afterwards i went to OSJL to look for seeds. i was surprised they were in stock, i figured pandemic gardeners would've emptied the display by now (maybe it's still early). not only that, they were 40% off. i got a packet of early and late blight resistant tomatoes "cloudy day hybrid", "straight eight" cucumbers, larkspurs, godsturm rudbeckia, snapdragons, nasturtiums, and verbascum. rudbeckia and verbascum will be a first for me, i'll need to set up my grow room soon as they require 10-12 weeks of indoor start before transplanting.
we returned via the mystic valley/alewife brook parkway. it was raining ice pellets on our way back. my mother fixed us some leftover noodles when we got to belmont.
i called the cambridge social security office to ask about proof of benefit letters for my 2nd aunt and uncle. after listening to the automated message i finally got to the punchline, which was there was nobody to answer the phones since it was presidents' day.
it was another grey day with risk of intermittent freezing rain so i didn't risk flying the drone. i only went out in the backyard briefly to refill the birdfeeder with sunflower seeds.
my mother was trying to figure out what's for dinner and was delighted when we decided to order from burger king instead. we used their online ordering and could pick up our order immediately via the drive-through. leaving the house, i almost slipped as the steps and pathway were all covered in a slippery layer of transparent icy glaze. we could've gotten our order a lot quicker if it wasn't for the only car in front of us that had some issue with their credit card and one of the passengers had to get out and go into the store to resolve the matter. when we got to the window, they handed us our order immediately, really put the fast in fast food.
we got the family special which is 3 whoppers, 3 cheese burgers, and 3 small fries for $13. even though i started on my whopper later than everyone else, i was the first to finish. my father and i left soon afterwards, to the somerville market basket to get some cafe supplies for tomorrow before dropping me off.
we got there by 7pm, with just an hour before the store closed. cars in the parking lot were glazed over with icy and the ground was slippery. there was still a lot of customers though, but empty by typical market basket standard. i tried to get my father to follow the arrows on the floor, but to be honest, nobody else seemed to be following the rules. we both wore our black KN95 masks that my sister ordered. the only thing i needed was a gallon of milk to make my daily matcha latte.
once i got back home, i went outside and sprinkled salt all over the icy sidewalk.
later in the evening i finally ordered a new laser printer. i took another stab at trying to fix my old brother HL2070N circa 2006, over 14 years old. i read somewhere that the rollers can get dusty, preventing the papers from getting picked up. i looked everywhere, they were no readily accessible rollers. besides, the problem seems to be more deep-rooted than just rollers. i remember when the printer would automatically turn on at nights like it was trying to print something. i thought i was either getting hacked or the printer was possessed. the freaking thing was even after i pulled the plug, it'd still continue to make these clicking sounds. i ended up pulling out the toner cartridge and swapping it with my parents' HL2070N printer which has a dirty toner and needed a replacement.
i saw amazon sold the brother HL-L2350DW for $120. i also saw it wasn't available until april. there was the brother HL-L2300D for $100, but that printer wasn't networkable. i did some more digging and discovered the 2350DW isn't even the latest model; that honor goes to the brother HL-L2370DW. 2350DW and 370DW are nearly identical, except the older model prints at 32ppm and only has wifi, while the newer model prints at 36ppm and has both wifi and ethernet.
HL-L2370DW wasn't available on amazon but was available at several local chain stores like staples and best buy for $130. sure, $10 more expensive than the 2350DW but i wouldn't have to wait until april. originally i was going to buy it from staples, but it required creating a new account, and i was lazy, and i already had a best buy account, so i decided to go with best buy. best buy had store pickup for friday or free home shipping for next tuesday. i opted for the pickup.
i was surprised when best buy gave me a 10% discount because it was my birthday recently. so the price of the printer dropped from $130 to $117, even cheaper than what i was prepared to pay for the 2350DW from amazon which is an older model.
so how does the HL-L2370DW compare to my old HL2070N? the old printer prints at 22ppm, the new one 36ppm. the old one has ethernet, the new one ethernet and wifi. the old one only single-sided printing, the new one double-sided duplex printing. surprisingly, the new one still prints at 2400x600 dpi resolution, so the resolution technology hasn't really improved in the decade-and-half since my last laser printer upgrade.