Toy Boy: Part 3!

Gadgetman's Phone Box!

by Sharon Archer


Nope, this "phone box" isn't something that Gadgetman races into so he can turn into a super-hero!  

This is a box full of mobile phones and mobile-phone "bits"!  My dh (aka Gadgetman or Mr Gadget) was having an "organise" in his office and very proudly brought these out to show me!

I couldn't resist having a rummage around to see how many different phones there were which made me think of sharing another "Toy Boy" blog with you!

The annoying thing is that each of these phones has it's own charger -
 

- with a plug which is not compatible with most of the other phones so there's no possibility of having a "spare".

And the headsets come in a variety of shapes and sizes, too....

 - as do their plug-ins so, again, often not able to transfer to different phone!

What I think is, wouldn't it be wonderful if there was a "universal" plug that all the phone makers used!  Then, I'd be able to charge my mobile phone using the same cable my dh uses!  How efficient would that be!

What about you - do you have a stash of mobile phones lurking in a "phone box" at your place?  Or any revolutionary thoughts to suggest to the manufacturers to make updating your phone more streamlined and user friendly!

Confessions from Mrs Gadget's Kitchen

by Sharon Archer

I had such a lovely time on my last two blogs with Mr Gadget’s techie toys that I thought it was only fair to open my kitchen drawer. Maybe you have one the same... it rarely sees the light of day and is stuffed full of those “must-haves” that you can’t go another day without?


I’ve collected mine from various home shows over the years - each and every one of them a great idea... at the time.


 Like these natty little club sandwich cutters in the shape of card suits. Perfect for serving up bite-sized cucumber and cress sandwiches at a bridge party. Um, not that I play bridge... nor have I eaten cucumber and cress sandwiches.  But if I ever want to, I’ll be able to present them very elegantly.

 
 I must say I do find the heart-shaped one handy - I've used it for heart-shaped shortbread and pastry decorations on pie.


Samosas, anyone? And three different sizes! Don’t they look like sets of dentures? I confess, I've never used these so I've no idea if if they make samosa-making easy...



Then there’s the melon ball makers... I have two and one of them is a very serious piece of kitchen hardware.  I must have imagined myself as a kitchen goddess flitting around the benches making delicious melon ball desserts or salads.

And how about this apparatus...it looks worryingly like it might be more at home on a hospital theatre tray for a medical procedure.





  
It makes curly chips... one curly chip at a time.

Since I’m a cook who loves quick and easy, what possessed me to buy something that would take an age for me to make a snack-sized serve of chips. Mind you, I expect with practice I’d get faster – I seem to remember the man who demonstrated this, twizzled his way to an impressive pile of curly chips of carrot, potato and kumara without too much trouble.

And finally, a lemon juicer – just twist it into the whole lemon and pour. Since I have a cold at the moment I might just use this later when I’m making a hot toddy!

So how about you?  What lovely “must-haves” have you got lurking in your kitchen drawer?

Toy Boy!

       
The Sequel!
by Sharon Archer

The lid is off gadget box two so I’m sharing a selection in a photographic tour!

And they came into the house Two by Two!  After all, if one is good, surely more is better! 

 














This is a device for re-setting little ink-jet cartridges so you can use every drop of ink in the container!  I’ve no idea how it works but it makes my budget-chromosome super happy.






A USB stick and antenna that enable a computer to work as a television.  We got this for the trip around Australia on the motorbike.  The trip was awesome – alas the computer/television was not.  Glenn tweaked and tweaked and tweaked some more but it never worked.









 The PDA!  Very old now but an excellent gadget for many years.  The keyboard was just the bee’s knees!  I lusted after this!
 

A low-tech gadget and just what every up-and-coming golfer needs -  a golf ball monogrammer.  Surely it has to help your golf swing!












And of course, each of these gadget comes with its own cord!  Naturally each cord has different plugs so no cord can be used for multiple devices. Is there a plural noun for electrical leads – I’m thinking of coining one – a spaghetti of leads!

Any thoughts on the collective noun for leads?  Or even a collective noun for gadgets?



I'm giving away another copy of THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE to celebrate - the paperback edition of the book has sold out on the Mills & Boon Australia website!  Other editions are still available from other sites (links on my website) and the e-Book is still available from Mills & Boon Australia.

"Toy Boy!" Blog Winner

with Sharon Archer

Thank you, everyone!  It's been the best fun to hear your gadget and gizmo tales and to compare notes!  By a process of careful scientific selection... ahem... I've picked a name out of the barrel! 

Anita Joy!

Anita, can you please contact me on sharon (at) sharon-archer (dot) com and I'll get a copy of The Man Behind The Badge into the post for you!

Toy Boy!

     
Married to Mr Gadget!

by Sharon Archer

Why have one when you can have two... or more!

When I Googled "men and gadgets", I got nearly 93,000,000 hits! Tempting though it was, I resisted visiting all of them!  But I had a lovely rifle through quite a few!  According to some surveys, there isn't much that men prefer above their gadgets. There's even a book called Boys and Their Toys: Understanding Men By Understanding Their Relationship With Gadgets by Bill Adler.

Yep, men love technology!  And my husband, Glenn, is no exception! The latest gadget arrived a couple of weeks ago - a GPS.  Things didn't look promising to start with... it couldn't find where it was!  Not a great start for a gadget that's supposed to tell you where to go! 

Needless to say that some more investigation and Glenn discovered he needed to take it outside, give it a clear view of the sky.  He waited patiently with it in the orchard while it found satellites.... for twenty minutes while his lunch went cold.  Once it was happy, he found his way back to the table!

Anyway, we went out with it in the car for the very first time. As we turned out of the gate, an emotionless female voice said...

• Drive for two point three kilometres.  Then  
• In eight hundred metres, prepare to turn left.... and  
• In three hundred metres, prepare to turn left.... and finally  
• Turn left at the next intersection.

By this stage, I'm thinking, this could get old really really fast!
But then, as Glenn accelerated up the hill, she said the magic words...

• You are over the speed limit!

Music to my ears! I fell in love - instantly!

So have you got gadget lovers in your life? Or perhaps you're the gadget lover?  Confess all!
I've got a copy of The Man Behind The Badge to give away to one of my commenters!

PS No husbands were hurt in the writing of this blog article.  In fact, Glenn sourced gadgets for photographing. When I cried "Enough, enough!"... his plaintive voice came from down the hall,  "But I haven't opened the other box yet!"