When HP went into the office equipment market, PC's in particular, they created an entirely new branch of the company. There were new managers, new engineers, and new factories to build these new inventions. These new folks obviously did not follow the same conventions as did the old timers, and there is a good reason for that. The home office market is highly competitive and the profit margins are nowhere near what they are in other divisions. Thus a lot of corners had to be cut in order to stay in business. Nobody I ever talked to at HP agreed with my assessment, but the proof is in the pudding. Or, as you can testify, in the crappy products that came down as a result of a new business model.
Had an interesting experience today that made me think of you. The storm last week blew over a tree in my back yard and I've had one heck of a time finding somebody that will come out to clean it up. After some diligent searching my wife of many years came up with a company out in Chesterfield. The advantage of these guys, All Outdoors, Inc., is that they do landscaping as well as being arborists. Since I need some landscaping done as well as tree removal I called them, and they sent out the president of the company today. Joeseph Duever III is your age, 71, and claims he is semi-retired. The first thing he asked me when he got out of his truck was if I was Italian. My name, Bara, has been confused with the Italian version, Barra, in the past and I could understand his curiosity. Why that mattered for the work I wanted done never was discussed. Joe told me he and his family founded the business when log cabins were till around in Missouri. His family was among the first inhabitants of the area, which is why I thought of you. I didn't ask him at the time if he knew of your family, but after he left it seemed possible. And, on his way back to the truck he asked if I was Catholic. Woah. I was a bit taken back by that question, but had not problem giving him a short explanation of my stand on the subject. He said since I was of Polish descent he wondered if I might be Catholic. The two do go together frequently, but again, why does this matter when giving a proposal to do some landscaping? Joe seemed harmless enough, but there is no doubt in my mind he is one of those "Good ol' Boys" I've heard so much about. Be that as it may, he will be out here next Friday to remove the trees. The landscaping will wait til October.
Joke of the Day
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Any topic is acceptable, and topic drift is permissible.
Re: Joke of the Day
The two latest items from HP were their Color Laser Jet PRO MFP M477 models, one was fdn, the other fnw. The fdn never did work right, and the fnw didn't either, still don't. I only used the fdn for 500 pages and gave up on it. Bought the second one, the fnw because they told me it was a better machine. I only got about 500 lousy pages from it and it too quit working. I managed to do some tweaking in their program and got it working, but not well, still lousy prints. It actually worked a little better with aftermarket toner, but still lousy, just not as lousy.
No where near as great of printouts and images as my cheap Konica/Minolta Color Laser, it made perfect printouts always, with any brand of toner in it.
Glad you found someone to do your tree removal and some yard work.
I need some done, just can't afford it.
No where near as great of printouts and images as my cheap Konica/Minolta Color Laser, it made perfect printouts always, with any brand of toner in it.
Glad you found someone to do your tree removal and some yard work.
I need some done, just can't afford it.
Re: Joke of the Day
I don't do as much printing as I used to when I was writing code. However, going by the number of reams of paper I have used, my All In One HP printer has put out at least a couple thousand pages of printing over the years. I'm not as demanding as you are, plus I use the HP brand inks. The printing is pretty good as far as I'm concerned and that goes for photographs as well as text documents. The software user interface stinks and I have tried to run without it. The printer still works fine with only the drivers installed, but some functionality is lost, OCR for example. As is the case with all ink jet printers the print head clogs up eventually. I don't know what they did on this printer but I have not had that problem so far. I read somewhere that they use the yellow ink to wash and clean the heads somehow. I guess it's working because I've not had to replace or clean them yet.
There is no shortage of people to do the tree removal. The are all busy doing something else, so it seems. I can tell you that taking away the part that fell down and then cutting down what remains will set me back $900. I almost cried when I saw the quote. I used to do that kind of thing all by myself with a chain saw and wood chipper, and actually enjoyed doing it. I don't know how many trees I cut in my old forest, but I would be wealthy now if each one got me $900. LOL
There is no shortage of people to do the tree removal. The are all busy doing something else, so it seems. I can tell you that taking away the part that fell down and then cutting down what remains will set me back $900. I almost cried when I saw the quote. I used to do that kind of thing all by myself with a chain saw and wood chipper, and actually enjoyed doing it. I don't know how many trees I cut in my old forest, but I would be wealthy now if each one got me $900. LOL
Re: Joke of the Day
Almost all printers now print a hidden code in yellow dots so fine you cannot see them on every page printed.
I looked up what all of my printers printed on a page a few times, each one has a different code, but they are there.
Uncle Sam can find you easily from what you print.
The quote I got to trim down then cut down a poplar tree in my yard was 2 grand, with no haul off or extra cutting.
They say the cost is so high because of the insurance they must carry to cut trees near homes and buildings.
Now, if the tree had already fallen, the price would be half that, or 1 grand to cut it up and toss the branches in a pile behind the garage. If you want it hauled off, that's anywhere from 250 to 500 bucks just for that. Unless it is resalable wood, which poplar is not.
I looked up what all of my printers printed on a page a few times, each one has a different code, but they are there.
Uncle Sam can find you easily from what you print.
The quote I got to trim down then cut down a poplar tree in my yard was 2 grand, with no haul off or extra cutting.
They say the cost is so high because of the insurance they must carry to cut trees near homes and buildings.
Now, if the tree had already fallen, the price would be half that, or 1 grand to cut it up and toss the branches in a pile behind the garage. If you want it hauled off, that's anywhere from 250 to 500 bucks just for that. Unless it is resalable wood, which poplar is not.
Re: Joke of the Day
That yellow printing of code on each sheet of paper is mandated by law. It's been going on for quite a few years now. The information coded in yellow has at a minimum the model and serial number of the printer, but other information may be included. Anyone who can read the code, which is in binary by the way, can identify the printer from which the copy was made. Some folks during the Trump presidency got nailed for leaking documents because the printer in their office was traced using that more or less hidden coding.
The tree in my back yard could damage my neighbor's fence, but it is too far from any residence to do damage that way. It costs about $150/hr per man to do that kind of landscape work. Then there is the hauling of the equipment and the disposal costs. While $900 seems expensive, it's actually quite reasonable. A year or two before we left Chicago I got a quote to cut down a 30 foot cottonwood with no hauling nor root removal. They wanted $2000 back then. That tree was close enough to the house to do some serious damage, which is why I inquired about the cost to cut it down. Now it's somebody else's worry.
The tree in my back yard could damage my neighbor's fence, but it is too far from any residence to do damage that way. It costs about $150/hr per man to do that kind of landscape work. Then there is the hauling of the equipment and the disposal costs. While $900 seems expensive, it's actually quite reasonable. A year or two before we left Chicago I got a quote to cut down a 30 foot cottonwood with no hauling nor root removal. They wanted $2000 back then. That tree was close enough to the house to do some serious damage, which is why I inquired about the cost to cut it down. Now it's somebody else's worry.
Re: Joke of the Day
There was a tree at one of the city houses I bought, of which I don't think legally it was mine since it was on roadway and utility easement, I still pay taxes to the curb, hi hi. The utility company always kept it trimmed away from the wires, but it was becoming side heavy facing the house. The house insurance company told me if I took it down, my insurance would be like 85 bucks less. I checked to have it taken down, and the tree guy said I should be able to get it taken down for free, just call the city and tell them the utility line tree service has caused the tree to be one sided and is now dangerous.
He was right, their trimming unbalanced the tree making it possible for it to tip over easier, they came out to trim it back to shape and I told them it would be easier just to take it down completely. They said yes we can do that faster too. I just had to sign a paper saying it was OK for them to remove the tree. After it was down and loaded on their trucks, I told the guy, I think that tree belonged to the city not me, he said if it was there when I bought the house, it is my tree, hi hi.
He was right, their trimming unbalanced the tree making it possible for it to tip over easier, they came out to trim it back to shape and I told them it would be easier just to take it down completely. They said yes we can do that faster too. I just had to sign a paper saying it was OK for them to remove the tree. After it was down and loaded on their trucks, I told the guy, I think that tree belonged to the city not me, he said if it was there when I bought the house, it is my tree, hi hi.
Re: Joke of the Day
I had similar experiences with the city. There was in fact an easement along the curb of my old house and I had to sign an agreement to allow access to that land. But, access was all that was covered. Anything happening on that land was still my responsibility. The easement property was mine but I had to allow the city and the utility companies access at any time, and I too did not get any tax break for that concession. In fact they would not issue a residency permit unless I signed a paper to let them in.
The tree in my O'Fallon back yard is in a similar situation where it is on an easement along the south property line. The easement is on MY property which is where the cable company has their wires. I think the electric might be there too - not sure about that. That tree which fell during the storm was there when I bought the house and it is my responsibility. I thought about going to the city and arguing with them, but I knew what the outcome would be. The insurance people would not pay for it either because it was an act of god that fell the tree. Well, if god did it, why do I have to pay for his carelessness?
The tree in my O'Fallon back yard is in a similar situation where it is on an easement along the south property line. The easement is on MY property which is where the cable company has their wires. I think the electric might be there too - not sure about that. That tree which fell during the storm was there when I bought the house and it is my responsibility. I thought about going to the city and arguing with them, but I knew what the outcome would be. The insurance people would not pay for it either because it was an act of god that fell the tree. Well, if god did it, why do I have to pay for his carelessness?
Re: Joke of the Day
Subdivision street easements are usually 50 feet wide, even when the street is only 25 feet wide.
You get to MOW that part of your front yard too, hi hi.
Insurance companies have 15 billion loopholes to weasel out of paying out any money.
You get to MOW that part of your front yard too, hi hi.
Insurance companies have 15 billion loopholes to weasel out of paying out any money.
Re: Joke of the Day
You could be right about the width of the easement out front, but a 50 foot wide strip in the back would take up half the yard space in most cases. They only need 10 feet do do utility work regardless. I've not looked at my survey lately but I recall the easement being plotted therein. I really don't care who comes on my property to fix utility problems. Insurance people don't insure anything that is likely to happen. A lot of folks down south who suffered damage from hurricanes can't get property insurance anymore just for that reason. The insurance people claim they are running out of money to pay claims.
Re: Joke of the Day
Capitalism is a dual edged sword. It offers an environment for competition and growth in business enterprises. This tends to cull out the worst of them and gives incentives to improve things so that profits can be maximized. All that is fine and good in our system of governance, if you can afford it. The sad part is not everyone can.