In which the day is long and the night, so short

[rolanni]

Today, electronics large and small rose up against me. Yes, I turned tail and ran. Also? I Really Did Know What I was doing when I asked for an "extra" computer to hook the scanner up with. No, really -- justasecretary or not; I did know. And the whole "But! we would have to maintain it!" issue? So completely bogus.

Tomorrow is Friday. With luck and a tailwind, I'll get through the week alive -- and so will the people I work with.

Saturday and Sunday -- blocked out to write "Hidden Resources". I should also pay bills...maybe tomorrow evening.

Don't forget the auction for the paper relevant to the story "Candlelight" -- aka the hardest three hundred bucks two writers ever wrested from a well-meaning publisher. Take a look here.

The trade books manager at the Colby bookstore sent me a copy of the slide they made to advertise the Liaden books (below), which is now in rotation on the screen behind the checkout counter. Pretty cool, huh?

Comments

You don't need another PC - just a more expensive scanner

[(Anonymous)]

Tell them that if they'd prefer it they can simply put in a network-attached scanner that you can use to scan directly to your current PC or a server.

Many network-connected all-in-one printers can do this, but if the scanner you were looking at is one of the Fujitsu models for scanning hundreds of pages a day, they're probably going to need to get a significantly more expensive scanner.

Re: You don't need another PC - just a more expensive scanner

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No, I have a flatbad scanner, which is perfectly adequate to most of the tasks likely to be asked of it, but! It's hooked up to my computer, which means I have to STOP what I'm doing if someone wants to scan something. My idea was we could hook the scanner up to the "extra" computer, the faculty member or my student worker could scan without my having to completely shift gears, and, as a special bonus, my student worker could help me input stuff when the load gets heavy.

When I explained all this to ITS, what I got instead of an "extra"-it-doesn't-have-to-be-new computer (which ITS resisted because they would have to support the computer) is a hard-to-use hall photocopier that can, indeed, scan to pdf and email, but isn't hooked up the network, because, well...nobody budgeted any money to hook the new hardware up the network.

So...I'm scanning a lot of pages on the scanner hooked up to my computer, which means I can't do anything else. Happily at the moment, I'm waiting for a load of inputting to hit my desk, so I have the time for the task.

...which doesn't make the whole situation any less, um, stupid.

Re: You don't need another PC - just a more expensive scanner

[sb-moof.livejournal.com]

If it's a USB scanner, just ask ITS to put the scanning software on other computers in the department (specifically those likely to need something scanned) then move the scanner to the computer of the person who wants to scan something. They may hear this suggestion, go g'ah and then decide an "extra" computer would be easier. :-)

slide

[(Anonymous)]

Beautiful slide; we've got a similar TV in our bookstore here at Colgate and I don't think we've got any slides as pretty.

I mentioned your books (and Maine residency) to Susan Porter at Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta when I visited there a couple of weeks ago. After I gave the 'space opera meets Georgette Heyer' sales pitch she offered me a job, so I guess she got it.

Second copy of Fledgling arrived today, to replace the one that sold!

Kate Reynolds
Colgate Bookstore book buyer and pusher!