I do all right with technology for my computer but every once in a while, I get stymied. Sunday we decided it was time to set up the new printer and get it working. We had an Epson that continually printed red lines all through the page and my HP needs more ink. We bought and All-In-One that copies, prints, faxes and scans and we can use it for both the Mac and the PC. Eddie got the box for the Epson up from the basement and put the printer back in – we found out GoodWill will take the printers, the old tv and some other things. Then we looked at the directions for putting it together – I had already cleared off a space on top of the bookshelf by the window to put it – no more bending over under the desk for Eddie. We had a hard time figuring out where the paper tray went, the picture showed a different place than where it actually goes.
So we turned it on to see about programming it and it showed the tray went above where the paper is stored – then it made sense. Then I put in the disk to install the printer software on my computer – at least that was the intention. Unfortunately it gave me a little note saying it wasn’t supported to do the printer. I tried all kinds of things and when I saw something for software download, I checked it out. I downloaded three things and thought that would do it – no way Jose! By then I had been working on the thing for 2 hours and I was done. I needed a break. So we went out for coffee and bagel at Panera, then came home because it was cold and raw out – no fun wandering around in that weather.
For some reason I woke up tired and dragging as well as cranky and irritable – never have figured out what caused it. I decided to have a lie down, maybe even a nap when we came home. I asked God to help me figure the printer out, I was clueless at that point. So Bunny and I went to bed for a nap – although it didn’t seem as if I really slept, it was 3 hours later when Eddie called me – he didn’t want me to sleep past 5 or I would not sleep that night.
I went back to computer to make sure I had the right USB cable – I did. Then I decided to check my downloads only to find they were not listed on the computer – they had not been installed, so I clicked and made sure they were installed. Then I ran the disk again – how lovely to see all the right windows come up to install and program the printer. I clicked at the right prompts and suddenly the printer was printing for me. Next I went to Eddie’s PC, loaded the disk and it went like clockwork – no hangups or glitches. Soon I had the printer working with his PC and had it print something. What a feeling of accomplishment!
However, that is not the end of the story. Yesterday I took a very small order for little calendars and tried to fax it this morning. For some reason it wasn’t working at their end so I emailed to let them know. Okay, I figured I would scan it and then attach it to an email. That was the plan but when I clicked on Scan, it told me it couldn’t scan because it wasn’t configured. At that point I was stymied, ready to just send the whole shebang by snail mail. So I had to go back to the printer and push a button – I honestly don’t know which one or how I found it. It configured itself and then by George, it scanned. So I was able to send it and it was just the check that went snail mail.
I have this thing with technology, I am going to get it to work if it kills me. I remember in Atlanta when Eddie was negotiating for a job in Saudi Arabia and they wanted to fax things. This was 1991 and the fax machine we bought had thermal paper rolls. I worked on programing and setting up that little bugger for several days, some things would work and other wouldn’t. However, I finally managed to have it up and functioning properly. There was only one drawback, it was downstairs and one had to push the button to receive a fax – fine when I was downstairs but I wasn’t able to race downstairs when I was in our bedroom or the spare bedroom. I haven’t raced up or downstairs for decades. Most often they sent them in the middle of the night, usually when Eddie was out traveling. We managed to get all their faxes in spite of the obstacles – then he decided not to take the job because he didn’t know who he would be working for – Saab in Sweden or the Sheik who owned the distributorship.
You might say I have a love/hate relationship with technology – great when it works and frustrating as all get out when it doesn’t. Often it is getting one machine to talk to the other and be able to receive an answer from the other. Of course you know who was out reading or doing something else while I struggled – but he also cooked a delightful dinner for us. He does so much for me, he is such a sweetheart!
Tags: All-in-one, connecting computers, Hewlett-Packard, installing, printer
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