Cold Season's Greetings

As promised (or if I hadn't made that promise yet, all me to assure you), not all entries will relate to movies.

I live in New England, and it's currently winter. This unhappily means that it's beginning to get cold. I made a sad discovery not long ago that our second bedroom (read: office/toy room) has no heat. With the second big snow storm presently upon us the lady and myself made haste to the nearest Wal-Mart for provisions. The happy result? 2, count them, TWO space heaters.

It's a beautiful sight. One that you are no doubt wondering why I would share with you. The reason is the following image that I was greeted with upon opening the box.


Not only does the Honeywell company find it important to show the "Right" or "Correct" or "Correcto" way to plug in your new appliance, they also felt it might be prudent to tell you that half-plugged in, smoking plugs are a big NO-NO.

I don't know about you, but when I see smoke pouring from an electrical socket I standardly think to myself "Incorrecto," and quickly and promptly unplug the offender. No image guidance necessary.

The good news is the heater really seems to work well. I'm sitting here typing and still have circulation in my toes. The bad news is that the second space heater's box seems to have been opened previously: the heater wasn't wrapped up in that glorious, "I'm brand new!" plastic wrap, and the manual was missing. In addition, when I plug it in all it does is smoke. Where the hell was the helpful image explaining what to do in this scenario?

Don't worry though, I quickly thought "Incorrecto" and unplugged the little bastard. Looks like we'll be going back to Wal-Mart to make an exchange.