On The Virtual Road Again

My self-imposed intermission is now officially over and I have to admit it was hard coming back here. I was “offline” for 6 weeks++ taking a class about, perversely, being online. But my break from blogging also gave me the opportunity to spend time thinking about my online life and what I want to give to it and get from it.

This blog started out as a scattered collection of thoughts on everything from “soup to nuts”  because I have a smorgasbord of interests. Most of the topic specific content (knitting and photography) has been spun off to separate blogs (except for PhotoImpact, which, if I can judge by my stats, a lot of you arrive here looking for). And while I don’t see this blog turning into a topic specific blog, the use of categories and tags is going to become much more important here as I actually expand the number of topics I talk about. So posting will continue to be light while I rediscover the categories and tags properties and do some surgery on this blog.

At the same time I plan to experiment (a lot!) with the new ways WordPress.com have developed of posting to our WordPress.com blog. Experimenting with technology is the reason I got on the Internet in the first place. I love to break things.

PhotoImpact for the WP Masses

The number of hits on my blog from people searching the WordPress.com categories/tags surfer for “PhotoImpact” and “PhotoImpact Goodies” has rocketed in the past few days. Surprisingly my blog seems to be the only PI-centric blog around on wp.com.

So, if you’re coming through as a result of those search terms, leave a comment on this post and let me know what you’re actually looking for and maybe I can point you in the right direction.

PI Goodies for March 2008

Time to share another PI Goodie, this time a metallic glass preset. This preset was available on my defunct geocities website as three separate presets, but I find this single set much more convenient to use. The inspiration for this preset were both my first visit to Venice in 2001 and Kelly Sweet’s “Whirlpool Slats” tutorial, which is still available on his site “PhotoImpact Zone“.

You can download the 200803-JenT.zip file from the Box.net Widget in my sidebar. If you are having any trouble using this Goodie, please feel free to use the contact form on my *About page. I’m always happy to help.

This Goodie is being released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

I’m writing up a tutorial on using the Lights Material tab to enhance this preset, but that won’t be available yet for a while. Life is relentless at the moment. Somehow, though, I did find the time to write up a Snapshot tutorial (my very first!) on Making 3D blocks in PI. The tutorial came about from a discussion on the very new and very (!) active PIRC Forum. MaryLou is tireless and she’s got a good crew with her. Come join the fun.

More Link Love to Share

Having my daughter and her boyfriend home over Hanukkah was an extra special treat. During their visit we hung out, lit candles, ate jelly donuts, shopped, went to our oldest nephew’s draft party, cooked, celebrated a birthday, lit more candles, ate latkes, went to the World Press Photo exhibition at Dizengoff Center, lit candles, ate, shopped, hung out in the sunshine and warm temperatures, ate, and generally did all those things one does during a short trip home.

Thanks to taking three whole days off work (though sadly enough I still checked work mail from home) , I also had a little time for surfing:

• Pensionbook – Funny in a painful sort of way. Both the knitter in me and the 54 year-old in me cringe. (via gotoweb2.0) And in a completely random act of telepathy, Crabby at Time Goes By disses facebook, several times apparently. Worth reading each and every one. (Certainly making me rethink why I’m staying on facebook.)
• NORAD tracks Santa – Using Google Earth (via Google Sightseeing)
• Idea Generator – Almost as good as keeping a notebook and pen on your bedside table (via Web Zen)
• Tim Ferriss: How to Negotiate like an Indian-7 Rules – Probably more relevant for my work than you could possibly imagine.
• PI Users should definitely check out CarolOyl’s new Tutorioyl on Making Custom Frames. Even after using the same version for 4 years now (v8), there’s so much hidden functionality in PhotoImpact still to be discovered. (via PII)

Well, I did say a little time for surfing. There are more links somewhere, but I can’t seem to find where I put them. Off to play with Carol’s new tutorioyl now because tomorrow is the start of a hugely demanding workweek.