Happy Canadian Flag Day !

I can't remember if I mentioned my not-so-old printer dying or not, so forgive me if I have, but I'm going to do so now. My printer, an HP deskjet 960c, started out rather well, but sometime in the fall, approaching Christmas, it started to make a grinding sound. This began to happen after I refilled the ink cartridges, but this isn't what caused it, because I'd been refilling them for several months. In fact, I really doubt that refilled ink cartridges could be responsible for what actually happened. One of the little plastic flappy things that raise when the paper starts to come out physically came unattached and an itty-bitty little coiled spring bounced out. I tried to fix it, but all I got were grinding noises and then the paper stopped feeding through entirely. My initial plan was to take it into a shop and have it repaired, but as time wore on, I started to realise that it probably wasn't worth the price to do so.

Three months later, fliers from Staples started to arrive at the house and they had tantalising offers in them, although, not really what I was looking for. Then, a little more than a week ago, a big green flier arrived, addressed to us and it offered much more interesting and useful deals. Here began the hmming and hawing. I looked through the flier, front to back to front again; in the washroom, in my bedroom, on the couch, in the kitchen. Receiving my OSAP funding, finally, after months of problems, suddenly gave me just enough finiancial freedom to buy a new printer, but which one? Three days ago, or so, with the flier sale running out of time, I started my consumer research in earnest.

I visited several websites, including a few that were really excellent, if not necessarily helpful. The problem with many sites was the lack of reviews. There could be twenty for one printer, and none for another, which wasn't helpful at all when the missing printers were the ones I was searching for. I engaged Rick in the research as well, and between the two of us, I did end up with a number of useful reviews. Finally, I settled on the one I purchased, the Canon PIXMA iP4000. It's not the latest model in the PIXMA line, but it was available, within my price range, and had just about all the bells and whistles I needed or wanted. With knowledge in my brain, I was able to make what I think was an informed decision and ordered it on-line.

The truth is, I am very disappointed with my HP. Up until now, all my best printing experience has been with HP equipment. I was aware that my mother's Lexmark, a machine a year older than my old printer, actually did a better, more reliable job than what I was using and that was frustrating. Now, I have my Canon and I hope that it lives for years and years. Computer appliances shouldn't be disposable, and it really pained me to have to spend more money so soon after the last one was purchased. That said, maybe be able to donate the HP to a computer charity or something.

And, in the meantime, I have one Hell of a sexy printer !