Digital Footprint

Despite my half-hearted efforts, my digital life just keeps expanding. Recently, I have added a new device and traded out another and I will be reviewing soon here on the blog.

What are they?

Yep, after deciding that the

Kindle Fire was not a good device for me

, I was surprised that I was willing to give this a chance. But it was so new and shiny and all the tech bloggers and podcasters were talking about it so I got sucked in too. I have no regrets and I’ll tell you why soon.

I was not so thrilled with my cell phone anymore and not so thrilled with my carrier anymore, so I decided both needed a refresh. I went in for the Galaxy Note but, even though T-Mobile has started selling the device, they haven’t actually stocked the stores in my area. I don’t know what that’s about. Anyway, I am now with T-Mobile and learning to use the Galaxy SIII. I’ve only had it a few days so I’m not going to be too quick to say anything, but I can say that I miss the user experience of the HTC product line. I have faith in HTC. I know they will bounce back. The question is, will this phone make me a loyal customer of Samsung?

Stay tuned to find out...

Stop and Learn-Automation

I have been trying to get myself back into the blogging rhythm, but I ran into a little snag when trying to get new pictures onto my computer. They kept disappearing on me and going right into the trash!

I have a program running on my computer called Hazel. I love Hazel. I considering her the little cleaning script that keeps my files all nice and tidy--or as much as I have told her to. One of things I have Hazel looking out for is repeat files. When she sees a duplicate in certain places, she goes to work and she sweeps them off into the trash. She’s so efficient at her little cleaning duties that it happens within seconds of the duplicate file hitting my computer. I was transferring the files from my cell phone to the computer using bluetooth so as soon as they came in, Hazel shuttled them right back out.

I don’t blame Hazel in any way. She is doing what I asked her to do and for that reason I’m not going to shut her down to bypass the problem. Nope, I’m going to fix the problem! That means re-naming hundreds (if not thousands) of photos that I have uploaded to my system. Needless to say this is beyond tedious, but I have heard that it is possible to do this in batches.

I consulted my friend Google and found several resources for using the Mac Automator program to do the renaming for me. I’m still in the thick of it so I won’t give any final words on it just yet. The video below will give you basic instructions on how my process is going.

Those of you that are professional or budding photographers or small business owners that supplement your online presence with nice photos really should learn how to use the Automator. I’ll do some looking around to see if I can find a similar resource on the Windows side of the house.

Stay cool this summer. The temperatures and humidity levels are rising!

Yelm and the Mountain

There is a very good chance that at the end of this job search, I will be packing up and moving. I’m not sure where but I’m almost definite it won’t be where I am now. Whenever I talk to a new company about a new city, I immediately turn to Google Earth. I am having so much fun thinking about the possibilities. There are so many beautiful places in this country and I’m ready to see another one.

I was on the phone with my brother last week and unknowingly, he fed right into my latest obsession. He said, “Man, every day I get up, I swear that dog-gone mountain is getting closer!”

Mountain, what mountain? I had no clue. He has just relocated to Yelm, Washington which I didn’t know existed until he was heading to an army base there. I consulted Google Earth and there it is, about an hour away. Mount Rainier in all its snow capped glory.

What a beautiful sight. I was excited to plan to visit him because of his proximity to Seattle and Portland, but now I have a new target when I go. I’m going to that mountain. Actually, I’m just going to the state park to get closer to the mountain. I’ll leave the mountain itself to the more adventurous people out there.

Oh the places we can go!