(no subject)

May I just say brrrr? it was 7F this morning, and I think it made it up to 10 or 11 when I got up to the barn (I was waiting for it to warm up) (well, it is all relative, right? 11 is much warmer than 7) Kaboose was coming down off her snow and cold induced high, although still alert. We just went hacking out, along the road, up the mountain (a lot of hikers coming down, all complimentary about the mare's beauty and color, which was.... really unexpected) and back down. The footing was crunchy but viable - we weren't slipping, and had enough traction for a short canter and some trotting. 

Had a complete foil failure on this circle and had to use Alice's gold origami paper with fusible web to hold it on. I have to try some temperature variations, and two other fusibles I have on hand, and if they don't work, I'm done with the stuff. 

tech frenzy

I've been doing most of my computer stuff on a netbook for the last 6 months or so. It works fine for basic photo storage, manip and posting, email, blogging and reading of same, but it does have some limitations. I am writing them here so I remember what I wanted to do when/if I change machines. The netbook is two years old this month. I replaced the screen because it got cracked (it took many tiny bowls to hold screws, and the directions up on another machine, but I did it and I was very proud of myself). It does a lot of things right, vis:

• small,
• lightweight,
• easily portable
• simple to access the internet while travelling (I know, basically the entire point of the thing, but it works like a champ)
• adorable (really, plus Toord Boontje graphics on the machine and the screen. Adorable.)

What I wish I could do but I can't with this machine: 

three graphics heavy programs that need a bigger screen:

• Autodesk 123D - 3d modelling program that feels like it should be easy to learn once you get the basic ideas the same way the programmers did. 
• Artrage - artist's graphics, using artist's tools. The small free version is fun. The things that are disabled are there but grayed out, so you can see what you're missing. 
• Seamless Studio - easy tools for making repeating patterns, ideal for fabric design, probably things one could do in one of the Adobe programs, but the learning curve is shallower

While I designed and prototyped the brochure for Dancing Crow Designs on the netbook, it was painfully slow. But it totally worked. 

When I have attached the tablet and pen to the netbook it works fine, and makes for a sweet interface to the graphics programs. Practice would improve my facility with it so I am not cursing and poking at things Alll The Time, but I ahve not expended that practice time yet. 

bigger screen (two of the three programs listed above are bigger than the screen, and I can't scroll down to see what I am missing)

Al did suggest the possibility of a docking station, so I could use this machine with a big screen, pen tablet, bigger keyboard and external mouse. That could work, but it seems silly to expand the capabilities of an old, small machine when a bigger faster new machine would cost about the same. 

so. When I get the next machine, I know what I will install. If it still exists...