Old Tech

Decades ago, when the phone company was in the process of getting broken up, a friend suggested to me that I buy a phone. At the time, it was still an odd idea -- why would anyone buy a phone? His logic was that the phones that were supplied by TPC were sturdy, because they had to be -- TPC didn't want to have to replace them frequently. In contrast, he said, the newer phones would likely be flimsy and cheap, made by people who just wanted to make a buck. I took his advice, and bought a red Trimline phone. Except for the cord, which broke when my toddler daughter decided to swing it, I've still got the phone, and it works just fine.

Last night, our HP Laserjet 4P gave up the ghost. It doesn't feed paper any more. Oh, I suppose it could be made to work again -- I'm given to understand that's a relatively straightforward question (clean the solenoids, replace the roller). But I'm not a hardware guy, and I didn't want to get into that. So I took out the spreadsheet that we made when we started thinking about replacing it, about six months ago, looked at the list of requirements, and we ordered a new Inkjet. Quite nice, too. Color, two-sided, wireless, all of that.

But still -- that 4P has been with us longer than my daughter has -- and she's looking at colleges now. It lasted a good long time.

Sometimes, old tech is best.