Today, in an utterly uncharacteristic burst of technical competence, I single-handedly fixed my wife's malfunctioning PDA.

A few days ago, Agnes came home from work and greeted me with the dreaded words, "it doesn't work any more!" I eventually ascertained that the "it" that no longer functioned was the Very Expensive PDA I gave her last Christmas. This is, of course, not good. I asked the two key initial troubleshooting questions ("did you try to reset it?", and, "when was the last time you charged the battery?"). Well, she'd evidently done everything right, and the Very Expensive PDA still steadfastly refused to function...thus making it my problem (it says so in the fine print on the marriage contract).

As a good husband should, I immediately sprung into action by ignoring the problem and hoping it would go away by itself. Unfortunately Agnes, as a good wife should, kept asking if I'd fixed the problem yet. Today, I did.

I solved the problem by the time-honored expedient of reading the instruction manual. It turned out that the lock on the battery compartment had somehow slipped from the "locked" to the "unlocked" position, which automatically turns the device into a sleek, high-tech paperweight. I flipped the switch back to the "locked" position and - presto! - the Very Expensive PDA was again as good as new. Unfortunately, it will be a few hours before Agnes knows I've come to the rescue, because she had to work this afternoon. But I know she will be in suitable awe of my skill at repairing complicated electronic devices. That's not quite right...actually, she'll be amazed I was able to do anything about it at all.

Truth is, I am the most low-tech person you will ever meet - my mechanical aptitude and ability to master complex machinery are challenged by a can opener. And so it is that I have taken great pride in actually being able to figure out what was wrong with the Very Expensive PDA. I think I'll take the rest of the afternoon off.

And so should you - it's the weekend, after all.

Have a good day. More ruminations tomorrow. Bilbo.