One cold winter weekend when my husband had the flu, he was looking around for something to do that was entertaining but not too taxing. He dug out an old adventure game he'd picked up for the computer a while back. We started the game up, and the computer immediately began to play sounds and music VERY LOUDLY.

After we struggled back into the room (holding our ears), we managed to find the panel in the software that would turn down the sound. However, this was an old game, and with our newer sound system we found that we had exactly two volume settings: 1) deafening; 2) silent.

We were just about to give up and turn off the game when I saw a pair of shoes sitting in front of the desk. I quickly took each one of the small computer speakers and stuffed it deep inside a shoe. Not only did the shoes muffle the sound perfectly, but they made a hilarious narrator for the story!

Sometimes the best solutions to technological dilemmas are not technological at all. Technology does not exist in a vacuum, but in the real world.