Why My Mac is Whack!

Wilma! What is whack?

In the vernacular, whack means good.  Here are the ways my Mac is whack:

Whack:

1. Speedy.  I have yielded back a treasure chest of time by having a computer that just starts up, for now, and goes to either the internet or the program I want right now!
2. Big screen, especially nice for Pinterest surfing.
3. Finding Photoshop alternatives via iPhoto and Pixlr (online) - no problem.
4. Watching movies!  Looks great on 27" screen.
5. The mouse is crisp and sleek compared to my Microsoft mouses.
6. Speakers rock!  My wife, the audiophile, approves of the great sound from the built ins.
7. For some reason, I find it faster and easier to use my laptop PC in the stand-alone studio for getting music stations.  I guess it's because I am not desperately fiddling about from program to program with the start-up and lag that I experienced before getting the Mac.


Not Whack:

1. The area I have to "mouse" is so large I have to reset the mouse on the pad to cover the space on the diagonal.  Must be a setting for this.
2. Organizing files is hampered by my OS Ludditity.  I am having trouble creating documents when I want.  Same problems with organizing photos.  I will need to go ask the nerds at the Genius Bar the best ways to do these organizing tasks.
3. No preloaded games, except chess, and it won't let me "take back" a bad move.  Sheesh.  Also, cannot play against another person.
4. Not the fault of the Mac, but our internet is patently notwhack.  We receive out feed terrestrially.  That means from a ground based antennae.  Fiber Optics is out of the question, and the last time we had satellite it was disappointing.  Our current system experiences much interference, so we sometimes have blackouts or brownouts of internet speed.  Groan.

New Faces

New Faces, Yellow. 2013. 

@9" x 7" 

Pastel on Velour

Casey Klahn

Civil War Face

@9" x 7"

Pastel on La Carte

Casey Klahn

I Mac Smack

Got a new Mac!

This is my first post on my new iMac, which is Apple's desktop  computer.  Here are my observations, reasons (and hopes) for this new platform and how it will effect studio life and this blog.

1. I was impressed with the way Photoshop opens right now!  I am considering updating to CS 6 (Creative Cloud) because I've been capable of completely locking up my pse and use the program constantly for workshop flyers, image manipulation, image filing, and blogging.

2. The kids and family can use the 27" screen for movies, and I for art movies and You Tubes.  When HD TV became mandatory  we left trad TV behind and only use computers for our moving picture entertainment.

3. It lacks the 10 key pad, but I can buy one down the road if I miss it that badly.

4. My otherwise slow internet speed (we get our feed terrestrially and it is as good as we can get living in the country) is a bit faster now, as are most functions with this computer.  My understanding is that background froof doesn't compete for time like it did on my old PC.

5. I can visit other art blogs more frequently, which has been lagging for me as my PC's performance slowly ebbed over time.

6. A fixed-station desktop (iMac) will yield back the time that I have been spending powering-down my Toshiba, packing it up, taking it out to the studio and setting it up for my music (I use Pandora).  A lot of time has been wasted waiting for that elusive broadcast wave to seep out to the studio from the house.  I will try to leave my old laptop there all of the time and play music that way.  If all else fails, I may get Sirius.  Anyone out there use satellite radio in their studio?

7. Another benefit of the desktop is that I can eat and drink here without the fear of spilling on the laptop!  I survived 2 Toshiba laptops, both at about 4 years apiece, without a mishap.  Also, I am poor at backing up my data, and I did dodge that bullet and retain my data from that time.  

8. Solid State Drive technology.  Boot times will be significantly reduced.  Lifehacker says this about SSD:

Launching applications will occur in a near-instant. Saving and opening documents won't lag. File copying and duplication speeds will improve. Overall, your system will feel much snappier. 

Nice Knowin' ya, old computer!

What all this means for you.

1.  More consistent blogging as far as frequency.  More entertainment, more info, and more fun!

2. I will not become a Mac-vangel.  It isn't that important to me, and I have a skepticism of the big claims that Apple makes about it's products   I enjoyed the joke somebody made about Macs being "sprinkled with unicorn tears."  

3. I hope the greater speed and efficiency of this system will yield more time for the studio!

4. More You Tubes/ vlogs from The Colorist.

Sunset at Montmajour

Sunset at Montmajour, 1888

Vincent van Gogh

New York Times article.  This is a newly authenticated work by van Gogh, and from the time when he was at the height of his powers.  You have to love what new technology can do to prove the veracity of 125 year old works.

River Park Square: Expressing Spokane!

4-8 P.M.

Arbor Crest's Tasting Room,

Third Floor

Spokane First Friday

The Only Magic Line of Code Bloggers Need

<><><>

How to Embed a Link in Comments

Takes Me Elsewhere, You Know.

To embed a link in the comments of a blog, you have to use a line of code.  Since I don't know any code, what I do is recall that it begins as "a href."  I search query a href, and don't even open the results, as the Google page has enough introductory words and, inevitably, one result will say something beginning with a left angle bracket (<) and an "a," a website address in the middle, and ending with an "a" and a right angle bracket (>).  This shows me that the code is complete.  The words you wish to present with the link are also present and enclosed within angle brackets.

This magic line of code will take your readers out to your target page, and you have a smart looking line of text highlighted as a hot link.  What I do is cut and paste the sample line of code from the source to the comment field.  I switch the target web address, and the bracketed word that sends the reader outbound to the target, and now I have my own custom line of code with a link in it.

Write down the brief "a href" on a piece of tape and put it by your keyboard.  I could write the whole code, too, but I would rather cut and paste it from my Google search.  Perhaps you type 300 words per minute, and would prefer to just type it.  I find the address of my target website in the address box at the top off the webpage, and I copy it to paste, as well.

Cheers!