A tacky day at work

Periodically the management at work decide that we need permission to let off steam a bit so they encourage us to do something strange. Yesterday was one of those days. We had "tacky dress" day at work. In an ironic coincidence we also had a training session on "Customer Perception Enhancement." It is fortunate indeed that our customers only hear us and don't see us, because if they did, I'm sure our attire would have surely affected their perception of us. Still it was a fun day. Pictures here.
- posted by Perry @ 5:58 AM 0 comments

 

You never stop learning

Last night I delivered a copy of the photo CD of our reunion that I created not long ago (and mentioned here) to Pat Kessler, and while I was there, she showed me a print of a picture she had taken at the reunion of Don Vernine. It was quite good. Don was smiling in it and there were very few distracting details that took away from the photo. So I asked that she permit me to scan it so that I could post it in our reunion gallery at Pbase. When I got home, I scanned it and posted it here.

I am continually amazed at the fact that you never know enough that you don't still have something to learn. For instance, I discovered a setting in my scanner software that enabled me to increase the number of the dpi (dots per inch) setting. Instead of using 300 dpi, I scanned this photo at 600 dpi. That solved a problem that I had had with scanning in general by increasing the resolution of the resulting picture. My previous efforts with the scanner were less than satisfactory because they were just such low resolution. The down side of scanning at a higher resolution is that it produces very large files, but that I can live with because I can, depending upon the use to which I plan to put the scan, alter the size once I have the photo digitized.

I also learned that I can acquire the scan through Photoshop and don't have to use the scanner software that came with the scanner. That eliminates a step or two because I usually end up importing the scanned image into Photoshop so I can crop and adjust the colors, luminosity and otherwise edit it. These discoveries lead me to want to return to the images that I have scanned previously to see whether I'm able to improve my initial efforts now that I'm armed with these additional insights. No matter how much you know already, there is always something else to learn.
- posted by Perry @ 6:24 AM 0 comments

 

An interesting exercise in community

I don't have a lot of time to elaborate this morning, but I've really enjoyed Metafilter over the last several months. This segment from the "About" page explains its nature and purpose:

"Metafilter is a weblog (what's a weblog? | comprehensive history of weblogs) that anyone can contribute a link or a comment to. A typical weblog is one person posting their thoughts on the unique things they find on the web. This website exists to break down the barriers between people, to extend a weblog beyond just one person, and to foster discussion among its members."

It is one of those places where you can find links to unique stories and ideas. It's well worth a visit to discover what's there.

- posted by Perry @ 6:25 AM 0 comments

 

Success!!

It's good to see that Phil has now succeeded in getting his pictures uploaded to his galleries. Check out his Alaska gallery.
- posted by Perry @ 10:07 PM 0 comments

 

Yes, I'm still alive

After a couple of weeks of no posting, I begin again. If you read this site with any frequency, I'm sure I've probably extinguished your interest by not posting. The reason for my absence is that during the last couple of weeks I've been the lone trainer for a new group of agents at work. The need to arrive early at work coupled with my exhaustion at the end of the day sapped all the energy and enthusiasm I had for posting. So my apologies to you my reader for my absence.

Last night, Phil called requesting my help in getting the hang of using Pbase. I thought we had discovered what he was doing wrong so we hung up and he was going to post several more pictures to his site. Unfortunately when I checked the outcome of his efforts this morning, I see only one new photo, so I suppose we still have some more work to do. Phil, if you are reading this, give me a call during the day today, and we'll see if we can't work out the problems.
- posted by Perry @ 9:50 AM 0 comments

 

CD Burning

My attention this weekend has been focused on CD Burning and the software for doing so. It began when I experimented with creating a Photo CD using the software I have (CD Creator 5.0 Platinum that I mentioned on the 22nd). Phil decided he was going to purchase the same software. Then while talking with Paul Moor, he mentioned that he had the ability to burn CDs but had never used it. He has a program called Nero, about which I've heard positive things. I recommended to Paul that he visit his friend Mike Richter's site, and download the primer that Mike has made available there to provide some authoritative information about the process. CNET's review of Nero seems to rate it very highly, so I recommended to Phil that he check out that software before making the decision. (One reason is that it is $30 cheaper than CD Creator 5.0.)

Truth is that for most users either of these programs will do what you need. Though I'm sure there are differences that would cause someone to choose one of these programs over the other, those differences are more meaningful once you've learned the basics. Given how inexpensive blank CDs are, one can afford to burn a few CDs just to learn what is possible. After that, you can begin to get more sophisticated.
- posted by Perry @ 4:18 PM 0 comments

 

My Sunday travels

As I mentioned on Sunday, I drove over to Asheville and visited with David and Lynn Steele for a few hours. Lynn's mother gave them the time share at Fairfield Mountain resort that she and her husband had visited for years and this was the second year that Dave and Lynn have taken advantage of their week there. I've posted some photos of my trip at my photo web site. I enjoyed seeing them and was again reminded how beautiful this part of the country is. The drive over during the day was delightful because I could see the spectacular scenery. It sort of illustrates the old adage that "getting there is half the fun."
- posted by Perry @ 6:12 AM 0 comments