Live Out Loud

I wanted to see how much I could get done while the kids played at my feet. Turns out, a whole layout! This was from a page kit I made a loooonnnng time ago, and the sketch was in my sketchbook, so it went together rather quickly.



Credits:
Patterned Paper: Crate Paper Kaitlin
Transparency: Pink Paislee (purchased for this specific photo)
Ribbon: Target $1 Spot
Flower: Prima
Brads: Creative Imaginations, Doodlebug
Rubon Letters: Making Memories
Circle Die Cuts: Cricut Expression with Plantin Schoolbook
Pen: American Crafts

The Great Font Purge 2010, Part 1

My bad font habits have caught up to me.

I've been a font hoarder for years. Some of my fonts date back to the graphic design work I did early in my career. I had faithfully copied them over from each successive Mac. And when I started scrapbooking, I downloaded random fonts recommended on message boards, blogs and featured in layouts and magazines articles.

At last count, I had over 1800 typefaces, not including individual weights. I've tried to clean them up over the years, but it was a daunting project and I never got through it before I started adding new ones to the mix again.

But the move to my new MacBook Pro created a problem. The new machine had new Adobe and Microsoft software, with new fonts, which was creating conflict problems. There was nothing to do but start over. And when I did, I wanted to have a lot less fonts to worry about, and I wanted to use Font Book, rathre than spend money on a font organizer.

This is how I did it:

In Font Book:
1. I disabled all fonts under User, and then moved ALL fonts from Users/myusername/Fonts in to a folder on my desktop. This was about 1500 fonts. But I still had over 200 active fonts in Font Book, some of which were duplicates.

2. I removed all the existing collection names, so I could start over.

2. I opened System/Fonts folder and made a note of what installed with Snow Leopard (OS 10.6). I then created a collection in Font Book named System. so that I knew what fonts HAD to be active.

3. I opened Library/Fonts and made a note of what was there. These had been installed by Adobe (CS3) and Microsoft (OFfice 2008). Microsoft was kind enough to put all theirs in one folder, so it went pretty quickly. I created matching collections named Apps Adobe, and Apps Microsoft, and moved them in to the collections. This took awhile, as they are organized by alpha in Font Book.

4. I disabled all the Microsoft and Adobe fonts. This left me with just the System fonts, which is exactly what I wanted.

I downloaded a demo version of Font Doctor. I let Font Doctor run a check on all the fonts in my System and Library folders. Other than a few duplicates that needed resolving (Microsoft Office installed about 6 fonts that were also in the System folder), the System and Library fonts were clean.

So I knew the problems were mostly in my User fonts. I let Font Doctor do a check on those and wow, lots of issues.

The most common problems:
Duplicates of System fonts (from moving from Jaguar to Panther to Tiger to Snow Leopard)
Missing bitmaps from my PostScript Type 1 collection - - not sure how that happened?!?
Old Classic OS fonts that were no longer compatible
Empty suitcases
Windows True Type fonts with corruption

At least 500 fonts had to be trashed due to the above issues. It was painful to let those PostScript font families go, but the floppy disks they came on are long gone, so I have no way of recovering the bitmap/outlines. And many of them were duplicated by OpenType fonts that have come with software.

And after all that, I still had 1,000 fonts to sort through.

Research shows that people only watch about 5 TV channels, even with thousands of cable channel options. And I probably only actively use about 10 fonts, in spite of the thousands of fonts.

It was time to be ruthless.

Incase Neoprene MacBook Pro sleeves at Target

After the trip to the Apple Store the other day, I thought for sure I was going to have to do some online research, but I was in Target yesterday for the usual and found this beauty on an endcap in Electronics:



The Incase web site shows it in a variety of colors, but mine is more of a medium royal blue than a bright turquoise/cyan. I wonder if the color is a Target exclusive?


(up against my royal blue beatup daily bag - Super Why! swag)

My Target had black and blue for the MacBook Pro 13 but they had pink for the acrylic MacBook 13 and silver for the MBP 15. I can't remember if they had any for the 17" MBP.

I do wish Target had it in this color:


I could still order the gorgeous orange online, but Target had it for $37.99 vs. the MSRP of $39.99 and I didn't have to pay shipping, just our outrageous 8.75% sales tax. And the blue is really lovely.



The lining is a really soft velour-like fabric (even softer than the picture shows), and there is a border across the top that protects the MacBook Pro from the zipper.

The other thing the photos don't show is the nice sheen to the neoprene. It is a slight shine, not matte like those neoprene beer cozies, but not gaudy, either.

My only complaint: Odor. There is a definite chemical smell coming from the neoprene. Every time I open my bag, it knocks me over. I've left it to air out for 3 nights, and its getting better, but still noticeable. I've owned a neoprene sleeve before and I don't remember an odor. Hopefully it goes away soon.

Overall, it has really great construction and design and I don't hesitate to recommend it. Just air it out if you're sensitive to fumes.

Now back to researching a replacement bag - that PBS Kids swag has seen better days and the straps are digging into my shoulder now that I'm carrying a laptop again. The Merona microfiber laptop tote I also picked up at Target is too small for my usual load, so back it goes.

Have Mac, will travel

Last night, I got my first batch of "me" time in 2 months. My plan was to drop by the Apple Store and pick up a sleeve or case for my shiny new toy, then head across the street to Borders for some photo-triaging and digital scrapping.

I was 0-2. The Apple Store didn't have what I was looking for, and Borders was mobbed. Between the teeny-boppers there for some vampire book reading, and the usual crowd of Free Wifi users, I couldn't find a chair in the place.

I spent an hour cruising the book aisles, but it seemed like every book I picked up was depressing - memoirs of child abuse, how were failing a generation of children as parents, a woman who slept with 100 different men in a year, etc. (I know that bad news sells, but I do want to ask the book industry what is up with using pretty book designs for such morbid subjects?!?!)

Tired of the crowd, I went back to the mall and wandered the "new" wing (built in the last two years, but I don't get out much), but felt like I had been dropped in an alien planet. The music was loud, the stores were cluttered and messy, and the mall itself was a bit crowded, although not as bad as Borders. Urban Outfitters looked like a bomb had gone off in it.

And then I went to leave and Best Buy had closed ten minutes early, so I had to walk out the long way to get to my car.

What a waste of free time.

Any suggestions for good places to get a chair and table on a Friday night? That's the only time I can get away. I'll try a different mall/Borders/B&N next time, but a few other suggestions wouldn't hurt. I don't drink coffee or tea, so I feel weird going to Tim Horton's or Dunkin Donuts. Neither are very WW friendly.