In fact the nearest one was about 10 feet down the hall outside the door. Naturally the staff seemed to have no recognition of this problem, so I wound up borrowing a couple of extension cords a jury-rigging a long distance power connection.

Another bit of advice I have for people is to embrace after-market batteries. I never have to charge my Pre while I’m out because, for less than $15, I bought a spare battery. Carrying the tiny battery is much easier than toting a power adapter, hoping I find an outlet, and then sitting next to it for an hour or two. Likewise, my netbook runs about 5 hours on a charge. For about $40 on eBay, I could pick up a second 8-hour battery that would add less bulk to my bag than the netbook’s AC adapter.

It used to be that when you ran out of juice, you just popped in some fresh AA’s and kept going. As long as you’ve got a device with a user-replaceable battery, you can do the same thing. Pick up a spare or two, charge them at home, and never worry about tethering yourself to an outlet in public again.