March 30, 2004

• Potpourri

  Progress

  Try to take a step forward and the computer sends you two steps back.

  I had the network working with file sharing and printer sharing, except that some of the printers didn't exist on the computers that the network thought had them. Naturally, the computer designated those phantom printers as the default.

  I wanted the local printer on my primary computer to be the default, but the computer wouldn't let me designate it as such. So I started disabling the remote printers, the phantoms. It let me delete the first phantom with no problem, but when I tried to remove the second phantom, the computer removed the drivers for all printers on the system.

  I rebooted. The computer said it found my printer and installed the drivers for me.

  It lied.

  I had to uninstall, using the uninstall utility provided on the CD-ROM that came with the printer. The uninstall took a surprisingly long time, much longer than the installation time. The printer had to be disconnected for the uninstall and most of the installation that followed, as did my virus protection. Half-way through through the installation the computer instructed me to connect the printer again. Now it works.

  Meanwhile, I have moved the laser printer to the backup computer, which was already set up to use it. I uninstalled the color printer, the one that had caused so much trouble, from the backup computer, so that there are no longer any phantom printers defined. As a test, I printed a file from the primary computer on the backup computer's laser printer. It ran fine, although it took a while to start.
  

  Cell Phone

  For the past ten months, Cathy, who provides me my cell phone, has been dissatisfied with her provider. She wanted to keep her phone number, so she was going to wait until last November to switch to a new provider.

  November came and went. Cathy didn't switch.

  The old Nokia phone I had been using, which Cathy got used on eBay for almost nothing from somebody in Hawaii, was dying. It would cost more to replace its battery than it had to buy the phone to begin with. Freshly charged, it would still last long enough for several calls if they weren't very long. I had commented several times that I would like something smaller and lighter with a battery that would last a while.

  Yesterday I found a new Motorola phone sitting at my place at the table, plugged in and charging. It has the same number I had before. If you don't know what that number is, then you don't need to know. The new provider is T-Mobile. The new plan provides three free phones and the monthly charge is roughly what Cathy was paying before (she won't reveal details).

  Our previous provider discouraged mobile-to-mobile communications, charging both devices for such connections. The new plan includes unlimited free mobile-to-mobile. Otherwise, the plans appear to be identical: unlimited free roaming and long distance, generous monthly time allowance, unlimited evening connect times.

  Now we have to teach Delia to start carrying her phone everywhere she goes.
  

  Diabetic Biohazard Reduction

  I inject insulin. The used syringes are considered a biohazard.

  I used to be able to get a little device that would clip the needle from the syringes, making them safe, storing the needle part in the handle of the clipper. Each clipper would be good for about a year before it either filled up or the clipping mechanism got so dull it didn't clip.

  But they weren't expensive enough or a high enough volume item for stores to make a profit selling them. They disappeared from store shelves. I haven't been able to find one for about two years now, and the one I'm using is well past when it should have been replaced.

  But something new has arrived on the scene, advertised by Costco for sale through their Internet outlet: a syringe destroyer.

  Like a small battery-powered arc welder, the device passes a high current through the needle and reduces it to little blobs of stainless steel. The resulting grit is safe, having been sterilized at high temperature, so it can be emptied into the trash. The machine will also destroy the things used to poke our fingers to get blood for testing blood sugar levels.

  The machine works well enough. Melting needles creates enough heat to melt and partly burn the plastic of the syringe. I haven't checked on the grit and I haven't used the machine long enough to know how often it will need to be charged (they said every two to four weeks).

  So far, Delia and Cathy seem not to have noticed it.
  

  Rocky's Surgery

  Rocky is an it now, not a he.

  Cathy was warned by her new veterinarian that Rocky was at great risk for cancer if not neutered. Cancer surgery would be much more painful than the preventive surgery suggested and might not be successful. So Cathy finally decided to take the action I've been promoting from the very beginning.

  Recovered now, Rocky was sore for almost a week. He didn't want to move at all the first three days.

  Now he's getting fat. He eats twice what he used to.

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