HP Hates Me

Every light on my printer is blinking. Every last one. And there's a big flashing "E" too. Why? It's full of ink and paper. Maybe it just died of old age.

All I wanted to do was transfer my digital pictures from my camera to my computer through my formerly trusty printer. I've done it a thousand times.

I thought technology was supposed to make our lives easier. Mostly, it's like a quirky roomate who has his own agenda, and suffers frequent emotional breakdowns. I just sort of co-exist with it, and on good days, it's kind to me and enables me to work faster. On bad days, I spend most of my time reassuring it with loving words, and praying that it doesn't finally succumb to depression and end it all.

A couple months ago, on of my hard drives died. My music hard drive. The one with all my clients on it. Awesome!

I called IBM. Their answer: "We expect a drive to die after 4 to 5 years." (Don't expect to see that printed on any of their advertising). They just build them to fail. It would be one thing if they made shoes or something, but hard drives? They really expect you to lose all your data every few years?

Luckily, I had most of it backed up. Except for the client I was working for at the time. Major bummer. I had to start all over on the mix. It's not like IBM would lose money if their products lasted; it's been working for Volvo for years!

I unplugged my printer, and plugged it back in. The lights came on one by one, and then went off. The flashing "E" was replaced by a ready light. Lovely.

So I tried to transfer my pictures again. "An internal programming error has occured."

Well how nice for it.