Month: January 2009

Uncategorized

Introducing Cracktop!

Shelly

Sorry for the dearth of posts, but I have spent the last few days setting up the new laptop. I still am not finished migrating my music (that might take until approximately Labor Day, at the rate I’m going). But, I’ve finally got all the Adobe stuff loaded, as well as WordPerfect Office X4 (yay, no more MS Office!). I’m a die-hard WP person, so this is a Very Good Thing, because using Word makes the Baby Shelly cry.

Anyway, Cracktop is a thing of beauty. Alas, he is not bright red, like I’d wanted, but a shimmery, metallic bronze color. I am not complaining! He has a super springy keyboard, complete with keypad. I sacrificed some portability for larger screen size, since I won’t be carrying him around with me every day. He’s going to be my only computer, so I wanted a nice, big screen. I also sacrificed a better wireless card for more RAM. The wireless card he came with is only B/G, which is kind of worthless. Since I don’t have a wireless router (yet), and since USB N cards are super cheap, I thought it was a decent trade-off.

All this, I was able to figure out for myself, by shopping around online and reading user reviews. I ended up going to Best Buy, because they actually had the best prices I found. I figured, no shipping fees, plus instant gratification, would be a good thing, right? I did not, alas, factor in the annoyance factor of having a salesdroid give me the 3rd degree and the hard sell on buying one of their in-store warranty plans. Also, she tried to get me to pay them $40 to create a restore disc for me and clean off all the crapware. IDTS! I can do that myself, thankyewverymuch.

And that’s about all I have to say. I’ll be over here in the corner, transferring music files, if anyone needs me!

Uncategorized

Good Neighbors

Shelly

The guys who moved into the apartment above me are just night-and-day to the asswagon who lived there before them. They’re quiet, they say “Hi,” when you see them outside, and bless their hearts, they came down to warn me that they’re going to be shoveling their balcony, and which side did I prefer them to chuck the snow off? Huh? Dudes, ya’ll can chuck the snow anywhere you want! And thank you for even thinking to ask!

The old Mr. Upstairs used to throw trash and empty his vacuum off the balcony, which drove me nuts. And then there was the dirty mop water, with God only knows what sorts of chemicals in it. But snow? That they even thought to ask was awfully sweet. I hope they stick around for a long, long time, because they are awesome neighbors.

Crankypantsing

To Do

Shelly
  1. Get staff ID
  2. Buy legit Windows XP disk
  3. Go home and walk the dog
  4. Go to bank
  5. Stop at Hobby Lobby
  6. Stop at Target
  7. Do laundry
  8. Wash dishes
  9. Bathe dog
  10. Put away Laundry
  11. Reformat second hard drive
  12. Reinstall Windows on second hard drive
  13. Install Adobe junk on second hard drive
  14. Wrap little kids’ (late) Festivus presents
  15. Make sure extra camera battery is charged and memory cards are empty
  16. Pack
  17. Take all the crap to the car that I promised my mom I’d bring

I’m probably forgetting a thing or three, but that’s okay, because I don’t think I have enough time to get everything done tonight as it is.

Photography

A Clean Desk

Shelly

IMG_3043

This is the only clean(ish) spot in my entire office/studio, onna counta needing a clean spot to set up Cracktop, but it’s a start. One of these days, I’ll actually sort through the ungodly pile of Post-Its. I have a feeling anything in that stack is probably useless, but I can’t just throw them away without looking.

And! I only did a quick tour of Photoshop CS4, but I think I’m in love. It’s nice and sleek and elegant, and even though a bunch of stuff has changed or been moved since PS6.0, everything is right where it needs to be. Nice!

(Oh, and ignore the two printers. The HP is a piece of crap and only functions as a scanner. The Canon, though, is quite nice. The ink isn’t waterproof, but it also doesn’t dry up if I don’t use if for months on end. I miss my Epson and its Durabrite ink, but not enough to invest in another one. The Canon is Just Fine.)

Crankypantsing

Snow Day

Shelly

The university was closed today, which was good. It means that I won’t have to use vacation time, as they’ll compensate everyone who was scheduled to work. It also meant that I got to shovel snow, which I kind of enjoy. Unfortunately, there is so much snow that, even with 4WD, I don’t think I’ll be able to get out of my parking space until they plow our lot. Which they still haven’t done, and probably won’t do until sometime tomorrow.

Normally, I’d be perfectly happy to stay in all day, drinking hot cocoa, eating buttered toast, and reading a good book. But! Today was supposed to be Operation Cracktop Day! I was going to go pick up my new laptop. Hrmf. It’s going to have to wait until tomorrow, and my inner five year old is not amused.

Photography

Winter Leaves

Shelly

IMG_3030

For once, the weather forecast was correct. We got quite a bit of snow last night. Enough that I decided to take a snow day. Most of my patio is sheltered, so only the heavier sleet has blown in where the flower pots are stored, upside down, along the patio window. Leaves got caught in the bottom of this one, then froze and refroze in a pool of water that accumulated.