Month: August 2006

I’ve been aware this site has been unusually quiet lately, and not because I’ve been on vacation, though I have been on a vacation of sorts from poetry and non-technical reading in general.

I started the summer by working with Aperture, Apple’s application for organizing and managing pictures. I went step-by-step through the whole manual to try to find a better way to organize the hundreds of pictures that are beginning to overwhelm my hard drive.

I’ve also been reading and working through Apple Pro Training Series manuals on iWork, with particular emphasis on Keynote since I’ve long wanted to organize my best pictures into slide presentations.

I also just finished a technical manual on Final Cut Express HD, feeling the need to put the final polish on several digital movies I took of grandkids five years ago and a desire to do something more with the filmmaking classes that I took in grad school.

Final Cut Express comes with both Livetype and Soundtrack, two rather sophisticated programs that create titles and “soundtracks� if you have musical skills, which I’ve discovered I’m sadly lacking. This discovery, in turn, led me back to SonicFire Pro, a program that uses blocks of music to create longer works, though not as seamlessly as I would like. Though I haven’t found a decent book on either of these two programs, I’ve been trying to learn them by working with them. So far I certainly haven’t produced anything that I’d want to put out on the internet, though I’ve actually had a lot of fun working with them. Not to mention that I find myself listening to music I enjoy with much greater awareness than I’ve had before.

Of course, it’s a waste of time merely reading manuals if you don’t follow up by actually using the programs repeatedly to ingrain what you’ve learn and to realize what you need to re-learn. So that’s what I’ve been doing with most of the time I’ve spent in my den while not working in the yard.

I’m sure many would see these endeavors as a waste of time at my age, but anything I’ve offered on this site that is worthwhile has come largely as the result of “playing around� in the summer when I’m not working. Very few skills go to waste, they all help to build new skills and hopefully contribute to a greater awareness.

My latent materialism, generally suppressed by my Scottish frugality, is most apt to be exposed by the release of new Apple products, even when the products I own seem adequate to the tasks I’m currently performing.

Admittedly, though, my use of Aperture and Final Cut Express have pushed my mid-range G5 to its limits. As I understand it, I wouldn’t have to wait nearly as long for my RAW files to upload to the computer or even open within the program with the new Mac Pro. Even better, editing of videotape would be live, and I wouldn’t have to twiddle my thumbs while scenes are rendered in Final Cut Express.

Luckily, there probably aren’t any advantages to using Photoshop in the new machines since it only runs in emulation. If I could expect leaps forward there, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to hold out upgrading until next summer when my G5 will be out of warranty and Adobe should have released new, expensive upgrades to Photoshop and other programs.

Unfortunately, the most tempting change Apple made today is dropping the price on their Cinema Displays, specifically the 23 inch display, one I’ve long lusted after. I nearly ordered it on the spot when I saw the new price, but practiced restraint, at least long enough to look at Quicken to see exactly where my finances stand at the moment. Unfortunately, they’re in remarkably good shape considering how much I’ve spent on the lawn sprinkler, which is less than a third of what I would have had to spend if Rich hadn’t done most of the work on it for me.

I’ve also been pining for a new telephoto lens for my Canon, specifically a 70-200 mm f2.8 zoom lens with Image Stabilization, ever since Shelley showed me the pictures she’d taken with her new lens. To buy one, though, would cost me all the money I will put into my grandkids‘ college fund this year, more than I’m willing to pay right now.

Of course, the house could use new tile and laminate floors, and there’s still considerable work left on the yard. I think I’ll just continue to pretend I’m Scrooge McDuck and salt more money away in the savings account until I decide if I really need any of these things. After a lifetime of constantly living on the edge, I find it comforting to browse my savings account, watching savings rise year after year.

I‘ve found that if I don’t want something six months after my original urge to purchase it, I probably didn’t want it at all, and it’s amazing how often I find that to be true, particularly when it comes to purchases like this.

If I could have returned things right after I’ve boughten them and discovered they really didn’t make me any happier, I would be a millionaire today, though I can never remember regretting buying one of my many Apple computers.