A funny thing happened today.

My grandpa's house (may he rest in peace) was built in the 1960s. Even if concrete walls hold up everything, and the roofing is sheet metal, the floors are made of wood. The wall sockets are decidely old school.

This morning, when I plugged in my laptop's power cord, a ball of sparks erupted. And a fuse blew, saving the electrical system. But it was not enough to save an electric fan from getting burned out. Good thing the other end of the power cord wasn't plugged into my laptop. Imagine if it was!

So I now know better when plugging in a gadget, like a smartphone or PDA, for charging. I'm plugging in the charger into the wall socket first, and will only plug in the other end into the device when the coast is clear. And I'll have the sockets and wiring of the house upgraded as soon as possible.

Old school may be good, but not when you're getting power through antique electric circuits! I'm lucky that only a burned out power cord and electric were the only casualties of the day.