Know your poles

Jenn & I went out to dinner tonight and needed a babysitter to watch Raelyn for the evening. When we got home, the babysitter’s car wouldn’t start. I naively offered to jump-start her truck, knowing full well that I’d probably cross-wire the jumper cables.

I successfully connected the cable to my Camry, but I should have known something was wrong when sparks leapt from the unconnected receptacles to the hood of her truck. Acting macho and manly, I forged ahead and did, in fact, cross-wire the jumper cables.

How do I know this? Well, as I sat down in my car to turn the key in the ignition, I noticed the entire length of the cable was smoking. I ended up completely burning the plastic shielding off of 50% of the cable, especially near the connectors. In the process, I gave myself a very minor burn on one finger (phew) and the melted plastic burned a nice hole in my jacket, which I had used as a make-shift oven mitt.

Overall, a very successful evening. The moral of my story? Know your poles.

2 thoughts on “Know your poles

  1. Not exactly, Dave. Am I using the wrong form of the word pole? Should it be poll, instead? Or maybe even pol? Hmmm. Off to dictionary.com for some knowledge.

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