With all of these new portable devices in the home comes a whole other set of logistical challenges. Where's the power cord when you need it? How come the coffee pot didn't brew my coffee? (Because someone unplugged the coffee pot in order to use the outlet to charge their phone.)

In my household there are two of us who are gadget users--our two kids are not quite there yet. Between the two of us, we have 2 cell phones, 2 digital cameras, and 2 portable music players. All of which get used on an almost daily basis, and therefor need to be charged. My wife in particular wasn't so good about remembering to charge things so almost every weekend it seemed her cell phone was out of commission, and whenever she wanted to go running with her iPod she had forgotten to charge it. And don't get me started about her using my digital camera & then leaving it with no battery power.

So to solve this I assembled a simple "charger station". Next to the phone in the kitchen, I put all the charge cords through a hole in the countertop, with the plugs going to two power strips underneath the counter. The result is a nice looking central location for all devices to be located and charged. So no more hunting for them, and they're always charged because now we're habitutated to always putting them there and plugging them in.

A simple solution for an annoying problem. Tim Allen would be proud.

--Sherman