Being able to fix things can sometimes get a person into wierd situations

So for those who know me, you know that I fix things. I have made a living fixing electronic things for the last 23 years and aside from a living, it is a hobby as well. I have designed and built things ranging from control systems for my entertainment system to rewiring my jalopy to use an alternator instead of a generator. Mostly they were necessities, the control system for the entertainment center came after Bride told me that she wanted to press no more than three buttons to do ANYTHING. Anything, from listen to the radio or television to watching a DVD or listening to Rhapsody from the computer, three clicks was all I had. That was a pain in ass actually but with a self designed and fabricated electrical control system and programmable remote controls that I had to develop and write macros for I was able to meet her seemingly unobtainable goal. I have worked on electronics ranging from multimillion dollar radar systems in the Navy to copiers and fax machines to cameras at a television station. I really like to fix electronic gadgets, I find it very challenging and VERY rewarding.

I also am good at fixing other things as well, I ran a “fix it” business for 4 years, Almost Anything Inc. I fixed all manner of household items. From dripping sinks to leaking toilets to doors that would not close. I worked on pool pump motors and leaking skylights. I fixed sprinklers systems and garage doors that would not open. I fixed doorbells, added electrical service to a back yard shed and installed new mailboxes, and yes there is a code on how they are to be installed. I have replaced rotten wood on the eves and shutters on the front, I have widened driveways and pressure washed sidewalks. I have painted whole houses and patched holes punched through the sheetrock. I learned a great deal about home repairs in that period and can say with a high level of confidence that there is nothing around the house I cannot fix. I also am pretty handy when it comes to working on cars and other engine driven devices. I took auto mechanics in vocational school while in high school, just one year though. I also fixed lawn mowers and when I was younger even had a couple of the racing lawn mowers that would tool along at 30-35 miles an hour. I am not sure why but I was blessed with an understanding about how things work. This was first made apparent when I was about 4 years old. My Mom’s vacuum quit working and I took it apart and I was pretty sure the motor would work. I paid my Sister .25 cents to plug it in, and she, for some unknown reason, did. It immediately came on and chewed through the newspaper it was sitting on like a wood chipper might tear through small softwood. Scared her to death and she swore she would never do anything else like that for me, and hasn’t.

So I tell you all of that as a prelude to this part. I get home from the other day and my Niece is working on her homework. It was not long into the conversation and I can tell she has something she wants to tell or ask me. She goes on to tell me about her teacher has a printer that is broken and that he can not get anyone to fix it, he had taken it to a couple of places. She tells me how much he loves the printer and does not want to go get another one. She tells me that it is just a couple of little pieces of plastic that are broken off and then she drops the bomb. She tells me that while she is talking to him she tells him that her uncle can fix anything and that he could fix this printer. She tells me that they talk about it for a few minutes, a few minutes in which he asks several times, are you sure it is OK? To which she replies, sure he’s cool and will have no problems with it, volunteering my services without as much as a heads up. He even asks her, “are you sure you do not want to ask him first”? She says, NO. Well, I immediatly tell her that I will not do it, although I know I will at least look at it I am not going to let her know that at this early stage. She needs to sweat a little, volunteering my services without asking huh, we will see about that. I then ask her to describe the problem again to me, maybe it is something simple that I can just have her tell him what to do. Well that was NOT the case at all.

So the next day I get an email from her telling me that they have talked and she says “And he forgot the printer ;) I won't bring it up to him again!” Great I remember thinking, I am not going to have deal with some piece of crap busted disposable printer. Well it was only a couple of hours later when I received the following word, by the way, the printer is in my trunk, I could not help but think - what has happened. Apparently he did remember. We just happened to be parked next to each other she tells me and when school was out, he remembered. I'm so sorry and feel very bad she goes on to explain. She then puts the icing on the cake with the comment, and i quote here "Having thought about my idiotic actions, I will never do that ever again.” Well, obviously that made me laugh out loud, so it did not seem as bad as before, she had learned from this experience and that was the important thing. So she brings the printer in along with a ziplock baggy containing two parts, I could tell right away that they were from the paper path so I knew where my initial investigation would start. After poking around for only about 2 minutes I found the third piece of the paper feed assembly. These particular parts had to do with selecting the 8x11 sheets of paper or the photo sized pieces of glossy paper. In one mode it allowed the paper through and the other it stopped the paper, which allowed the photo paper to make it way in to the print area of the machine. It was an easy diagnosis.

Getting to the place where these parts needed to be reinstalled proved more difficult. None of the parts were actually broken, it appears that some paper got jammed and when it was forcibly removed it snapped these bits from there prescribed locations. It was going to be a matter of simply snapping them back into place. I wondered why no one wanted to fix the thing, the problem seemed simple enough – WRONG! I spent about 30 minutes taking this silly HP printer apart in order to get to the paper path where I needed to install the parts. It was at that time that I realized why no one wanted to fix this printer, it was a hundred dollar printer and it was going to take every bit of 2 hours to get it apart, repaired and put back together. It was not worth it, not even if it were my printer and since I was most likely not going to be compensated for it, it was most assuredly not worth it. I told my Niece and she at first she seemed a bit disappointed but when I explained she seemed to understand. Folks, your 100 dollar photo printer stops working, throw it away and buy new one, or at least do not bring it to me to repair. Besides that, Walgreens will print them out for you, cheap and at a much higher quality than a 100 dollar photo printer will ever produce.