New software

Adobe,Software,Puppy

So, I got new software for Adobe Creative Suite 3. It takes some getting used to.

But one of hte new things is this Adobe Contribute. It lets me blog from it and create quick pages for my website, so I am giving it a try with this post.

Also, Did Back to School photos. Ain't he cute:

Where have I gone???

Wow... It has been two months since I wrote in here last.

Well, you can blame that on my best friend Kiki. Last Fall she got me hooked on World of Warfract and now that is what I do in my spare time.

Not much has been going on around here, but I thought I should at least write something!

My 10 year reunion is this year... kinda nervous about it...

If you play WoW... I am on Khadgar... Elephaba is my main character... Horde Side. Trying to post a picture, but it doesn't like me today... check my photoblog for one...

Let's scrapbook

I have really wanted to scrap book. I have so many photos it is insane. But the thought of buying all those supplies and then trying to find room for it and crap. Just was not appealing.

But, I have a new laptop and I am a graphic designer and have some really nice design programs. So why can't I make scrapbook pages on the PC?

So I have scanned all my stamps that I have collected and certain stickers I found and stuff and I have been making some scrapbook pages on the computer.

Which, is really nice, considering the majority of my photos are digital. And I found a website that has downloadable scrapbook pages.

So I am all set!

Photo Blog

I just realize that I never updated my photo blog and that I have been putting photos on my normal blog.

So. I am transfering some artwork over to the photo blog and decided to use that to showcase artwork or other photos.

So please periodically check my photo blog (which can be access by clicking on the photo blog button on my home page www.bertjones.com or clicking here: tiggermn.buzznet.com)

Life is going okay for right now. I am working a bit more, so that is a good thing. I still wish it was during the day though and more permanent.

I am going through and re-recording all my LPs into my computer so that I can remaster them and put them on CD. A lot of work, I have about 6 of 56 records done.

I am also still trying to scan paperwork. I decided, why keep all this paper around, when I can scan it all to a PDF and store about 5 boxes of paper on a CD? Saves space and I can access it easier.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho... It's off to work I go

Well, what a week this has been.

I enjoyed not having to work so much, but this week has been crazy.

I worked all day and night Monday, and then every night this week.

Exhausting, but I need the money and the benefits. I also found out today that I am going to work four days next week too. I should be grateful for the hours, but... I really like staying home with my wife and kids.

Let's see... what else can I tell you...

I learned how to record vocals while playing back music on Adobe Audition. So that will help me redo a lot of my songs. Now to just find the time to do it. I also found some other cool settings, so know I have to re-record all my old LPs back into the computer so I can re-clean them and make them sound great!

I recently purchased X-Men: Legends for the PS2. OMG! That game is pretty cool, its great to develop their mutant powers and watch them kick ass. My favorite mutant powers are Jean Grey's Phoenix Force and Storm's Cyclone Fury. I haven't seen Nightcrawlers Teleport Frenzy, but I am sure it will kick ass. That game is addictive.

I recently read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and Deception Point. Both are really good books, if you liked DaVinci Code, you'll love these two (Especially Angels and Demons since it takes place in Italy and is more of a treasure hunt like the code was.)

I acquired Mariah Carey's Emancipation of Mimi album. I like the song It's Like That and its respective remixes, the rest of the album will have to grown on me.

I am trying to figure out how to take the movies that my digital camera can take and put them on DVD. So far all my DVD making programs can't read these .mov files. I don't understand why, so I need to figure out how to convert them.

I am trying to learn how to use Adobe Encore, but man that seems daunting. I may wait on that until I finish Photoshop, Illustrator and GoLive CS training books first. Now I hear Adobe CS2 is coming out. I finally get CS and now they have 2. I will have to try and get that now too!

I still need to get QuarkXpress 6. But InDesign CS is pretty good too right now, so who knows I may convert (Shhhhh! Don't tell anyone!)

Well, I think I have wasted enough time. Maybe I should go to bed..but I am not really tired.

G'Nite,
Tigg'a

More art......so suffer

I hate possession, BUT I LOVE MY WACOM! THANK YOU K!

Here is more art:

This one I did with Digital Watercolor. Very different to use, but I really like the texture and the "brush" look.

To make the spray "dots" I used a brush called "Salt".

I think it turned out pretty good,now I just need to learn detail....

computers suck

I hate it when you labor at something for days only to find out it was in vain...

I got a bug up my ass last weekend to wipe out my old PC and turn it into a server. Upgrade it to Windows XP Professional and only install the programs I needed. Simple enough....

First, I backed up everything onto my 250G hardrive. Then I proceeded to wipe out everything and start installing. Had everything installed and my TV Tuner/Video Capture wouldn't work. So I reformated and tried again.

Got it to work, but then other funky shit started happening. So I said fuck it and reformated and tried putting Windows XP Home back on. Before I Could even install I was getting errors and shit. So I said fuck it, I will restore my back up.

But how do I do that....I couldn't just copy over the drive with windows running and Windows XP doesn't allow you to start up from a DOS prompt. So I labored for over 6 hours hand copying file by file and skipping over whatever files were in use.

Then by genius, I realized all I had to do was install Windows on my D: drive, wipe out my primary C: drive and copy stuff over to that and then go into my D: drive windows and tell the computer to start up my C: drive backup. It worked!!!!

But whenever I would try and capture video, it looked fine, but when I would play back it would skip (like a broken record) on the video, but the audio would keep going. I spent four more hours uninstalling and reinstalling my drivers and always got the same shit. If I tried to install the latest version, then my machine couldn't see the hardware and kept saying "Unknown Hardware Found" but never find what drivers went to them.

So I reverted back to a driver set that worked, but still got the same video problems. I thought I will try a different tape (I was trying to put an old VHS I bought on DVD so it will last longer) Turns out the VHS was doing that Light/Dark thing that would happen when you tried to copy a store-bought VHS) so when I would try different tapes, they worked fine.....

IT WAS THAT ONE STINKING TAPE! I SPENT A WEEK DOING CRAP FOR NOTHING!

Isn't technology great. Why can't we have computers that talk like on Star Trek and tell us whats wrong with them? Cars can tell mechanics, why can't PCs?

I put a spell on you.

I am sure your thinking...."what is up with the title?"

Well, it happens to be the song I am listening to right now. Queen Latifah's Dana Owen album. Great songs.

Anyways, I thought I would put up some more artwork. I am getting a little bit better with the wacom tablet. The hard part now is the brushes in Painter IX. When I used to paint, I would just grab a brush that "looked" right. Not what it was made of, or its size.

Well, with painter, there is picture of the brush as well as what it does and what size it is. So I have to use a trial-and-error approach until I learn them all.

Mainly I have been using the Simple Round Wash and the Runny Water Bristle brush. Especially with this peice. I would paint with the Simple Round Wash and then go over it with the Runny Water Wash Bristle (with white) so that it would just use the color that is there and make it runny. And I used a bit of the Wet Sponge brush for the bushes.

Hope you like it.

as my world turns

i sit here not knowing where to begin...

i am writing in all lowercase because i feel so small in this world that likes to deal me shitty cards. i love my job and i love the company i work with. but i wish i had more control over my destiny.

i found out that the assignment i am on is terminating one of the full time positions. there are only two of us at night and my coworker has been there longer so she got to decided if she wanted the position or not. she did, so i am pretty much out. they are creating a pool of people they can call when they get major swamped. i am in it, but not for long. my agency is finding me a new gig.

i am amazed at how fast they may have something lined up for me. its third shift, lower pay, but at least amy will have the van all day and all night and i will be home (awake) when the kids get home from school and be here for them when they really need me. i will just have to get used to sleeping all day.

but at least my benefits will stay steady and so will the hours. i just wish the pay was closer to what i am making now. but i can't have everything.

(UPDATE: I never did take this assignment, they cancelled it. But, a year later, it came by again and I did take it.)

i am currently reimporting all my music cds into my laptop so that i can reorganize before i put them on my server. i moved my music around so much that i wanted to make sure i had the best quality. and now that i have sooo much space, i can keep all the albums and not just the songs i like.

once all that is done, i move onto importing old LPs and then onto scanning old documents.

currently in my ipod/playlist:

• Queen Latifah... Dana Owens Project
• Madaleine Peyroux... dream land
• sean paul... dutty rock
• and a mix of early 90s music

i also can't believe we blew right through all our tax money. but we had things we really needed. so i guess it is okay. i just wish we had a ton of money. i love my new home, but i really want to be living in our dome home right now. all that space and stuff. it be like living in an amusement park.

i am visiting with my old coworker/best friend from alpha on saturday. i am gonna help her get her nephews xbox set up on her network. i am also buying her drawing tablet from her, so that i can draw/paint digitally. i used to love to watercolor, but it takes space and is messy, but not for long.

amy bought me wonder woman season 1 and 2. i am happy about that.

i just wish my life was going better right now. a ton of money and lots of happiness. i just feel so helpless and lost and no control over my own life. i feel like a drone, just doing what the queen bee tells me to (no not amy)

not much else right now.

New toys

I love tax time. Have I mentioned that? I love shopping... no, I take that back, not shopping. I don't call it shopping. I call it BUYING!

I got my new laptop. Really nice!

I can have up to 2 monitors connected so I can use 3 monitors worth of desktop space. Which for a designer is great. I can have 3 seperate programs going at once. (UPDATE: I was so wrong, I cannot use both of the monitor ports in the back at the same time in conjuction with my laptop screen. Dammit.)

I bought a ten-key for it (A numeric pad). Number crunching on that little line at the top of your keyboard is hard to do when your used to a 10-key. I got my tiny little webcam. No audio which sucks. But since I am bluetooth enabled I can get one of those wireless headphones! Got a bluetooth mouse and a light/fan USB thingy.

We also got me new glasses. My new ones are square. And my vision actually improved. We bought a mini freezer and pantry. More storage space. Got some new clothes.

We were looking at new washer and dryers but decided to hold off on that for a while. We want something that is a front loading set, but is water efficient and can do hand wash stuff. We also purchased a new phone system with expandable handsets. Really nice. I like em.

All in all everything is going okay for now. Still have to get the car fixed, and get a shed this summer. But all the credit cards are paid off!

Blog ya later!

Mobility

Well, I am typing on my new laptop and am on the road. I am at my sister-in-laws and her family's home.

We just celebrated her Daughters 6th birthday. I love that everything is wireless. I can blog while away from home.

The laptop is HUGE. It is really nice and I am gald that Amy let me spend the money on it. This is one nice peice of PC.

I love being with family. The closeness of it. Even in Amy's big family, it is still intimate and close. I love it.

Not much else for right now.

the art of mobility & valentines day

Well, my laptop is in the final boxing stage as I write this. It just has to go to the shipping stage and its on its way!

I am so excited. I am breaking away from "The Desk" and becoming more mobile. I will be able to design without getting out of bed!

I am also excited, my best friend is selling me her really nice Wacom Intuos Graphic Drawing Tablet for really cheap! So now I can draw and paint like I used too, without the mess or an easel and paints taking up room! I can even sit on the couch and do it!

Life is just going okay so far (I know, after reading the above, I should be smacked). This year started out rocky, but I think it could be smoothing itself out (knock on plastic!). I was amazed at how much my tax refund was this year. I didn't think I would get that much. Thank goodness I have a really good tax person (thanks dad!).

I think Amy is gonna get the Roomba! The little robotic vacuum. That way we can keep our floors and stuff clean all the time and only REALLY vacuum once or twice a month! I can't wait! (UPDATE: we had to get her one when she was on bedrest while pregnant with Riley!)

I hope life is going good for you! I hope it continues to go well for me. Now that I will be mobile, I hope to contribute to my blog more and possibly the forum!

Happy Valentine's Day! I love you Amy, Courtney, Dominic, Mikayla, Mom, Sissy, Dad, Da Boyz and all!

Spending Money!

Well, Tax time again...

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR! I get to spend money. I just purchased a new Dell Inspirion 9200 with a bunch of cool stuff! I can't wait until it comes (two weeks--I won't last that long!)

But at the same times it's depressing. My benefits were just cancelled due to lack of hours at work. Ick! Hopefully my agent can find me a new assignment asap. I can't afford $90 for my allergy meds.

So if you can spare the mojo and prayers and love, it would be appreciated!

Accomplishment

I love the feeling I get when I finish a project.

I just finished sorting, color correcting and arranging and burning my entire Digital Photo folder. I had over 6 Gigs of Photos and 6 Gigs of Kodak Photo CDs. I just freed up 12 Gigs of space on my computer!

Now that I have all that room I can load it up with pictures I will be taking with my new digital camera. I even got a new photo printer to go with it!

Life is good right now!

Wil Wheaton, Dolly Parton and Begging for Cash

Just wanted to update and let you know that Wil Wheaton was at Gnomedex at you can download his reading/presentation here. I just downloaded it an I really enjoyed it. If your a fan of Wil's or even if your not, go download it and give it a listen. It's worth it and it's free!

On another note. TWO WEEKS UNTIL I GO SEE DOLLY IN CONCERT!!!!!

I so cannot wait! It has been 11 years since her last major concert. I saw here at the State Fair 11 years ago. From crappy seats. Thanks Sis for picking crappy seats. I'm not bitter!

But this year I bought the tickets and got some great seats!

ALSO! I NEED CASH!

I am saving up for a G4 Powerbook and need $3000. So don't give me gifts, just give me the cash you would have spent on me! I really need this laptop, so you'll be contributing to a good cause!

Thanks!

Currently in my iPod:

• Hollywood USA & Coming Out of Hiding - RuPaul
• Fever - Celine Dion
• Lose my breath - Destiny's Child
• Same old Lang Syne - Dan Fogelberg
• Alka yagnik
• Amy Hanai'ali'i
• Oui Ohana

Technology is so confusing.

While my relatives were down, I tried to do some DVD work (I had just got my PC back from the shop) and my DVD drive gives me some Cycle Redundancy Check error.

Well I try different stuff, even reformat and reinstall my entire PC. Same thing. So I call the manufacturere and they say they need to send me a new one. So I shipped it off today, hopefully I will get the new one soon.

Isn't technology great?!

(UPDATE: I found out months later, that this error can be caused by a dirty disc, dirty lens, or simply encoding on the DVD that you are trying to read from. If I get this error now, I simply give up.)

I finally feel like I am making some headway!

Well, I finally feel like I am getting something done.

Now that I have my new DVD-Burner I can start burning all the cartoons I have collected/captured. Thundercats, Gummi Bears, He-Man, Dungeon & Dragons. Even a few movies that I cannot find on DVD. Like the Ewok Adventure. Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer!

I have cleared over half of my 40G hard drive. Finally some space! Now I just have to finish transferring my LPs to CD, cataloging my books and comics, DVD's and Music.