My new Printer (Free)

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/ca...atIds=67%2C245

My printer broke a couple months ago and I've been keeping my eye open for another one. I'm on a medical leave and I'm also looking for another job, so a home printer is a must right now.

I cashed in some airmiles today and ordered the above printer. It's an HP all in one, wireless. It can be wired if I want to use a USB cable.

My last printer was an HP and I was very happy with it. The fact that it broke was purely my fault. There was a bunch up of papers that had printed and rather than clear it right away I kept printing which resulted in the plastic spring cap holding in one of the cartridges breaking.

Because I used airmiles, this new printer is 100% free, even the shipping. It should arrive in the next week to 2 weeks.

About 4 years ago I had enough airmiles to go anywhere in the world, free, with points left over. I had been collecting since 1992!

I've never really had the urge to travel, and it was around the time some air miles collector program terminated and everyone lost all of their air miles. So I figured rather than wait for that to happen, and since I really had no urge to go anywhere, that I would start cashing them in for free stuff. Since I've been doing that I've gotten:

A stainless steel mandolin (for slicing)
Waffle Iron
2 Microwaves
Dyson Animal Vacuum
Weight Watchers Scale
Deep Fryer
Slow Cooker
George Forman Grill

And I'm sure I'm forgetting some things.

No kidding! The cartridges for my previous HP Printer cost about $70.00 for colour and $30 or $40 for black.

I looked at the price of the cartridges for this new printer and it doesn't take just 2 cartridges. It takes 4!! One each of black, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. The black costing about $42.00 and the others about $20.00 each.

You know that "Defective 4780" likely works.

My previous HP Printer was a ps2200 series all-in-one. The printer started off on a Windows 98 machine which was eventually updated to Windows 2000. Then it was connected to my current computer with XP Pro.

A couple years ago I ran into a problem with not being able to scan because my computer couldn't find the printer or vice versa. I could fax and print and photocopy, but unable to scan. I can't remember if it was with Windows 2000 or XP.

I contacted the online HP support and spent quite a long time on the phone with the guy. He gave me a couple of patches to install, but it didn't work.

In the end he told me that it was the USB cable and that I needed to get a new one.

Now in my mind I didn't understand why the USB cable would be loose or broken because the printer had been unplugged from the CPU less than a 1/2 dozen times since the printer was purchased.

So before going out and spending money, I went online in Google and typed in my problem and looked through several results. It seems that others were also having problems with that series losing it's ability to scan.

One of those results yielded a simple solution! A simple patch! I downloaded it and my printer worked like a charm. I contacted HP and notified them that I found the solution though a patch that they didn't seem to be aware of at the call centre.

So don't throw out that printer. Do some searching for the problem and you'll likely find a solution to the problem and end up with 2 working printers.

When I first got the ps2200 printer, while setting it up I broke a piece that holds in the cartridge. It was 100% my fault. I contacted HP and they arranged to have someone come and pick up the printer and sent me a brand new one all within 5 days. That is the reason I went with another HP printer. I was very impressed with their customer service. And when I'm impressed with a company, I reward them with repeat business and positive word of mouth.

Wow!!! My printer arrived about 30 minutes ago!!! I just ordered it 7 days ago, including the day I placed the order!

I'm too tired to set it up now, but I'll work on it tomorrow and then on Sunday start up my job hunt again. I took a few weeks of my medical leave to destress and get myself together.

First thing...get a new job.

Second thing...find a new apartment.

Third thing....move!

Things are definitely looking up!!!