[18 February 2009]

Enrique isn’t speaking to me just now.

He phoned this morning, fuming. “I installed some new OS update the other day, and now my printer won’t print.” “I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. I was, too: when Enrique’s printer doesn’t work, he always wants to use mine. “Did you try to fix the problem?” “Well, I went to the Web and found some advice to try deleting the printer and re-adding it. So I deleted it. And now the [expletive deleted] machine can’t see the printer at all!” “Ouch,” I said, wondering whether the toner we have on hand would get us through the week, if Enrique descended on us with hundreds of pages to print. “So I ran Software Update again, and it took forty-five minutes to download yet another security update for the OS. And it still couldn’t find the printer. So then I went to the Apple site and downloaded the packet of HP printer drivers … and it’s still not finding the driver.“

“Is the USB cable seated securely?” “What kind of amateur do you take me for? Of course. I checked, it’s secure both at the machine end and at the printer end.“

“Did you unplug and replug the power cord, too?”

There was a brief pause, before the call was cut off. Like I say, he’s not talking to me today. I’ll try to use the quiet time to get some other work done.