The Checklist

The checklist for my impending retirement is shorter. I have been to the SSA, and due to a misunderstanding  (or misinterpretation, take your pick) of their terms, I have to get a special form signed by the HR department at my company, and then go back. I've made two trips already, and I had filled out the form online, so this is rather a big runaround. When the temperature is in the 90's and stairs are involved, I decided to take a break and resume the wrestling match on Tuesday. I am decidedly NOT Superwoman.

However, the wireless printer HAS arrived, and has been successfully installed. Below is a photo of the company's printer that has been taking up residence in my house for the last four years. It is BIG it is NOISY and it is SLOW.

It is also not wireless. I do not need anything this complex, so I cannot wait for it to go back "home." At work though, we are in the midst of a full manufacturing software upgrade, so the last thing our dear IT guy needs is me cluttering up his office with yet another piece of hardware. So it will stay at my house for another four weeks or so, and then I will bring the whole WFH setup back to the office.

This is the printer I selected. I do not like those bubble jet color printers. They use up a lot of ink and the nozzles get clogged easily. I wanted a black and white laser printer. They print faster, the price per page is a lot more economical and the toner cartridges last a very long time. This one doesn't scan either, but hell, I can take pictures with my phone, so that's OK.

Remember I have moved to the Apple workspace. That means my phone, table and computer are all from Apple. What I like about that is they all talk the same language. And anything I can find on one of them, I can see on the other. It also means that everything is wireless. I used to be a Geek, so that isn't frustrating for me. 

Much.

I could not find the drivers for my new printer on line, but in the end I didn't need them. As soon as I got the printer connected to the WIFI network here, all three devices had absolutely no trouble whatsoever printing. (In the photo above the cables you see belong to the work laptop.)

I got it from Amazon (naturally), and I did several searches for "Best wireless printer for Macs." The Brother printers came up every time, as soon as I disregarded the options for Color printing, faxing and scanning.

Several of you asked, so here is the relevant information: The DW means it duplexes (prints on both sides of the paper) and is wireless.

The other hardware relevant thing is my cell phone. I have thought long and hard and I'm going to go with a carrier that has exceptional coverage. If that means I'm a snob, so be it. After discussing it with the IT guy at work, I'll make the switch in early August.

I have also counted all the vacation hours I have coming to me. It's almost three weeks, and although that means I could stop working three weeks before my official retirement date, it also means I can work three or four days a week instead of five. I decided a month or so ago to start working only four days a week, and I have been doing that. I sure do like it a lot, and it is nice "practice." In another few weeks, I'll drop down to three days a week.

Getting to this point has been stressful, and that's a lot of the reason I haven't spent as much time in the studio as I would like. The heat hasn't helped either. 

In the evenings, I go out and sit on the porch, but there is a birdhouse just outside, and the momma bird sees me as a distinct threat. If I am standing out there looking, she flies out of the birdhouse, and then directly at me, pulling up just before she hits the screen. She does this repeatedly, so I have taken her advice, and gone back into the house.

Oh, the things we do!