Happy Christmas Eve Eve - We're Going to Have a Blizzard Today

Happy Christmas Eve Eve. Today is the last day that the shop will be open until next week Tuesday, and I'll be taking a few days off from my daily posting as well, to return on Tuesday. It's VERY cold outside, currently -11 F (-23.8 C) and we're under a blizzard warning for the day. I'm off work today (although I'll drive over there in the late afternoon for our gift exchange) and I still have some errands to do and a few gifts to buy. I'll be in the middle of whatever Mother Nature wants to throw at us today, and I'm none to happy about it. 

We broke a lot of snowfall records on Wednesday to Thursday 
here in the Twin Cities. Average in the Cities was at 
least 7 inches, the airport saw slightly over 8 inches. I'm 
grateful the snow blower started properly. Today we're 
not getting a snowfall, we're getting a blizzard because 
of high winds. Ick! 

To add to my problems, the laser printer that is hooked up to my main computer at work isn't feeding paper properly. The only way I was able to get last night's report printed out was to feed the paper in one sheet at a time. That's OK (if inconvenient) for the nightly reports, but we're coming up on year-end, and we print a LOT of reports out at that time. I'd just get a new printer ... except ... 

We've had this HP Laser Jet printer since I opened 
my store in Mall of America in 1992. It's been a 
workhorse, but suddenly isn't feeding paper properly. 
That's a problem. The work-around exists, but it's very 
clunky and slow and means we have to hand-feed 
each blank page into it. The printer is no longer 
supported by HP, so we're really on our own for 
this one. I might have another laser printer that's even 
older in my back room, but I'm not 100% sure it's 
functional. One step at a time. 

This is an OLD computer system. It was new when I opened my shop in Mall of America in 1992, so you can tell from that it's ancient. It runs Win 98 - very well, actually - and even though the program has some glitches that have crept in over time, we've found work-arounds for almost all of them. This one, however, might be more difficult. 

The cable connections between the printer and the 
computer are this style. I have more cables, but I 
doubt it's a cable thing. I think it's a problem with the 
paper feeding mechanism and that's not an easy fix. 
I took it apart and cleaned it last night, but it was 
still messing up, so I hand-fed the paper into it. 
That's going to be a mess for our year-end reports. 

First of all, it needs a multi-pin connector - no USB connectors for a few more decades. I'll have to take a careful look at exactly what the printer cable looks like, and then see if I can find a printer that is compatible. I also have to see what printers Win98 was set up to accept easily in the operating system. Another computer nightmare, and I'm none to happy about it. The printer will limp along, but DH is going to have to exercise patience and carefully monitor the printer, which he's not very good at. 

So, that's my extended holiday weekend - LOL. I hope yours is a bit easier and less fraught with cold, snow and broken computers. Have a wonderful and safe Holiday - no matter what spiritual pathway you follow, and I'll be back on Tuesday the 27th. Slava Ukraini.