Electronic Gremlins – Do You Have Them?

Recently, I've had an infestation of electronic gremlins in my house wrecking everything from cell phones to TV's and I don't know how to stop it! My first sign that there was a gremlin around was when my 11-year-old son's PS2 went out. The disc tray wouldn't eject and his game got stuck inside. Soon after, the picture and everything went out all together. At that point I just chalked it up to wear and tear. Then my 8-year-old's slimline PS2 went out! Hold on now, that think still had a few good game left on it! It wasn't time for IT to die! That's when I got the hint that we had a gremlin! Next to get attacked was my FIRST 32" HDTV! In the middle of playing my favorite game KILLZONE 3, the picture started flickering then flipping like the VERTICAL  HOLD was off like back in the 80's! I put it in the shop, and a few days later they called and said they THINK they might have fixed it but they're not sure! WT#!?! So, I went to the shop, they plugged it up and it worked!

No sooner than I got it home, plugged it in, hook my PS3 up and got ready to play, THE GREMLIN STRUCK! Same issue...I take it back to the shop and they take another look at it but pronounced it dead at 4:32pm. I'm THIS CLOSE to calling an exorcist by now! The gremlin next got a hold to my wife's cell phone and won't let her access ANY of her apps now! OHHH.....it's ON now gremlin! So I tried to gremlin proof the rest of my stuff by check for loose wires, replacing old ones, removing unnecessary wires and dust, and even going so far as to COVER my NEW HDTV that I just bought in the hopes that it would deter the gremlin from attacking. But alas, the gremlin apparently isn't phased by cloth cover and messed up the resolution on the new TV. I took the new TV back up to the store to try and exchange it. Even though it wasn't store policy, the store offered to replace or upgrade, if I paid the difference in price if something was wrong with it since it had been less that a week. Why when I plugged it up at the store, IT PLAYED PERFECTLY?!?! No flipping, glitching, or phasing out...just perfect HD! The clerks must have sensed my frustration, and offered to replace it still if it messed up again. I thank them graciously  a take my TV back home! In the back of my mind on the ride home, I just KNEW the gremlin was going to get at my TV again and sho' nuff, I plugged the TV back up, turn it on, and the fuzz is back! My wife tries to console my by telling me to just take it back and pay the upgrade fee and get a new one, but that wouldn't stop the gremlin from attacking! Eventually the gremlin decided to leave the TV alone for now and let it work again, but no such luck with my wife's cell phone yet. Have you ever had an electro-gremlin run loose in your house? It's worse that death to a tech-junkie like me!