Can't Connect Nook to Computer? or, Living on the Edge...Of Technology

I just noticed that eight out of the nine books pictured on my Nook here, are all either written by John Scalzi, or were recommended by him or by someone in the comments section when he gives his readers the go ahead to self-promote. An old high school friend made me aware of the Emily the Strange book, because she knows Emily is my inner child.

I spent over an hour on forums this morning, trying to figure out why my computer wouldn't recognize my Nook Color. I restarted both my computer and my Nook Color at least three times, trying variations of when to attach which end of the Nook's USB cable to it's appropriate port. Many of the "experts" insisted there was nothing wrong with the Nook cable, especially since there was no problem using it to charge the Nook, which was also true in my case. After coming dangerously close to uninstalling everything under "Universal Serial Bus Controllers" and then restarting my computer, so the uninstalled items could be magically reinstalled by the reboot, (because someone on the forums said it worked for them so...) I chickened out, and continued my search for answers with less potentially devastating side effects.

I found a post where someone had actually called B&N support and found out that it was, indeed, the cable and they would be receiving a new cable in 3 to 5 days. Someone replied to it and told them, that while they were waiting for their Nook cable, they could use any USB cable with the appropriate connection for the Nook. This made me a little nervous, because in my Nook Color manual, it says to not use any other USB cable than the one made for the Nook Color or it could damage my Nook. I looked over at the USB cable for my digital camera and noticed the micro USB cable looked to be about the same size as the one for my Nook.

Nook Color USB cable and plug (left) vs. Kodak USB cable and plug.

I was a bit nervous. Would it damage my Nook Color forever? Or would it be similar to buying off-brand printer ink in spite of manufacturer's warnings (not really a problem)? Occasionally, I like to be the kind of gal who lives on the edge, like Alison Bradbury from "The Sure Thing." (skip to 1:40 if you don't have the patience to wait less than two minutes for that line --which is reference to a line Walter "Gib" Gibson says earlier in the film [Oh, just be patient, it's at the end of the clip!]) 

Where was I? Oh yeah, living on the edge...Okay, so, with great fear and trepidation, (I guess I am being overly dramatic here. To be honest, I was feeling only a slight bit of concern) I used the Kodak USB cable, and guess what? It worked! Yay me!

I could have saved a lot of time here, by simply saying: "My Nook Color USB cable didn't work when I tried to connect my Nook to my computer. I tried the USB cable from my digital camera and it worked." But then you would have missed out on the high drama and clips from "The Sure Thing." You're welcome.

I am considering apologizing for the title of today's post, but then that wouldn't be living on the edge, would it?

FO Friday - Yeah, I know.

Yeah I know in many areas it's already Saturday. But right now, as I type this, it is still Friday where I live in Southern California. Here's my FO:

Same yarn as the needle case. 

WIP Wednesday

I have to leave soon to pick up my son from work, so I wanted to get these out. I wanted to post earlier, but I had to take my daughter to school, son to work, then off to meet up with my Stitch 'n' Bitch group. After that, it was run errands, make lunch, and then I get a text from my husband asking me to pick up a check at a virtually hidden location. Oh sure, it was on Google Maps, but it was one of those rural roads where the addresses are all hinky and I just couldn't find it. It was very frustrating, because I knew I was close, so close! So hubby is going to leave work early and get it himself. He couldn't remember any landmarks to tell me, so now, I'm going to have him take a picture with his phone so I'll know for next time...if there ever is a next time...

Here are my WIPs for today:

This first one is a hat I'm making for my son. It has the same colors as the Jayne Hat which I also knitted for him, and of course it has disappeared. To me, the colors look like a combo between the two photos. One with flash, the other without.

This is the sweater from last week that I am making for my husband. Just a bit longer now.

This is the ear bud drawstring bag I'm making. I don't know if I'll have anything finished for Friday. Maybe I'll dig around and find something older that I made...

My Next Project

I saw this afghan on the "Psych" episode, "The Tao of Gus" and decided I just had to make it! When looking for a screen shot, I thought I found the same afghan used in a different episode of Psych. 

I'm not sure if it's the exact same afghan or not. Decide for yourself. You can find it here. 

Finished Object Friday

Today was kind of a crazy day, so I'm just going to go right to it:

I finished this a few weeks ago. I crocheted this using Noro Silk Garden. I ended up using at least 3 different color palettes. I love this yarn! Not great for an afghan though--still kind of rough for that, but then I'm kind of picky about those things. And no, I didn't block it. I got the pattern for this case right here. Oh, I added the straps and made my own puffy buttons.

Work In Progress Wednesday

After fifteen years of marriage, my husband finally asked  me to knit something for him! To be fair, for most of the marriage, I was only crocheting, and mostly afghans, so...

So anyway, I had him look through some patterns and he chose this from the October 2007 issue of Knit N Style:

Here's what I got so far:

I took him with me to Joann's Etc., and had him pick out the yarn. I was skeptical that the Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool was going to be soft enough, so I had him rub it against his neck. He was fine with it. Hopefully he will still be fine with it when he's wearing it!

A slightly closer close-up.

The other day, I got these cute little wooden ear buds:

And I thought, "Ear buds as cute as these, ought to have their very own cute drawstring case!" Sure, the box they came in is fine, but it's kind of bulky if I want to put them in my purse. So, I started a side project, making a little drawstring bag for the ear buds:

I only have the bottom of the bag plus a small portion of the first row going up the bag.

You can see that first row (at the back of the piece) better in this photo.

I'm using Red Heart Cotton in Frosty Green.

That's all for now....

Write or Die Creations -- NaNoWriMo Vignette #5

This is yet another example of what happens when one uses the Write or Die program. I set it at 500 words to be completed in 15 minutes. Below are the results of my panicked writing. This did not make the cut for reading aloud during our NaNoWriMo TGIO party. This has only been edited for typos and the most basic readability.


e was embarrassed by the flap of his belly. Stewart Jones had recently lost a lot of weight and now he had the saggy flesh to show for it. No amount of sit ups were going to get rid of this floppy apron of flesh hanging across his pelvis. In jeans and an untucked shirt, no one could tell, but it wasn't like he wanted to get into a pair of trunks in public. It wold be kind of obvious then.  He couldn't afford the surgery to get rid of this hanging flesh and of course his insurance company wouldn't pay for it. It wasn't a necessary surgery. Just vanity. At least when I was fat, all this was filled out and I didn't look like some grotesque Dr. Moreau experiment of a man combined with a Sharpei puppy. On the other hand, I did kind of look like the Michelin Man, so I guess this weight loss was more of a parallel move. Stew was getting attention from the opposite sex. The good kind of attention, not the OMG--look at how huge that dude is--kind of attention. He didn't used to get that kind of attention in high school. More like the OMG...EWW kind. The only problem was that he wasn't able to go anywhere with dating. He couldn't have any more than a couple of dates before they became suspicious. There was no way he could let them see his flap. He tried telling young women he was deeply religious and didn't believe in sex before marriage. That worked until Lydia, the woman he was dating at the time, began to notice he never attended any church services, He tried to make up other stories like how he was horribly scarred, but she wanted to see. She told him it didn't matter because it wasn't his fault. She lifted his shirt and saw the flap.

"I don't understand, Stewart. First, you tell me you want to wait till we are married, then I find out that was a lie. Then you say you were horribly scarred in an accident, and I find out this is a lie. I don't care about this," Lydia flipped his flap, "but I do care that you lied to to me twice. I'm sorry, this isn't going to work."

"But Lydia, wait--don't you remember what House, M.D. said? 'Everybody lies!' I'm sorry! I thought you'd be repulsed by my flap,"

"I'm only repulsed by the lies, Stewart." Lydia walked away. The last Stewart heard, she had moved to Alaska to run a bar in a quirky town with a moose wandering around the streets.

Facebook Foibles (NaNoWriMo vignette #4)

This is one that did not make the read aloud cut. It is obvious why. It was written using Write or Die set at 500 words per 15 minutes. I have edited it to be in script format. Originally, it was only the words of the dialogue with no character names, scene heading or description. If I were to keep any portion of this for an actual complete script, I would prune it down a bit. I might have one of the characters acknowledge that all "Man" has to do is un-tag himself in the photo --just as my husband reminded me. Still, un-tagging wouldn't get rid of the photo, nor of the account holder's ability to tag it again. Okay, so for your reading...uh...pleasure? "Facebook Foibles"

INT.-- master bedroom - day

A MAN and WOMAN are having a "discussion."

WOMAN

Okay, so I don;t understand why your ex thought it would be funny to take a picture of you in the shower. How did she manage to get inside anyway?

MAN

I really have no idea. I changed the locks after she left.

WOMAN

What company did you use?

MAN

Company?

WOMAN

Locksmith.

MAN

Oh. I just went to the hardware store and picked up a bunch of new door knobs and did it myself.

WOMAN

Oh. Did she know you did that?

MAN

Well, she must've figured it out when she broke in today. I mean of course her key didn't work.

WOMAN

I thought you said you got that back from her.

MAN

I did, but I thought she might have made a copy. Whey do you think I changed the locks?

WOMAN

Good point. So how do you think she broke in?

MAN

I don't know. Maybe I forgot to lock it when I got the paper this morning.

WOMAN

That's weird. You always lock the door.

MAN

You say that like you think I left the door unlocked on purpose so that my ex girlfriend could walk in my house, take a picture of me in the shower and then post it on Facebook.

WOMAN

You know, you can get that picture taken down.

MAN

I know, but it's so much trouble. I don't want to get her banned from Facebook or anything.

WOMAN

Well, it not like she can't just get another account with a different email address.

MAN

No, she'd also have to use another computer because they have that information, They can look up those number thingies that tell people where your are, what computer you are using.

WOMAN

Oh, well too bad! She made a choice to post that picture. I guess poor baby's gonna have to use a public computer now, or someone else's computer if she want to go on Facebook. I'm sure she'll have no trouble getting soneone to let her use their computer. She's very friendly.

MAN

Umm...okay...

WOMAN

You know, I can get that picture taken down for you if you want, and I can't do it wout having to contact Facebook.

MAN

How? Are you going to hack her account?

WOMAN

No. I'll just send her a little notice in legalese threatening a lawsuit. I'll also let her know that if she doesn't take it down, we will go to Facebook and she will have her account suspended for refusing to take it down.

MAN

I guess that might be okay.

WOMAN

Yeahm but you know, it would be better if you did it.

MAN

Why me?

WOMAN

Because coming from me, it'll sound like it's your jealous girlfriend. She might think that you don't mind your picture being up there. That you don't mind all of our frinds on Facebook thinking you were willing to give her access to you while you were in the shower so she coud take tha picture.

MAN

Oh come on! No one is going to think that!

WOMAN

Why wouldn't they? It's not like there are any captions there except for Stacey's "Ooopsy! I didn't know you were in the shower! LOL!"

MAN

Okay, but clearly by my expression, you can tell I wasn't expecting it.

WOMAN

Yeah, but you could have had that expression even if wer allwoing her to be in this house while you took a shower. What would seem more outrageous is if anyone thought she actually broke in to your house to take that picture!

I Do Not Resolve!

In 2011, I didn’t make any New Year’s Resolutions. I won’t make any Official resolutions for 2012 either. A few times during the year I said to myself, “I should start eating healthier...okay, starting tomorrow, I will make a plan and start eating healthier.” This would last about three days and then every day after that it would be, “Oh, well just for today I’ll eat what I want.” This same routine applies to exercising, though for me, it is easier to eat healthy than it is to get in extra exercise -since I’m already eating anyway, why not find something healthy rather than completely give in to my cravings. Oh, and don’t even start with offerings of reduced fat products—they do NOT taste the same! Same goes for sugar free products—at least the ones with sugar replacements. Not only do they not taste the same, they wreak havoc with my digestive system! How can it be healthier to use sucralose based sweeteners when they they make me writhe in pain and then run to the nearest toilet? And yet, here I see all these products with “Sugar Free!” on their labels. A closer look reveals, “Sweetened with (insert sucralose based sweetener here)!” They are so very proud. Why don’t they just say, “Sweetened with laxatives! Yay!”

Truly, in the back of my mind, for this year I am determined to get more serious about certain goals, but I am afraid if I speak them out loud,or write them out for public consumption it will somehow sully my progress. Back to the old Nike slogan, “Just do it.” So if anyone happens to notice I’m looking a bit more trim and healthier later this year, I don’t want to talk about it, or everything will be ruined! If people happen to notice I’m writing more and making more blog posts this year —shut up! Sure, comment on my individual posts—but that’s it! Yes, I am superstitious! I’m doing fine, then people start to notice. They want to be supportive. They comment. A few comments here and there, and it’ll be okay, but when people start to really make big effusive comments about how well my progress seems to be going, some THING snaps —in my head? In my body? My psyche? Was “psyche” already covered by “head?” When that “thing” (whatever it is...) snaps, everything falls apart. Progress comes to a standstill and it all goes backward. I don’t blame the well wishers, it’s just what happens. How can they possibly know? I think my mother must know though. That can be the only explanation for why I have never heard her compliment me on obviously large amounts of progress that I have made in certain areas of self improvement in the past. She must be superstitious too!