I haven’t posted in a while, but I’m alive May 29, 2008

I haven’t posted in a while as spring has sprung and summer is on the way.
I confess, I have a terrible case of spring fever and have taken every opportunity I can to get away from the computer. I’ve kept myself rather busy with two projects I am completely passionate about – that is when I’m not tied to the computer:

(1) working in the yard – I have had a nice flowerbed out front since I’ve lived here, but this year decided I wanted to expand it and that’s just what I did. I now have rose campion, hollyhocks, Moulin Rouge (red) sunflowers, moonflowers, sweet pea, day lily, zinnia, iris, asian iris and 2 mystery plants that I was generously given. I’ve always wanted a real herb garden too – so I made that dream a reality this year with basil, chives, mint, lemon balm, bee balm and oregano. There is nothing quite like walking out the door, clipping fresh herbs from the yard and cooking with them!

I have a dear friend who is a landscape architect and I’ve really come to appreciate the skill it takes to keep each plant straight, it’s individual needs and what looks good next to what. I guess if this graphic design thing goes by the wayside, I’ll at least be a glorified gardener of some sort – I’ve extensively enjoyed the challenge of designing this garden – with the help of a neighbor – and it’s really been amazing to get outside on a big canvas and create something beautiful with a palette of plants. I dig it, pun intended.

(2) My second project is one I’ve been dying to start for a while. Being a child of the 1970’s, the majority of my childhood photos are documented on slides. This year, I finally got my hands on them and am in the process of scanning them in and saving them to a hard drive. I have this massive fear that something horrible (fire) might happen and all those memories would be lost forever.

I have 15 boxes containing slide trays sitting here behind me in my office – I’ve scanned in one full box so far. That took me a whole afternoon on a rainy day. But I know the task and the time spent will be worth it. My eventual dream is to make DVDs of them and distribute them to my family and put an extra copy in the lockbox at the bank.

Yes, I’m anal retentive.

Anyway, I’m alive. I’m either digging in the dirt, admiring the garden, harvesting seeds for next year or scanning in and documenting photos. Not too terribly exciting, but it saves money from going out and I have goals that will be finished by at least winter time.

Enjoy the summer!

Flickr is my new crack April 4, 2008

This past Christmas, I received a digital camera as a gift. It’s just a point and shoot, but I’ve fallen in love all over again with photography. I find myself taking photos of all sorts of things, and carry my camera everywhere to document everyday stuff that I encounter.

A friend had told me about Flickr years ago. And I thought it was cool and all that, but prior to owning a digital camera, I had no use for it.

Things have changed.

I am completely addicted. When I’m taking photos now, I can’t wait to get home to upload the photos — and can spend hours labeling, geotagging and adding them to sets. I’m an organizational person anyway, but this taps into a whole new side of the obsessive compulsive nature of mine to document and itemize.

The other great thing I’ve found about Flickr is that I can view art from all over the world – there are so many amazingly talented people out there, creating art for art’s sake. Photographers, graphic designers, even people who just do the artwork as a hobby. And it’s super exciting to me when I get a comment from someone on a photo or an illustration from all the way around the world. I really dig the sense of community that Flickr has brought to me. I’ve found myself at times completely devoid of any artistic creativity – a case of “design block” – and I login to Flickr and I’m suddenly cured and inspired to create again.

Finally, I love Flickr because I am able to safely stash away my photos. I watched a childhood friend’s home burn a few years ago. And I remember her saying at some point “I have no photos of me as a baby now – they are gone” — that really hit home with me. I don’t ever want to be that person, who loses memories forever. In an age where we rely on technology, it’s good to have a failsafe when it comes to archiving photos. Most people, when asked the question “what would you save in a fire”, always say “photo albums.” I’ve also known 3 people in the past 6 months to have their hard drives crap out on them. One, in a complete panic, popped in on my iChat asking me “what do i do?” — he thought he had lost ALL of his travel photos from 3 or more trips to Europe. And a company wanted $800+ to retrieve them. Flickr is the perfect solution.

Back up your stuff, people.