August 2010
08.15.2010 Sunday Is August half over? Must be somewhat busy to ignore the website. Got through birthday week. Watched Shark Week on Discovery Channel, seemed like most of the content was repeated, not as many new shows.
Going to NAPP's Down and Dirty Tricks for Photoshop in Austin this week. The following week, I start an html class at ACC. Got the DW-CIB for CS5, I like the way some of the information is presented. It starts with basic html sturcture and moves on from there. I assumed it would be the text book for the class, wrong! I ordered the correct book.
I also ordered the new Pantone Essentials Advance. The changes are crazy. The four dots that say this ink should convert to process without too much color shift is gone. The RGB indicator is gone. The parts indicators are gone, 4 parts Rubine Red, 3 part Transparent White. People who mix ink by the parts formula will have to learn a different way of mixing ink. The process swatches have been changed up. It's like don't get rid of the old Process Swatches! They are not in the new books. Then there's the new GOE formulas. Mixed from a base of 10 inks, they look cool, some are close to the current PMS solid color structure. I just had to call my ink guy right away and ask about availability. He said that he did not have the new inks in inventory, but he's been able to match the few requests he has gotten so far (without a custom ink mixing charge (thankfully)). Why cause trouble? I'm not causing trouble, I'm being proactive. Now for the next question, when will all the graphic applications be updated with the new swatch libraries? Just because someone chooses a color from the GOE library, doesn't mean that's what they are going to get, if they don't clearly convey that message to the print shop. Right now, the only way to insert a GOE formula ink is to create the swatch, and the swatch has to be created correctly. Swatches incorrectly created get a file fixing charge.
July 2010
07.23.2010 Friday Happy Birthday John.
07.20.2010 Tuesday Happy Birthday Seth. John's birthday is Friday.
I'm working on the site. I'm not sure how long I'll keep it looking this way. C'est la vie.
OK, I caved and got a new iPhone last week. It is awesome, I haven't had any problems with it. Other than not being able to run Flash content. So why did I buy it? It's an awesome device, it's not perfect, but it's awesome. The applications are quite capable of keeping me in touch with the rest of the world. Like my own little Star Trek communicator. I hope, that I am sure that Apple and Adobe will get the thing worked out over the Flash content. I've said it once, if Adobe really wants to trump Apple, they will hire talented programers to write an interface that converts Flash content to the specs Apple requires. Tell a person what they can't do, and they will find a way to do it. Like doing layouts in Microsoft Word. Word is a word processor, it was never intended to create layouts, but people use it to create layouts.
07.18.2010 Sunday Oh, the joys of parenting. The kids are normal, I am concerned about them and their decision making. Toney and I have plans to travel next year, and we found out those plans can be made fragile. C'est la vie. Hope I spelled the right.
Don't trust a print shop that won't tell you what they have. Not everyone has specs online, but if you call, you should hear, "This is the preferred software delivery."
I found a site called "Weekend Designer." It's about drafting dress patterns. Found a vest pattern that I liked, followed the drafting instructions and set it up as a file in Illustrator. It was awesome as a first real attempt. The armholes fit a little funky, it's wearable. I changed up a few things. I added inset pockets. Seems I have a determination to use inset pockets. They turned out nicely. The vest will be replacing a shoulder pouch that I had been keeping my phone in. I think the vest will be mo better. (pardon the grammatical error).
I think yesterday made it to 100 degrees for the first time this summer.
Last night, we watched "Powering the Future" on the Discovery Channel. It appears that biobutanol has been around for ages. It was a by product of creating acetone that was discovered in 1916. It can be run in an unmodified gasoline engine. Racing teams have tried to win races with it. It appears that there is a lot of options out there, that we are just hearing about. I'm not suggesting that we put all the eggs in the biobutanol basket. My question is, why hasn't it been explored earlier since it's been around since 1916? By product of acetone, think of all that fingernail polish remover out there. There's an interesting article on Wikipedia.
Time to redo the site...
07.12.2010 Monday I've been negligent in posting new sample files and updating the website. This side of my work is a hobby. I have a couple of projects that I am working on. A football program and some packaging for a local company to fill in for the hours I've been shorted. I'm working four (8) hour days. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't miffed about it. I took a class last spring and I was looking forward to being on full hours again for a while, before the fall class comes up.
The football program is coming along nicely. I like being early. I thought the first game was going to be September 1st, it's going to be closer to Sept 10th. Team pictures are supposed to be in around the 12th of August.
I had one of the strangest dreams last night. I had to drive my brother's '57 Chevy for a couple of days. This is so funny on so many levels. First, Rod does not have a '57 Chevy. So I don't know why I had to borrow it. The dream also had me working in a school.
Speaking of school. Shall I go after the Bachelor's degree or not? Dang it. I should not have to. My skill level is established. On the other hand, Austin is a tough neighborhood. It ranks as one of the top ten most educated cities in the US. Moving could be an option, but as I'm married, it would have to be a joint move. There is supposed to be grants available for red headed women of Irish descent. So I die my hair, because I have proven the Irish part. I have two classes to finish up a certificate. While the two certificates that I will have, documents my skill level, they are not the same as a Bachelor's. The way classes have gone up for out of district residents, I might be better off contacting a four year university to see what's available. What will transfer from the certificates? Who knows? If nothing transfers, then I seek a degree plan with the path of least resistance, Liberal Arts. Cause I can always get more certificates.
07.07.2010 Wednesday I saw an iPhone 4 yesterday. I liked the way it felt when handling it. I know I qualify for an early upgrade, I'm just not sure I can justify it. The iPhone 3GS came out last year about this time. Will the next generation hit this time next year? Decisions, decisions. I ordered a focusing loupe instead. I still have my eye on the new iPhone.
07.03.2010 Saturday Who would have thought it? I have a part time graphic design job. It fills in for the mandated day off at the print shop, where I do mostly prepress. I get to design packaging. It's awesome, I think so.
07.02.2010 Friday It's Friday, woohoo! It's not all good. I'll be hanging out in Austin most of the day. I need to download this site to the laptop, so that I can work on it. But that can cause problems, if I don't check for the latest version before adding content. I'll give it a try. It's going to be a long weekend, that will be a good project.
07.01.2010 Thursday Had Mexican food last night, for the first time since April. I feel some discomfort, not a lot. Bland food is on the menu for today. If Toney had not mentioned the enthusiasm of the green sauce, I would have thought it was from not eating spicy food for a while.
I'm reading about the iPhone 4, and the reception problems. I qualify for an early upgrade, but do I want to commit to a phone that may have to be recalled. I'm right handed, however, I've noticed that with the 3G, I'll pick it up with either hand, and hold it in different ways. I asked Toney what his thoughts were. He said that he didn't think I would be comfortable having one, unless I had a case. He also said he thought that the problem would be fixed by the time I got one. I see Toney's point, I don't want my phone to get scratched up, and I'm sure the fix is being worked on. I see a class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple and AT&T. That's going to be rough. There are a lot of people wanting Flash on the iMobile devices, and Apple says no. Apple has the right to say no. I'm not a programmer, so I'm one of the persons that think Flash should be allowed. Flash is supposed to be available on the Droid, it's not there yet either. I'm just not sure the lawsuit is wise.
It's not like the phones were purchased used, can't they be returned, that will send a bigger message to Apple to get the problem solved. Lawyers and court fees will offset a fair amount of monetary gain. If you have a million people, and Apple is forced to pay two million dollars after lawyers and court fees are taken out, the million people get $2 each. If postage comes out of that, $1.57 each. If you don't want it, return the phone. I'm sure some of the dropped calls are due to bandwidth usage, increased bandwidth usage with the advent of the iPad and mobile connect cards/modems for laptops. That brings up another question, we're supposed to be going green, but the purchase of computer products and phones is counter productive to going green. Sure, we may be using less paper, but we're using more electronic devices. Where's the wisdom in that? Where are computers built now? China? Where they are happy to have jobs and pollute the environment. We are cleaning up our environment, the third world has yet to catch up. Here's another link. What has our technology done to the third world? Whether we know it or not, it's being used as a dumping ground. What of news reports that say China and other countries are working to clean up their environments? Governments have been known to hide things, either for the good of the country, or to put on a good face. Some reasons for hiding the truth is for security, other reasons are on a need to know basis, and there's a fair amount of trying to look better than they are.
