THE Lowly Peon

The difference between 120 and 240 
13 August 2010, 12:45am

Hint: it's not 120.

It's hard to believe, but it's been almost a year since I went to San Francisco to meet saulemander, Benji, and nellie. While I was there, I decided to buy a beard trimmer, as until that point, I was using little scissors to trim my facial hair. It was magical. My beard was even, and clean enough, and it took so much less time than scissors.

I took it back to China, where we lived happily ever after. I took it with my on longer business trips, or when I went home for Christmas. I even took the charger with me and charged it in hotels.

And then one day I charged it in my family room because my sink area was wet. Woops.

My adapter exploded because it was a 240V socket, not 120V.

What to do? Well, grow a beard. So I did. I didn't shave, and I though I trimmed the gnarly stuff with scissors, I mostly let it grow. Those of you who have seen me recently have seen my "beard". I like it.

So today I decided to invest in another AC adapter for my trimmer. I called about ten places, and none of them had such a low voltage adapter. Except one, who was selling it for $27.99. The trimmer, mind you, was $30.

Saddened by this state of affairs, i went to buy a new trimmer. I figure if it's only a few dollars more, maybe I could figure something out or give it to someone else. And then i found a cheaper trimmer for $15, and I bought it. And sure enough, the adapter was in the box. Same one and everything. A 4203-030-77990. I win.