Mom’s printer has had lots of issues over the last months. It finally gave up the ghost. We decided a laser printer would have fewer problems. I found a very nice Canon for $100. I could have put the old printer in the trash, but the county recycles electronics if you take them to the landfill. Thinking about it, I realized the landfill is within biking distance. The printer was too big for my panier bags, but I figured out a way to lash it to the frame. It was a fun ride. Bonus highlight: a small detour took me by the best snowball stand in the county. Chocolate raspberry with marshmallow. Yummy. I wonder how many times cyclists deliver recyclables to the land fill.

I use my smart phone for GPS guidance when I ride. It has a map and display as do most GPS units. But there’s no place to mount a GPS on my bike where I can see the display. I found a program that gives audible directions as I ride. It’s a really cool feature. I wear the phone in a pouch around my neck and follow the verbal directions. On the way home from the dump, I came to a turn and realized the GPS wasn’t prompting me. My phone (a Google Pixel 5a) was completely dead. I knew the way home, but obviously I need a working phone. This one was less than a year old. I called Google and was very impressed. They gave me the magic key sequence to restart the phone. Everything was fine. The agent told me that the phone shuts down if it gets too hot. It was a hot day, but we have had hotter. The other possibility was that the phone decided to install the Android 13 update, and it collided with the GPS app, causing it to get terminally confused. The term “smart phone” is a misnomer. It’s used for texting, computing, web surfing, GPSing, gaming … in a pinch, it will even work as a phone.

I updated our community website today. This was a major update. I hate large updates. Something always goes wrong. This time they added new security features. None of the people who post information could see, add, or delete the documents and pictures that are posted on the website. That’s extremely secure. It took me two hours to find the new settings. What a waste of time.

We’re looking forward to company for the holiday. JaMM should arrive this afternoon. It will be fun having an infant in the house. Danita’s cooking up a storm. There just might be pictures next week.