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Mondays can go jump off a cliff. Especially the ones that follow a long weekend.
Today's misery aside, I had a pretty awesome Christmas. I totaled up $330 in cash and gift cards toward my new camera - the one thing I wanted this year. I went Saturday and got a Canon Powershot SD980. It's a sweet little camera. It's a member of Canon's "Digital ELPH" series, super compact for what it does, but not too small for me like many of these cameras tend to be. 12.1 megapixels, touch widescreen, and shoots HD video.
One of the main reasons I wanted a new camera was so I could use a gift I got last Christmas from my sister Dana: my 2GB Eye-Fi SD memory card. This thing is awesome. It's wi-fi enabled, and uploads your photos to your computer wirelessly as soon as you power your camera on within range of your wireless home network (or wherever you choose to set up the software). For a $10/year subscription, it will also automatically upload to any photo sharing web sites you choose out of the thirty or so that are available (this is a free feature with the more expensive versions of the card). With Eye-Fi I will almost never need to fiddle with manually connecting the camera to my computer, unless I need to upload video (something else the more expensive cards do but this one does not).
Apart from the camera, Santa also brought me some clothes, the "World Adventures" expansion for The Sims 3, and Wii Fit Plus (just the software as I already own a balance board). Chris got a TomTom GPS and a Griffin PowerDock 2 (a dual charging dock for both of our iPhones), clothes, cologne, and lots of underwear. His parents gave us some money to put toward a new couch at some point in 2010, and our crazy friends Joe and Sandra got us a toaster oven.
Even Brooskey and Vixen made out. Brooskey got a new bed from us, and two new toys from Auntie Dana and Nana (Chris' mom). We got Vixen a soft, plush blanket to cuddle up in, Dana sent her a pretty pink coat/harness, and Nana got her a rawhide bone almost as big as she is - just the size she likes them.
I hope Santa was as good to you as he was to us! What was the best gift you received this year?
(FTC Disclosure: Product links are affiliate links which will generate a commission payment to me if purchases are made through them. My opinions on these products are not influenced by this compensation.)
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You might know that the one main thing I am wishing for this Christmas is a new digital camera that will be easy for me to use and shoot good, quality video with clear sound (the feature that is most lacking in my current compact camera). After all, I've got to work on that winning entry to America's Funniest Home Videos! 
Well, maybe I can win a new camera! For the Love of 2 Cents is hosting a giveaway, sponsored by Samsung Imaging, of one of Samsung's new dual touchscreen cameras. Though the shutter button is still a physical button on top of the camera, all of the other controls have been moved to a highly responsive touchscreen like the one on the iPhone. Getting rid of all of those tiny buttons would sure make my life easier. The second screen on the front of the camera helps frame self portraits, displays a countdown for timer shots, and can even display colorful images designed to hold a small child's attention so you can catch them looking at the camera. That's helpful to just about anyone. And the camera shoots high definition video at 720p resolution and 30 frames per second.
I'm generating as many entries into this drawing as I can - wish me luck!
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I've been doing a monthly masthead (header image) for confoozled.com for two years, and I'm starting to run out of ideas for them. I always choose a background photo that is somehow related to the month in question. For the first year I focused on the obvious major holidays when there was one, but now I'm trying to avoid repeating that. The exception of course is Christmas - I love Christmas, thus the December masthead will always be a Christmas image.
Sometimes I go with a lesser known holiday; for example, my very first masthead, for September of 2007, was in honor of International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Unfortunately, it seems I did not save a copy of that masthead before replacing it for October. I may also honor a cause that is meaningful to me, either with the background photo, or with an awareness graphic, such as the pink breast cancer ribbon I added to the October 2007 masthead.
Other times the theme of the masthead may be something that is happening in my life that particular month, and its meaning may not be immediately apparent unless you are reading carefully and paying attention. One example is this past June. Since I would be spending the first week of June visiting my family in Oregon, I chose an Oregon image: the bridge at Multnomah Falls.
Brooskey turned one year old last August, so for that masthead I made a timeline of photos showing his growth in his first year.
And then I did the same thing for Vixen when she turned one in October.
Anyway, it's time to start working on this September's masthead, and I'm stuck. I did the pirate theme in 2007, and back-to-school last year.
![[September 2008 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2008/09/640.gif) So I thought I would have a little contest in honor of two years of these monthly headers. Use the contact form to send me your idea for a masthead theme for September. It should have some demonstrable significance to the month; if, for example, it's some obscure holiday, include a link to information on that holiday. I don't need a photo, but if you have one you'd like me to use, and you have the right to give me permission to use it, send it along. (If the photo is online somewhere, give me a link, otherwise just let me know you want to send one and I will reply with my e-mail address to send it to.) Any photo submitted needs to be at least 1250 pixels wide, and keep in mind the extremely wide panorama that the subject needs to fit into. Submit your idea and optional photo by 11:59pm EDT on August 24, and within the next couple of days I will select my favorite idea and do my magic. The winner will be publicly announced on September 1 when the masthead goes live.
The prize will be a one-month ad run for your web site, blog or business in the confoozled.com sidebar. I will contact the winner as soon as he or she is chosen to obtain the ad image and target URL. The ad will run from September 1 through September 30.
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It took me long enough, but the photos from my trip to Oregon are finally ready. They are captioned, selectively, because I wasn't about to write eighty-one captions. Some of my favorites are this extreme closeup of my impossibly cute two-year-old nephew Dylan, this one of me with all three of my sister's kids, this cute shot of my brother Rick looking thoughtful, this one of me and my sister on her ATV, and the last two of me with my brother-in-law, and then my sister, the morning of my flight back to Rhode Island.
There's also a bunch of photos of my sister's Chihuahuas, starting here with Vixen's daddy, Jax. Her mother, Cella, appears here and here, and there are two more of Jax here and here.
I'm still playing catchup at work - it didn't help that I got sick last week - so it still may be a few more days before I get back to a regular blogging schedule. Plus, I will openly and shamelessly admit that any and all free time at home has been spent playing The Sims 3 - more on that later!
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 Some bloggers like to include a stock photo in each of their posts relating to the content of the post. I personally feel that doing so in each and every post is too repetitive. I prefer to include my own photos when relevant, or an affiliate banner when I'm posting to promote a product or merchant. Otherwise I like to save the space for a Google ad unit which will hopefully be relevant to the post topic, and generate a few extra clicks.
However, for those who do like to use stock photography, there's a new blog pictures service called acobox which should make it easier. You no longer have to resize the photos yourself and copy them to your own server. With acobox, you simply select the size you want and copy the given HTML into your post. The image is hosted on their server. Best of all, it's completely free.
I decided to try it out (the photo you see here is one of theirs) and see if it might come in handy for me once in a while. The first thing I noticed is that the selection is a bit limited. I searched for photos of computers, and only got five results. Hopefully this might improve as more photographers join and contribute, but I'm a tiny bit skeptical. What's in it for them?
Once I had selected a photo, it was pretty easy to customize it to the size I wanted and get the hotlink code. Photos are available in widths of 100 pixels to 500 pixels, in 100 pixel increments, which should be adequate for any blogger. My standard in-post photo size is 200 pixels wide, so that's what I selected. When I copied the code, I noticed that they choose to use the ALT attribute of the image to advertise their site. I find this disappointing, as that attribute's true purpose is to provide a text description for users who can't see the image (such as those using text-only devices or browsers, and the visually impaired). Just seeing the words "Blog Pictures | acobox.com" isn't terribly useful, and might leave readers confused as to the relevance of that text to the rest of the post. Under the assumption that changing this would be a violation of the terms of service, I'm afraid that I would not choose to use acobox in the future until they decide to use the ALT attribute properly.
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For some reason all the stores seem to be starting the Black Friday madness early this year. Instead of reducing prices for Christmas shopping starting the day after Thanksgiving, many of them started as early as the first of November. I was just checking out the Sears Black Friday Sale, and this week they have a couple of great gift items on sale.
First they have a Nintendo Wii system for $249.99. If anybody on your list does not have a Wii yet, you absolutely need to get them one. This system has gotten people playing who never had any interest in video games before. We even had Chris' parents playing on ours one evening after they had been helping us paint the hallway. I'm not able to play most of the physical games for it, but I do love Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, which is mostly point and click. I also enjoy just using the built-in web browser to surf the internet on our TV screen, and Chris and I have made a dinnertime tradition of using it to share funny videos and photos with each other that we have discovered during the day. It's so much more fun to share things like that in person and laugh together, than to just send an e-mail.
They also have 8.1MP point-and-shoot Samsung digital cameras for $99.99. They come in a choice of two pretty pastel colors: pink or blue. These are great starter cameras for teenagers or even older folks who just need a basic camera. Pocket-sized cameras like this are also good for gimpy people like me who enjoy taking pictures but can't handle the weight of a more professional camera. Chris and I own a Canon mini-SLR, but since I can't even pick it up I use a cheap little crappy Polaroid point-and-shoot, which takes okay photos but is slow, and severely lacking in the video department. Something like this would be a nice upgrade. 
These deals are only around while supplies last, so if they are at all appealing to you, you'd better hurry up and get to Sears!
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I finally managed to grab the fireworks photos off of Chris' iPhone from the night of the Fourth out on Mr. Ping's boat. I have to say, for having been taken with a camera phone with no fancy settings available, they are some pretty decent fireworks shots. No zoom available, that's really how close they were!
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One of the most common telemarketing calls I get at work is people wanting to sell us generic or off-brand ink for our inkjet printer. Granted, a Canon replacement printer cartridge is not cheap. Unfortunately, what I've found on the few occasions I've humored these callers is that their ink really isn't any cheaper. Add to that the fact that many of these companies have minimum order requirements, and that ink has a limited shelf life and we just don't use our inkjet all that much, and it really doesn't make any economic sense for us to buy these generics. We're far better off continuing to buy our cartridges one set at a time from our office supply chain of choice. Never mind the fact that I have some strong opinions on the quality of generic inks and what they do to your printer.
Nonetheless, I came across this site, InkjetDeals, which, even though their main purpose is to link to several online stores which sell generic or re-manufactured ink cartridges, also has some useful information on conserving printer ink and troubleshooting inkjet printers. And since we're all trying to save money any way we can right now, I thought the tips were worth passing on. And hey, maybe you don't have such strong opinions as I do on generic inks, and maybe, just maybe, the generic ink for your printer actually is cheaper than the brand name.
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If there's anyone who can induce feelings of inadequacy about my digital art skills, it's my good friend Daniel (and I mean that in the best way). His artwork, ranging from cute cartoons to digital photo manipulation and computer-generated landscapes that look like real photos, puts mine to shame. His gallery does contain one image of mine: something I did many years ago in MS Paint, more as a just-for-fun doodle, and which I never really considered to be artistic.
By the way, if you are one who chooses to be offended by human nudity, cartoon or real, don't bother clicking the link.
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As much as I love to dabble in digital art, I am humbled by the fact that there are people out there who can produce stuff I wouldn't dream of even attempting. Take 3D modeling for example. The thought of trying to create something in three dimensions on a two-dimensional screen, and trying to imagine how that works, hurts my brain. Even though I'm an avid player of a game that invites the creation of custom 3D content, a game for which there are barely computer literate thirteen-year-olds out there creating such content, I just can't fathom being able to do such a thing myself.
Fortunately, if I should ever get the courage to try it, there's a tool out there that may make it a bit easier. Eos' PhotoModeler will allow you to import photos of multiple angles of an object, and then with your help to identify which edges correspond to each other in each photo, generates a 3D model of the object. It can still be a lot of work, but it looks like, if one had the time and the patience, it could be a lot of fun, too.
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- Mayhem Studios' works published in Creativity Awards 36
Two of the works of award-winning design firm Mayhem Studios will be featured in a book to be released this summer, David E. Carter's Creativity Annual Awards 36. The book showcases winning entries in an annual competition to honor work done by creative professionals.
- Adobe Debuts Photoshop Lightroom 1.0
Adobe has announced that its new digital photography software is available for pre-order and will ship in February. In recognition of the more than 500,000 photographers who participated in the software's testing, Photoshop Lightroom will be available to all customers at a $100 savings through April 30.
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Digital Art & Photography is by far the toughest category to find good, noteworthy news for. If anyone has a good source for this topic, please share!
- Nik Software, Inc. Establishes "Team" of Professional Photographers to Support Education in Photography
Nik Software, Inc. has put together a team of professional photographers known as Team Nik, to teach vital skills to aspiring digital photographers. The team will also work with Nik Software to develop educational programs relating to Nik's products.
- Digital archivists look to porn, Flash for tips
In looking for ways to preserve digital art on the internet the way traditional art is preserved in museums, one preservationist is looking, believe it or not, to the internet pornography industry as an example. The online adult entertainment community swaps images and videos so regularly and widely that they will ultimately help to preserve an archive over the years.
- Bringing digital photos to life
If you're one of those people whose camera is overflowing with photos dating back to Halloween that you still haven't done anything with, two of the ladies from Buttoned Up have some tips for you on organizing, sharing, and printing your digital photos.
- My Affair With Graphic Design
Graphic artist Julie Joliat describes how she became enamored with graphic design. Her story of how she knew she was destined to become a graphic designer when she designed miniature magazines for her Barbie dolls is all too familiar... ![[giggle]](http://www.confoozled.com/smilies/icon-o-matic/comments/02-giggle.png)
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More updated links... this time it's the digital art & photography section. Updating this section was a bit more difficult. It's a hobby I don't really spend much time on anymore, so there aren't any relevant sites in my frequently used bookmarks. Nevertheless, I listed some sites that I respect for their content and usefulness, even if I'm not using them myself right now.
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Another change to the site today... the graphic art section has been renamed to digital art & photography. I thought this would better convey the purpose of the section, especially since my focus has shifted more toward photography and photo manipulation in recent years. I've also added a gallery, which only contains one sample of my work at the moment, but more will be added in the future.
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![[October 2007 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2007/10/640.gif)
![[June 2009 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2009/06/640.gif)
![[August 2008 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2008/08/640.gif)
![[October 2008 masthead]](http://www.confoozled.com/masthead/2008/10/640.gif)
![[photo of me]](http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/7fe9c3e52fcd03d2253441f7ddc89ab3.jpg?size=144)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/albums/userpics/10001/thumb_img_0986.jpg)
![[album thumbnail]](/photos/albums/flood2010/thumb_IMG_0112.JPG)
