Topics on this Page

• Adobe Photoshop

• Cute Calendar & Card Reader

• Cute Dolls

• Haunting with Santa Claus

• JibJab.com Does It Again

• Phone Company Nightmare

• Photoblog Date Index

• Speeding on the Internet

• What Color are You?

• Xara Ad Banners

• Complete Topic List

Haunting with Santa Claus?

I walked into Wal-Mart today and right there by the door was a 4-foot high, motioned activated Santa Claus. He started ringing his bell, singing and dancing at me. I love Christmas. I used to go around saying that it could not start too soon or last too long for me, but I also love Halloween and this is just TOO SOON unless you are trying to sell "Nightmare Before Christmas" videos.

I told Wal-mart employees that I would prefer to be greeted by Frankenstein or Dracula. They jokingly told me that Frankenstein was at the "other" entrance. I can understand Christmas getting ahead of Thanksgiving, but NOT HALLOWEEN! I realize that stores would like us to be in the Christmas-shopping spirit all year round throwing money in every direction. They are making it only too obvious.

I hope Halloween is not disappearing. I love the ghosts, spooks, costumes, children and candy. I love my Mannheim Steamroller Halloween CD, too.

Speeding on the Internet

Comcast, my Internet provider, offers two different speeds of Internet access, I just discovered. (I've seen the phone company ads about getting different speeds of service. I never imagined the cable companies would do the same - duh on me.)

I decided to try it. The service speeds up from 3 MBps to 4 MBps. The service rep was new and said this was the first time she had upped the speed for anyone and wanted to know if it made a difference for me. She asked if she could call back in a few days. I would be glad to give a report, I said. (All of this was done over the phone -- they only had to "flip a switch" on their end to turn on the speed.)

She told me to unplug my cable modem for 30 seconds and ta-da, I should be at the new speed. We hung up, then I hunted through the massive tangle of cords beneath my desk to find the right one. I followed the procedure and got back online.

The verdict? WOW! It was amazingly faster. I was in awe as sites that normally took a longer time to load, just popped up. It was almost like going from dial-up to broadband. I realize that I am here when the Internet is not as busy -- so it was not a true test, merely a great first impression. As soon as Paris Hilton comes out with her next video, everything will likely slow down.

Xara Ad Banners

Xara has a 15-day free trial. I could not resist. I can make a bunch of these banners before the trial is over. The only problem is what to do with them ... and who looks at banners, anyway? People see them so much that they automatically dismiss them as mild annoyances.

They are fun to make, though. It's a like getting a new hobby with no practical value. Oh well, I can always throw one or two on this blog (to slow down the page loading even more :: sigh ::) or sign an e-mail with one, not that anybody would actually look at it.

Cute Calendar & Card Reader

EyeQ found this treasure. Isn't it an adorable calendar? I was thinking of putting it on my photo blog, but I have so much stuff that it already loads a little slower than it should, I guess. I love this calendar, though, and will find a permanent place for it -- on my Weather Page, if nothing else.

I finally bought a USB card reader for my computer. I saw on The Screen Savers where they only cost about $12. True enough - so I bought one. It was well worth the price. I got rid of two other USB camera cables and replaced it with this one card reader. And now I can read memory sticks from 9 different kinds of cameras or devices.

Not only that, but I can more easily put pictures on the memory card for my Palm (Sony Clie) and make slideshows to carry around with me. Watch out, if I have not already sent you e-mail with a link to my wedding photos or if you don't have web access and I run into you in person, then I may sit you down with my Clie. I'm an armed and dangerous mother-of-the-bride.

Phone Company Nightmare

I don't have many kind things to say about our local BellSouth. First, I noticed that we had a "long-distance provider" fee on our phone bill. We did NOT sign up with any long-distance provider so I could not understand why we were getting a monthly fee for long-distance service.

I called the phone company and had this service cancelled. The next month, I still had a monthly fee on my bill. I called again and was again reassured that it would be cancelled.

The next month, I had a new fee being charged by a different provider. When I called BellSouth, I was told that fee was for "local" or in-state long distance. Apparently, this is different from "out-of-state" long distance. I was pretty angry by now and clearly stated that I wanted this monthly fee cancelled, too.

The phone company then told me that long-distance calls would cost more. That's fine with me since I rarely make a long-distance call through them. The monthly fees were costing more than any benefits.

Okay, the day comes when I need to make one of those rare long-distance calls with my land line (I was sending a FAX through the computer). Surprise! I discover that I have NO LONG DISTANCE AT ALL!

Yet another call to the phone company reveals that they had cut off ALL my long-distance abilities. Argh! By now I am pulling out my hair.

Finally, I have to explain to the operator that I still want long-distance ability, but I do NOT want to be on any monthly plans. That means NO plan for out-of-state long distance service and NO plan for long-distance service in-state. Sure, my long distance calls will cost a little more this way. That's fine.

The representative told me that I would have to talk to a "verifier" and explain what I wanted. I felt like I was dealing with 3-year-olds. I repeated everything as slowly as I could, trying to make sure they understood.

Check your bill. You might find the greedy phone companies are after you, too.

Cute Dolls

My friend, EyeQ, found a very cute doll site. These are the cutest dolls I have ever seen online. Here's the one I like best. I love her wings, beautiful red hair and subtle animation. Thanks for telling me about this, EyeQ. I am going to put her on my photo blog. The author of these adorable dolls is located at The Doll House.

This fits me. I enjoy fantasy and science fiction. Here's the main picture hanging in the bedroom over our bed. The theme matches --> Midsummer Eve.

Photoblog Date Index

I found a Java script that almost does what I want. I hoped to find a quick way to go to any date on my photoblog by simply typing in the date required. This was the closest script I could dig up. I'd rather have the first part of the link hidden so users could just type in the date and that would be all they see, making a smaller box practical. I am sure there's some kind of script to do this or some way I could hide the date. This kind of request is hard to google.

Adobe Photoshop

I love this program. It was worth every penny (had it a long time so this last version was just an upgrade). There's much to learn, but it does much, too. One of the best books for Photoshop beginners is Classroom in a Book. It covers all the tools and how to use them in practical ways.

Adobe makes excellent transparent gifs -- and so easily, too. This garden spider was sitting by my doorbell on the front door. She stayed there all day. I liked her -- nobody came to my door when she was there. H-m-m-m, this might deter solicitors better than a barking dog.

I liked her so much that I put her in the bottom left column of my photo blog, too. As of today I have posted over 3,600 photos. I usually post several pictures every day and have been doing this over a year. The wedding covered a lot and when the happy couple left on their honeymoon, my daughter asked me to post lots of pictures of their cat, which we are babysitting for the week, so she could go online and check up on him. I was more than happy to do so. It gives me practice with learning my camera and Photoshop. Almost every digital picture needs a little sharpening, at least.

I've gotten into the habit of carrying a small pocket camera everywhere I go. It's a small treasure, a Minolta DiMAGE Xt (now in Xg version, I believe). It is 3.2 megapixels with 3x optical zoom and does nice little MOV movies. I prefer the MOV format over MPG because I can convert, edit and do more with MOV files.

But the real pleasure of this camera is the low-light capabilities. Even my better Sony F-717 can not capture images in as low a natural light. Of course, both have a good flash. The Sony is better overall, though. This spider was a macro shot with the Sony. Currently, I lust after the upcoming Canon EOS 20D with the optional anti-shake lens. It's the first 8-megapixel camera to get such good preliminary reviews. The ones currently out in the market have flaws -- like the Sony F-828. It adds an obvious purple tint to the photos. I went to Best Buy and saw the resulting photos myself. It is true. How awful is that?

Leo Laporte (a TV and radio computer commentator), says that Sony digital cameras are known for poor software even though other camera parts might be excellent. I think he's right.

I also have a cell cam for on-the-go shots such as when we travel. Cell cams still stink for photo quality, though. Even the cheapest pocket camera is usually better.

What Color are You?

Got this from Webgrits. I don't know why I take these personality tests since I don't believe them and I don't believe in astrology, but this one was fun and came from a professional-looking site. Maybe its human nature to want to label ourselves somehow.

Besides, I like being green. According to the fashion critics, green is the "in" color this year and my husband's favorite color -- good enough reason to go out and buy green clothes -- I wonder if anyone carries "smoke green."

Birthdate color profiles are available at Colorstrology.com. After selecting the month,  don't forget to select the exact day of birth to get the exact shade profile and not just the month profile.

JibJab.com Does It Again

If you liked their other presidential flash video (This Land), check Jib Jab's new one out. Their first site received more hits than the Kerry and Bush sites combined. Both videos jab at Kerry and Bush equally. It is hilarious. I nearly died laughing.

I saw an interview with the two creators on the Today Show. They said it took 6 weeks to make this new humorous political flash video. This is well worth the trouble it might take getting into the site.

Good to Be in D.C.