Starter - FAIL

I have seen no evidence of fermentation in my starter.  This was the first experience I have had with White Labs tube yeast packs and I am pretty sure I tossed most of the yeast instead of pitching it.  Unbelievably dumb move!  I pulled the yeast out of the fridge and tried to pitch it direct into the starter mix. The cake on the bottom would not come into suspension and I assumed incorrectly that whatever I could not mix in was probably dead and not usable.  Uh, no - completely the opposite.  All the good cells ended up in my garbage.  I will head to Brew Mentor today with my head hung low for a new tube.  I spent some time researching after my collosal fail and it seemed like I did everything else about right, but I think I may invest in an erlenmeyer flask to start these in.  While I will probably just go with a stock starter size for this batch, it is important to note that most serious brewers tailor their starter size to create the number of yeast cells they believe they need for the beer they are creating.  I am certainly not that exacting at this point in my brewing career. Guess I will just chalk this up to a failed trial run.  In a couple of days I will try it onece again with a target of brewing Thanksgiving weekend.