AAA ... Eh?

[plonq]

I have noticed lately that the pen for my Surface has not been especially responsive. After a bit of experimentation, I came to the conclusion that the battery is dying. I took a spare AAA battery to work on Friday with the intention of swapping out the battery once I got it set up. I unscrewed the top of the pen, removed the battery, and made a very important discover. I was wrong. It does not take an AAA battery.

It takes an AAAA battery.

Don't feel bad if you have never heard of those. I had not heard of them before Friday, and based on my experience while shopping today, I am in the majority. This conversation was repeated several times today (to atara's amusement."

I would wander around in a store, looking like I had just emerged from my alien birthpod and had never seen the inside of a human store. I found that this was a good look for attracting the attention of sympathetic store employees. The dialogue usually started with a salutation, followed by, "Is there something I can help you find?"

"Yes. I am looking for a quadruple-A battery."

"Triple-A batteries? All of our batteries are up at the front. Let's just go have a look."

"No," I'd say again, holding up four fingers. "A quadruple-A battery." Usually this would net me a blank stare, and a couple of quick blinks as their brain alternately tried to parse the request and gauge the depth of my insanity.

They would humour me and lead me to the front where they would make a show of looking for my unicorn battery before declaring the futility of the search in a tone that said, "You know that such a thing does not exist, don't you?"

There was a glimmer of quickly-dashed hope in Best Buy when we approached the front with our doubting guide. A co-worker must have noticed his distressed expression, and he asked what we were looking for. Our guide quickly signed what I assume was the symbol for, "These people are insane and possibly dangerous," but out loud he said, "These folks are looking for some quadruple-A batteries."

"Triple-A?"

"Quadruple-A," I said, holding up four fingers.

"Oh," he said. "Ooooh. You've got a Surface pen, right? Ya, uh, no. You may as well just order one online because nobody in this town carries those."

We checked a couple more places, and it seems that he is right. Even a place called The Battery Man doesn't carry them.

A couple of weeks ago I had my first glass of scotch for the year. Even though I have learned that my prescription medication is OK with moderate amounts of alcohol, I have nonetheless curtailed my drinking significantly since the start of the year. My average intake these days is about one beer a week. I miss alcohol, but I don't exactly crave it. I think I was drinking more than I should anyway, so it does me no harm to have cut it back like I did.


I've missed a couple of days this year, but so far this has been my most successful attempt at doing a picture every day of the year. I even added the extra challenge of making myself take and post the picture on the same day. I am also trying to avoid taking pictures of the same things over and over (though the cats get a pass in that category), so that means I'm snapping shots of anything that catches my eye some days in hopes of salvaging an interesting picture out of it.

Comments

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

I understand 9V batteries are actually six AAAA cells in a can, wired in series. You could take one apart.

[plonq.livejournal.com]

Hm. I believe you're right. We have a couple of new 9-volt batteries. Since I suspect a pack of AAAAs would probably cost at last as much as a single 9V anyway, I may just strip one of the ones we have apart and see how that goes.

[aurifer.livejournal.com]

That was one of the worst things they did with the Surface. Apple got it right when they made a pen with a quick-charging Li-ion battery that you can plug in for a few seconds before using. The idea of using alkalines these days seems out of place.
(Though I like the idea that they're replaceable. I guess the only really standard Li-ion size is 18650, which is way too big. They should have made their own standard or something.)

[allaboutweather.livejournal.com]

C-Eh,N-Eh,D-Eh.

Old joke but I couldn't help myself. XD