amymyoung | Cable (Mis) Management

Originally published at Amy M. Young. Please leave any comments there.

I've been trying to work on a really wonderful series of podcasts for you all, and some blog posts as well, but I find myself silenced by the events of late. In the face of tragedy like that, one's small voice being a smartass really isn't adding anything good to the mix.

I am heartened to hear that Rep. Giffords is doing better by the day and join the chorus of voices raising prayers of all sorts for her recovery.

That said, I find myself in a predicament, and surely I can't be the only one.

I have waaaaay too many cables for what I have hooked up to my computer. I mean seriously - there is a bundle of USB cables hidden in one of my little nooks that are of questionable use. Yes, there are some that are for certain proprietary things only (like a digital camera), and some that are duplicated three times over because (for once) manufacturers decided to use an industry standard. But, even with the amount of geeky things that I have kicking around, there is no way that I should have this many cables. It's like all the lost socks of the universe turned into USB cables and deposited themselves at my desk.

Of course, when I need a cable, do you think I can find the right one? Again, like lost socks, they show up after they're needed or after you've gone to the store to get a new one (or in my case, threatening to go to the store is usually enough). Or, as it happens a lot, the cable that came with the *danged thing* isn't long enough for a normal person to use and you have to go buy another, longer cable for it, which leaves you with the initial cable lying around collecting dust until one random day it either gets sent to the home for wayward computer parts or finds itself repurposed for some random idea (like a USB squid of some sort).

So, tell me people, am I the only one who suffers from computer cable overload?