I saw it unaided this morning. I live at roughly 40°N 85°W, and went out at 5:30AM. With a clear view of the horizon, Mercury was unobstructed but hard to see with the pre-dawn light. I might go out again tomorrow morning at 5:00 or 5:15 to see it more distinctly.
Yes, Mercury was very prominent a couple of weeks ago. Of course it's always close to the Sun, so perhaps your horizon viewing conditions have obscured it (I have to walk so that the trees and street lights are out of the way).
I've been trying to track the Pleiades for Matariki (Maori New Year), which are currently just above Venus.
This article showed up just as I am looking for a replacement for my HP 1320 which works perfectly except 3 out of 4 users in our household can no longer print to it. I’ll look up the Brother laser printer mentioned here to see if people report having better luck. Thanks
bug.co.jp
Apparently they changed their name last year.