I don't print very much on my home ink jet printer, and as a result I think I end up wasting more ink it gums up in the cartridge than I actually use for printing.

I have always used the printer manufacturer's ink cartridges, but when I went to the get new ink a month or so ago I thought I would try refilled cartridges. The lesser quality was immediately noticeable. The edges of each letter was blurry and I could see the ink bleeding along the little paper fibers. Not recommended.

Because of all this I have decided I am going to buy a low end laser printer. As far as I know the dry toner powder will not dry up and clog like ink jet ink, or at least I think it would last much much longer than the ink does. My requirements:

1. It must have built-in networking so I can plug it directly into my router and send print jobs to it from any of my computers around the house.

2. I would very much like it to have automatic duplexing so I can print on both sides and save paper, but I am not 100% committed to this.

3. I am going back and forth on whether to just get a black and white printer or a color laser printer. I don't know if the quality of the color output of a low end color laser printer will be as good as the color laser I am used to at work or an ink jet. For what I mostly print I don't know if the extra money for color is worth it either. I'm probably leaning towards just black and white, but I'm still open to color. I will have a better idea once I see some sample prints at the store and price out the cost of the color toner.

A toner cartridge costs more than a set of ink cartridge, but on a per sheet cost it is much cheaper. It's something like $0.08 per page for an ink jet and $0.02 per page for a laser. The printers I am looking at are in the $200 range. The brands I am interested in are Brother, Samsung and, of course, HP.

My first hop plant poked out of the ground today! It is the Centennial variety. The warm weather being forecast the next couple of days should help coax the other three plants to show themselves if they are still viable. It looks like a mini hop cone at the top, and all of the leaves have that distinctive hop look. How fun!

I've been aware of neti pots for a while but never gave them much thought. About a month ago I was sitting in my doctor's waiting room and I noticed there were a few neti pots in boxes on the counter for sale. I have the highest respect for my doctor, so the fact that he had them for sale made an impression on me, but not enough to do any more looking into it. This morning I read a story that a scientific study was released that said using a neti pot has health benefits, and especially for people with allergies. That did it. I went to my local Walgreens, plunked down $11 and left the store with my very own neti pot. I tried it as soon as I got home and I think I really like it. I've had minor sniffles from seasonal allergies for the last couple of months. Immediately after trying it I felt like my sinuses were wide open and I could breathe very easily. Also I haven't had to blow my nose today after I used it.

It looks like a small tea pot. You mix up some salt with warm water, lean over a sink, put the tip of the pot in one nostril and then tilt your head so the water streams into your nose and exits the other nostril. One weird thing is that it takes a couple seconds after you start pouring for the water to come out the other side because the sinuses have to fill up first. I didn't realize they were that big. After you stop pouring it also take a couple seconds for all of the water to empty out of your sinuses. Also kind of a weird feeling. Then you do the same thing in the other nostril.

After leaving the drugstore I stopped and got a car wash at one of those do it yourself places, got some gas for the lawnmower, cut the grass, filled up the bird bath, hung my bird house, brushed Mitch, and applied Rain-X to my car's windows. When I came in from working outside the electricity was out. I took about two hours for it to come back.

I think I am going to watch Goya's Ghosts on on-demand tonight.

I got my four hop rhizomes planted today. The spray paint markings on the grass are leftover from the underground utility location service. You can see the popsicle sticks in the picture I used to mark which rhizomes I planted where. From west to east I planted, in alphabetical order, Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Willamette (rhymes with damn it).

This is mostly a note to myself:

The area I want to plant my hops is 7' wide, almost 3' deep, and the soffit is 9' above the ground.

This is what it looked like out of the front of the house Sunday night, April 5, and the backyard the next morning, April 6. April!!!

I think this is going on the Zune tonight.

I actually blew a piece of the apple I was eating out of my mouth when I saw this on TV tonight. It's funny because it's true.