Setting up New Canon Printer

Carol had hoped to spend the day doing preparation for lessons before she goes back to work at The Academy next week. It does take some considerable amount of time and energy to plan lessons. Which is why I get annoyed when she comes home and tells me she's had to deal with behaviour issues with the children she teaches. Not all of them, of course. It's usually a very small percentage who play up. They don't care that it's taken so long to plan a lesson and then have it disrupted. Carol uses the internet and her lap-top and needs a printer to produce her resources for the lessons she plans. So, it was somewhat annoying for her to discover that the printer we had was not working properly. I had only bought ink cartridges myself a week or two ago so I could print out material I needed myself. Then the H.P. printer, which is housed in the spare room upstairs, began to make some awful noises. As if something was caught in the paper feed. It wasn't going to stop. So, it was decided that we'd need to buy a new one. It's crazy that the ink cartridges cost more than the actual cost of a brand new printer. We decided to go to Argos and check out prices. We went for a new Canon printer, actually a fairly reliable brand, one that I knew well as I used to own one myself. Also, my digital camera is a Canon, which is good and has no end of features for what it cost. Amazing how technology improves as the years pass. The printer is not only a printer but can scan and copy, so it's actually a 3-in-1 device. Also, it's wi-fi connected so there's no need to plug in bits of cable. The same with our internet connection. This laptop, a MacBook Air, is connected to the internet through our Sky router. We had to download the drivers onto this laptop and Carol's laptop, a Toshiba, because the printer came with a CD ROM with the software on it and neither laptop has a CD drive in which to put the disc. So, we had to download the drivers from the Canon website and then spent a good two hours attempting to get the software to connect to the wi-fi system. I can also link my new iPhone to the printer if I want to print anything off from that, which is actually unlikely.

Mind you, I'm annoyed that the old printer has packed up. It's only a few years old. Having said that, I suppose it has done reasonably well. There is also the fact that technology changes so rapidly and it's quite difficult to keep up with any changes. Generally the changes are for the better. Computer operating systems change so quickly you have to keep things up graded otherwise they don't operate properly or even efficiently. I often think it's a cynical device set up by manufacturers to get you to part with more cash. My MacBook upgrades without any further payment, thankfully. So parting with some more cash for the new printer isn't such a bad idea and the new printer costs a fraction of what one would have cost 15-20 years ago. I remember when I bought my first Macintosh in the mid 1990's the printer, which was only a black-and-white model cost around £400. Today you can print, scan and copy from one machine, on two sides of the paper and in near-perfect quality as well as print photographs and graphics, which that old model wouldn't do.

Sunny but Cold

It was deceptively cold first thing this morning. It seemed, on first looking out the window at around 7.15, that it was sunny and warm, but I was really surprised that there was ice on the car's windscreen that needed melting before we drove off to the Academy. There was a definite nip in the air. I suppose it's to be expected at this time of the year. It might appear sunny and warm, but when you get outside it's quite cold.

Carol is home about an hour later than usual today. They have teacher training at The Academy until 5.45.

The MacBook Air laptop, the machine I usually write this blog on, is playing up again. I don't know why. It will not boot up and all you get is a grey screen. It seems to have a charged battery, but it's a case of  'the lights are on but there's nobody at home.' I'm not entirely sure how to remedy this problem. I'm using Carol's Toshiba laptop to write this and do any of my usual stuff on a computer, such as looking at emails, but for the past couple of days, before the MacBook 'died' on me, I had been transferring a lot of my handwritten writing onto word processing on the MacBook and it was going surprisingly well. I am concerned that I can't continue with this work with the confounded thing not working. I think it may need taking to an Apple repair shop to have it dealt with, but I'm reluctant to do that as it's likely to cost a great deal to have it fixed. There is a considerable amount of material which needs transferring to word processing and this is why it somewhat galling to have the computer not working. If I'd thought that it was likely to breakdown again I would have saved the work onto an external hard drive or memory stick. As it is, I can't get anywhere near the word processed stuff until the computer can be opened up again, but as it is I've no idea when this is likely to be.  Just very annoying, to say the least.

Crazy Squirrels and Working Computers

The Macbook is now running normally again. For whatever reason it hasn't been opening for the past couple of days and I've had to use Carol's Toshiba laptop, but it now appears to be fine. I have a feeling it might be something to do with the battery as it seems to become very hot when it's been fully charged. It might be a good idea not to keep it plugged in once it's completed it's charge.

We've been amused by the antics of a couple of squirrels who live in and around our garden. I thought there was one, but I'm sure there's two, or maybe more. I first saw one of them running along the top of the fence (or, at least, what remains of it, as there's a great gap where a section has given up the will to live and looks more like a piece of decking than a fence.) and along the roof of the shed. It jumps onto one if the concrete posts and then off through the gap and then it comes back and this is repeated endlessly. On Sunday morning, this went on for a good fifteen or twenty minutes. The dogs were unaware if these antics, but it started off again early this morning and both dogs barked loudly at them. We didn't open up the sliding patio doors into the garden because Alfie, in particular, would probably try to chase them and most likely end up through the gap in the fence with me in hot pursuit.These squirrels have also been seen running up the trunks of the trees at the rear of the garden and then leaping about from one branch to another. Certainly quite energetic and very amusing. Whatever they were doing it looked as if they were enjoying themselves.

It's another bright and sunny spring morning. I just hope the weather remains warm and dry for the next couple of weeks, during which time we will be going away for a well-earned holiday.