“Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.” ―
https://meanderingpassage.com//wp-content/uploads/images/2020/04/EBM-20160225135823-1.jpg
It would be easy to get lost in the pandemic and political negativity which surrounds us these days. But Bonnie and I are luckier than many. We’re retired, in good health, have a safe and convenient place to live, have very little debt, and, at least for the moment, are still financially secure. However, even so, there are moments and even a few days where I find myself giving in to “the darkness.”
So, to combat this, I’ve been trying to keep occupied by doing little projects and taking opportunities for improvements and the learning of new skills. It’s easier to be positive about the world in general when and if you feel positive about your own life course.
I’ve been tweaking this Meandering Passage web site, including a new favorite icon, small design changes, and creating a better and more convenient post template. Not anything significant, but I’ve always found some escape and solace of the mind in design and light coding. But then this web site has always been a project without end. Meandering Passage has existed for fourteen years, and I’ve yet to considered it finished. As always, let me know if you find something amiss.
Two years ago, I switched my core photo management and editing applications from Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to Alien Skin Exposure X5 and Affinity Photo. I have to say I’ve never looked back with any regrets, and I’ve been delighted with the capabilities as well as the results from this “new” combination. I’ve long realized that I only scratched the surface of the capabilities of Affinity Photo, so I’ve begun an on-line training course to gain some new skills with this very capable application. There seems to be no limit to all that I don’t know. So many opportunities! 😂
When we began full-time RV’ing in 2015, my only computer became an Apple 13″ MacBook Pro. In late 2017 when Maggie’s travel anxiety forced an end of RV’ing, I picked up a new model of Apple’s Mac Mini and a 27″ 4K BenQ Photo Monitor (tired of squinting at that 13″ screen for photo editing.) The Mac Mini I purchased has a fast 6-core processor and is a strong performer, but I’d bought it with only 16gb of memory because I knew memory was user upgradable and Apple always charges a premium for preinstalled memory. With 16gb running multiple applications doing photo editing often resulted in low memory warnings and while these warnings didn’t result in any application failures (Apple OS X is very good at memory management) it did affect performance. Recently I found a reasonable deal on some highly recommend second party compatible memory. So yesterday, while watching a YouTube instructional video on my laptop, I swapped in 64gb of new Mac Mini memory. It resulted in a noticeable performance improvement not only in applications but also with the video display.
Between these small “projects” and others, as well as my full usage and enjoyment of Amazon’s “kindleunlimited” reading membership, the day’s slip by…although sometimes I’m not sure which day it is. :-)
Be healthy and safe, everyone!
Last tuesday was a day of darkness, feeling hopeless and helpless. Spent time on the phone with a friend, did some journaling and meditation to bring some calm and serenity to the darkness.
Wow! Interesting to know you’ve had this website for 14 years. You always seem to take care with this website, upgrading, tweaking but most importantly, you provide wonderful images and content. Please continue!
I have stayed with the MacBook Pro because I am a mobile person and have not had wifi at home for about 4 years now. My preference would have been go buy the iMac but without the wifi it did not make sense. I could at some time and if I had the money add a large display and be fine.
The darkness I sometimes feel is, in reality, such a minor thing when compared to what I’m sure many who live paycheck-to-paycheck or have a friend/relative infected with COVID-19 must face these days. I try to keep that in mind as it helps to keep me grounded and makes me realize just how good I have it.
I know, 14 years! I can clearly remember starting Meandering Passage and as one who hasn’t always demonstrated follow-through, I even remember wondering at that time how long it would last. :-)
For years I’ve had consistent WIFI Internet connections, even most of the time while RV’ing, so now I’d feel like it was a real hardship not having it. I could still do everything on my 13″ laptop but it’s just easier and more enjoyable with a large screen and a faster machine. One of the many ways I’m spoiled. Haha! My IT background probably feeds into that decision as well.
I hope you’re having a good weekend, Monte. Be well and stay well! 🖖
Good thoughts, Earl. It’s hard to stay positive with all the noise and negativity that’s out there. The best way to do that is to find productive and positive ways to pass the time, and it sounds like you’ve found several good ways to do it. I envy your knowledge of computers and your blog – I just never had a good chance to learn those things. Maybe learning more about managing my blog would be (yet) another good project for my list. I don’t think we’ll run out of things to do, even if this quarantine goes on for several more months.
The negativity definitely seems to be overshadowing the positive these days, Tom. There’s not much one can do except to try to adapt and make the best of it. I try to stay grounded, make good choices and realize it could always be worst and that for many others it is worst. Stay safe and well!
So I just spent several long minutes staring at your photo trying to work out what in the world a “tube exit” might be and what such a sign might be doing on the side of a river which showed no discernible exits of any kind. I read the post to no avail and the comments so far were of no help either. I was just about to give up and simply ask you when I pushed my cursor over the photo and finally got my answer. I am very happy now :)
Lovely photo by the way Earl. All the best with tweaking your blog. I’ve been wandering about and it looks very nice and seems to work as expected. You’ve obviously found a good way to keep busy.
Hahaha! One of my blog “tweaks” had to do with how I insert images in the posts. That change obviously removed the image caption which before displayed directly below the image. I laughed out loud when from your point of view I realized how strange a subject the “Tube Exit” sign in this photo must have seemed. Glad you happened upon one of the two ways to see the image caption. Another way to view the caption is to click upon the photo and it expands into a lightbox window with the caption at the bottom.
Thanks for your comment on the photo. My first reaction to your experience was that I should find a way to get the caption to display again directly under the photo. But rethinking this I believe I’d rather leave the images as is, initially viewed unexplained and then provide a caption available upon cursor hover or an image click.
I hope you and yours are all well. From what I’ve seen in the news it looks like Australia has done a good job so far remediating the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we’re dealing with two major disasters at the same time…Trump and COVID-19. Take care!
Truth be told Earl, I rather enjoyed that little mystery riddle :)
My family and I are well over here. Thanks for your good wishes. Our COVID-19 numbers are going down each day though we have been told that the stay-at-home initiative will continue for quite some time yet and that our borders will remain closed until at least the end of the year. An easy thing to do being an island miles from everyone else :) I think that Australia’s success so far has a lot to do with the fact that we are a big island with a small population. I doubt we would have handled it so well if we had 350M people to contend with.
You guys take care too.
Thanks for sharing an update on your Mac Mini experience. I am still debating on which way to go, but the I have considered the Mini. Then I have to decide what to do with my displays – they are not 4K capable, but the only thing I would need 4k for is editing video – which I rarely do. But my 12 year old Mac Pro still neems to be chugging along, although the fans are getting noisier it seems – a good wack takes care of that. So I am in that Want vs. Need territory for now.
And as I said in the other post – the website looks good! 14 years is a long time – a lot of changes and evolutions I know.
For my purposes, I’ve been happy with the Mac Mini. If in the future I want better video performance I can add an eGPU box, which at the moment begins at three hundred$. I’m aware if I total the initial cost of the Mini and Monitor plus the memory and a possible future eGPU update I’d have enough invested where I could have purchased a decent iMac or maybe a basic iMac Pro. But with the cost spread across multiple years, instead of all at once, I tell myself it seems reasonable. Yeah, 14 years and probably 5 to 7 major redesigns! LOL