Unplug Me When You're Done, really

Plugging in...

Today's task went a little like a visit to the lab to have some blood drawn. Not MY blood, but the client's! Only no hand like a fist, no blood vials, no lab technician, no bandaid on the arm.

The Tutor thought the task was to connect a USB cable from a computer to a glucose monitor to transfer results from the small hand-held meter to a large [easy-to-read], handy, date-driven, comparative graphic chart. Sometimes it's dangerous to think.

Intead I learned how to use a lancet to draw blood from a quick finger prick; insert a testing strip into the opening on the One Touch Meter; watch the "patient/client" place their droplet of blood let loose by the lancet onto the testing strip; see the One Touch Meter display the almost instantaneous results in the Meter's window.

Ok then. I am not a diabetic, but if I were, this would be a must-have gadget. After completing the blood drawing and receiving the results, it was time for the Tutor to get busy so the computer could show a week's worth of glucose results on one large, colorful screen.

The only tricky part of the procedure was: the One Touch Meter had to be OFF and the USB cable could not already be connected to the PC. The USB cable, as it turned out, must be removed after the results are transferred. Each time. The client had left the cable in the USB port, connected to nothing for many months. Neither the computer nor the One Touch Meter were very happy about that. In other words, they couldn't find each other. So, out came the cable, off went the Meter, in when the cable and voila - they found each other like Romeo and Juliet.

For the record, one should NEVER leave a USB cable plugged into a computer if it isn't connected to anything on the other end. When it's plugged in, it's taking some power and resources AWAY from what you're trying to do on the computer. Lord knows, speed is king in computing, so give the speed back to the computer by removing ALL non-essential cables.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: before calling for help - is it plugged in, is it plugged in too early, and is it turned on?

Unplugged