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The Free Consulting Problem, Part II
In a previous post I left an issue hanging, and true to form left it hanging about a month (maybe more).* I meant to just hyperlink it, but WP does this trick now where you get a whole block preview of it, like this: The Free Consulting Problem And to quote myself on that issue to save you from going back and reading it (although you really ought to, it’s pretty good), I said: I’ll give you my thoughts on how the proposal should promise resolution and define the methods, NOT be a fleshed-out plan. G. Smith, consultant So...
read morePlaying with Premiere Pro
Wow this is terrible and will come back to haunt me. (Open up full post to see terrible video quality) I well remember when a guy I was working with started talking about doing promotional videos with his cell phone and wound up with thousands of dollars of cameras, tripods, lights, microphones, lenses… I’m trying to avoid doing that. I have, however, decided I needed to be doing videos to promote Nectar Bridge, and also recently had to update my Adobe subscription to include Premiere Pro. I already owned a decent video camera (a...
read moreAdobe Cloud-y
I was recently pushed into upgrading from the Adobe Photographer Cloud (not sure what it’s officially called, but it’s about $10 a month and only gives you PS and Lightroom) to the full-blown Creative Cloud. It’s been fun trying to learn a bunch of new tools and directly manipulate files that throughout a career incidental to design work I’ve had to have others work on. I hope to be able to unsubscribe from Canva and was able to avoid subscribing to docusign because of using InDesign and Adobe PDF / Document Cloud to...
read moreThe Free Consulting Problem
Ironically*, I hope to provide consulting to a consultant soon about a pricing issue. I recently also talked with a friend about a business practice that in my opinion was costing them money with little effect. After discussing it about an hour, initially with an eye toward improving the process, my sage advice could be summarized as “eh, I think I’d stop doing that if I were you.” And in so doing I committed the cardinal sin of consulting, which is to give away your work for free. But naturally I think it’s more...
read moreOh hail
This is fairly unprecedented – my two-car garage has two of my cars in it. I pride myself on keeping the garage reasonably neat – it’s not the suburban clutter-fest some engage in – but even if emptied out entirely a “two-car garage” holds two mid-sized sedans more or less the same way a glove holds 4 fingers and a thumb. And it’s all because the forecasts call for hail today. We’ll see. Hail is kind of like tornados. You may get nothing, your neighbor two blocks away may get...
read moreGuess that Coworking space
Names and locations redacted to protect the innocent. I was in another city yesterday, scouting a place to hold a meetup. Coworking space number 1: Delightfully pretentious little coffee shop with coworking space adjacent. Craft beer is also served. Seems to have a little Reformed Christian vibe going, because those Christians can drink beer with the window shades up, but unfortunately doesn’t seem to have a single room/meeting space that could hold 10 people without some of them having to sit in a hammock or something. I walked upstairs to...
read moreiPhone 6S+ – Two Months Later
About two months after getting a new iPhone 6S+, I’ve racked up the following experiences: I am indeed using it more as a mini-tablet. Once the new “wore off,” I have reverted to using the iPad whenever possible, but if I don’t have my iPad with me, I will happily browse Facebook, Tumblr, or other time-wasting sites (or even get work done) with more ease. There is a standard vs. zoomed mode under settings>Display & Brightness>Display Zoom. The options are (naturally) standard and zoomed. The difference is not...
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iPhone 6S+, or, iPad Micro
Not sure what to call it – phone or phablet? But it’s going to have to go just about wherever I go for the next 2 years, at least… Pictured here: my outgoing iPhone 5 (early 2013 vintage) and new iPhone 6S+, both entombed in Otterbox Defender cases. My iPad is shown for an additional reference point. Here’s my frame of reference for a phone this size. I’m a bari sax player. When you scale something up this much, in the picture, it seems like just a bigger version of the same thing, but it’s not, exactly....
read moreIt’s so peaceful in the country
TJ (owner of my client Jamersan) has let me use an RV that’s out on his property in Lee County, and I’ve been here a few days doing some work for him and also attending parts of the Auburn Knights Reunion. I’ve never been much for camping, but that’s okay – staying in an RV that’s permanently connected to electricity and water doesn’t really feel like camping. Except the part about utter and complete quiet. I do not sleep well in motel rooms. Someone is always banging doors, and there is the 2 a.m....
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