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Thursday Open Thoughts: Weighing in:

by: mplo

Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 00:39:35 AM EDT

This week, I've got more than one thing on my mind, so I'm going to write about them.

mplo :: Thursday Open Thoughts: Weighing in:

For starters, my Epson Stylus Photo 870 Printer is now obsolete and I'm no longer able to obtain new ink cartridges for it. So, after looking in at least 3 stores, I learned that printer is now obsolete and no ink cartridges can be obtained for it. After much thinking and talking with other people, I decided that getting a new printer was definitely the only way to go. I'm now looking into a couple of the Canon printers, which are all in one, including copiers and faxes. One of them has all the bells and whistles, while the other one doesn't, and it's somewhat cheaper. They both got excellent reviews by customers on Amazon, anyway. Now, I've got to figure out which one i'll get. It shouldn't be that hard. So, right now I've been without a printer, but that can wait. I think I'll find out which of the wireless printers they have might be the best, given my type of computer.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch with the silversmithing, I'm presently working on another bowl, and I'm almost ready to solder the base onto the center bottom of it. Just a tad more filing, because I can't have any light showing on the joint between the bowl itself and the base, because the solder needs a perfectly-fitted joint in order to do a really effective soldering job, which is important. Better to be slow than sorry, really.

I'll be leaving for my annual road-trip and pilgrimage to Iowa City, IA to visit relatives. I'll be boarding Aziza at the Pet Store where I purchased her (they only allow customers to board their birds there), and traveling on the weekend to get there. It'll take two stopovers each way, and I expect to be back in early October at the latest. I'll keep everybody on here posted and try to check in if and when I can.

Still have tons of ground to cover for the Sign of the Dove artisans' Co-op in our area. Boy, what a year it's been for me so far....I've had so much stuff go on...some great, some not so great, and I've been pre-occupied. I get a bike-ride in whenever I can. Not many respites from the hot, super humid weather we've had all summer so far. Maybe the fall will be nicer.

Aziza's doing great, as usual. and is very affectionate.

As for the new printer...I'll have to wait until the morning (oh, wait a minute, it is the morning here; 12:40 a. m. )

Any thoughts, guys? What's on your minds?

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Thursday Open Thoughts: Weighing in: | 19 comments

thanks miki (12.00 / 4)

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett

by: RiaD @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 12:13:57 PM UTC

Just a note to let you know (3.00 / 7)

why I haven't been around and will be gone. My brother had a massive stroke on Monday we were lucky he wasn't alone and was rushed in to the hospital, they were able to give him drugs to minimize the damage. I will be gone more for a while. Be well fireflies, be well.

by: Kathleen @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 13:15:51 PM UTC

gha! (15.00 / 5)

O kathleen!
all my healing happy thoughts are winging their way to your dear brother....

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett

by: RiaD @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 13:31:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm so sorry to hear about your brother, Kathleen! (15.00 / 5)

Hope he makes a full, speedy recovery. He was lucky he wasn't alone, but among people who cared about him and were able to have him rushed to the hospital.

Kathleen..you will be missed, but do what you need to do. Hope to see you back again soon. Take care and be well yourself. My thoughts are with you and yours during these dark and difficult times.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

by: mplo @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 13:39:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh Sister (15.00 / 5)

I'll keep hugging you and your family right close to my heart until he's recovered.

I'm so glad they were able to get him to the hospital so quickly. It really does make a big difference if they get that medicine in soon enough.

by: Alma @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:01:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

best wishes (14.00 / 4)

Best wishes for him and a speedy recovery. I'm so happy that he was able to get the early treatment, as it can make a huge difference.

Please don't forget to take care of yourself, too, my friend, as you are undoubtedly experiencing a great deal of stress/distress also...

"In proportion to the vigor of the individual, these revolutions are frequent, until in some happier mind they are incessant..." R.W.Emerson - Compensation

by: incessantrevolutions @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 19:38:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

{{{{{kathleen!]]]]] (13.00 / 2)

So very sorry. Here's hoping he recovers quickly and completely.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White

by: Youffraita @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 05:29:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You sound busy Miki (15.00 / 4)

I always have terrible luck with printers so I'll do you a favor and not give you my input. ;)

I hope your visit to your family goes well. I bet you are going to miss Aziza like mad.

by: Alma @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 15:04:36 PM UTC

Hi, Alma. (13.67 / 3)

Thanks. I'm still debating whether or not to buy the printer with all the bells and whistles to it, or just buy the all-in-one printer with fewer bells and whistles to it.

I won't be leaving until September, and neither will Aziza, but we'll be apart just temporarily. It would be cool to go on a trip sometime and take Aziza with me, but not this time. Sure, we'll both miss each other. I hope she doesn't get too mad at me when I come back afterwards to get her!

I always enjoy my visit with relatives when I go out to Iowa City. Thanks again, Alma.

How're you, Katie and Lala doing, btw? Hope you're all doing well.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

by: mplo @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:17:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I think (12.00 / 4)

Aziza will be so happy to see you when you get back that she won't give you to much hell for being gone.

We are all doing about the same. We took Lala back to the vet in Toledo Monday and he thinks it will still be a week or so before she can eat on her own. We think she over did it on her pellet mash after her surgery and got the ulcers in her mouth irritated again. So we're still here syringe feeding her liquified veggies and her prescription food. She loves her prescription food but she can only have 4 tablespoons of it a day. We call it "crack" because she's definitly addicted to it and runs all over wheaking and her ears turning red if we don't give her any. Her weight is holding steady and thats the main thing right now.

by: Alma @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 18:30:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks, Alma. Glad to hear that Lala's beginning to hold her own and her weight is stablized. (13.33 / 3)

Here's wishing you, your family and Lala all the best of luck. It sounds like you've really got to watch Lala, given her addiction to the prescription food!

You may be right about Aziza being too happy to see me after I get back to give me the "what for". However, I still remember that with McGee, whenever I went away somewhere and had to board him, he'd be so mad at me for having gone away that he'd give me a nasty nip or two (although no blood was drawn) when I put my finger in the cage to greet him and/or "scritch" him! Yet, he forgave me as soon as he got angry, so things were OK. Animals are funny that way. Aziza is a completely different kind of bird (although still in the same psittacine (hooked beak) family as McGee, a Noble Macaw, was), with a totally different personality, so who knows? This'll be the first time, and, since Aziza's still a baby (six months old), the time to get her used to my occasional going away is probably a good time.

Regarding my silversmithing work; I'm working on a sterling silver bowl, simpler and shallower, though still with a soldered-on base. I made the mistake this time of using solder without knowing which type of silver solder it was. Not a good idea. I used the biggest torch tip that I've got, and I got it mostly soldered on, I think, but I've got to let the whole thing cool down, wash off the flux remainders, and put it in the pickle bath for a little while, and then try again. Oh, well. Sometimes this happens. It goes with the territory.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

by: mplo @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 21:14:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

SC has the absolute (11.00 / 3)

stupidest people living here!

http://www.thestate.com/2010/0...

gha!
shouldn't this be an employment requirement?

"Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger,
how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man?"
~The Patrician in 'Snuff' by Terry Pratchett

by: RiaD @ Thu Aug 12, 2010 at 21:50:44 PM UTC

Ria, it IS (15.00 / 2)

an employment requirement -- and at the federal level.

It shouldn't be a requirement for housing, though. Everybody has to live somewhere -- I'm with the lady who said it'll just drive potential tenants to other towns.

Look at what's happened in Arizona already. Gah, I'd hate to be a legal Latino there (especially one whose ancestors predate any Caucasians in the region: that's gotta piss 'em off).

[Side note: One of my journalism professors taught us that, contrary to most history books, the first printing press in the U.S. was not in English and was not brought here in the 1600s. It was a Spanish printing press and it arrived in the SW of what is now the U.S. in, I think, about 1540, roughly 100 years before the English one arrived.]

Why do I know it's a federal requirement? The ICE raids. Also, I had neither a driver's license nor a state ID when I got my first greenhouse job, shortly after moving here in 2003. It was a very large greenhouse complex employing, I think, several hundred workers. Some of them were kind of permanent temps being bused in from York. And they were Latino. And apparently didn't have their papers, b/c the government cracked down...and all of a sudden they weren't employed there anymore. It was at this time that I was told I couldn't work until I could show a valid ID. Got my state ID immediately.

Now I just have to renew it...

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White

by: Youffraita @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 06:11:06 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

PS: SC has some (15.00 / 2)

stupid people, no doubt about that, and no offense meant.

But I strongly suspect that there are higher levels of stupidity per capita in a few other states. FL comes to mind, and TX only gets a pass b/c of Jim Hightower, Molly Ivins, Ann Richards, and Austin.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White

by: Youffraita @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 06:15:28 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I FINALLY got the base soldered onto the sterling silver bowl that I'm making, after two tough tries. (13.67 / 3)

The bowl's now in the pickling bath for a little while, being cleaned off, after soldering it, after having gone for a walk and let it air-cool completely after soldering it, for a good hour and a half. I just have to even up the top, and put a firescale finish, followed by a 1500-grit emery paper finish, burnish up the top edges of the bowl to a shiny polish and then....voila...I'm done with it!! The rest'll keep 'til tomorrow though.

Later.

I think Aziza wants my attention...and is hungry. So, I've got to clean up, feed her, clean her cage and put her to bed.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

by: mplo @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 00:55:51 AM UTC

Can you post a pic for us (14.33 / 3)

of the finished bowl? I'd love to see it: your work is gorgeous.

About your printer: you can buy time by getting the ink cartridge refilled so that you don't have to replace the printer immediately unless you want to. There are places around here that do it: bring in the old cartridge, they fill it up for you at a fraction of the cost of a new one, et voila! your obsolete printer is no longer obsolete.

Boston being a huge city, I'm sure there are stores capable of doing the same. Not sure which chains do this, but check the yellow pages.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White

by: Youffraita @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 06:26:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the input and your compliments, Youff. (15.00 / 3)

Since I've made it a point to take pictures of my pieces after I've finished them, I'll be taking pictures of this recent silver bowl after I've finished it and posting it into my computer, and then into photobucket, and then I'll be uploading it into firefly-dreaming.com

As for refilling cartridges, that's something I've never heard of, although it's an interesting idea. Since the printer I had was already rather old and having issues to begin with and was clearly on its last legs, however, I figured that the time for me to invest in a new printer has come. So, I'm presently looking into an all-in-one wireless printer that sounds quite nifty!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

by: mplo @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 11:34:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I just saw the funniest (11.50 / 2)

image from flickr. Check this out:

http://www.dailykos.com/commen...

Here's the context. BoiseBlue hasn't been around Big Orange much lately b/c of work issues, so he posted a diary saying [total paraphrase]

Hi, work's keeping me very busy but I miss the site. What's been going on? Is it roughly like this?

and then, below the fold, running the answer to pi out to...well, I didn't count them but many many lines of numbers.

Naturally, this led to a few comments about dessert...

I tried to bring the image itself over, but wasn't successful, and don't want to save any graphics on this computer until I get around to deleting a bunch of programs I'll never use & do a whole disk cleanup and defrag. Which is a drag, and so I keep procrastinating.

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White

by: Youffraita @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 05:50:56 AM UTC

Here's the pic (10.33 / 3)

that started the thread:

http://www.dailykos.com/commen...

It's a pie chart! LOL

English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgment and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street.
E. B. White

by: Youffraita @ Fri Aug 13, 2010 at 06:38:31 AM UTC

Thursday Open Thoughts: Weighing in: | 19 comments

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