My longest post in forever.
I’m happy to report that my past 2-3 weeks have been especially productive… or at least… tiring? I’ve concluded that the only way I’ll ever get things done is if I just don’t sleep. Don’t get me wrong, I love sleep. I prefer several 2-3 hour naps to an 8 hour slumber. The exception is crashing after one of those ridiculous 18 hour work days, or several days of no sleep. In that case, I’ll sleep 10+ hours with no cares.
And so, it’s 4:30 AM. I’ve been working on this little duplication project for work. I have 200 DVDs to copy. This involves printing all of the case artwork, DVD labels, burning the DVD (which I have already mastered/authored), and assembling the package. My trusty Canon i9900 is an amazing printer. I’ve been using refill inks (now from MIS Associates) and it’s such a money saver. The print quality would simply blow you away. Needless to say, my hands look like I just played with Easter egg dyes. The stuff doesn’t wash off with just soap. I stopped caring. Washing my hands with Windex does the job sometimes.
Today I did some more modding to my desktop PC. I’ll have pictures soon, I hope. I replaced the clear tubing with some UV blue stuff, and replaced the coolant reservoir. The one that came with this cooling kit is a piece of crap. It constantly sounded like running water in my room. So, this new one is clear, and with UV blue water, it’s nifty looking. It’s also silent. Me likes!
Last weekend, I finished the Lynda.com - Photoshop CS2 Essential Training CD-ROM series. It was approximately 11 hours of videos on how to use most of the functions in Photoshop CS2. I’m extremely impressed with the series. I’ve known how to use Photoshop for years. My first project with Photoshop was done in Photoshop 5.5. It’s come a long way. The training really hammered into my brain important keyboard shortcuts and ways of doing things that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. I’ve known how to use masks and different blending modes before, but seeing someone else use them helps a lot, I think. I just started on the Illustrator CS2 set. I think I’ll really learn a lot on this one. I’m less familiar with Illustrator, but I do know how to use everything in it. This set is 17 hours. Ahh!
Along with some fresh Photoshop knowledge, and the amazing weather we’ve had lately, I ventured outside and took some pictures! The two shown here are the ones I played with in Photoshop. Geek + Photoshop = Woah. Oh, while I’m thinking of it…
If you’re into digital photography, and take a lot of pictures, I highly suggest you take a look at Adobe Photoshop Lightroom! It’s a brand new program that allows you to manage lots of files VERY easily. It has most of the functions you’d do with photos right in it. It’s also nondestructive, meaning all of your edits retain the original file. It’s a super nice, slick program. You can even click an “Edit in Photoshop” link, and when you’re done, the changes are in Lightroom instantly, with the original still in tact. Seriously, take a look. I may be buying it this weekend!
In other news, Arturo had a litter of 4 kittens. They’re cute, but they’re all very mouthy! I’ve decided to start naming kittens based on the Greek alphabet. So, this set is going to be Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta. The Flickr page shows which ones are named. This works out, because they’re easy to remember, and you can write their names with one character if you wanted to! Gosh, I’m such a dork.
Lastly, I’m going to be going to the Adobe CS3 Conference in NY City in June! It was $199 to register, but I think it’ll pay for itself if I learn something. They also apparently give me a $100 coupon off of a Lynda.com Premium Subscription. That’s nice incentive. I’m totally excited for Creative Suite 3. Once the Master Collection is out, I’ve decided I’m going to find the money to spend on it. It’s every program I use, and now that Adobe has all of Macromedia products, they all finally work together seamlessly! It’s apparently $2,499, but for all of those programs, I think it’s a good value. Besides, I’ll write it off on my taxes!
That’s all for now. I’ll try not to forget to blog anymore. I’ve probably said that before though.