The item pictured above is an iPaq Power Connector. The power adapter plugs into the synch cradle, and then I plug the iPaq into the synch cradle to recharge the batteries. With the iPaq Power Connector, I can plug the power directly into the iPaq, skipping the cradle. The iPaq Power Connector has a little rubber loop that fixes it to the power adapter cable; but it's flexible, and detachable.

Earlier this month, as I wrapped up the power connector, I felt some resistance. I tugged on it, and it came free from whatever it was caught on; but when it did, the iPaq Power Connector was gone. I looked under the bed, under the backpack, under the power strip, and under every other thing I could see that might have both caught and concealed the iPaq Power Connector. No luck. It was gone.

So ever since, everywhere I've taken my iPaq, I've had to also take the synch cradle if I've wanted to be able to recharge my phone. I stuck it in my backpack, and I took it everywhere: to Kinko's multiple times, to McDonald's and various other restaurants, to friends' houses, you name it. Even on a flight from Grand Rapids to Yonkers and back by way of Detroit. Everywhere I went, I had the synch cradle in my backpack, which wasn't exactly convenient: it's an odd shape and size, and makes it harder to fit the backpack into tight places like under airline seats. But especially on business trips of multiple days, I have to be able to recharge the phone.

This latest trip to San Francisco started with a stop in Minneapolis. And Saturday travel is pretty light, so NWA uses smaller planes where they can. This time, the plane was a small one with very limited overhead luggage space. The gate agent strongly insisted on doing gate checks for all luggage. Actually, the backpack could've fit under the seat just fine — even with that bulky synch cradle in it — but I didn't know that. So against all my usual habits, I let the gate agent tag the backpack; and then when I got to the plane, I put it on the cart for checking. I figured it was only an hour flight, and I could be without my CX200X for that long. Besides, I had some new reading to keep me occupied.

So when I got to Minneapolis, I rushed to the gate check pickup shelf. Just because I gave the machine up didn't mean I was comfortable with it sitting on a shelf where anyone could pick it up. But thanks to some slow passengers, "rushed" wasn't quite the right word. By the time I got to the shelf, my backpack was the last piece of luggage there.

And on the floor, right below where my backpack lay, was... my iPaq Power Connector.

I can't even fathom the odds...