Back when I was attending Ringling, I held a variety  of jobs–everything from making espresso at the local opera house to mixing paint at a Home Depot. Somehow through the trials and tribulations of all these jobs I saved enough to purchase my first good quality printer, a Canon i9900. At the time I had to print on several different paper types at sizes from the very small to 13″x 19″ almost on a daily basis, and the i9900’s 8 separate ink tanks appealed to me. Also part of my choice was based on the Canon not being locked into a specific paper like many of the similarly equipped Epson models were. So I purchased the i9900, and it became a cornerstone of my computer design setup.

I dont know how many prints this thing has churned out, but I would estimate the number is very…large. Although I believe it’s a great piece of equipment, it hasn’t been all fun and games. Printing on custom sized paper, especialy using the borderless setting has given me grief on more than one occansion, as has tracking down the increasingly hard to find Photo Magenta carts.

But recently, I put my printer through some severe (and completely unintentional) punishment. First, as I was moving my desk (which are honestly more like a set of shelves) the printer was dropped from 6′ off the top of my desk as it imploded due to some faulty nuts and bolts that were holding it together. Painfully I picked up the ruins of what was a expensive printer, and set them in the doorway of another room. The attachment that held the paper from getting kinks had fallen off, as had the complete top cover of the printer. I could plainly see all the guts and innards of the machine–usually not a good sign for a high end electronic device. But eventually the tears dried, and I went on with my day.

As I was getting ready for bed, turning off all the lights, I began walking through the doorway and out of the room. As I stepped down with my left foot I felt a sharp slicing pain and herd a loud plastic crack. I guess it was my printers turn for a little payback for all the punishment I used to give it by printing all my school designs. As it turned out I ended up driving to the hospital at about 3 am, bleeding a lot more than one would think you could from a deep cut on the foot. I even had to stop for gas on the way to the H. Good times, good times. I got several stitches on the knuckle of my big toe (where it meets the foot), and a bit of a limp that went away after a few weeks. The printer remained immobile, in several pieces in my new office corner.

Enter the job hunt. Now that I need to reprint my portfolio, I had to try to put the pieces back together and make the i9900 live again. I knew it would never come back, so in preparation I borrowed a much newer Canon printer from a friend. I checked all the pieces i had and there didnt seem to be much missing. All the wires that held the top to the main chassis were still connected with the exception of the ground wire. I popped the top into place,  plugged it in and tossed in some new ink carts. To my amazement, it sputtered to life  almost as if it was happy to be back–even in its Frankensteinian condition. I tested the print head and i didnt even need to adjust them. Amazing.

Am I happy with my purchase, even though it cost me some stitches and blood? You better believe it. I think I’m a Canon for lifer now.