Friday, when getting myself ready for the event at St. Johns, I put together a few words to read rather than deliver off the cuff in case I was choked up. As I prepared to print it off, the machine was dead...as in door nail. Unbelievable! No lights turned on, the printer did not respond to being unplugged and then plugged in again, nothing. Perhaps if I simply did a restart on the computer, the printer would be prompted to wake up. Well, when I shut it down and then tried to bring it back up, Windows started an update, which cannot be rushed. It was too late---time to leave for the event, minus the prepared speech. Off the cuff it is!
Well, I had Justin, my I.T. guy, take a look at it and he, too, declared it DOA. He had given it to me for Christmas in 2012 so it wasn't very old. No warning signs or anything to tell me it was near death, either. Hmmph! After Bible study and lunch today Linda and I stopped in at Staples to get a new printer. I'd checked various machines online and Justin suggested looking at the store instead of ordering one. A nice man helped me find one on sale for $50, a Canon, which was fine with me. I also got printer cartridges right away as the starter ones rarely last very long. As part of the deal, it seems, I get membership in a printer and ink discount deal, giving me money off the ink and the printer.
We got the stuff home and carried upstairs to my room. I put the printer on my bench so it was handy for Justin to hook up while we ladies were gone to the movies. I unpiled the stuff from atop my 'old' printer so Justin could readily move it off the desk. With my hand, I brushed the dust (yes, dust) from the old machine and, just for fun, pressed the ON button, and ta da!---it came back to life. What the heck??? I couldn't make it go, Justin couldn't do it, and now, by brushing the dust off, or having it sit idle for three days, it's healed! Now the decision is whether to return the relatively cheap printer or keep it for posterity. The ink should go back because it has an expiration date on it. Right now I lean toward keeping the printer as it seems I got an additional $20 off the machine somehow. Nice!
This afternoon Linda and I were joined at the theater by Judy and Betty to see "Heaven is For Real". I am so glad Judy could make it, having the afternoon off. We had to wait about a half hour because the time changed since I checked it on the weekend and today, by 40 minutes. It just gave us more time to visit, that's all. They were most forgiving of my mistake...
The movie was good as far as movies go, but the script writers made a mistake in not taking advantage of the openings to share the Bible. After all, the father was a pastor, who went by his first name and preached in street clothes...yech! The congregants were all nicely dressed but not their pastor. Only once did they show the Bible open on the lectern and it had a piece of paper over it with his handwriting on it. But, that's Hollywood for ya'. Linda didn't think it was close to the book but her friend said it was. I can't help out with this comparison. The little boy, Colton, was absolutely adorable, and did an amazing job in his role. I was smitten!
After the movie we went to Sweet Tomatoes, using a 20% off coupon Betty had. Three times in one year for me and it's only May! Linda remembers having eaten here many years ago, probably when Timmy was still with us so it was fun to go again all these years later. Linda had bought a big bag of popcorn at the movie of which I had some so I wasn't starving for dinner. I ate my salads and had a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Didn't even go back for the soft serve with sprinkles that I normally get. I was full in more ways than one!
