Julie Barrett is a freelance writer and photographer based in Plano, TX.

Thunderbolt And Lightning, Very Very Frightening

Fresh when it gets here from Julie Barrett
Monday, August 14, 2017


We had just settled in to watch some telly Saturday night, when:

FLASHBANG!

If the house itself didn't get hit, something close by certainly did. There was no damage to the house. We have a large tree in the front yard, so that was obviously a worry.

However, we did lose several bits of electronic equipment including the router, the printer, a monitor, the receiver, and the sprinkler timer. The printer had two levels of surge protection, so I was most upset over that one. Turns out that HP has a procedure for resetting the power supply after a power surge, but that didn't work. 

Paul and Ami found some good deals on most of the other equipment, and I set out to look for a new printer. I've always had a multi-function with a paper feeder so I could scan large documents. When the last printer died we ended up with a really sweet deal on a large format printer. I've had a lot of use out of the large scanning bed, so I wanted another if possible. Did a lot of shopping in person and online and found a wide format printer for just $30 more than the regular format one, so I trundled down to MicroCenter to make the purchase. 

I grabbed a cart and went to the printer area, and found they didn't have any boxes on the floor, much less a display model. The web site had indicated two in stock. Maybe they'd sold. A helpful (honest!) salesguy offered to go back and check. "May I follow you with the cart?" (I remembered that the previous one came in a large box and we had used a handcart to get it inside the house.)

"Oh, no. I can get it."

Famous last words. Five minutes later he returned, panting, and asked for the cart. I so wanted to say, "I warned ya, but did you listen to me? Oh, no. It's just a teeny little box, isn't it?"

The box was larger than I had expected. It just barely fit in the cargo area behind the seats in my car. Got it home, and Ami helped me get it on the cart and inside the house. Then I made a quick run to the grocery store for fixins for a fast meal. 

I came home to find Paul had put the printer in place and he was setting it up.

This thing is huge. It's a freaking Death Star.

hp_7740.jpg

And that's a harmless little stapler on the desk.

That, the cable box, and the stuffed cat are there for scale. Damn, I should have added a fish. For scale. I'm here all week. ;-)

So it's been Monday here since Saturday night. And how did I celebrate? By stripping the bed down and turning the mattress. I'm such a masochist.


Filed under: Technology   Pictures   Life      

 

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