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Thanks, Dad, but....

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  • #1

    Thanks, Dad, but....

    My dad knows I have computer skills. However, being just a step away from technophobic himself, he believes that since I can use and fix a computer.., and you know, GOOGLE, I know EVERYTHING there is to know about computers. ("Can't you just go into the website and change the picture???")

    This was quite evident yesterday at Wal*Mart.

    While we were in line to checkout, Mom sent me for the obligatory "oh, crap, I forgot [item], can you go grab one??" trip. When I got back , Dad was talking to this guy. When he saw he, he said, "He needs a cable. Where does he get it?"

    So after a bit of layman tech speak to real tech speak translation, I figure out this guy is looking for a micro USB to USB cable, and the guy in Electronics told him they had some up at the checkouts. (Once again, )

    So, I told him that I don't work at Wal*Mart and this wasn't my normal Wal*Mart, but I've never seen them carry such a cable. The only thing they'd have at the checkouts would be chargers. But, I do know that my Wal*Mart sometimes carries a USB adapter kit, where you have the USB end, and plug the different adapters into the other end, and that THAT would be back in Electronics. Despite me dumbing down my explanation of said cable as much as I could without getting a headache, he still got a little glassy eyed, and wandered off. When he left without so much as a thank you, I just wrote him off, and started to help unload the cart.

    My dad, however, kept an eye on him, and reported back that he was religiously checking each checkout lane for his cable.
    SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
    SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!
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  • #2
    Because Electronics would have a ton of stuff and he knew he'd never find the right one, but if he found one at the register, that would (he hoped) be the one he needed, and he wouldn't have to go to Electronics and look stupid.
    When you start at zero, everything's progress.

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    • #3
      Yeah. It's hard as hell to find USB A - MINI adapters these days.

      I've gone to Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Radio Shack. The most I can find is either the adapter kit, or a retractable one. Both are priced higher than what I want to spend for a simple cable. And, where I was shopping, it was also harder finding someone who actually knew what I was talking about. Except Radio Shack - they knew what it was and even had one, but it wasn't the style/quality I wanted (explained below). They knew about the printer USB cables (USB A-B) but not for the USB A-MINI. Which is silly because a lot of devices still use them. Actually I think the tech at the Apple store knew what it was too, but again they didn't have the quality I needed either.


      My own personal problem is ... I specifically need a high-quality USB A-MINI cable. I have an external drive that has the MINI connector on it, but it's extremely picky about which ones it will actually work with. Pretty much, it only works with one of my A-MINI cables. That one has a clear insulator and braided shielding. And none of the stores I mentioned carry it.

      After I move, I may consider looking online. The one I have is starting to break down at the MINI connector end.
      Last edited by PepperElf; 12-13-2010, 10:11 PM.

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      • #4
        I guess that since people became wise and no longer will pay $30.00 for a $6.00 cable, the cable manufacturers needed to find a way to boost profits. So now they only make cables which are "more than you need."
        I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own. --#6

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        • #5
          Well first I'm going to edit my above post. I always mix up Mini and Micro.

          Here's a photo of both just to clarify


          left: mini. Right: micro.


          Online tho they're still pretty cheap. I can find them for under 5 bucks at Amazon.

          except for the style I want... I may have to go to BH photo for that. They tend to have some higher end items there.
          Last edited by PepperElf; 12-13-2010, 10:26 PM.

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          • #6
            I'm always havin' to show my poor mother how to work something on her laptop,she's terrified that if she hits the wrong button it'll blow up or something

            My 77 year old father (they're long since divorced) gave me my 1st computer,he has no problems with computers seein' as how he was in charge of telecommunications for the MSFN & Deep Space tracking stations in Madrid,Spain during the Apollo Project.
            "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you.This is the principal difference between a man and a dog"

            Mark Twain

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            • #7
              The other night, my dad said "C'mere and fix my computer!" so, I made the trip to the computer room, sat down, and asked what the problem was. He wanted a couple of programs uninstalled. That was it. O.o
              "And though she be but little, she is FIERCE!"--Shakespeare

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              • #8
                Oh my, at least your Dad isn't so technotarded that he used to think that Facebook was a people-finding database.

                It took the entire family to tell him that yes, you can find people as in, add them as a friend and see what they are up to, but it's not like an FBI or CIA database where you can actually pinpoint where that person actually is right now, as that is still not even a real technology.....only people on some sort of monitoring system would be able to be found like that.

                One day, my brother didn't come home when he was supposed to, and my dad called me several times yelling at me to "GO ON FACEBOOK AND FIND YOUR BROTHER!"

                Despite my attempts to tell him that I could only see what my brother had been up to, if he had posted a status, it wouldn't tell me necessarily where he is right NOW, that it's not an actual person locator.....he just kept yelling at me to go on there and stay there until I could "find" him.

                Of course I was again ignored and once my brother came home, he and my mom (who are much more techy, even though this really isn't that techy of a problem) were able to get it through to him that social networking site =/= person locator, and that even the FBI can't just find someone right here right now on a computer.
                You really need to see a neurologist. - Wagegoth

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                • #9
                  Quoth PepperElf View Post
                  After I move, I may consider looking online. The one I have is starting to break down at the MINI connector end.
                  Try NewEgg. They have good prices on cables. I'd never shop Best Buy for cables. Needed one, once, and for the price BB wanted, I could have ordered two from NE and had them delivered to me by express overnight shipping.

                  ^-.-^
                  Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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                  • #10
                    Other places to look for USB-micro and -mini cables are cell phone and digital camera places. Those are frequently used for data transfer for those devices.
                    The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                    "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                    Hoc spatio locantur.

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                    • #11
                      We have a USB - Universal Adaptor type thing for $15 where i work. (Same company that owns the store you were in)
                      It has a Mini cable and 3 others... and it's with all the computer equipment, which is by photo center. which has no data transfer cables, btw.

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