Davidson Design

Must have been some problem in the area - but the cable co. called to make sure we were online, which usually means it was affecting more people than just me.

We had our first Photoshop Special Interest Group meeting last night, and things went really well, except for starting a little late. I knew when we scheduled for the meeting to be at Hamilton/South Caddo library that somehow the distance would become an issue. After arriving around 5:20 p.m. for the 6:30 p.m. meeting, and scrounging for an extension cord (I "borrowed" one from an overhead projector cart), I realized that I had brought everything with me EXCEPT the Keynote file for my presentation. You know... the thing I was giving a talk about. Kinda important.

Anyway, shortly after 6:00 I left the library, leaving all my equipment in the safe and capable hands of the Conradis (thanks!). I hotfooted it back to my house (roughly 15 minutes away), picked up all the CABLES for my external hard drives, and left the house. After I drove around 1/2 a mile down the street from home, I realized that I not only needed the CABLES but I needed the HARD DRIVES THEMSELVES as well. :\

So - long story short(er), I made it back to the library around 6:40 p.m. to a relatively full room of people. Other than starting to choke half way through (thanks for the cough drop Colleen) I think it went pretty well. I must say, I'm not the encyclopedia of knowledge on how to do everything in photoshop, so if your question wasn't answered the way you wanted, felt you didn't get quite enough out of the information we gave out, put a note in the forums and see if someone that knows more about it than me can help you out. The whole point of this is learning from each other - so if you can share what you know, we'll all be better at what we're trying to do.

For some unknown reason I really thought that I wasn't going to have any more problems with my cable modem for a while. But... as of this morning, I'm offline again. I'm thinking about getting a DSL line as a backup for when the cable goes down. Just something simple - whatever the cheapest option is, just so I can limp along between TWC service calls, which seem to be about once a month now.

Regardless of the hassle of being periodically offline, remember what we had to do before the internet? FedEx charges, film output charges, driving disks across town, etc. I'll take the occasional irritation if it means I don't have to make 4 trips to Sistematik a day to meet deadlines.

So I guess it's officially open - I managed to grab ahold of the domain for iShreveport.com, so I've set up a simple phpBB forum for all kinds of local information. Currently the plan is for it to host the forums for SMUG and the SB Photoshop SIG, as well as any other content that needs a place to live. Got a site and want some forums for discussion? Give me a shout and I'll help you through the (relatively easy) setup. Want to have your forums as part of iShreveport.com? Lemme know - I'm game for most anything.

Business is beginning to roll!

Thanks to everyone who has signed me on for their graphic work in recent weeks. My self-employment has been one of the best decisions I've made in a really long time. I'm thoroughly enjoying the freedom to make my own design decisions, scheduling decisions, and set my own work hours. I'm often times much more creative in the wee hours of the morning than I am during the bulk of the "traditional work day," so this newfound life suits me well.

Wish me luck!