| home | who | photos | archives | contact | professional | |
|
December 21, 2007 It's Bah Hum Bug Day. Appropriately I went down to Union Square today with the intention of shopping for Rich. I went into Zara and Bloomingdales. Found nothing I'd consider getting him. My next stop Banana Republic was so crowded that I left in disgust after all of 2 minutes. Went to checkout the store closing clearance deals at CompUSA. What a joke. The posters say 10% to 30% off in big letters. Then in tiny type the asterisk says "Except computers and MP3 players." Um correct me if I'm wrong but what else would you go to CompUSA for? Disappointed that the iPods were only $7 to $12 off Apple's list prices (not that I need a fourth iPod but that new Nano is cute), I also checked out the cameras. I've been toying with the idea of a smaller, lighter D40 body to supplement the D70. Again though, what a joke. The CompUSA clearance price was $550 minus 10%. Amazon's regular price for the same package is $450. Thoroughly dispirited by the crowds and incessant buy-buy-buy mentality, I got back on the Muni and headed home. Tonight, Rich and I agreed that getting each other gifts is silly. We have more stuff than any two people should. And we're fortunate enough to be in a position that should something strike our fancy, we just get it. I mean the things I want are purely indulgent. A Mercedes or Lotus roadster (and third parking spot of course). A second HD Tivo and flat panel HDTV for the bedroom. Another Nikon body. It's all very, very silly. So the holidays are done as far as I'm concerned. I've already bought and shipped presents for my parents, nieces and nephews. Cash has been dispersed to the building staff. Sure there's some eating and drinking formalities and decorations to put away but it can't happen fast enough for me. I am so looking forward to January 2 and the return of ordinary.
11:29 PM
| Comment (1)
December 16, 2007 I switched over to Aperture for managing photos a few weeks ago. My photo collection was approaching 15GB and getting a bit unwieldy iPhoto. I specifically wanted Aperture's ability to work with images stored on multiple disks so I could split older images off onto external drives. So when I got the new computer, I also sprang for the new app. To say the transition has been a bit rocky is putting it mildly. I've come to discover first hand that Aperture is a processor hog. Big time. To the point that it makes my brand new MacBook Pro with the 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM feel no faster than the three year old PowerBook G4 it replaced. Even slower at times because of all the spinning beachballs it tosses up. Even when it's in the background seemingly doing nothing, Aperture can bring the entire system to its knees. After working with it several weeks, I started to wonder if my work habits might be exasperating the problems. I'd set my system to open Aperture automatically anytime a camera is connected. With an iPhone in the mix, that means Aperture would fire up and come forward anytime the phone was docked and charging. It finally occurred to me to check my systems inner workings with Activity Monitor and I discovered that while Aperture was only use a about 400MB of RAM, it had set aside 1.8GB of virtual memory. Piggy, piggy. It must be paging like crazy. No wonder I was seeing that damn color wheel so often. Obviously more RAM is the answer here. I'll probably go for the max 4GB soon. In the meantime, I decided to have Aperture run only when I am working with photos. So I turned off the option to open it automatically when the computer senses a camera. Now I need to launch the app myself and click the button to open the import pane. But the payoff seems to be far fewer system slowdowns. I made the switch just a few days ago but I can already tell the difference. I mean, it was getting so bad that I had started to question why I bothered to buy a new computer in the first place. Now the computer is starting to fade into the background again so I can concentrate on the info I see onscreen. Don't get me wrong, I do like Aperture. I wouldn't want to step back down to iPhoto. Switching over though is definitely not for the casual photographer. Or faint of heart.
10:41 PM
| Comment (0)
December 14, 2007 I find it supremely depressing that mass media outlets here are awash with stories about performance-enhancing drugs in professional baseball yet almost silent on the morally-corrupt position our government has staked out in the most recent climate change talks. I for one could care less that some overpaid men take drugs to become ape-armed and hit a ball with sticks. The reverence being paid to the topic makes me sick in fact. Yet another reason why the rest of the world deservedly hates us.
10:38 PM
| Comment (1)
December 10, 2007
Twenty years ago tonight my life changed completely. Rich walked into the front bar at Uncle Charlies on Greenwich Ave and became the love of my life. I can hardly believe where we've managed to go and what we've accomplished during these 20 years together. I do know that I wouldn't change a minute. And I can't wait until tomorrow so we can start the next 20, my love. |
