I have a soft spot for my LaserJet 4L. It may be thirteen years old, but in the three days before Christmas 2006 it managed to print 3000 pages with something like two jams, which beats the hell out of most state-of-the-art jobs they’ve had at my office through the years. Sure, the paper tray only holds sixty leaves. So what if the thing prints only four pages a minute. The fact remains that HP made the damn thing when I was sixteen, and it’s still running...
Until last Friday afternoon, about forty-five minutes after I received requests from two agents for the full manuscript of my novel. One hundred pages into the job, the printer jammed. I cleared the jam and heard the most awful grinding noise I’ve ever heard coming from a machine. “Damn it!” I said, and thought about walking down to Staples to buy a new one.
Fortunately, I did a quick Google search and found these guys at FixYourOwnPrinter.com. For $24.95 plus shipping, they would send me the part I needed, and an instructional CD-ROM to explain how to open the machine.
I figured it was worth the gamble, and ordered the part. It shipped on Saturday, arrived on Monday (that’s California to Boston by Priority Mail), and within fifteen minutes of its delivery my toner-loving darling was online again... And now I can redirect the $400 I would have spent on a newfangled printer to rent the chocolate fountain at our wedding.
So before you go all Office Space on your printer (if you don’t know what I mean, rent the movie), check out FixYourOwnPrinter.
Sentimentality and chocolate fountain aside, I'm firmly of the belief that beating the crap out of a printer provides at least $400 worth of joy.
Also, congrats on the two new requests. Apparently, they thought your writing was far better than competent.
You may be right. In the midst of trying to figure out what was wrong, I called Keryn to warn her that she might come home to find me covered head to toe in toner and the apartment littered with shards of hard plastic. Fortunately it didn't come to that.
I'm glad I can count on you for regular comments...
The best part of the post is the two requests, though! Congrats on the printer living and good luck with the agents!
01-15-2007: Contacted first agent with my novel.
01-06-2007: Revamped home page launched!
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jason@jasonshaffner.com