The house is on fire

My husband did it again. He burned another electronic device...well, this time it was a power strip that we brought with us from the United States. Honestly I don't know why he plugged it in, or where he plugged it into, because I wasn't looking. But this is the third time. You'd think he'd learn. I get the voltage difference "system" and I'd explained it to him on more than one occasions, but ::whoosh:: over his head I guess.


Anyway, you can imagine what an electrical fire looks like and I sure can you tell you how it smells. It burns. Inside your nose. The smell lingers and when I walk into the kitchen where the strip has been exposed of, it stinks even more. No fun. Boo hoo. I saw that fire and heard the noise when it sizzled and burned. And of course the smell was worse.

The first thing that was "burned", or destroyed, in this house was our cordless phone. We don't have or need a house phone in Brasilia; the only reason we bought one was to use with our Magic Jack. Luckily for us, it turns out that our neighbors found an extra phone in a closet in their apartment when they moved in and since they're not using it we've got it. All we had to buy was a phone cord and that cost less than 50 cents (American).


What fried next was a real disappointment to E because he loves to listen to music, as do I. It was our iPhone speakers. It's too bad because those bad boys worked really well. What I don't get then is why E plugged in everything immediately - as soon as we arrived in the country. I mean, you'd think it'd be a better idea to check the voltage before doing anything, right? That's what I did. Our laptops and battery chargers work (either with our without an adapter), and frankly, that's what's most important. Our apartment was furnished and came with all of the appliances we need. All we need a transformer for, really, in the kitchen, is our rice cooker. 


So we no longer have a cordless phone or speakers for our iPods/iPhone. But these were fried within the first day or two of being in Brazil. Now it's been three weeks and E still plugged in the power strip, which is now lying to rest in the trash can. I'm hoping that that's it. We got a transformer today so we can finally hook up our wireless adapter (thank goodness!) and we can both use our laptops at the same time as well as clean up the mess of cords that were like vines hanging from a tree all over the living room. Our apartment will eventually cease to smell like fire and we'll get back to normal, just with less electronic equipment. 

Bye bye smart phones, we don't need you

We have done it. The impossible? The inconceivable? We have switched from our iPhones to "real" cell phones. No more data plans. No more Internet, Facebook, GPS, picture SMS. Oh what will we ever do? The answer: nothing. We'll use our new phones to make calls. Imagine that. Oh yeah, and of course text, though neither E nor I wants to do as much texting with the keyboards our phones have. It's not as easy now.

E made the first step about a month ago. He had been complaining about his smart phone for weeks until he finally got fed up and took my old Motorola Razor phone to our cell phone provider and changed his plan, removing his chip from his iPhone. He could still use his iPhone to play music in the car and at home, as well as use the Internet on it, but everything else is gone. Does he miss it? No. Not at all.

So instead of missing his phone, E has only made comments about how much better the "old" phone is in comparison to his smart phone. He's really happy with his decision and encouraged me to do the same if I wanted to.

Today I took the plunge. I had been thinking about making the change for the past few weeks, and today I did it. I bought an old school Nokia cell phone. No camera. No frills. No nothing. I actually wonder if I went to the extreme, though the phone is of great quality. Anyway, we have less than 3 months before our cell phone contract is up and we were going to discontinue the use of iPhones at that time, so what's 80 days? I have a camera if I want to take pictures. I have a computer if I want to check my e-mail and/or go on-line. Who needs a GPS on a phone if there's one in the car? And actually having a phone whose battery doesn't die after 2 hours of wonderful.

I am going to keep my iPhone and take it with me to Brazil since I use it as an iPod, but I'm unsure if I'll use it as a phone there. I guess we'll see how safe I feel carrying around an expensive phone in my pocket.

E has decided to sell his iPhone now since it has a cracked screen and it has been sitting on the counter since he began using the Motorola. I do think, however, that he will buy another smart phone again in the future.

When we get to Brazil we'll make the decision as to the best phones and cell phone plan for us. At least in the meantime I'll spend a lot less time on my phone. I'm almost looking forward to not being so dependent on it.