End of the first week

Well, today marks the end of the first week after school.

So what am I doing with all my free time?

Well, lets see: The fuser unit on our HP 2840 has gone out so am trying to get that replaced. Unfortunately, the fuser unit from HP for 110 volts is on back order so will go off to Ebay to see if I can get it sooner. Of course when we purchased the unit in Feb 2006, I didn't buy the extended warranty offered, after all, if the unit doesn't fail in a year, its good for life. Well the warranty would have paid for itself now. The fuser unit costs $209 plus tax and shipping from HP. Joy, if I can get it. Of course the fuser unit for the 220 volt unit (the unit sold in the EU) is available for immediate shipping.

Office Depot is selling the HP 2840 for $700 new. A drum costs $170 (that needs to be replaced too) and a fuser unit costing $209 means I'm paying 50% of the cost of the machine just in parts. I'm still thinking about just buying a new one.

In addition to this, my lap top wasn't working on Monday and haven't tried it since. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like the hard drive might have died. That would be very bad because I haven't had a chance to back up all my school work on it, two years of my life are on that hard drive and didn't want to just throw it away yet. So that is a project for this weekend. I've already paid about $300 on repairs for it due to an accident and hope it is still working. But if it has died, at least it got me through school in one piece.

The office where the computer and printer are is still a mess, need to get the hardware fixed and then can start getting everything cleaned up in that room. A flame thrower might still be the answer for all the paper but we will see.

Not much in the news today. The big story is the miners in Utah. Rescuers have been able to drill a hole to reach the pocket where the miners are so air, water, food etc could be gotten to the trapped miners until they could be dug out. But there hasn't been any contact with the miners since Monday so the rescuers may be to late to save them. Our sympathy goes out to the families and thanks to the rescuers for trying to reach the miners and for continuing the work even as hope dwindles.

James Lileks birthday is today, he has asked no emails or electronic cards, but he has a diner podcast where he plays an interesting sample of birthday music, some of it really bad. Worth a listen if you have time.

Have a good weekend.