.. title: But the printer was just fine...
.. slug: printing
.. date: 2004-03-06 14:21:52
.. tags: content, hardware

<p>
  I was printing out the 1,203,481,288 pages involved in my tax return
  on my HP OfficeJet Series 700 printer which I got from my uncle a
  million years ago back when printers would print one dot at a time
  and it sounded like disco music, when suddenly an error message
  pops up saying in really big letters:
</p>
<pre>
    <font size=+2><b>PRINTER ERROR</b></font>

    The computer has lost communication with the printer.

    Cancel printing, turn the printer off, then back on, do the hokey pokey,
    burn incense, twirl three times, tap your heels together and then
    try printing again.
</pre>
<p>
  I'm skeptical of stuff like that.  I'm a programmer--I'm fully aware
  that computers and software have no clue what they're doing.  My 
  printer was still printing the pages--albeit so incredibly slow that
  a three-toed sloth would start getting impatient.  I figured I'd wait
  until the printer was done doing whatever it was doing.
</p>
<p>
  I came back 24 days later to discover everything printed out just fine.
  And in color--I had no clue this was a color printer!
</p>
<p>
  I still don't know what that error was all about.  Maybe the software
  didn't expect the printer to take so damned long?  Who knows?  Regardless,
  I'm done filing my taxes, it's 60 degrees outside, and I'm going to
  go get some breakfast.
</p>