Blended Paths

Hey y'all... If you've been to BlendedPaths in the past week, you've seen the changes (the MAJOR changes). If you haven't, you should take a peek! Here's an update about what I've done with the site and what's soon to come, as well as an update on me!

BlendedPaths has undergone a serious transformation! I spent the majority of the day last Sunday redesigning the site and I have added quite a few photos. The most exciting news for BlendedPaths, though, has GOT to be the new mobile site launching! That's right - there is now a mobile version of the site that works wonderfully on smart phone and other Internet capable mobile devices. I've had a number of people tell me that the mobile version of BlendedPaths loads images much faster than many sites they frequent, so that was quite a compliment to me and to the developers of the tools I used to create this new mobile version. You can visit the developers by going to the link provided at the bottom of the page when viewing the mobile version of the site if you are intersted in something similar for your own website or if you're just curious about the tools available.

Sadly, I had to take the forum offline for an undetermined amount of time. I wanted to rework the forum, from removing categories that aren't used to adding new and more interesting ones, as well as changing permissions for uploading media in forum posts along with comments/text, and as I began to work on these changes I realized that there was NO quick way to accomplish my goal and that the best thing to do was to take the forum offline for the duration of this rebuilding process and hope you guys would still be around (the few of you who are active, LOL) when I put it back online. I hope to have this task accomplished within the next week, but, as things stand at the moment, I'm not sure if that is possible so I've extended my own goal to the end of the month.

That's pretty much all there is to say about the site at the moment (from my end, your comments are welcomed!!), so now on to a few updates about the life and times of...me (and how you can look forward to these changes bringing goodies to you via BlendedPaths, of course!). What's this exciting news, you ask? Well...drum roll..........

I finally managed to get my hands on an iPhone 4! It was purely luck...or something closely related to luck...that this happened. Good for me, good for Jeremy, perhaps not so great for our friend JR, who forked over more than half the money for the phone as a sort of loan. Jeremy's phone basially died - it was probably more the battery than anything else but even if that was ALL that was wrong with the thing, it would have cost around $100 to ship it to Apple, have the battery replaced, and ship it back - yeah, you have to actually send the thing in. Or, you can get an appointment at the Apple store nearest you and pay $70 plus the gas it takes you to drive there (for us, a good one hour drive) and they'll do it for you there while you wait. Alas, we were almost certain that the battery wasn't the only issue since the phone was refurbished and had started having issues like freezing up and running slowly within a couple of months after receiving it, so we decided that I would get an iPhone 4 (because I'm so into the photography and the abilities of that phone would serve my iPhone photography fetish well) and my husband would just upgrade to my 32GB 3Gs. It worked out great - now JR and I both have an iPhone 4 and Jeremy is tremendously happy with the 3Gs he was promoted to (he had a 3G originally).

The iPhone 4 is Ah-MAZing. It's super fast, it's super fun, and all my apps work properly again. It has a flash/video lamp and it does some pretty cool and useful things. I haven't been able to really sit down with it and play with the new features (which really are few and far between except for some of the camera related things - it's all down to the iOS, really, which is the same for all models - but I have managed to get myself a couple of new apps (like iMovie for iPhone) and I am truly loving what I am able to do with this thing. I'm really getting into some of the video stuff as well as some new photography things and I'll be sharing some of these tools (as well as tips and tutorial-type posts) about them as soon as I get a chance to play with the apps/phone, make some notes, create some examples and write up a post! Who knows when that will be with my 19 month old who is going on 6 years old (thinks he's grown and can get into whatever he wants!), but it will be as soon as possible for me in my world.

With the new capabilities I've got on this phone (including access to some new apps I've wanted for ages), I've been able to do some really interesting things with video and I've created a site a Vimeo to link with BlendedPaths. You'll find it at BlendedPaths on Vimeo, and for now you'll see a few videos I did after being inspired by the 60 Second Landscapes Challenge over at Chase Jarvis' blog. Look for random updates - never know what I'm going to "film" next! I'm loving it!!

Upates to the iPhoneography page/album and the Project 365 album coming soon!!

I hope everyone out there is doing great and staying well and I hope you're all enjoying the summer (at least, here in the States - for the rest of you, I hope you're enjoying whatever season you're experiencing at this time of the year!)!! Take care!!

Blessings,

Christy

It has been at least a month since I updated the site with new photography! I'm rather disappointed in myself for this as I have actually taken many new photos in the past month and had plenty to share. Time is lacking, however.

Alas, the day has come! I plan to spend the day today updating the site's galleries, Jesse's page, and I might even get around to posting a few new blogs with some information about some interesting new things I've been researching and planning to try out just as soon as I get a chance.

That's the plan. Whether my child allows me to follow through on it we can only guess. I should imagine that by lunchtime we will know! :-)

Blessings...

Christy

I'm slowly getting things done:

• Jesse's first birthday party invitations
• The contest winner features here at the website (in the works, just not published yet)
• Getting prints out to the winners (having trouble finding the original of one of them but working on it!)
• Getting Jesse's party plan more solidified (a lot of decorating already done LOL)
• Then there's the household stuff - laundry, clean the floors and bathrooms...
• I took a hot bath this morning (thanks to Jeremy watching Jesse) and even shaved my legs for the first time in about 5 days (OMG)

So yeah, things are coming along. I have updated a few things online that I haven't used in a while, and I've uploaded some new pictures of Jesse to his album here. I need to update his page with the latest info, and I need to get those features finished but I'm still debating whether to do temporary pages for them (each one or all of them together) or individual linkable blogs for each one with a link on the front page... I'll get that figured out in the next day or so and get them posted.

In other news, my iPhone is having those same battery drainage issues and it's really beginning to piss me off. But, I don't really have time to worry about it. I don't use it much (lately) so I just check every now and then and plug it up randomly to make sure it has some charge in case someone calls (and I feel like answering, or can - based on what Jesse is doing).

Alas, it's been a long couple of weeks - had an enjoyable weekend but didn't really take any photos. I didn't take my big camera to the event I managed to get out to, so I didn't really get any good pictures as far as the street thing I was kind of going for. Plus, I was so busy trying not to freak out that it wouldn't have mattered. But, at least I've gotten out a bit more and I hope that it helps me continue to have an easier time going out. I am doing OK with Jeremy so maybe soon I will be able to go and do as I please. Wishful thinking, maybe - but if I don't keep trying to have positive thoughts it's only worse.

I am going to be starting a conditioning and (perhaps) new running routine with Jeremy as my coach so we'll see how that goes. We were supposed to start that today but it's been so crazy and busy. Jesse is finally down for a nap so I'm going to work a bit more on the features stuff and then try to sit down with Jeremy and eat and talk about what I want to get out of him coaching me. Hmmm.....

Hope everyone is well and having a great time and no hardships and hope that our hardships continue to get better with each passing day. /praying

Take care everyone, and look for new updates soon!

My first 365 project (which I am at least a week behind on posting, but have done!) will be coming to an end VERY soon. I can't believe it's already been almost a year since I began the journey of the 365 project, and as the end draws nigh, I have decided that my gallery is cluttered with the 365 images of that journey. The album is HUGE, takes forever to load, and there's a lot of images to scroll through before you find anything truly photographically interesting or fun. So, here's the plan:

As my 365 project comes to an end, I am going to do a page dedicated to the project with a link directly to my project page, and put some of my favorite images from the project on that dedicated page here at Blended Paths along with some text talking about the project, why I did it, if it was what I thought it would be for me, etc. So be on the lookout! I will be posting a link for that when I do it, but I can't get ahead of myself - I have to get through this contest, first! My 365 project might be over for sure by the time I get the prizes out in the mail (or e-mail, as the case may be). I will be doing features here on the front page for the winners, so I'll have to sort that out, as well.

Having and running a website is fun, but it is a LOT of work, as anyone who runs a website (especially by themselves, which is usually the case in a situation like this) knows! :-)

Wow.I am really surprised at the interest that's grown in my website due to thebaby photo contest I'm holding over at my Facebook fan page. I've had a fewpeople sign up here, and I say, "thank you for your interest!" OK,granted some of the new sign-ups are trying to sell something to do withadvertising and such, but still. /smirk and laugh

TodayI am determined to update several things here at Blended Paths. The first is -wait for it! - adding some new photography! The second is adding a new video folderfor my new YouTube channel (which, surprise surprise, is called BlendedPaths)and sharing with you in this blog what that channel is about. The third isobviously the front page and adding info about the baby photo contest, mostimportantly, to the front page.

As for now, I am in a writing mood. I have been having these strange dreamslately. Three nights ago, I dreamed about Sarah Palin. I was campaigning withher (WITH, not for - how odd, on so many levels) and was at a mic proclaimingmy love for my friends and my gratitude for them and their being who they areand supporting me. Then, night before last, I dreamed about Kate Gosselin(again). The first time it was more about her brood of kiddies - somethingabout a sunglasses shop and them surrounding me around a rack of sunglasses,and my telling them not to touch and Kate coming around and saying, "Thankyou." I stood there with my jaw on the floor. The dream night before lastwas more...I wouldn't think "intimate" would be a word that properlyportrays it, but I can't think of another word at this early hour so I'll useit. The two of us spent some time at her home in Pennsylvania and I gave her myopinions about her choices about botoxing her face and how beautiful she usedto be but she was letting this fame thing and strive for physical perfectionruin what was nearly perfect just a few weeks ago. She was unhappy and kickedme out. Whatever. Then LAST night, I dreamed that I got back in the loop withmy ex-fiancé and his family, some very...let's just say "well-off"folks, and was about to marry him again. The difference was that I was alreadymarried to Jeremy. I have no idea. I woke up thinking, "Thank God I didn'tmarry that guy." That's who he is to me at this point - "thatguy." That was one high school sweethearts type situation that didn't workout, being that he dumped me on Valentine's Day of his senior year (I'd alreadygraduated, the year before). But, whatever - my life is good the way it is. Iwould only change that our house isn't built yet.

So,moving on - about the YouTube channel! I created the channel BlendedPaths forone purpose - to share slideshow type videos of photography, and to do screencapture videos with voiceovers to server as tutorials for using Photoshop andother programs for different things. Some of the recent videos are about how touse iMovie and Quicktime in Mac (which are standard software on a Mac) to doscreen captures and voiceovers - basically, how I actually create the tutorialvideos. I will soon be creating a video album here to share these videos viaBlended Paths so that you don't have to go to YouTube to actually view them.

Wow- I just looked up and it's daylight! Guess I better get busy uploading photosand getting those videos on this site, but the first thing I have to do isupdate the front page! Have a great Sunday!

I can not offer you the option to upload images here at Blended Paths at this time due to financial and webspace constraints, as well as the fact that there is not a tool available to allow you to fully control your own work via this site (and I don't have the abilities or desire to be responsible for anyone's work but my own).

HOWEVER, I love the idea of you all being able to share your work here and the only solution I can come up with for now is a forum section that allows you to create topics and post links to your photos/blogs/websites. Remember - LINKS - not images. I'm not even sure there is an option to upload an image in a forum post to start with (it's changed at some point in recent months), but again - there are contraints here on the amount of webspace I have available to me (and bandwidth, which is not as much of an issue but still something to consider), and so I barely have enough webspace for uploading and showcasing my own images here. I have to compress them to very small web images (not in physical size, though that is not huge, but in terms of file size) and there is not a tool right now to allow control of this for other users. By this, I mean that there is no way for me to code in some ability for you to upload images to an album that can not be over a certain file size or image size, etc.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE INFORMATION TOPIC IN THIS SECTION OF THE FORUM

Also, my other concern, as I mentioned briefly above, is the legality issues. If you have a blog at blogger, Xanga, etc., or a webspace at a site like deviantART, Flickr, even a simple storage site like Photobucket, you are already protected and can count if fairly safe (but not necessarily easy should an image be stolen) to have your work protected in the sense that they have procedures in place, as more like "corporate" websites rather than my little bitty one-person run and maintained world here, and these procedures are defined in user agreements and licensing and even in your own rights to post photos by US law. I don't even know how that would work for law in other countries, as some users here are from places like Austraila, etc. I'm sure, as it is an online deal, it would be similar if not the same, when considering legalities, but it's simply something I'm not prepared to handle at this point, nor do I have the means available to me at this point.

I'm all for you sharing your links and I think that it is a plus in at least two ways for you: firstly, by posting links to your work and sites, you are able to direct more traffic to YOUR sites/works, and secondly, you are much more protected via your own photo storage locations, whether they be blogs, storage specific sites like Photobucket, or sites like Flickr. I simply could not promise you, even if I had the webspace or the money to provide more webspace, that I could help you deal with the issue of your work being stolen from this site. There's also the other side of that - people joining and posting plaigarized photography, which is likely to happen at some point as the site grows, should that option be available. I'm not saying to you that this option will never be available here, but I'm pretty new and the site is pretty new, so we'll see what the future holds.

I hope this is an adequate solution and will be more helpful for you (to draw your own traffic to your own sites), at least for the time being. I encourage you to post and share your links and stories with them as topics in this thread, and if you need any help at all with HTML, posting/sharing links and formatting, etc., PLEASE feel free to contact me and I will help you as much and as immediately as I can. Thanks to Nathaniel for bringing this issue back up and giving me the idea to try this little rememdy. We'll see how this works for everyone!

Thanks for your patience as I try to grow the site! /hugs to all!

That's what it continues to be - definitely a juggling act. I have been trying to spend ample amounts of time here; after all, this is my baby! But, now that I have a human baby and we had a really long and tough weekend with him, I never managed to really do anything productive here. I feel so terrible about it - not because I'm worried so much about letting down anyone who follows the site but because it's a committment I've made for myself to continue to work as hard as possible to promote and keep the place updated.

For example, today I am running on a total of about two hours of sleep since yesterday morning at 4AM and four or so cups of decaf coffee (yes, I ask myself, "what was the point of either?"). But, God has smiled upon me and Jesse is currently napping.  My mother in law isn't coming to visit today because her husband is in the hospital (please keep him in your prayers), and so I actually do have a little time to myself (that part I'm not so happy about but it's the way it is...). I've worked up a few new shots (well, old as in date taken but new to post) and have just a few more to go before I upload them and share them with you.

It's been a rather interesting several days. Jesse is cutting teeth, I am having the lovely first week of the month that I always have, Jeremy is in his first few days of shift change, which is always difficult, and I'm having serious issues keeping up with laundry (for some reason - this usually isn't a problem but I guess because of the weekend of not feeling so good and dealing with a rather fussy and demanding child I got a little behind).

Life is so much fun, even the bad and depressing and worrysome parts of it. Which reminds me - I have to pay several bills today. Ugh - there goes what little bit of money we had managed to hoard in our checking account. LOL We're a little behind there this month, too, because of the iPhone incident. Oh well. Life happens. It was a fun day that day. I ate sushi for the first time in my life. What more can I say?

Alas, look for new uploads and perhaps a blog or two describing some of these new shots. I've been taking a trip down memory lane and looking back at some of our old vacations and shots I'd taken there - I've found several things I really like now that I didn't prefer then. So funny how one's eye and perception can change over the years. These shots are from 2007 - but, as I said - I will probalby do a blog with some of them explaining more.

Hope everyone had a pleasant weekend and is having a great week! Take care, all! /hugs

Do you have any suggestions or requests concerning Blended Paths? I'd love to hear them, if so - I am going on my own journey here and I'm not saying I know a person can't please everyone, that's far from my intent here. But I DO care about others' thoughts and ideas, and would love it if you shared them with me!

If you have something to suggest or request concerning this site, please comment below! I'd appreciate your input!