If you’ve ever had the need to print a mirror image of a document (ie, text to put on a teleprompter), you know there’s no easy option in Microsoft Word to do it for you. And you’ve searched the web to find that the only choice is some rare versions of the HP DeskJet drivers that have “Mirrored Output” options. Don’t be fooled, there is another way!

If you’ve got an HP LaserJet, go download the PostScript driver for it. Install them. Then, we you go to print, in Printer Properties, Click the Advanced button. Expand the PostScript Options section and set Mirrorer Output to Yes. I’ve done this with both a 4100 and an 8150, so it’s probably fairly common among the newer LaserJets.

You are probably asking yourself how, or even why, I figured this out. Well, one of the people around here does video production and bought a low tech teleprompter set up last year. Of course, I write down how to do this, so I spent 45 minutes this afternoon figuring it out.

This article on /. links to a WaPo article on MSNBC about cell phones on campus. The stats they mention are not from the WaPo article, and they aren’t the same as what we are seeing in our survey so far.
The cell phone vs. room phone dilemma is an interesting one, 911 service and general coverage being the biggest problems.

Sometimes I wish we had a documented software development lifecycle that included written policies on establishing a project, developing, testing, deploying and maintaining it. But then I read things like this and realize that even if all those things are in place, the same crap gets flung in your general direction, just from a slightly different source.

Yes, it’s 6:15am CST. And yes, I’m awake, time to go deal with the power outage.

The harddrive in my less than 3 month old laptop bit the dust today. Being the good guy that I am, I called Dell Support myself instead of burdening the overworked hardware guys, and all I can say is Wow.

• Entering my Express Service Code actually routed me right to the correct support chain. This is new. I was asked for the info again, but at least I wasn’t shuffled around another time.
• The woman that I got on the line asked the standard questions, and didn’t put up a fight when I said I’d rather not give an email address.
• She also didn’t argue when I said “My hard drive has died.” I described the symptoms (not found in BIOS, laptop won’t boot, makes loud clicking noise) and she said: “I’ve got some bad news, we’ll have to replace your hard drive.” I then say that’s fine, and she replies: “But, you are supposed to cry. Am I going to have to kick you in the shins?” I explain that I support users all day and I don’t put anything important on desktops or laptops. She is not amused, still wanting a response.
• My next statement is “If it is important enough to save, it should be on a server.” She says that sounds just like her brother. I am confused.
• Five minutes later, after all the address information has been collected, she asks if I’ve seen any good movies lately. I tell her no, I don’t go to many movies. She says I should see National Treasure, but she’s really waiting for The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to come out in 2006. When I say I didn’t know that was coming out in 2006, she responds that I’ve earned massive brownie points for knowing what it was. When I say that I wasn’t that impressed with it and it was long, I lose all my brownie points. And all future support calls will require me to jump through every hoop possible.

The moral of the story? I called Dell Technical Support and got someone:

1. Who spoke english as a native language.
2. Was female.
3. Had a clue. (This is not gender related, some Dell Techs are just reading the scriptbook without knowing what any of it means.)

There should be a replacement drive here tommorrow or the next day. Yay for good parts service, boo for crappy quality/low MTBF.