Brent Kearney

I recently unpacked a new Canon CanoScan LiDE 70 scanner, followed the included directions, and plugged it into my mac to start moving towards a paperless — or at least, less paper — office. I put a document on the scanner bed, clicked the preview button in the “ScanGear” software, and it started to calibrate the scanner:

As it was “processing calibration data from a scanner”, I could hear the scanner buzzing briefly, and then got an error message: “Cannot communicate with scanner. Cable may be disconnected or scanner may be turned off. Check status. Scanner driver will be closed.”

Crappy drivers, I thought. The documentation kept mentioning OSX 10.3, which is ancient. So I went to Canon’s driver download site and discovered that new drivers for OSX were released this month. I installed those, repeated the process, and met with the same results.

Cannot communicate with scanner. Scanner driver will be closed.

I was about to repack the scanner and send it back. Before I did, I thought I’d open the cover and watch what was going on during the failed calibration. The light came on, and to my surprise, the calibration worked this time. The preview scan, however, was completely overexposed. Probably because it calibrated with no light reflecting back, since the cover was wide open. Then I took a closer look at the scanning surface, and realized my folly.

Most of the photocopiers and scanners that I’ve used align to the top-right corner; this one is bottom left. The calibration was failing because the document wasn’t at the “top” (bottom) of the scanning bed to reflect light back. Doh. After recalibrating (advanced tab of ScanGear) with a document in the correct position, it works like a charm.

By the way, to start ScanGear, click the Photo1 button in CanoScan Toolbox, then select the “Display the Scanner Driver” option, and click the Scan button.

Yesterday was a gorgeous, sunny day in Banff/Canmore, and I made the best of it by rock climbing with some friends. My fingers are still burning! Not because of the sun burn, although I have a bit of that too— rather because keyboarding doesn’t quite prepare the fingers for the sharp-edged pockets in the rock at Grassi Lakes in Canmore. The summer is young though, and I’m sure that my fingers will be sufficiently calloused in no time. Yesterday was only the 4th time I’ve been climbing outside this year, and with the exception of one particularly challenging face on Barrier Mountain, those were the sharpest edges that my hitherto delicate fingers have encountered.

It was a good time though! As usual for Banff/Canmore, I was climbing with people who are far above my skill level, so I was taking on routes that pushed my limits. When the holds are tiny and/or the overhang is steep, my physical limits are challenged, but more importantly for me, it is the psychological aspects of the sport that get tested on harder routes. That is why it is such a privilege to be able to hang out with some great climbers, and watch how it’s done. As the day went on, although my forearms got more pumped, my mind got more relaxed and focused.

Skilled athletes usually make their sport look easy, and part of the reason why is that they seem so relaxed when they do it. It reminded me of something I recently heard David Allen say, although in the context of martial arts:

Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax.

That pretty much applies to every human activity, particularly sports, and particularly the sport of rock climbing. Watching my more skilled friends effortlessly scale overhanging cliffs helped to put my own mind at ease when attempting the same.

I’m really looking forward to more days like yesterday!