Kinko's had a chance to be part of history today but didn't recognize the opportunity. They just don't get it about blogs. We were sure they'd know all about it and make publication of our blog in a snail document a piece of cake. Tuck even joked that they probably had a special counter where you went to print out your blog, and there would be a long line. But no. We still love 'em, of course, for all the wonderful and timely services they've provided us through our graduate school years and beyond. But as far as just printing out a blog, fergossake, Kinko's is almost as clueless as our local printers, Sir Speedy of Chelsea, who brushed us off yesterday with a sniff and a nod (towards the door).
The lovely Kinko's lady said something about how we would have to burn a CD with a PDF file and then come back in. They couldn't print directly off our URL on the internet as all kinds of things could go wrong, she said, unable to comprehend that we ourselves had done the very thing only yesterday on our little home printer without incident. It was still all too new. On the other hand, unlike the locals, Kinko's gave us full personal attention till we got things figured out together. The bottom line is, we bought a carton of paper from them and went home -- stopping off at Staples on the way for an "Ink Value Pak" for our Canon "MultiPass MP700" printer. We're printing out the entire 17 1/2 months of sisu now and will stop by Kinko's on Rte 1 tomorrow on our way up to Goomp's to have them coil bind it all in monthly volumes if we have time.
"Whatever happened to Strunk & White?" we titled this post, selected by our blue-ribbon committee as title page for May 2005 of the snail publication of our blog. "Brevity is the soul of wit," we said then. "Take Tiny's tail, caught on her way jumping off the floor onto the kitchen counter. The part stands for the whole -- synechdoche -- and says it all: The cat is quicker than the camera's eye."
'Just finished printing out May of 2005 -- 157 pages. Now on to April. Very much like drowning, watching post after post of the last year and a half flash by us as we collate. Speaking of collating and other old-fashioned terms regarding working with paper, how about this? Collecting a pile of paper and shuffling it down onto the counter until all the pieces come to attention in a perfectly formed 8 1/2 x 11 block is probably a lost art, but like riding a bicycle, you never forget how.
I am sure that you have things totally under control, but if you do wish to outsource this service, maybe a certain guy over at the Pru Copy Cop who knows all about his girlfriend's blogging frenzy (and is her main photographer) could help. Just a thought.
Posted by: Be | June 16, 2005 at 07:50 PM
Tell me more, Be. I'm all ears. :)
Posted by: Sissy Willis | June 16, 2005 at 08:04 PM
It's very possible that all the big guys have a standard rule against printing off the net. Not only are there security issues involved with spyware, etc. But there are also copyright issues. Some sites have copyrights and even under creative license I don't know what this allows. But, in the end it comes down to the corporate big wigs trying to keep their companies out of hot water. Can't blame them for that. *grin*
Posted by: Teresa | June 17, 2005 at 12:46 PM