picture show

Here are some pictures I took one evening last week while John was fishing on the dock. I used PictureShow on my iPhone. This is my fav photo app and I have bought many. This one is simple and there is a random feature I like. I can keep hitting a button until I get some results I like. I can also save those results as favorites and go back to them later. Nice mindless fun.

I think I'll share info on different picture apps this month as I put up my daily shots.

I went to the Lion class at the Apple Store yesterday. It helped. The class was 1.5 hours and there were only 4 of us in it. We did not cover all the information because of all the questions we all had. Way more to learn but frankly I need to work. So enough learning as I work on London Doodles.

not sure about lion

 

as I said last week I got a new laptop. It has Lion on it, the new operating system. Since the new OS was only $29 I assumed it would be a small upgrade. Well I was wrong, oh so wrong. It is one of those upgrades that makes everything look different and some software does not work. Of course the 4 that don't work for me are FontLab and FontBook, Desktop Notes, and StuffIt. And my scanner doesn't work because there is no driver for this OS yet or maybe ever.

It bugs me a lot that I have working equipment that is rendered obsolete by newer software. So I am biting the bullet and getting everything set up correctly on all 3 laptops at once. While I wait for upgrades to things like FontLab and my scanner driver I will need to use 2 different laptops to get my work done.

So basically it is buy a new computer and need to use 2 to keep working. Do I sound a bit crabby? Well that just seems wrong. But if you just use Word and do email you will be fine.

There are lots of new apps that I don't know anything about. This morning I am taking a class at the Apple Store for OS X. Seems like the fastest way to get things figured out and tailored to my immediate needs.

And some new skills to learn. I suggest not upgrading if you are in the middle of a big job. I'd wait until you have some time to devote to this. I am only upgrading the new laptop and keeping my Air and the old 17" that will trickle down to John on the old OS.

Random clutter in my head...

Apple has more cash on hand then our Federal Government. I guess we should all buy Apple stock.

Thinking about this new script font that may take a year to do.

I would like to make ligatures for this font. That poses the problem as to where in the font they go and how assessable they will be for the user. If you use the Adobe Creative Suite you can access those additional characters using those programs. If you don't you can't. Then I should make 2 separate fonts. One font with upper and lower case and a second font with all the extras. And this is in part why this font will live in my head for a long, long time. If you have any thoughts on this feel free to leave a comment.

And I am working on London Doodles... With William and Kate and the upcoming Summer Olympics there a year from now I thought this would be a good second font in my city series. The other one is Paris Doodles...

My picture for today is a bit misleading. This soft, romantic picture is really all my computers and a 23" monitor. Until I get everything working right it is sadly necessary to use them all to get some work done.

Off to the Apple Store...

new equipment...

 

Here's a pretty shot of the sunset one evening...

And just want to say I will be blogging a few less times a week for a bit. It's new equipment time which I love and hate all at the same time. Love a new computer, tablet, phone, software. But the set up of all is always so time consuming. I am going to have the Apple Store do the info transfer this time so I will be without a computer some days. So I will do a lot of drawing this week. And I am our home IT person. So after I get my new equipment up and running then I do the same so John can take over my old computer. I'll still blog, just less. But Carrie will still be here on Mondays with her slant on what is happening in Wisconsin and our fair city.

iPhoto calendar

Earlier this month it was John's Mom's 85 weekend birthday celebration where all of her 7 kids, some of her grandkids and some great grandkids came from across the country to be in Dubuque, Iowa to wish her well.

She wanted no gifts. That's fine, I get the no more stuff thing. But I knew she wanted this calendar of all her kids. John had made this for her several years but did not have much luck this year at Christmastime getting everyone to send in their photos.

This woman has 41 direct descendants plus spouses. Of course it would not be complete unless I brow beat everyone into submitting a photo. I put all birthdays and anniversaries in as Deanie is good about sending everyone a card.

It was all worth it when she opened it and said, "This is ALL I wanted for my birthday!"

If you have a mac you have the iPhoto program. Within that program you can create a calendar. You first pick a theme or layout and then import your photos into the program. You then just drag and drop the photos into the gray rectangles. You can add copy in the dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. I think the finished calendar was about $30... and to Mother Ganahl is it priceless.

Give this some thought and start now if you need to harass people into getting you photos. Really this is the perfect Christmas gift for someone who either has everything or needs nothing.

7-day free trial to lynda.com

new weather app for the iphone...

I've been thinking about getting a weather radio. Weather is more important to me now living on a lake. Weather is so much bigger here. We have no garage so twice when I knew hail was coming I have had to run out and blanket my little car and wrestle the car cover on to it. Plus if the lake gets high we need to pay attention to the lake rising and the sump pump working. But I didn't really want a weather radio squawking at me all day long. The 19th this $9.99 iPhone app was offered free to the first 100,000 people. So I got it.

It will only tell me about bad weather near enough to me that I should pay attention. (You do need to set it up by putting in your location and choosing which alerts you want.) It is called iMapWeather Radio and you can get it at the Apple App Store. It is available for the iPad also.  Even at $9.99 it is cheaper than a radio which I would have put somewhere. And would not always have a radio with me. The link below will take you to the app.

Sunday night we had severe weather and this app alerted me twice. And it gave accurate weather readings for what was going on at our location not all of Dane County or the surrounding counties. Nice.

Full Disclosure... I am an Apple Affiliate but I would have gotten this anyway. I have 2 other weather apps but think this one will be the best for severe weather.

i heart apple... i heart vera bradley...

I know you are all probably sick of hearing me go on and on about how great the Apple Store is but here I go again. One recent Thursday afternoon my screen when black. I could hear that the computer was still on but nothing on the screen. I made an appointment at the Genius bar for 10:15 the next morning. They diagnosed the problem at the Genius Bar while I waited as the video/logic board. My computer is now 3.5 years old. That means that the extended warranty has expired. But apparently they have had problems with that part in these computers when they are between 3 and 4 years old. So they put in the new $948 part for FREE and it was ready to pick up the next morning before 10AM.

WOW.... what other brand of computer would even know this is a problem and would fix it for free and in under 24 hours? Once again I am in awe of Apple products and the store here at West Towne Mall.

And as long as I am talking about computer love I must show you my Vera Bradley computer bag. Each week I go to the Apple Store for a One to One training session with my really smart trainer Paul. Each time I pack up this bag it makes me happy. I must say I am not a fan of quilted things. Not even on my bed. BUT this bag has made me think differently. Underneath the quilted exterior is a hard case. My 17" MacBook Pro fits in exactly. One side has a zippered pocket for my pen, notes and any cables I need. The other side is non zippered pocket where I can slip my MacBook Air. One smart looking bag and I have all I need to head out for my class. I really recommend this bag. If you want you get the same one I have here.

(Thanks again Sarah!)

Note to Vera Bradley... I could really use a backpack computer bag to hold my MacBook Air when I ride my bike to a coffee shop to work. A cross between your black microfiber convertible tote and my red Beijo backpack purse would be lovely... thanks, Rae

digital color meter... on the mac

Here is something really cool I learned last week from my uber smart trainer Paul at the Apple Store during my One to One session. On my Mac I have a little application called the DigitalColor Meter. It allows me to match colors and know what that color is so I can easily replicate it throughout my site.

I had no idea that I had this little app. It is easy and very fast to use. Thanks Paul!

And for those of you using a PC I have no idea how you can do this and well, I'm sorry.

i want an iPad...

but I don't NEED an iPad. It would just be a toy for me. But that doesn't stop me from trying to figure out a real need for it. And maybe I have.

David Hockney is having a show in Paris of art he created on an iPad.

You can see more about this show here. I have no idea how he does this... hmmmmmm maybe I need an iPad so I could figure that out.