I’ll tell you right off that I hate working with electricity because it scares the heck out of me.

But I had to replace an outlet, so I shut off the proper circuit breaker and checked the outlet with a voltage tester.

The power was off. OK, no big deal.

I started unscrewing the wire from the outlet, and just as the screwdriver touched the head of the terminal screw, someone sent me an e-mail, which caused the BlackBerry phone hanging at my hip to vibrate.

Thinking I was being electrocuted, I threw the screwdriver across the room, where it crashed right through the window.

This is one time that hiring an electrician might have been cheaper.