Posted on Apr 28, 2009 in miscellaneous | 0 comments
Ahhh, it’s it always nice when you come across something that cuts your work from minutes (or even hours) to milliseconds. It’s also nice when you come across a great solution just when you need it. I’ve decided to share two useful shortcuts. The first one is one for Photoshop which I’m always surprised more people don’t know about (even semi-advanced users). The second one is specifically for Mac in this case, but I am sure there is a plethora of small apps out there that will do the same thing in Windows.
I’m guessing almost everyone out there, has at some point, needed to resize a folder full of photos. Whether it be a photographer, a web designer, a mom making an album, or a user posting to Facebook. In most cases, these people may or may not have access to Photoshop. If you do have access to Photoshop, there is a simple Image Processor, which in a few clicks, can resize, recolor, etc. a whole slew of photos. Simply follow these steps:
1. File
2. Scripts
3. Image Processor
4. Choose the folder were the images reside
5. Choose what you want to do (Resize, Change Extension, etc.)
6. Run
7. Sit back and smile as your images change in front of your eyes
Next. Name Mangler from Many Tricks (for OS X 10.5). They claim “renaming files has never been easier” and they are absolutely right. With Name Mangler all you do is select Folder, Folder Contents or Files and then drag and drop whatever it is you need to adjust. Soon as you do that, the files appear and next you need to select what you want to do: Find and Replace, Number Sequentially, Change Case, Set Extension, Add Prefix/Suffix, or Remove/Insert Characters. The app shows you what the current names are and what they will become. If you’re all set, you just click a check mark and presto!
These two items are specifically useful to me because I get clients who send me folder and folders of images to turn into photo galleries. I simply send them through the PS image processor with new size restraints and an extension preference. Then I can run them through the Name Mangler to change the extension case and set them to rename to sequential numbers. Once this is done, they are ordered and ready to be entered into an XML file. Tada!
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Posted on Apr 16, 2009 in miscellaneous, online, what?! | 0 comments
Okay, so this has to be the coolest thing…EVER.
With that said, at first I didn’t take it seriously. One day I tried out one of those sites that check to see if your username is taken on various networks. I had already used ‘mepriestley’ for all of the major sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Blogger, etc. There was a whole list of very obscure sites, some that I’d heard of, but even more that I hadn’t heard of. I figured, eh, why not? There might arise a situation where I need the account and I’d like to have my usual username. Plus, I’d rather it be me that comes up for ‘mepriestley’ then someone else.
One of those sites was CouchSurfing.com. I filled out the sign-up information, but left my “couch” closed for the time being. It happens that my friend, Kevin, just recently used CouchSurfing to stay with a whole group of people in Norway. He said it was great. Of course, this instantly reminded me of my profile and I decided to look into the whole thing a little closer.
I started searching for surfers and reading reviews and profiles. The whole thing is very impressive. What’s more exciting is that I have been really itching to take John (and possibly his boys) to DC this summer. I love DC and they haven’t really been anywhere. I think this trip might actually be possible with CouchSurfing. There’s quite a few reliable people in the area, as well as a very affordable National Park in case that doesn’t work out. On a side note, I couldn’t believe that there is a really nice National Park with camping, showers, etc. within 10 miles of DC (1 mile from the subway).
As I get back on topic, I love that there is a site like CouchSurfing.com out there. I have been somewhat disappointed at how closed off people can seem. I am so excited to see that people reach out to host and surf around the world. I can’t wait to host our first surfer (if anyone ever needs to actually come to or go through Bradford). Even more, I can’t wait to try surfing and see all of the things that John and I want to see, but can’t necessarily afford otherwise. Yay!
Tags: applications,
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Posted on Apr 2, 2009 in miscellaneous, online, what?! | 2 comments
Click the picture for the full Picasa Web Album
So, it all started when I friend of mine ( @kevinohashi ), mentioned that he’d tried a thing called miracle berries. He said they were this cool berry that made things taste really good. I was thinking, eh, that’s cool, but didn’t think much else of it. One day, a few weeks later, I was browsing around for any new products on ThinkGeek.com. Low and behold….Miracle Berry Fruit Tablets.
So of course, my curiosity got the best of me and I just had to order them. The ones that came from ThinkGeek were small, round tablets and cost about $1.50 per tablet or $15.00 for a pack of 10. A friend of mine and I did the first trial with some sour drinks we ordered from a bar. They of course, tasted like a really sweet fruit juice – dangerous if you ask me 
. Then, my friend, Winn, decided to try the lemon that was wedged on the side of his glass…all of a sudden he attacked the thing, claiming it tasted amazing. My boyfriend, John and I tried some lemons, limes, grapefruit, and oranges one night after dinner and they all tasted fantastic. I thought grapefruit was especially tasty. We tried it a few more times. I tried it with grapefruit a few more times (I couldn’t help it, it tastes so sweet). I told everyone I could about the berries. Most people thought it was interesting, but didn’t really take it seriously.
I had read about “taste-tripping” parties online, even in the NYTimes, in an article entitled, The Miracle Fruit, a Tease for the Taste Buds. I found a few sites where you could sign up for invites to secret parties and such. But I wanted to have one of my own. Time went by and I hadn’t had one, until March came around and I wanted to do something for my birthday. As much as the ThinkGeek berries worked, I wanted to see if I could get a better deal. I went to the site Miracle Fruit World where they linked to several retailers. The most trustworthy looking site was Sour2Sweet.com. They also had several sizes that I hadn’t seen before. They had both a regular (about the same size as the ThinkGeek ones for $12.95 per package of 10) or a large ($14.95 per package of 10). The large ones looked about double the size, so I figured, why not? I ordered 5 packages. The nice thing about Sour2Sweet is that no matter how many packages of their Miracle Frooties you order, the shipping is a low, set price. (Note: Also, Sour2Sweet Customer Service is incredible. I had several questions both before I ordered and one to check on my order and I got quick, enthusiastic replies each time.)
They arrived about a week later (but I think it would’ve been shorter had I not ordered on a weekend). I kept them in a cool, dry place until the party. I invited about 12 people and bought quite a bit of fruit and other foods. Here’s a quick run-down of the things to test:
Strawberries Kiwis Tomatoes
Raspberries Rhubarb Chevre (goat cheese)
Oranges Grapefruit Yogurt (homemade plain)
Lemons Blackberries Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips
Limes Radishes Green Grapes
Sour Cream Hot Sauce Baker’s Chocolate (Unsweetened)
Lemon Juice Fresh Pineapple Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce
Before everyone tried the berries, I gave them a quick run down on exactly what they were about to put into their mouth. First, I assured them that the tablet is not a drug. Luckily I’m a very trust-worthy, goodie-two-shoes, so I didn’t have a problem convincing them of that. Second, the berries were first documented as being found in West Africa and they’re small berries are a little bit bigger than a coffee bean. I told them that the berry contains a protein called miraculin which binds with the tongue’s tastebuds, causing sour/bitter foods to taste sweet. The effect lasts about 15 minutes and the cause of the reaction is pretty much unknown; it’s a “miracle” . Many of them were interested when I went into a short history of the berry being introduced into the US. The berry was very close once to being marketed, but each time, the FDA denied it (most likely due to pressure from the sugar/candy industry). You can get the actual berries online, but they cost about $3 a piece and rot very fast. The tablets seem like the best way to go because they are half the price and can last up to 18 months. I let them all know that hot foods would dissolve the effect and that it was a great idea for dieters, chemotherapy patients, or diabetics, because a lot of healthy, fruits and vegetables taste really good. They were sold. Or at least they humored me and trusted that they weren’t going to die.
Out of 14 people, 12 tried the berries. Only 1 person said that it didn’t affect them (they might’ve been playing it up). Everyone at least thought it was really cool. About 6 of us went for a second round of testing. One person, who enjoyed it very much, would’ve gone for a second round, but was a little scared when she noticed that her heart rate went up. I assured her that I had read a lot of material and had found the only side effect can be people consuming too much acid, resulting in heart burn or mouth sores. Being a biology teacher, she agreed that it was most likely her own anxiety that spurred from being worked up by thinking about what might happen when she tried an unknown (to her) tablet. So note to anyone – relax. It’s not a drug, and the fruit’s protein only lasts for about 15 minutes. It can last anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours, but if you do not like how the berry alters the taste of things, you can simply swish some warm water in your mouth and the warmth should “melt” off the coating on your tongue.
The funny thing that a lot of people soon realized after testing fruits is that anything bitter or sour tasted very sweet, sweet things were almost too sweet, and everything, no matter what it was, smelled exactly the same (which was very disconcerting). My personal favorites from the party were raspberries (like heaven), rhubarb (like candy), and anything with sour cream on it. I tried strawberries, pineapple and grapes with sour cream and it tasted like they were covered in really thick, a really good cream cheese/cool whip mix. Yummy!
There’s a few of the items on that list that didn’t really change…but I won’t take the fun out of it. I hear beer (Guiness especially), tastes like chocolate, but we did not have any alcohol at my party, so I haven’t tried it yet. One thing I would like to try is sugar, but I keep forgetting to try it because it’s not something I’d think would be worthwhile with the berry. Apparently it loses all taste and simply feels like sand in your mouth. Interesting.
In any case, it’s an awesome experience. Great for parties, especially where not everyone knows each other (great ice breaking experience to share). The only real difference I noticed between the berry tablets I ordered is that the ThinkGeek tablets are just enough and dissolve fast. The Miracle Frooties from Sour2Sweet are much bigger, and I think are therefore much stronger. The only thing is that they take much more time to dissolve and we all found it best to slightly chew on the tablets to break them up in order for them to dissolve faster. In any case, I’d go with the Sour2Sweet tablets because they are bigger and when you’re paying roughly $1.50/per tablet, why not get more for your money? Try it out and enjoy!
I linked to several articles in the beginning, but here’s a few links for those interested:
PICTURES HERE – Pictures From My Party on Picasa – http://picasaweb.google.com/mepriestley/TasteTrippingBirthdayParty
Miracle Fruit – Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_fruit
Miracle Berry Fruit Tablets – ThinkGeek – http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/wacky-candy/ab3f/
The Miracle Fruit, a Tease for the Taste Buds – New York Times – http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/dining/28flavor.html
General Overview & Retailers – Miracle Fruit World – http://www.miraclefruitworld.com/?gclid=CM_8pfKn0pkCFQ_yDAodlBsLug
Miracle Fruit Tablets – Sour2Sweet – http://sour2sweet.com/
‘Miracle Fruit’ Turns Sour Things Sweet – CNN – http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/25/miracle.berries.weightloss/
Click the picture for the full Picasa Web Album
Tags: berries,
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Posted on Aug 26, 2008 in miscellaneous | 0 comments
I just realized that I hadn’t really mentioned how I was streaming media from my MacBook Pro to my Playstation 3. Especially seeing as all of the third party apps out there (TVersity, PlayOn, VidZone, etc.) are for Windows only.
Many comments in the Engadget or Gizmodo blogs said something along the lines of “when’s it coming to Mac?”, “something else I can’t use on my Mac”, “too bad it’s not coming to Mac”, etc. But since when did people not hear that they can run Windows on a Mac? I have Windows XP installed on both my BootCamp partition, as well as the virtual machine in Parallels. I haven’t bothered to use the third party apps with XP on BootCamp because it works extremely well through Parallels while I keep all my Mac apps open at the same time. Come on now people!
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Posted on Jul 24, 2008 in design, miscellaneous | 0 comments
Well, jeez, uh, it’s been awhile. I’ll actually be updating this now. Been what, two months since graduation. In the meantime I’ve started exercising a lot with my friend, Donna. That’s been a nice routine. What else? Finally got Internet/Cable and installed wireless for myself. Now I don’t have to worry about which part of the apartment I’m in or whether I’ll be able to get a signal. Been nice to update the PS3/PSP when new firmwares come out, too.
Other than that…been working, a lot on new web and graphic designs for different clients. Not going to post all the links at this time since many of them are not done yet. If I never posted the link to Chicoine’s though, here’s there Chicoine Photography & Design portfolio site which I completed entirely in Flash CS3. Have, what, five sites that are in progress. Most should be done by the end of the month. Recently revised a whole corporate identity package, designed a letterhead and some labels for a friend who sells blueberries locally. They came out pretty cool. Probably will end up in my portfolio eventually…once I redo it. Soon. I hope.
Um, what else? Some cool stuff…Pandora. Very cool. I had read about it in MacWorld magazine I think. Didn’t think much of it at first because I have a huge iTunes library. Turns out it’s very convenient.
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Posted on May 10, 2008 in miscellaneous | 0 comments
Okay, I know. It’s been over a month since I’ve written and entry. You have to excuse me. Last month of undergraduate school. Next weekend, Sunday, May 18th, I’ll officially have a Bachelors in Interactive Digital Media and an Associates in Graphic Design. Yay!
So what have I been doing? Well. Finished the Chicoine Photography & Design site. Been working on several other sites through school and quite a few print projects which were a lot of fun. For one I did a typographic calendar and another one that I really liked was designing a video game magazine with some European design inspired tweaks. Added a few new things to my portfolio so you can check those out. More added very shortly as I wrap up a few freelance jobs.
Got quite a few job offers from those that I applied to (and a few I didn’t). I decided I’m going to freelance for the next two years or so until I can go to grad school. Have a few clients already lined up and I’ll start advertising after graduation. We’ll see!
Alright, back to final projects and such. One big one left to go with remnants of another getting tied up. Wish me luck!
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