Well, I am sitting here in the heat tapping away at my keyboard (which used to be a keyboard before the heat melted it into a pile of goo) and thought I would give the BA members a little piece of my mind... just some random stuff, I am bored and so I want to share some of that .

Oh if I ever meed Murphy I'll [censored]...

Some weeks ago I was cleaning up my desk and got annoyed by my Macbook taking up a lot of space. I try to use it but the small screen, tiny keyboard and lack of mouse got me annoyed on so many occasions. Beside it I have a 24" screen that is always off. I used to have it as a third screen to my workstation but I never used it. So why not connect the Macbook to the screen? I started to move around stuff and configure the Macbook to run with its lid closed. I had an Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse on a shelf (also unused) so if I put all of this together I would get a decent workstation - small, powerful, silent and usable, without annoyance.

But the most important thing would be to connect the computer to the screen. When I got the Macbook I made sure that I got all the adapters I would ever need (to Apple's and Steve Jobs everlasting bliss), Apple are so cheap that they can't send along adapters worth $30 when buying their top of the line Macbook (I paid over $2500 for it) so I had to buy that too. But I didn't want any trouble so I got the whole package - VGA, HDMI, DVI, duallink DVI, audio cable (3.5mm spdif cable), the lot. The adapters alone cost me over $200 to get.

So, here I sit, connecting away, pulling cables and doing everything needed to make my little Mac "workstation". I pulled up my trusty laptop bag with all the adapters, cables, memory cards, tools and trinkets that I ever need when I go to work. I dig through it.... and find no adapter! I only use the adapter with my MacBook and since I never connect it to anything other than my TV (which has a built in displayport connector) the adapter should be in the bag. I dig through it again and no, it's really not there. Neither is the DP<>HDMI adapter nor the HDMI<>VGA adapter. Anything I need to connect the monitor to the Macbook.

(my blood starts to boil)

I start to dig through my stuff on the desk, perhaps I took it out and put it somewhere. No go.
I start to dig through a bin of cables and connectors I got. I find about everything else possible except for the displayport adapter. No go.
In my desperation I start to go through my other laptop bags, for some reason the adapter could have fallen out. Nope.

Aaargh. After several hours of digging through, making a mess in my apartment (which I just cleaned before starting with this "project") I give up. My life on this earth is limited and I don't want to waste it any further. No matter, I guess I have to run down to the Mac store and get myself a new adapter... I quickly run through a page of Murphy's Law in my head - "when something is needed the most it will be the hardest thing to find"...

Time goes by, I didn't buy a new adapter and several weeks later (about a week ago) I start to pull around my cables again. This time I want to move my eSATA harddrives to a new location on my desk. For that I need longer eSATA cables. Cables I know I have. But I can't find them.... here we go again... I start digging through my cable and adapter bins, I check through all my laptop bags, the entire procedure again. After spending about 2 hours looking for it (while again making a mess in my newly cleaned apartment) I give up and crash into my office chair. Again the wisdoms of Murphy run through my head. So I start to fiddle with some USB sticks I got just in front of me, under my workstation monitor. And what do I see?

A bright white big ass adapter with a huge Apple logo on it. And it looks just like the displayport adapter I turned my apartment upside down to find.

DOH!

It's been in front of me all the time. There's even a pile of dust on and around it to prove it... But for some reason it became invisible and disappeared into an alternative dimension when I needed it.

I plugged it into my Macbook, put the Macbook under the monitor, powered up the laptop, synced the keyboard and mouse (bluetooth hell, an another story) and voilá. Much more fun to work with.

As for the eSATA cable, it to be found nowhere. I got four brand new cables somewhere. But their whereabouts remain a mystery.

If I ever meet this Murphy I'll stuff my whole bin of cables down his throat as a thanks... I'll also send him a cleaning bill for my apartment.

One lesson that can be learned from this: Keep all your adapters and cables within visual range at all times. Attach huge bricks on each, glue them to your legs or staple them onto your forearms. Just so you know where you got them when you need them. Because you WILL need them some day. And you will NOT find them when you do. Trust me on this.

(Off trying to find a set of eSATA cables and my PSP charger...)

I keep them in my mac bag at all times... a MiniDVI>VGA and MiniDVI>Video one.

hahahha.. you just made my day.. good to know that i'm not alone out there....

If you think that a MacBook takes up a lot of space, try getting a Dell Studio 17" :/.

....Aaaaaaand that's why it's better to have an organized bag for cables.
Over the years, I've collected a [censored]load of cables, from null port connectors to USB A -> USB B connectors. All organized inside labeled ziplocks, inside a toolbox.

Same procedure for flashdrives. HDDs go on a rack tho.

Now I can't find my phone wire that connects the phone to the computer!

You're not alone!

I usually just keep everything connected at once

I'm still looking for my spare monitor cables... It ain't happening...

I know what this is like. I couldn't find my flash drive. It has all my information on it, and I needed it for a school project.. I searched all my bags, the floor, the pile of cables behind my desk & by work area. That night after I got home, I found it in the back USB port of my computer! Now I know to look at the back USB ports of my computer. I got half credit for turning the project in late.