Two-thousand high-five

Hey, 2005 - what's up? I know, I know, you're on your way out - I'll just be a minute. I couldn't have you leave without letting you know how much I appreciated the time we spent together. You've been a good friend to me. Aww jeez, I'm getting all soppy here. Do you need help with your bags? No? Ok.

Anyway, you should know that you were the best year I've ever known - really. 2004 was good, too, but I preferred you. All the good times, you know - I got that job as an Associate Programmer and Graphic Designer. I got my own office and all, can you believe it? And, I bought a new car - a new new car, hell yeah. It's sweet!

You may not believe this - Dean gave me this look when I told him - but you had the best week of my life, ever. Well, so far anyway. It was when I went to California and stayed with Christa - yeah, you know her, tall girl, dark hair, coolest person in the universe? Yeah, her. San Francisco, Napa valley, redwoods, hippie towns... And I'd thought I wasn't one for awe.

And let's talk personal improvement - I became vegetarian and, having also dropped some bad eating habits, dropped 37 lbs as well. It's like Neven 2.0, I'm telling you. Like, I decided to start learning music - as in, playing something. See, my boss, Stan, plays guitar, as do two other devs on the team. Another plays the accordion. So Stan told me one day, hey, you're supposed to be the artsy one, why don't you pick something up and play? Well, I didn't really know why not - I love music and I'm a nerd about what I listen to, so it was really no stretch to get into nerding about playing as well. After a brief consultation with Miles I picked up an M-Audio Keystation 49e and some books from the library. They helped me remember what little music theory I remembered from high school, but I soon dropped the Mary-Had-A-Little-Lambs and Ode-To-Joys and looked into rock/blues/jazz playing styles. Not that I have anything against classical piano, but I'm 25 years old, you know.

So then, after doing this regular Friday-night "jam session" at Miles's place one time, I tried diddling on the guitar a bit. I borrowed a bass from a friend and with Miles's help started figuring that out. I still play both, but there's the 25-year-old thing again - the bass is rock, man.

Ok ok I won't keep you here much longer. But remember my Halloween party? That was fun. The holiday season seemed to come quickly and last a short time, but it was definitely worth it - I got lots of nice stuff and Christa's in town now. I'm telling you, best year ever. No, ha ha, I havent had anything to drink. I'm just in a goofy sincere mood.

Yeah, I'll get the door for you. You're sure you can't stay a little longer? Ok, that's cool. I know you won't take this the wrong way so I'll just say it: I think 2006 might be even better. Yeah... I'll remember you fondly, though. Take care!

iPhoto thumbnail rebuilding

I've used Picasa, I've used Adobe Bridge, and I use iPhoto every day - despite its shortcomings, it's my favorite photo-organizing software still. I really like that Picasa is free and surprisingly fast, but its interface (especially in the new version) is a bit messy - impressive, but messy - and navigating the library can be confusing.

iPhoto is not without its flaws, though - a major one is that if you edit a photo in an external editor, iPhoto will not automatically update that photo's thumbnails. To keep your thumbnails up to date, you'll need to rebuild them periodically. Luckily, it's simple.

Close iPhoto and start it by Command-Option-clicking it. (In older versions, you may have to Shift-Command-click.) You'll be presented with a dialog box offering four rebuild options - check the first two and get a cup of coffee or go on doing whatever. It'll take a few minutes (eight on my gallery of 2,800 pictures) but it won't hog your computer.

Photobooth

Photobooth
Originally uploaded by Neven Mrgan.

My kid brother's Xmas present arrived on Friday - an iMac G5 with iSight. To put it succinctly, I would call the experience of using one "totally freakin' sweet, dude."

If anyone wants to get me one for Xmas... well, I wouldn't kick them out of bed for eating crackers.

P.S. Don't I look like a used car salesman?

Adriano & Jeni & Anti-fire; a must-read if you know them

News of the personal sort...

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