Good Day for Shorts!

The old apple tree still stands, this image from a year ago.
The old apple tree still stands, this image from a year ago.

Not pants!–though  our UPS driver wears them year round. Just the blogging “shorts” below.

☀ Finally (thanks Rob! and Epson for finally supporting your 2880 with color management details) I can print people pictures and they are not green, gray or magenta. I printed one of the Grayson County images and it looks super, too. I am yet to play with the LAB color and proof tricks I learned (well, I saw them in use, am yet to learn) from Rob. This means I won’t wake in the wee hours kicking myself for having an expensive printer that is only a glorified dust collector.

☀ I am now being followed on Twitter by the Governator. Don’t you wonder how, out of millions of twitterers, Arnold found me? I don’t think I want to follow. On the other hand, Twitter is gaining usefulness for me. It’s immediacy, search capabilities and succinctness have a role in both networking and information transmission. Something like it (if not Twitter) will be around for the long haul.

☀ I paid $18 yesterday on Amazon for Circus Ponies Notebook ($43 less a $25 Reward Certificate) and while I hate to admit it will mostly retire a couple of other programs I also paid more than that for, I’m enjoying pieces of Ecco Pro (more or less logical outlining format) and OneNote (the ability to place flags and stickies anywhere on the page) combined with the Multidex that allows searches across dates, words, numbers, keywords, and stickies. Kewl feature: it exports readily into web format. Click here to see what an outline of my draft for Floyd Earth Day looks like via this method. Outline controls are active so you can expand or contract outline levels.

☀ I am a lucky idiot with a confession to make. Since my first session at a computer where I was asked to chose a password (probably using Window 3.1 in 1992) I have used the same english language all letters password. Everywhere. Always. Dumb. I changed that this week with the purchase of 1password. At $40 it seems expensive, but what kind of price would you pay to NOT have all your accounts invaded by a hacker? As my ol’ mammy used to say, “a word to the wise is sufficient”.

☀Maybe you’re feeling it too–a total loss of flow and focus after the holidays, blitzed by bad news and dour predictions at every turn, with little sun, cold wind and all the parties and revelry behind and nothing out ahead. I have a temporary sense of purposelessness in all my roles and interests–not apathy, but more like a waking hibernation. I have ambitions and interests and hopes. I am just content for the present to leave them dormant for a time to ferment, morph, and spring up into view. Soon. But not today.

Share this with your friends!
fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

Articles: 3002

7 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Sorry to read you were having problems printing B&W with the 2880. Black and white is one of the printer’s strengths.

    But expensive? At $799, the 2880 is a bargain for a multi-color printer that can print archival quality. Expensive is an Epson 11880 at just under 15 grand or a Roland LEC-300 at $49,995.

  2. Expensive of course is relative. For me, $800 puts that item right up in the top tier of toys. At least I may actually be able to make it pay for itself (ah to dream) down the road if I can at least come reasonably close to achieving on paper what I see on the monitor for color. Feeling better about it now.

  3. Your after holidays feelings have hit the nail on the head for me too. I thought I must be the only one feeling that way. This too shall pass I guess. Smile

  4. Fred, thanks for pointing out Circus Ponies to your readers. I just downloaded the trial version for my photography partner (she’s on a Mac) and it’s exactly what we needed to get her organized. You saved the day!