The light is blinking on my maching (i believe it's the ink--or lack of it). i'd like to find out if that is so, but i can't seem to find the route to that on my machine, which is a mac. How do i get that information on my machine?

I can't tell you how you could find out on you Mac as I've never used one with my C86 but I can tell you that you can translate the light flashing into a more meaningful "message" by observing the patterns.

• Paper & Ink lights flashing alternately (power light off) = service required (ie: waste pads need replacing)
  .
  
• Ink light flashing = ink cartridge is empty or printhead is in the exchange position. Try pressing the ink button once (don't hold it down) and see if it moves to the exchange position or moves back to park.
  .
• paper light flashing = paper jam or no paper in feed.. Remove a jam or feed it with paper as required then press the paper button
  .
• Power light flashing = printer is busy... If it's doing nothing trying pulling the power lead out of the back of the printer, wait 5 seconds and then plug it back in, turn it back on. This should clear any error.
  .
• Both ink and paper lights flashing (together) = General error.. This could be anything from a serious paper jam, loose wire in the printer, parking station disconnect or similar..