Flip Flop

Well I like Apple. I find myself constantly researching, learning and exploring information on the internet.

Tonight after MBSF Laura and I went on our default 9:15pm Wendy's run. She always goes and sits with me while I eat so we get to talk and see each other since Monday is a non-stop day until 9pm.

When I got back tonight I got caught up on work from the day at my desk and now I've been just relaxing, reading information about computer speeds on the internet.

I am very interested in upgrading my current computer. Not because it stinks. In fact, it absolutely rocks. Hands down, the most solid computer I've ever owned or seen anyone own for that matter. This little black MacBook has been rock solid, SOLID, for two and a half years and we're coming up on 500 battery cycles.

My laptop is solid. Perfect amount of weight and firepower for day-to-day work. However, editing is an entirely different story. I do not like the idea of having a powerful editing desktop workstation, which is the industry standard for heavy projects.

If you know much about me, I strive for one common goal. Simplicity.

I don't want to run two machines and manage what files are where, syncing mail and information between the two, and missing music when I'm away from my desk.

The problem is that laptops simply will never be as fast as desktops. And it is difficult to sit here, saying the only thing I want is more power out of my laptop. That has a simple solution. If there is nothing wrong except you need more power on projects, then get a desktop.

I just don't want two computers.

Well then you settled it. Get the fastest laptop you can, and I don't want to hear any complaining a year from now about "gee this just isn't very fast" because you should have gotten the desktop then. It's a difficult decision between the simplicity of a one-laptop system and a two-computer powerhouse.

I go back and forth. Yesterday I said, "oh just keep your lightweight laptop for daily work and get a powerhouse desktop for editing". Today I say, "get one solid machine and be happy with the balance of weight and firepower".

Until I pull the trigger it doesn't matter how much I go back and forth. My goal? To go 7 solid days without flip flopping. Until I can do that it means less than a week after I buy one or the other, I'm going to be rethinking it. lol

not good. must mean I'm not ready. :D

MBSF 2.28.11

Doug Goodman dropped by to teach from God's word.

T. Trust. Proverbs 3:5-6
Jesus laid down his life.
Trust him with your life not just your soul.
O. Obedience. Psalm 1
The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
L. Love. 1 Corinthians 13
If I have done everything but have not love, I am nothing. Don't let your life just be an annoying gong.
L. Live. Matt 25:40
"one of the greatest tragedies of life would to climb to the top of the ladder only to find it was leaning on the wrong building."

You love Jesus only as much as you love the least of these. Jesus said whatever you have done to the least of these you've done to me.

-Cameron
.iPhone.

3 Weeks Until Spring Break!

Alright get NASA on the phone and start the countdown. Spring Break hits in three weeks. Get pumped.

Tomorrow Laura and I will be at the Harbor Church of NWA down in Springdale. Up in Springdale? I'm writing from Bentonville tonight. :) It's down right now.

Monday I've got a large History exam. That'll be no joke. Thursday is Refuge. Friday is our 2nd Movie on the Quad, which will be Disney's "Tangled", which I've heard should be fantastic. :) The weekend of the 5th Laura and I are doing wedding planning and studying all weekend. Then there's the 3rd Movie on the Quad. Then it's our birthday weekend. Set your clocks. Then it's the first Henderson Idol 2011, on my 21st birthday! Neat! Then folks, it is Spring Break. Get pumped. :)

Laura and I have a long to do list for the break. A longer list than a break should have… But we want to get married, and apparently there's a lot of stuff people do to get ready for their wedding "day" so we're busy.

So excited though. I like her.

Fuel with Adam Robinson

First Baptist Bentonville does a service I believe once a month called "Fuel". Laura and I had the opportunity to finally be in Bentonville on a Wednesday night and were able to attend. The message brought was incredible. I usually only post 2-3 minute videos on here but if you can make the time or let this roll while you work, this video is worth your time.

Very special thanks to Dave Roberts and the FBC Media Ministry team for getting this online for us.

FUEL January 5, 2011 from FBC Bentonville on Vimeo.

iPhoto & Aperture

I'm thinking about making the upgrade jump from iPhoto to Aperture.

I downloaded the trial, (thanks Apple!) and let it re-build my library as it imported it from iPhoto into Aperture. Right now both are running. Meaning I've got double libraries. Talk about a space eater.

The main reason I considered the jump is this: iPhoto manages photo's in an unsustainable manner, meaning as my library grows out of control from what the average user was intended to use, the file system gets insane.

Every time you edit, crop, touchup, fix red-eye or anything in Aperture it saves that metadata and preserves the original photo without touching it. You just "see" the edits as if the original photo was altered, but if you need to, you can wipe away all the edits, "restoring" it to the original photo.

Well iPhoto kind of does this. But like I said it's not sustainable in the long run. iPhoto, to protect your original, does this... As soon as you make any kind of edit, it makes a duplicate copy of that photo and lets you edit away on the copy. So you can "restore" it there too, but it's only achieving this feature by cheating. When you restore a photo all it does is deletes the duplicate with all the edits and puts the original back.

But wait a minute in the meantime, my photo library is like, double? Yes. This is what makes iPhoto a consumer product. The average consumer is not doing much editing, they're leaving the photos. And if they did, the photos are maybe 2-3mb. My photos are pushing 9-10mb, each, and any slight edits makes a copy, so then 18-20mb for the pair.

That can't be sustainable in the long run when I edit almost all my photos.

iPhoto locks all this information in one folder that cannot be split up.

I have a MacBook with a 500GB Hard Drive installed. That's as big as they get right now. My iPhoto library, that's locked down to this one folder and can't be moved to an external drive or anywhere... huge. Let's see just how huge:

iPhoto Library: 296GB

What? Two Hundred and Ninety Six. WHOA People. Add 60GB in photos and we've only got 150GB left. Well that's alright, except I shoot VIDEO. High Definition video. Oh my goodness...

My hard drive has approximately 13GB left. WHOA is this recent? No it's been slowly growing to that point but has been at less than 50GB for almost two years. WHOA.

It is ALWAYS recommended for system performance to have at least 10% of your hard drive open. 13GB out of 500GB is less than 3%. I'm crawling.

Welcome, Aperture...

When Aperture moves your photos from iPhoto over into Aperture, it deletes the duplicates by transferring them into Apertures system of editing. It does not flatten them locking your edits forever. In fact it saves the metadata and you can pick up where iPhoto left off. YIP YIP! Strike up the band we have a winner. You know what that means? All those duplicates got elimated on the transfer? What does all this nerd ridiculousness mean and why in the world does the blog need to hear about it?

It means by moving to Aperture my library has gotten smaller and manageable. Very manageable.

iPhoto: 296GB
Aperture: 233GB

Much bettah! 63GB bettah. WOW. What does this really mean? Aperture is worth it for any photographer who is beginning to outgrow the consumer limitations of iPhoto. Do not do what I did and wait WAYYY too long for this upgrade. What did waiting this long save me?

Aperture was introduced at $299. Last year they dropped the price to $199. With an educational discount I could have bought it at $179. However about a month ago Apple redesigned the way they sell software, and re-priced the Aperture Application at...

$79.
Seventy-Nine bucks folks.

That seventy nine bucks, even if Aperture did absolutely nothing at all besides re-manage the file library, saved a lot of money. I have been inches from having to buy a new computer with 1TB of storage (double) just to move iPhoto to to keep running. They don't make laptops quite that big yet so it would have been a desktop.

If you know me, I'm kind of reliant on this laptop lifestyle. A desktop would be nice for a bigger screen, faster guts and a bigger storage option, but would really really change how I have to do business.

So thank you Apple, $79 has put me in a wonderful mood. Now I can keep my head above water another 6 months or so. I can't ride out this $1100 MacBook forever, but I cannot believe what it has been able to do for me.

MacBook Pro, you'll be next, but until then, sit back and admire how hard this MacBook is working. Keeping up with the same software people are using on $6000 computers, but doing the exact same thing.

Black MacBook, hats off to you old friend. :)

Thanks for reading!