SCANITOR...the printer who lived.

On October 1st my printer of seven years died. And it mattered WAY too much to me.

It took me completely by surprise because my printer has been with me for almost a third of my life, and until it died I honestly thought it would live forever.

I got this printer brand new, for free in July of 2007 because I bought a MacBook Pro from the ASU Library and they were giving away free printers to people who bought computers.

My printer was the Canon MP160. It retails on Amazon today for $159.99.

!??!?!?!#$*(!@$&_#(Y_)@*#u04928r7*(#(T*_)@0o23?!?!

I had no idea that I've been lugging around a $200 printer for the lifespan of a 2nd grader.

But then it was gone.

The printer that printed every single acting resume I have ever auditioned with. All my college papers. All my job applications and resumes. All my scripts. Gone.

But most importantly, I'd just gotten new ink for this printer. Like, JUST. Including a two pack of black ink to be more cost efficient.

So aggravating.

If anyone's printer takes Canon 40 and 41 ink cartridges...do I have a treat for you!

But now I can't print. I don't know how an actor survives in LA without a printer because I print stuff all the time. And I feel oddly inadequate without my printing (and scanning) powers.

So I take it apart.

I want to fix it. I NEED to fix it.

And this is when I learn that printers are complicated. Unnecessarily so, I believe.

I don't stand a chance.

But fate steps in.

That night I did a table read for a friend (the script that killed my printer) and as I was telling the gruesome story of my printer's death one of the other readers mentioned that he and his roommates had a printer without a power cord that I could have. Noone knew if it worked.

When I pick it up from him a couple days later I think it looks strangely familiar.

I used to nanny for the world's most adorable baby girl named Brynn almost two years ago when I first moved to LA. I cannot remember why this family gave me a broken printer, but they did, and I always take seemingly useless electronics to use as props or background pieces in my Art Department life.

They had given me the exact same printer...with a power cord.

The printer gods have smiled on me again.

I take the power cord from the broken printer, plug in the new mystery printer, install the driver, clean the printheads about six times before deciding that whatever ink was in there was just too old to be useful, cross my fingers and order the ink for it. (My second ink investment in the last 10 days.)

Three days ago the ink came in.

And it works :)

Beautifully.

Better, actually.

As I was setting up the scanner I needed to come up with a default name for all the scanned documents.

So I named this printer, something I never did for my trusty old Canon.

SCANITOR.

In an epic battle across time and logic, he got a chance for a second life.

The printer who lived.

He also matches my desk way better than the old one did, so that's pretty cool I guess.

...And don't worry. The photos got a new life too.