Self-Portrait Challenge for March as per Lelly's Musings is to follow a "Crazy Eight" theme --- the only rule is the self-portrait must have the number eight in it. Otherwise, no rules.
You'd be surprised how difficult this is. Thank goodness the month is three-fifths over, is all I'm saying.
My photo for today:
You'll notice that my new computer has "8" something-or-nother of memory. Or hard-drive space. (Is that the same thing???)
And the reason for the new computer?
This:
Yep, I am the proud new owner of a full-blown version of Photoshop CS4. Which means this is TOTALLY turning into a photo blog, and I'm going to force you guys to look at tweaked and edited and manipulated photos of my children from now until eternity.
Well, I would, if I could figure out how to work the damn program. I *might* have a little too much horse-power under my belt, if you know what I mean. And I think you do.
See, its just like I was telling Shawn, my computer guy. (How fun is that? To be able to say you have a computer guy of your very own?) Thank goodness I moved here and made friends with someone whose husband is totally computer savvy and literate and allows himself to be hired out for computer work. Because I can barely find my computer CHAIR half the time, let alone figure out how to do all this other stuff like actually make things WORK as they should. Any repair beyond pushing the on/off button is pretty much beyond me.
So what was I telling Shawn? Oh, yeah. I was telling him that I think people my age got the short stick with regard to computers. We didn't learn anything about them in school because they weren't commonplace yet. For goodness sake, I didn't even take "keyboarding" ... let alone any kind of basic computer course. I took freaking TYPING, for heaven's sake, with white out and typewriter ribbons that had to be replaced and CARBON PAPER FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Does anyone under the age of 35 even know what carbon paper IS?!?!?!?! I remember the one, single, solitary boy in my high school graduating class who enjoyed computers and drove around with an Apple bumper sticker on his car. he spoke in computer-ese and tried telling us computers were the wave of the future and how they would revolutionize our lives. We all totally made fun of him.
Who's laughing now???
So computers, or anything about them, wasn't taught when I was in school because I'm too old. But I'm still young enough that people assume I know how to do things on them. I mean my mom, yeah, she's in her 60's, so she gets a free pass when it comes to computers. She's allowed to call me and ask me to come over and help her set up her e-mail account or change her password or hook up a printer .... because I'm expected to know all that, and more. People my age are still expected to know the tricky stuff --- Like how to set up a new hard drive and transfer all my e-mail accounts and programs and favorites and documents over and download new drivers for the accessories and blahblahblah my ears are bleeding. Because I don't know how to do ANY of that.
In the first twelve hours after Shawn set up my new hard drive and connected my new keyboard (best money I ever spent, except maybe for Lasik, but I digress ...) the following happened:
1. The printer software took forever to load. Then there was a fatal error. Not a serious error. Not a grave error. A FATAL error. What the hell does that even mean??? I managed to fix it by starting over with the software that came with the printer.
2. The monitor wouldn't come on the next day. As in, it was working fine when I went to bed, and was a black screen of death the next morning. Blaine (prompted by a virulent stream of cursing from me .... so bad, in fact, that it even required an apology from me to my children) managed to fix it by using the highly-skilled technical maneuver of "jiggling the wires." He might not be as tech-savvy as Shawn, but at least he can jiggle the damn wires.
3. Half of my installed desktop short cuts didn't work, half the time. Shawn steered me towards the Google search that led me to do something, some kind of reset or something ..... I have no idea. Whatever it was, I did it and now they all work.
4. My screen saver no longer worked. I managed to google the answer to this myself, and discovered the screen saver in Windows Vista is not compatible with a wireless device (my mouse) unless you download and install an *optional* update from the Windows site. What-the-hell-ever, all I care about is that I did it and now it works.
5. I totally cannot figure out the new way Windows is importing my photos and have double folders showing up everywhere, so it's probably just as good I have 8 gig/bytes/ram/whatever of memory because at the rate I'm going, it will be full of photos in a few weeks anyway.
Seriously.
I was born in the wrong era. I should have been an adult in the 1950's. Because I could ROCK THE SHIT out of white out and carbon paper.
27 comments:
I rememer mimeograph machines in grade school that they used to make copies of worksheets. They smelled good! (Maybe that explains a lot.)
I laughed about the kid with the Apple bumper sticker. My brother actually carried a briefcase and had a slide rule holder that he wore on his belt. This was in the 1970s. And yes, I'm serious. I think that's why I'm sarcastic and deranged today. One of his happiest moments was a few years ago when he was on a shuttle bus from a hotel to the airport and the only other person on the shuttle (besides his wife) was none other than Steve Wozniak, the King of Apple.
And somehow that's just not me.
:-)
Claire in Indiana
First to comment... Yeah!
I am totally behind you on this. I never really thought about it, but you are right. We did get the shaft. I use to always say, I kept my hubby around to kill the bugs. Now, that includes computer bugs as well!
Good Luck. You are doing better than me. Even your blog was a little too technical for me... downloading fixes..blah..blah..blah
P.S. Do you remember the FANCY white out sheets you could hold between the key on the typewriter and the paper and you could type and it would strike the whiteout paper, TYPING a whiteout correction! That was fancy and high tech!
I thought I was the bomb in college (even though that phrase hadn't been invented yet) because my typewriter had a little computerized preview screen so you could see about five words that you typed before they actually printed on the paper. Now that was high tech!
Yay for Photoshop! I am totally jealous. I have Photoshop on my computer here at work, but not at home. And I have an iMac, the ONLY computer to get. Boo on the PC. That's why you're having so much trouble. PCs are pieces of crap. But anyway! Enjoy the Photoshop!! If you want to pay for a tutorial, Lynda.com has the best video tutorials out there. Teaches you everything about the program. Check it out!
i am dying laughing... thanks!
Hehe...PCs=trouble! Macs are easier. Enjoy your new toy! (and all it's downloads and fixes!) :)
....too bad you live so far away- my husband could've done all that for free! He is from the carbon paper age too but somehow that little chip in his brain was programmed for computers- unlike mine....so I just take advantage of all the computer stuff that gets done for me without me having to know all the "stuff!"
Enjoy your computer and Print Shop! Very, very cool- looking forward to new and improved pics!
I'll be 31 in April. I remember carbon copy. :-)
I'm just damn lucky I married a computer geek.
Love your blog! I thought of you when I saw this... http://www.freedietdrpepper.com/ Enjoy!
You're so funny, girl! According to your box, you have 8 gigs of RAM - which is your temporary, working memory, that is basically only there when you turn the computer on and it is working. You have 750 gigs of hard drive space - which, let me tell you, is a butt-load of storage space! So don't sweat the small stuff - I've been running Vista for well over a year now and I still haven't gotten totally comfortable with it. PS - I took typing in school too......
I married a computer guy. His parents bought him a Tandy computer in 1980 and he went to college, learned how to program, and became a computer guru! I, on the other hand, just figured out how to send an attachment in an email 2 years ago! It must just be a dang gift!
Anne in GA
Actually still use carbon paper at work. I laughed when they told me I would...they were serious. We do have a problem ordering new sheets though, they're kind of an endangered species those carbon paper things. LOL
Tammy in NH
Kristie,
I work at a hospital in Iowa and one of our students years ago was participating in Dance Marathon. She gave me the caringbridge site of her sponsor family and from there I was linked to another family, and so on and so on until I found Kendrie’s page. I don’t think there is a family out there that hasn’t been touched by cancer in one way or another (I’ve lost a grandfather to it and also have a grandfather who is a survivor), but none quite like your family has had to endure and yet you keep on keeping on and maintain a sense of humor. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard as the entry about your trips to take Kendrie for treatment and how such a short trip can take so long with each mile marker, etc. I shared that with many people and can so relate. I also have three children, though mine are a bit younger and more spread out (8 years, 2 years, and 4 months).
I also have laughed recently at the dress up days and projects until I recently attended my son’s conference and found out we are doing all of it and then some in the next 2-1/2 months of school.
I’ve been wanting to share with you something that reminds me of you and today’s post ties in perfectly. My brother started a new business recently where you can have pictures, text, etc. put on sports balls. The website is www.sportraitsllc.com. With your kids so active in soccer, along with your nephews, and your love of photography and the determination to get the basketball pictures just right, you immediately came to mind. I’m the photographer in my family and enjoyed taking pictures at my parents’ racetrack until it was sold recently and still enjoy taking pictures of my kids and their sports, in fact you can see my kids as “models” on the site. I think you’ll really like it. Let me (or Jay) know if you have any questions or need more info.
Thanks,
Shannon
P.S. I LOVED the coffee filters on the sleeves, ingenuis. I may be asking you for help in the next few months.
I remember when I was in HS, I took a "data processing" course...I don't even remember what it taught me...maybe a little excel, although I surely don't remember it now. I also took typing, on a typewriter with the carbon paper! I must have been in the "transition" phase of moving on to computers...as my freshman year of college was when the internet was "invented." Anyway, my Dad decided to buy a computer during my senior year of high school and I distinctly remember him bringing it home, showing me the box and saying...."will you put this together?....they teach you computers at school, right?" I'm like, yeah...how to work on them once they are already put together...the building of them, not so much. Too funny.
On a side note...I am having Lasik on Thursday!!! I keep hearing how great it is....I can't wait! :)
Luck-y! What a great 8 to have...and hooray for Photoshop! Great 8 post.
I work at a livestock market on wednesdays. A couple of weeks ago our antique (not even a mouse) computer system wouldn't work. Guess what our office manager did to fix it. I am not even freakin kiddin, she stuck an AMISH GUY under the desk. He fixed it. Top that computer guy story!!!!!!!!!!
kimybeee
8G nice. Love that you have photo shop. I am looking at the little version, just learning. Looking forward to what you do with it. :-)
Keep you're chin up, you'll get the hang of things soon enough if you're doing it everyday. Have fun with photoshop. I'm just starting to get some lessons from my boyfriend. It's fun!
I so agree with you that we got short changed in the computer dept. Too old to learn about them in school, yet now they're part of our everyday lives.
Thanks for the memories. I also took typing in school with whiteout and carbon paper. Lot of good that does us now!!
Barbara in AZ
Count me in on the carbon paper era...... We recently got a new laptop and can I just say, I'm not really digging Vista at all. Maybe next time, we will try a Mac.......
love this! you had me cracking up!
I took typing too... I can still hear dear old Sister John Francis, "A-S-D-F-J-K-L-semi"
I am DROOLING over your CS4. I didn't upgrade from Elements when Adobe gave me the chance to do it for $299 and I've been kicking myself since. Of course I'm still trying to figure out Elements, so I really have no business upgrading, but still....
750 GB of HD space ... that should last you a week or so, haha, kidding! That's nice! External Hard Drives are so cheap these days you can always buy one to save your pictures on ... but you shouldn't have worries with that much space!
I teach my 5/6 graders a computer lesson every year where they get to take apart a CPU and destroy a hard drive ... but to get there we learn about input and output devices and what each part of the computer does. They know that RAM is working memory and I refer to it as their "table space". The more RAM you have, the bigger your table/desk. You can open more books, spread out your work ... which makes getting your work done so much easier than having books stacked on top of books and not having a place to write. So the more RAM you have the more applications you can have open and go back and forth easily. Plus Adobe is a HUGE program and if you want to run it and a few other programs it is nice to have lots of RAM.
Have fun with your new toy!
good 8-
wow thats a lot of stuff you got going on! Is it all working now? Are you having fun playing?
(if you ever decide to get a mac- I have another computer guy you can use!)
Love it! That computer guy needs people like you that start with brand spanking new toys so he doesn't go insane with his own wife crashing her laptop and cell phone within a few weeks of each other! Thanks for keeping him sane.
OMG Christie I am right there with you. Got a new computer last weekend and spent the whole weekend going crazy. I so understand the folders in my pictures with Vista. I have spent many hours trying to figure out how they hell they work. I too have pictures all over the place. Had to lol that I was not alone suffering new computer havoc.
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