Greetings and salivations my watchers, whomever you are. Just a quick journal to catch up on what I've been doing for the past few months.

Firstly, the company I work for has been going up and down rather rapidly since the big economy crash around October 2008. We did some cutbacks and layoffs, got some work in and managed to get through Xmas and into the New Year rather well. Then, a couple months ago the work dropped off again and there was another, much larger round of layoffs and cutbacks--some people who I never thought would be laid off were given their notices. I've been working for the company for 10 years now, and we've been cut back to numbers equal to or lower than the numbers of people that were there when I started. We still have our offshore component though. The staff has been severely reduced, moral is at an all time low, and everyday we wonder if the company will still be there the next week. Lucky for me, I still have a job to go to.

So, with this in mind, I finally made the decision to purchase a new computer. Well, my decision was helped along by the fact that my PC started acting up on me--it's about 4 years old now. First my monitor started going wonky and I thought it was a monitor problem, so I went out and bought a new 24" Samsung flat monitor. Then when I tried to connect the computer to the new monitor, it just refused to boot. After several days of cleaning it out and fiddling with it, I decided that the old video card couldn't handle the new monitor, and that maybe the old monitor was going wonky because of the video card. The problem is that the old PC is a Pentium 4 with an AGP motherboard, and it's harder to find AGP video cards. So I tried to get a new AGP video card and I was told that maybe my power supply wouldn't run the faster video card. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to keep my PC system stable as it continues to do it's funky thing. At least I have all my important data backed up onto an external drive.

So I have a wonky PC combined with uncertain employment and I'm thinking, "If I have to start freelancing again, I'm going to need a Mac." So I bit the bullet and purchased a 24" Intel iMac.



I had purchased a used 17" G4 PowerBook laptop off of eBay shortly before Xmas, but it just wasn't powerful enough to run the programs that I need to run. It runs rather well when it's plugged into the new 24" Samsung monitor though, which is kind've ironic considering that the PowerBook came out in 2005 and it runs the monitor with no problem while my PC won't even boot with it. So now I've gone to a completely Mac workflow--I use a Quad core PowerPC G5 for everything I do at work, and now an Intel CoreDuo iMac at home. Work has also provided me with some nice tidbits like CS2 Suite and CS3 Suite so that I can work from home when I need to.

Nothing new on the photography front right now... I was all set to purchase a Canon 50D before Xmas, but then the economy melted down and everything changed. So for now I've just got my head down working and saving all of the money that I can "just in case." I have money put away for a rainy day, and for some reason I think there's gonna be a downpour before September.

Going to try and make it to the Toronto devMeet, but not sure if I'll get there...

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These are some of the podcasts I listen to on a regular basis.

Cameron Reilly is a 30-something Australian lad who does this little podcast called G'Day World, first launched in 2004, where he talks about everything and anything under the sun. Cam has been branded as "Australia's First Podcaster" and is CEO of The Podcast Network and Australia's #1 digital media guru.

Scott Sherman and Michael Stein host Digital Photography Life. Scott and Michael do a great show all about digital photography and have some great contests and prizes from WACOM. Digital Photography Life is reborn under a new name (once The Digital Photography Show) and is already at the top of the iTunes Store listing of photography podcasts. Stay tuned to Scott's Photo Blog for more news on the new show.

The Aussie Geek Podcast talks about everything tech, from Web2.0 blogging, the internet to product reviews and software even what they did on the week-end. Two Aussies, one Canadian, and quite often a mad Belgian get together and talk about Tech. The Aussie Geek hosts are quirky, pithy, and often amusing so have a listen. You can subscribe on iTunes or listen directly from their website. (Used to be Global Geek Podcast.)

Portfolio is by deviantART's own *jademacalla. Portfolio is all about exploring ones creativity and Jade does a great job of hosting. Jade has done interviews of some of deviantARTs more popular names, including `lockstock, *LongStock, and ~Nisori. Keep an eye on Jade's Journal or Jade's Blog for more good stuff.






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