Practice Management

You know technology is often good, but it not always fun.  Case in point is the ScanSnap scanner that I use in my office.  It is small, it is relatively easy to use.  I can scan to print if I need a copy, or I can scan to native PDF for saving documents and getting them off my desk.  This makes this makes the documents portable and immediately available once I upload them to Basecamp.

So, what is it that I have to complain about?

Getting the damned documents through the scanner in order!

Have you ever struggled with your ScanSnap to keep it from feeding multiple pages through at the same time over and over, only to have to stop, clear the computer, take the pages out, reorganize them and start over?  Sometimes multiple times?

Well, I have, and my response is to get mad and grumble.

Not my girlfriend (wife), who is skilled in the practice of law and household cleanliness.  She recognized that it is often due to static electricity.  As keeper of the laundry as well as practicing law (generally at the same time), she knew what to do.  She grabbed a dryer sheet and rubbed it on both sides of each page quickly.

To all of you less educated guy lawyers out there who know power tools but have no idea how laundry works, dryer sheets are gauze-like tissues about the size of a Kleenex, which when placed into the dryer with clothes helps to  eliminate static cling.

Not all of the time, but a good part of the time when this is happening with my scanner it is because of static cling.  Go figure.  I wondered why my pocket tees did not stick to my Dockers when I get dressed for work in the morning.  Now I know.

When it is real rainy out, I think the sheets tend to stick because of the humidity.  I will have to discuss what household products I can use to solve this problem with my girlfriend as well.