Sighhhhhhhhhhh,

This falls under embarrasingly stupid category. Since there was not a lot of room to maneuver while plugging in the USB cable, I assumed that what I was plugging it into was the USB connection (which it wasnt -- it was the ethernet connection). When I unplugged everything,
turned it around and plugged the USB cable in first, it worked.

I guess the stupid user syndrome can even affect me...

I'd crawl back under a rock, but I'm trying to develop programs for it and have got other questions to ask ^_^'