No Good Deed

....shall go unpunished.

My brother-in-law's fiftieth birthday is Tuesday. I couldn't think of an appropriate gift for him at all. His surprise party was Saturday night and at 1:00 pm Saturday I thought of a gift.

So, what's the problem? I needed a scanner & printer. This problem seems to be ongoing in my life. I jumped into the truck and went to Best Buy. I bought the cheapest HP printer/scanner they had & headed home.

Excited, I turned on the computer and began setting everything up. Like all computers, there was a tangle of cords but I persevered. Upon start-up, the computer began to tell me how to install the printer. I looked for a cord that was required and I believed was in the box. Yeah, not so much. "Not Included" are never happy words.

Luckily (?) Kevin had taken his brother to town so that we could set up his party. I called and asked him to pick up the USB cord. I'll just postpone the gift for now. Look at the shiny side.

Turns out the USB cord was $30!!! That is half the price of the doggone printer. GAH.

Sunday comes around and I plug in the USB that is apparently made from baby hair and proceed. Except no.

The installation CD? BROKEN. BROKEN.

Once I finished cursing, I called down to Best Buy to get a replacement CD. The 14 year old gum chewing girl that answered the phone said they couldn't do it but I could bring the entire unit down to the store. I explained that it was hooked up, I lived 25 minutes away, and downloading the drivers would not only take up all my data useage, it would take FOUR HOURS.

No help from the gum chewer.

I waited a little bit then vented to Kevin. He told me to "Get My Bitch On" and call them back. I called again and got the same gum chewer. This time I asked for a salesperson or manager. She put me on hold for about three minutes. She finally returned and said no one was available and they'd call me back.

Never. Happened.

Today, I went into town with the receipt and broken CD. I was ready to make someone cry. It turns out that the manager was on the telephone with another unhappy customer. The guy who helped me was more than willing to go get a replacement CD so I didn't have to kill him.

Once the manager got off the phone, I caught her attention. I apologized for eavesdropping and explained that I also had an unhappy experience with a girl who answered the phone. I told her I didn't know if it was the same girl but if it were, there was another match for her fire. The manager was actually pretty good about it. I made a point of telling her that I was happy with the kid that was helping me so I didn't come across as a bitch.

I zipped home, installed the program and was in business.

The original idea was to make a photo collage of Kevin & his brother over the years. Kevin wasn't very keen on the idea. "He already has most of those pictures."

Kevin comes up the with the idea of the metamorphosis of his brother's car. I begin digging through pictures; one large box, one large album, and a bunch of small ones. Kevin says "You know his wife never does stuff like this for him..."

*light bulb*

I grabbed my jump drive and moved some pictures from one computer to another. Printing, printing, cutting and printing.

Except the collage frame I bought was orientated for portraits instead of landscapes. Ah f*ck.

Hey! Unfinished project in the closet...the great picture reorganization. I trade one collage mat for another and we're good to go.

Viola! A collage of the b-i-l's car in Vegas.

(Whew! He loved it AND I managed to finish it before his actual birthday!)