Someone asked, so re: my previous post -- it looks like it's actually Vista Service Pack 2 that's incompatible with more than 2G of memory, not Vista itself. Microsoft gives directions to uninstall SP2. I have to wonder what'll keep my automatic update from just adding it back?

And now back to AJG I go.

AJG (and addition to previous)

Before my scheduled update: The new printer, which is working better than the new computer (don't get me started - apparently there's an issue where Vista isn't compatible with more than 2G of memory?) is a HP Officejet 6000. It is *not* an all-in-one, just a printer, but it's color (with separate cartridges for each color, so you don't have to replace all three colors when you just run out of cyan), prints double-sided, and is network-enabled, so you can connect it to a wired or wireless network using your router-- without having a print server or dedicated computer.

I'm sure you can find it a few places, but I got it at Staples for a little over 100 bucks. Note - it looks like there is also an Officejet 6000 there that's a bit cheaper; it says its network enabled, but not wireless enabled, in case that matters to you.

I assure you, I'll rant about how it's doing in the future. For now I'll just say it connected to both computers all right. It's nice and speedy and didn't jam when I printed a manuscript on "fast draft" speed (a lot of them will jam if you do too many pages on that setting). It is one of those printers you want to put on a sturdy table, though, since it will rock a cheap piece of furniture as it prints.
***

For my actual update, which may be shorter than that:

The reason I was printing a manuscript is I'm printing another copy of the AJG version I'm working on. I've had an idea for how to approach the edits I need to do (finally! I've been feeling really lost on how to deal with this story), and I am so grateful to have a working printer so the idea is possible.

I'll give more updates as I see how it goes...

Printers

In 1998, I signed my first contract. With my first advance (which by the way was not huge; the first one rarely is, so you new authors, don't be disappointed), I made my first "big" purchase-- I bought myself an Epson Stylus Color 900 printer. Yes, I do still remember the name.

Why do I remember the name? Because that printer lasted me from turning in In the Forests of the Night, through Demon in My View, Shattered Mirror, Midnight Predator, and Hawksong. At least. I think somewhere around then was when it started having a little trouble- randomly skipping pages and the like- but I do know it made it to UMass Amherst and back with me at least once. I think I may have kept it until 2003, when we moved, and as part of my having an actual office in the new house, I decided to upgrade to an all-in-one.

That's five years, one printer. It never needed anything more complicated than a reboot.

It has been six years since, and do you have any idea how many printers I've gone through? I think three in the last year. I know I hated the one I had when I went to Texas in 2006, and the one I bought in Texas, I didn't bother to bring home.

Among other things, I have to complain about the apparently very popular design model these days where the paper input is the same place where the printed pages come out. What idiot invented that design? If you're printing more than a couple pages and/or not watching it like a hawk, it throws paper all over the place and inevitably jams as it tries to suck in a page it just printed.

So, I've just invested in the most basic network printer I could find. I checked multiple stores. I'm installing it at the moment, and I have to comment on that, too -- when did it start taking an hour to install a printer? The last two I've bought (at least) have taken forever to install. What is it doing, beyond tangling itself so deeply into the system that, should I ever choose to remove it, I practically have to reformat?

For the last year I've been doing my printing at Office Depot. For the record, I adore them. Fabulous customer service. I met a reader working at the printing department, too, named Sara. I don't know how serious a reader she was-- for all I know, when she said "I've read your books" she meant "I read one once and hated it"-- but I felt a little guilty for asking her to print Mancer for me.

Which reveals how ethical I apparently am not. I have to say, if an author I knew of and even moderately liked brought in a flash drive with a novel on it and left me to print it, I would be more than a little tempted to make a copy of that file.

Oh, look. The printer's done.

Now to test it...

[edit] Mwahaha! It really does print double-sided! That's awesome! No, I didn't know it did that when I bought it.

Betrayal

I feel kind of like a traitor saying it, but I've decided that as long as you have a powerful enough computer to run it, MS Word 2007 might be okay. I've been using 03 since it came out, and it has long been my favorite, but when I needed a new computer recently 07 was my only option.

That "if" above is a big iff, though (iff is shorthand for "if and only if," for those of you not familiar). Vista and 07 are huge memory hogs. I waited until 4G computers were cheap enough to be reasonable before I considered "upgrading" to Vista. Oh, and I waited until my "upgrade" includes a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out... though we'll see what folks think of 7, come that day.

And no, I do not want to switch to Mac or Linux. Microsoft may be a Big Evil Corporation, but it's my big evil corporation. Kthxbye.

Besides, my point is, 07 and I might get along after all.

*back to work*