This Way Lies Madness

I finally found my winter computer project, and it's taken over my life: I have started the process of scanning all my old photos and putting them on Flickr.  So far I have my old Prague trip photos uploaded, and I just finished photos through June 1992, a total of over a hundred photos uploaded.  That, on top of the 115 photos I uploaded from my phone, means that there has been a lot of activity on my Flickr account, with a lot more to come...

 

The scanning process has been slow going though: for each photo I must remove it from the album (where they all are sort of stuck, after twenty or so years, to the semi-sticky backing page), read & record the caption off the back, and actually perform the scan -- this takes about 10-15 minutes for each set of four photos on an album page.  Then, after I have one roll done, or one event's worth of shots, I import the bunch to F-Spot (my laptop's photo software), adding tag information, and from there I upload the photos to Flickr.  Once the bunch is in Flickr I give each photo a title and caption based on the information off the back (and what I remember about that shot from when I took it), which takes another couple of minutes.  Meantime, each part of this process has just enough downtime (scanning, waiting for uploads to complete) to let the process drag and my attention wander, but not quite enough to allow any real multitasking.

 

Sunday we brewed a batch of Baltic Porter, another process with a lot of downtime, as liquids heat up and cool down, and while that was happening I did my first batch (the Prague pictures); I'd say that took me about six hours, including beermaking breaks, to get through about forty photos.  I got home from work Monday and scanned a bunch more, then yesterday I stayed home from work, and did another 40 or so and uploaded my next batch -- six hours total for 53 photos.  I am just past the halfway mark on my first photo album; I probably have over a thousand -- maybe two thousand -- photos left to do, and at my current rate it'll take me more than one winter to finish.  Sigh...

 

Anyway, enjoy the photos, and stay tuned for more!

 

I haven't been getting as much physical activity lately, though Anne and I did get in a good moonlight XC ski along the Monocacy last week, and Doug and I went skiing at Mauch Chunk Lake Park on Saturday -- we started on bikes but switched after finding the sledding a little too rough in the snow.  I also had a little downtime last night, after finishing the photos and before I went to meet the ladies for Two Brew Tuesday, so I hopped on the trainer for a quick workout; I only lasted about 10 minutes, I thought I was going to go mad from boredom.

 

Tonight is the gym, then maybe more scanning, though no uploading. I've been restless with the computer lately, fiddling with preferences/settings, looking around for cool software to download (got some website composer programs, and a few new "screen candy" utilities).  Maps bore me right now, though I am working on one for Michaux, maybe it's time for me to start tackling video...