The day finally happened and I want to send a warning to Notre Dame students that they could soon suffer the same experience. Recently, I went to DeBartolo's computer lab to print a paper 15 minutes before class. Like many without a printer, I told myself the previous night, "I have plenty of time before class."

Fact: There is NEVER plenty of time before class. "Plenty of time" inevitably turns into 10 minutes of scrambling in desperation to find an open Macintosh only to realize that there are none even if the consultants insist that "there should be some Macs open."

Needless to say, all Macs were occupied and I had to stand in a mob of people to get added to the PC list. My 10 minutes of time soon became seven when I finally was able to sit down at a PC.

At that point, I had about five minutes, but the computer lab hadn't failed me yet. I opened my document, and after a quick spell check, I clicked "print" and sprinted to the print station. Although I only had two minutes left in the obstacle course, my glass remained half-full because I was seconds away from holding the finished product of my labor.

Then the drama unfolded. No matter how many times I logged into the print station, nothing appeared on the screen to show evidence of my document in the printer's queue. I was perplexed, not only because I had one minute left, but I couldn't figure out the problem.

It wasn't until I returned to the PC that I read the message on the screen that notified me of my lack of print credits and how I could go to the CCMB to address the issue. CCMB? I know we live in a world of acronyms, but CCMB is not one that I use regularly especially since it is on the other side of campus, far from my stomping grounds.

Fortunately, a nice person I knew with print credits to spare helped me, but this is not where the story ends.

I still have a trip to the CCMB ahead of me.

At the beginning of the school year, I was told that the University had determined that $100 of print credit was adequate to cover the average student's print costs. This amounts to 1000 sheets at 10 cents per sheet. If that is so, I am concerned that it is February and I have to add credit already. I know that as an Arts and Letters student, I may not design programs or test formulas, but I do write and print electronic reserves and papers — which includes more than a final draft.

I want to be among the first to encourage students to begin watching their print credits closely because being stuck during those critical computer lab minutes is less than thrilling.

So if you see a forlorn-looking peer heading toward Juniper Road with an expression of gloom, have sympathy for that person because they might be going to the CCMB — the Computing Center and Mathematics Building, for those who might need to find it on a map.

• Warning: preserve print credits before it's too late