Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Day 469

I'm thinking of replacing my Watch of the Day photos with a Broken Thing of the Day feature. I can't believe how many things have broken recently at our house. Today it was the television. I guess technically, the TV isn't completely broken, since the picture tube still works. The important part; the tuner that picks up the stations, seems to have gone kaput though. I couldn't get the TV to stay on channel 3 this morning so it would sync with the cable box. I finally figured out that the big VCR that the TV was sitting on actually has a tuner built in. I'd just been using the VCR as a table to hold the TV, but surprisingly, it finally proved itself useful after all these years. After a little rerouting of cables, I was able to just use the old Sony television as a monitor and route the VCR tuner signal back to the TV and cable box. Now it takes three separate remotes to actually watch anything: one for the cable box, one for the tuner in the VCR, and a third for the TV itself.

I have a bunch of posters I need to print for upcoming animal rescue events, so it was time to get serious about reviving my ailing Epson 4000. For once, my problems didn't have anything to do with clogged ink lines. This time I just had the wrong ink. The package looked like the correct ink. The cartridge itself looked correct too. The printer knew better though, and refused to accept the cartridge. After a trip to the printer store, I discovered that I had dye ink instead of pigment ink. It's still a mystery to me why Epson even makes dye ink cartridges that fit perfectly in my printer when the printer isn't compatible with them.

I finally got the printer working and printed the posters for the Easter Dalmatian Rescue pet picture event. I still need to print the Wine on the Roof poster with the Gone with the Wind dog and cat, but we haven't been able to pin down the day of the event yet.

I need to show Janet the complicated sequence of events that now needs to take place to turn on the television. Even though I was real pleased with myself for patching something together that actually works, I think her solution is going to be a trip to the store to buy a new television.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day