Arm's Length

Using Star Office Writer for my article this time. I suppose I'm a fairly heavy computer user, and some people I know ask me where I find the time to do so much writing. These folks should see me type! I've been typing since I was about five or six, and a few years later, would find myself spending hours inputting lengthy computer programs, written out on the glossy pages of computer periodicals from the mid-to-late 80s, and then, of course, proofing your efforts after you type the “RUN” command, only to see the computer spit back, “Syntax Error Line 2090.”

The resulting computer games and programs varied in their playability and functionality, but they were always a good lesson-by-example in how the BASIC computer language worked.

Anyway, I often change up the software I use for various media publishing tasks. Sometimes I get to thinking I should make more of an effort to employ the multitasking capabilities of modern personal computer by always having multiple windows on the screen visible at the same time. While I often have dozens of programs running in the background, I'm more of an [ALT]-[TAB] program changer. I tend to run things in full screen, finish what I'm doing in the moment, copy what I want to import to another program, and then jump right into the next program like.

I'll move images freely between Microsoft “Paint” and Corel “Photopaint” to circumnavigate my limited ability in using the fairly complex Photopaint software. When it comes to working with graphic images, I discover new ways of doing things nearly every time I decide to work with an image – come up with new ideas, and in my experimental pursuits would end up with something that I'd describe as: album cover art.

"Third Bedroom"

The picture above was originally taken using B&W film exposed by a Nikon FE, processed by a shop, the resulting prints scanned into my PC at 1200 d.p.i. using an Hewlitt Packard C-4210 "All in One" Printer / Scanner / Copier. The one you see above, though, is of course the rendered JPEG. I once stayed in that room for a couple of months - it was one of two bedrooms in an old "war house" not too far from the banks of the mighty North Saskatchewan River here in Edmonton. The community is known as Rossdale. Now-a-days I live in the Grandin neighbourhood. 

"Kid Rock"

My efforts to “put the plug in the jug” and to not live my life like a careless hammerhead recently have been going very well for me. I'm greatly enjoying the sobriety of my thoughts, and I hope that I can sustain my self-discipline – commit to doing a great deal more writing of things both frivolous and serious – the writing itself being the subject of my work...

Still love making videos. Still haven't given up on the dreams of rock music stardom. My folks still don't want to hear it! Oh well.

Here's my latest music video: