I love them, but how I hate printing Christmas letters. I love writing them and I love producing them, even when my wife red-pencils half the content – but I hate printing them.
My wife wanted to author our 2020 Christmas letter, so we swapped roles. But I still took care of the printing. We mail out about 100 cards and letters. It’s one way we keep in touch at least once a year with some friends and family.
Even when I’m prepared with affordable, professionally refilled, guaranteed to work ink cartridges, printing the Christmas letter is when the printer will refuse to recognize a replacement cartridge, which means it refuses to print. Which means it will hold your project hostage.
Searching the internet and failing to find a bypass that works, I’m forced to pay the store’s extortion prices for factory brand ink. In this same ink situation in a previous year, the store had a new printer for $10 more than the ink I was purchasing. It seemed a good idea. The new printer came loaded with ink – it printed about TEN two-sided Christmas letters before needing new cartridges!
The machine was a double agent intent on betrayal. It wore the disguise of my personal printer, working for me, but when I wanted to refill an ink cartridge, it became obvious who the printer was really working for. It sat on my desk in my office, cranking out my Christmas letters, but it was working for the Epson company.
Only standard capacity cartridges were available in the store – meaning you’re paying the premium price for ink. They’re good for about 40 pages (that’s 20 letters – 20% of our normal printing target). Have you priced a two-sided color photocopy? It’s not an option.
I used a Canon printer for years. This was before printers cared much if you refilled the ink cartridges. There were workarounds. I filled them again and again until the printer just wore out. It would print, but the quality was declining.
Did you know that when you update some printers, it’s almost like downloading ransomware? The update helps the printer better determine if you are trying to use a refilled ink cartridge. It tells the printer not to recognize the cartridge you filled or the cartridge filled with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The printer will hold your Christmas letters (and all your printing) hostage until you purchase the printer brand cartridge.
If you want your letters to go out, you must pay.
If someone knows a better way, please tell me.
In the meantime, it is with great pleasure I’m able to report that nothing is going on with my cancer.
I’m compelled to write and take pictures, but this is not a writer’s blog or a photography blog. It’s not an automotive or home remodel blog, and it’s not a travel blog, but those topics and more do get a lot of ink here (free ink).
This blog was originally designed to update my friends and family about my medical condition. If a fellow cancer victim might read it and find the answer to a question, or find some comfort – all the better!
I continue to see my oncologist every three months, and things have remained stable. I had a small surgery in January to counter some damage from my last series of radiation treatments. That recovery is going well.
I had a diabetic follow-up visit and added more medication. I’m seeing my eye doctor more often (but not more clearly). I have an appointment with my heart doctor in a week, just to make sure it’s still firing on all cylinders.
Getting older is not for sissies!
I thank God for my countless blessings.