It's the darnedest thing. N deals death to every electronic device he touches, sometimes sooner, sometimes later, but eventually all give up the ghost when he uses them.

I don't know how he does it. When he was well (less sick and so less sensitive about disability), we used to joke that being a January Aquarius was the problem, his being the sign governed by Saturn and Uranus, you know. We called it fate.

I'd like to attribute his death-dealing to cell phones, computers, VHS recorders, DVD players, fax machines, scanners, and so forth, to clumsiness or inattention, but it happens to every single one of the devices belonging to him. Buy him a new one, it lasts weeks or at most a few months, and it's dead too.

The latest casualty was a cell phone that I used for a little while, then set up for him with his phone numbers and speed dial and everything. This morning he tells me that everything in its memory is gone, though he can receive calls on it still. I thought, WTF? I should have known better than to give him another phone. Waste of money.

He wants a new cell phone, a computer, and a stand alone DVD player. No. I hate throwing good money away.

He's never been allowed to touch my computer. The one time he did (without my prior knowledge), I had to take it in for a major tune-up and virus removal.

It's inexplicable, and weird.