I finished a project, and I’ve been thinking about how we as a society tend to throw everything into the trash can, or the more politically-correct recycle bin. But I’m getting ahead of my story…

For Christmas this year, one of the silly gifts I gave to my wife (Christmas is for the useless gift, not for the necessary or practical, IMHO) was a “Personal Audio System” for her XM Satellite Radio receiver, the Roady2. (Ok, ok, for my Roady2…see, I bought a Tao XM2Go and she got my original radio, the Roady2, for her car. Been feeling a little guilty about the portability issue ever since.) The “PAS” is that thing on the left…it’s a “container” for the Roady2, including a battery, that turns the normally-fixed satellite radio into a “wearable” (you know, like a walkman only with “live” satellite radio?) - the antenna is in the headphones (although the antenna jack is, unlike the XM2Go line, a standard-sized one, so you could easily use a spare car antenna with a washer under your jacket) which allows you to head out the door and listen to C-Span, the BBC World Service, or XMPR (remind me to tell you about my recently listening a lot to Watercolors of all things) on your walks.

Anyway, a few days after she had been enjoying it, I was taking it into my office to do some tests on the thing with home and car antennas and…I dropped it. When it hit the floor, a whole passel of fine plastic parts broke; one of the side clips went flying, the other fixed clip broke into two pieces outside the device, and I was heartsick. I gathered up parts, including the tiny plastic pieces, a spring, and even the jack cover (which only popped off, and didn’t break), and deposited them into a plastic bag.
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