgrading your house’s electrical […]
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