What’s In Store This Week?

 

I’m thinking perhaps this week will be a bit quieter than last, although it is early yet, eh?

The work week ended in a whirl last week.  We had been having some Internet issues and, after talking with our IP, it sounded like our router was the culprit.  Thursday morning I began the process of installing a new wireless router . . . only to be interrupted in mid-morning by a quick trip to the vet with Maggie.  She had a “spot” on her belly which looked most like a bite of some sort, but wanted to be sure it was no cause for alarm.

Turns out it indeed was nothing.  Our dynamite vet got her seen quickly and didn’t charge for the visit.  Figured I might as well stock up on her food while I was there.  She has been on prescription food since her episode last month.  Have tried to transition her back to her regular food, but that was unsuccessful.  Oh well.  If this is what agrees with her for now, so be it.  In the area and need a vet?  I’ll steer you to Spring Mills Veterinary Hospital.

Okay, back home and to our regularly scheduled programming.  Router installed and my laptop, Dave’s laptop, my iPhone, router extender in the rig and our Wii console all online.  Printer?  Printer?  Oops.  It would not connect.  After troubleshooting most of the afternoon, realizing it wasn’t gonna happen and then researching printers,  I found myself at Best Buy around 5 PM picking up an HP Envy 4500.

Meet Hal, the newest addition to my office

Why a name?  Why “Hal”?  Well, both old and new printers use 61 ink cartridges.  Took the ones out of the old printer and popped ‘em in Hal.  Hal responds (text only, of course) that these were from an older generation machine and would I please replace with newer cartridges?  What?  They are 61s and the same ones that I’d get if I bought new  . . . how the heck did you recognize that they came from the old printer?  Creepy.  Hal it is, then.

Long and short is that Thursday evening was spent attempting to get Hal and Dave’s laptop (an Asus) to converse.  They simply refused to speak to one another.  Hal was installed correctly and completely on the Asus and was recognized as the default printer; however, Hal refused to accept and produce anything the Asus had to offer. 

Fine.  I went to bed.

A couple of hours Friday morning resulted in getting the old HP printer uninstalled from the Asus and then reinstalled as a local printer.  Connected those two via USB cord and voila!  We have printed material!   On researching and hearing stories of others with the same issues, I’m led to believe it is a Windows issue, specifically Win 8.1.  Sheesh.

The up side is that getting the old HP into Dave’s part of the office frees up an enormous amount of space on my desk.  Nice.  It’s much less constricted, open and free of “stuff.”

I can also print from my iPhone to Hal, which is sort of nifty.  Not sure how often I’ll use that, but I guess it might come in handy sometimes.

Tickled that I did all this without calling Geek Squad and getting outside technical help.

Back in the early 1990s, I did hardware and software beta testing for Apple in Houston.  For years I worked from home in medical billing and as a medical transcriptionist and had to be able to troubleshoot and fix issues.    I’ve set up systems and networks, installed software, etc.  These tasks are even easier now, as virtually everything is plug-and-play.  I know how this stuff is supposed to work.  When something doesn’t, I’m the proverbial terrier wrestling with something.  My teeth sink in and I’m reluctant to let go until it’s resolved.

These lilies finally bloomed

Found out late Friday afternoon that a piece of equipment would be picked up early Saturday morning.  I always make out a bill of lading and take a photograph of whatever is leaving once it’s loaded on the truck.  So!  My alarm was set for 6 AM and I actually managed to crawl out of bed, although I was still sleeping for the first 15 minutes of being on my feet.  Ha! 

Dave went with me to the little farmers market up the road later Saturday morning and scored a couple of nice tomatoes.  Me?  I got two more walnut chocolate-chip cookies.

Got a kick from watching Momma Groundhog and little ones

Moving ahead to Sunday . . . having taken care of personal business (paying bills, doing paperwork, etc.) and other chores the day before, Sunday was a chill day for me.  Dave split and chopped wood in the late afternoon and we had our first campfire of 2014.  It was a perfect evening for it.

View from the campfire

So now it’s Monday morning.  Errands are run and my every-other-Monday report submitted for work, so I’ll move on to my next project.  That includes programming a remote camera for work.  Guess I’ll be putting on my geek hat again later today!

Whew!  And it’s just the beginning of the week!

Life is interesting and good, eh?

Thanks for stopping by!