The last few weeks have been difficult. Not because the two houses we own are both wrecks. Not because my children make me think that running off to join the circus would be a move towards embracing a simpler life. Nope. I just haven't been able to play my iPod in the car, because some how the Transpod I use to beam the sound into my radio lost its fuse.

One day I reached down to plug it in and the tip that sticks into the cigarette lighter was unscrewed and lying around the car in three parts. I found everything except the fuse. That was frustrating, but what was even more frustrating was that although I found lots of information about where the fuse was located and how some people have problems with the Transpods blowing fuses, nobody ever bothered mentioning what kind of fuse it was. I had no idea whether I needed a 1 amp fuse or a 10 amp fuse. The manual didn't say and neither did anybody else.

Finally, yesterday I went to Best Buy and made them open up a package take out the fuse and figure out what I needed. For those needing to know -- the Transpod takes a 2 amp, 250 V fuse. Naturally, Best Buy doesn't sell them. But Lowes does. I now have 5 of them, which cost about $2 for the package and several weeks of annoyance.