Windows 10 Printing Trouble

Both kids are having problems printing from their Windows 10 devices to our Brother laser printer. I sent them some links to web pages that help resolve the problem. The original trouble was that the pages came out all black. That got resolved. However printing is now just garbled.

I figured somebody needed to dig in and solve this problem. At first I thought I would just buy a Windows 10 compatible printer. The problem is that everyone says their printer is Windows 10 compatible, including my printer's manufacturer.

Next I thought I would try to upgrade one of my laptops to Windows 10. I chose a machine that I had Windows 8 on. Tried three times to upgrade it to Windows 10. The upgrade failed every time. This is a total waste of time.

I think it is time for me to just purchase a new Windows 10 computer. Then I can make the problem happen on my machine, and work through to a solution. The new machine could serve some other purposes as well. Time to go shopping.

Negative Steak Surprises

Momoko asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner. Steak of course. She tried to place an order via Door Dash. It would not let her choose a side of mushrooms. So she called the restaurant at 3:30pm. Asked to have them deliver the steaks at 6:40pm.

Well 6:40pm comes and goes. No steaks. Ten minutes later, she calls the restaurant. They told her our food was done. But it would not be delivered for another hour and a half. WTF? Momoko decided to drive down to the restaurant to pick it up herself.

Upon arrival, she was told the no longer sell mushrooms. This was after speaking with 3 employees over the phone who said they would ensure the mushrooms were included in the order. Luckily Momoko chewed out the manager. She got the meal charge reversed, and allegedly would be getting some additional credits back.

The food tasted good. The experience left a sour taste in our mouth. Later, Kit Kat said that steak house was the worst ever. Now we know.

New Car Acquired

I broke down and purchased a new vehicle. It is a luxury model. I used a web site to find the cheapest one in town. Turns out the back seat in it is very spacious as long as there is no sunroof installed. I took it for a test drive. It was zippy.

The local dealership was willing to knock a few grand off the price. They also offered 0% interest for 36 months financing. Only problem was their cheap model was white. I really wanted a black exterior.

So I found the right color at another dealership on the other side of the city. I asked them to give me a walk-out price. The also knocked a couple grand off. But there were more options on that car. So the total was a lot higher than the other offer. I asked the guy to match the other offer, but conceded that his car had more options. We settled with me paying the matched price, plus the cost for an expensive option.

At this second dealership, I saw a few folks in the parking lot. Initially they seemed like salespeople. Nope. They were sales trainees. My guy was the sales manager. He was tied up. Eventually he shuffled me off to a side saleswoman. I did a test drive and was ready to buy. Their initial offer on my trade-in was low. So I kept my Chevy Spark.

Momoko had to drive me back to the dealership to pick up my Spark. Now I got a new model vehicle that I love. There are way too many bells and whistles on this thing. Tomorrow I go take a class to learn about the vehicle. Let's hope I can keep this car for a very long time.

Hunt for a New Car

A got a little cash from the sale of some stock options. So I thought it might be time to get a new car. My Chevy Spark has minimal features. No power lock, power windows, or CD player. Tall people cannot fit in the back seat. Shorter people don't like the back seat. Only real benefit of the car was that it was cheap.

I spied a deal on a 2019 Jeep Renegade. The sale price was $13k. It was a bit suspicious, as the MSRP is well over $20k. However even if I had to pay another grand or two, it seemed like a deal. I suspect tall people can fit in the back due to the boxy roofline.

Doing some research, I heard that the Renegade had terrible blind spots. I had flashbacks to my Fiat 500, which was fun, but dangerous due to the blind spots. Therefore I just about gave up on the car. The price rose to $14k. Still a deal. Then the car got sold.

I might still test drive a Renegade, just to verify the claims about the blind spots. But I got a lead on a new model from Hyundai - The Venue. It is essentially a reconfigured Hyundai Accent. But the roofline seems adequate due to its boxy shape. If tall people can fit in the back, I might just get one. Local dealer has one listed for $13k. The price is a scam, but if I could get it for under $15k, I am in.

Supplies in Demand due to COVID-19

I had heard that the governor was going to shut down non-essential businesses. This motivated me to make that trip to the home garden center. Picked up the paper bags that the county requires us to use to dispose of yard clippings. Got some weed-n-feed to take care of that colorless grass in the front yard. I also picked up bug killer and weed killer.

Momoko went grocery shopping. The only item I needed her to get was soft soap. We were running low. After I came home and was about to unload my supplies, Momoko said she could not find soft soap. She only checked the grocery store. The governor's orders were going to be in effect soon. So she needed me to come along to go look for the soap refill.

We tried Walgreens. No soft soap. We tried one CVS as the kids tried another. No soft soap. Then I recalled the last time I was searching for toilet paper when there was a run on it. Walmart was the only option back then. We dropped by. They did had soft soap. Just no huge refill bottles. We piled up a bunch of small soft soap dispensers. They were all scented. But hey. Scented small bottles are better than nothing.

Vacation Plans Change due to Coronavirus

We had scheduled to visit Momoko's dad for spring break. Had the time off, airplane tickets, and everything. Now the Coronavirus has hit. Momoko's dad did not want us to catch the virus on the plane and pass it to him. Reading between the lines, he thought we should postpone our flight.

Yesterday our state declared that schools will be closed for the next two weeks. Most likely they will cancel spring break to make up for the time off due to the coronavirus. I asked my boss if I could change my vacation plans. There was some negotiating. But my boss agreed.

So now Momoko and I might just take a right to the shore. We love having a hotel room facing the beach. The waves are very calming. The water is too cold to go near. But just being on the shore is medicinal. Rooms are relatively reasonable this early in the season. They cost a couple times higher in the summer.

Bright Side to Coronavirus

I got a lot of work due this week. Unfortunately my boss at my company scheduled a long in-person meeting today. I was supposed to go downtown at attend this meeting in person. I told my team leader about this. Another guy I work with on my team had his own meeting to attend this morning. The result is that we can't work together until tomorrow. Oops. Delays.

This morning I got a break. Due to Coronavirus fears, we have the option to do a video call into the meeting. That means I get to stay home and skip all the traffic and time it takes to go downtown. I used this time to get a head start on my next task, which is due in two days. Ah. Finally catching a break here.

In other news, I have had problems logging into my virtual workstation at work. This has been a pain. The problem was further compounded by my account for logging into that machine being scheduled to be deleted. Go figure. An administrator rebooted my virtual machine. Seems like I can log into it now. If I could only get them to stop the deletion of my account, I might be good to go.