This past weekend we went to another BBQ cookoff. This one was in Bastrop TX, which is about 20 min past the Austin Airport. This one was a bit larger than the last one, but once again I was a judge for ribs. I was a semi final judge, not a final judge this time, however I think that the food was better over all.
I also want to point out that while these things are a lot of fun, they are usually put on to raise money for charity. This one raised money for the local Children’s Advocacy Center. What could be better than eating good BBQ and helping out kids in need at the same time?
Our friends were short handed because this was also opening day of deer season. (At least I think it’s deer season, I”m not a hunter.) They asked if I would like to help out. After agreeing I learned that the guy off hunting was “The Cleanup Guy.’ I didn’t mind, I figured it was the least I could do for all of the food and fun they were providing to me and my family.
The team (their name is Texas Que Step) entered brisket, chicken and ribs. This cook off also had a Margarita contest the night before that they entered as well. They were feeling quite confident after their 8th place finish in a national cook off two weeks before. However, it’s been said that those who the gods would destroy they first make proud. When it came time to announce the winners the Texas Que Step team was shut out. They didn’t place on any of their entries.
As they headed back to the RV to lick their wounds (and margarita glasses) I heard one mention that maybe this was a good learning experience. That they had grown too confident and needed to focus some more. While they were disappointed with the loss, they still know that a bad weekend of BBQ is still a damn good time. As for me, I learned that cleaning a smoker is dirty business. However, there is something comforting about doing a job that produces immediate results. Not to mention that the pay is great., we left with several meals worth of brisket and BBQ chicken
I guess that title could mean a lot of things. In this case I mean screwed as in screwed over and printer as in laser printer. I apologize to everyone having an affair with someone at Kinko’s if I have offended or scared you. Don’t worry, your secret is still safe. What I mean is I figured out a setting on my printer that just saved me about $250.
I have a HP Color Laser Jet 2605dn printer. I generally like it; it does a great job on printing, is fast and prints on both sides of the page. It works with my PCs and the Mac very well. It also came with full toner cartridges when I bought it about 2 years ago. This is something that is rare, but very nice. I did find one feature, which I didn’t even know existed, that I don’t like. This is the feature that tells you when your toner is gone.
Each cartridge has a chip in it that keeps track of the toner level. The idea is that when the toner is low the printer can alert you, and tell you to buy more. When it thinks that the toner is gone, the printer won’t print anymore. All of that makes sense, except that level indicator is not accurate. It’s not even close to accurate. Apparently it assumes that every page uses color. So, you can ‘run out’ of color toner even if you only print in black and white!
I realized this as my wife wanted to print something in black and white and the printer would not work. I then did a little looking and found this …
At the control panel: Press the right arrow twice (System Setup). Next press the Select Key (check mark). Then, press the right arrow twice (Print Quality), then Select. Next, press the right arrow (Replace Supplies), then Select (Stop at Out). Press the right arrow (Override Out), press Select.
I followed those instructions and then printed a test page. Perfect color! I understand that this will eventually run out, but I wonder how many people just run to the store and spend the $250 on new toner when they don’t really need to. I’m glad I found this setting, and I would encourage you to check your printers to see if there is something similar.
This is not out of toner at all
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