Slow Times
- May 12, 2003
- 3 comments
Things have been kind of slow around here. Not much work is coming in, so I’ve got more free time than normal. Sometimes it’s nice, but when I look at my bank accounts, it’s not nice.
I’ve been using the free time to learn as much as I can about Linux, X11 and open source software, as you’ve obviously noted by my last few posts. I’m wanting to get more into Linux/Unix so I can be comfortable with setting up or managing a Web server. Also, if times stay hard and I’m just scraping by, I won’t have the money to buy more expensive software. If I’m familiar with it, then I can easily install all the great open source stuff out there. For just about every application I use for work, there is an open source equivalent. For BBEdit, there’s Bluefish. For Transmit, GFTP. For Safari, Galeon or Mozilla. For OmniGraffle, Dia. For Photoshop, the GIMP. For Microsoft Office, there’s OpenOffice. The only things missing are alternatives for InDesign, Acrobat and Illustrator.
I’ve set up a small section on the right column of my home page that shows the latest screenshots of both my iMac with OS X and my PowerBook with Linux. I don’t know if that will be amazingly interesting to anyone, but I thought I’d put it there anyway.
Russ
May 18, 2003
Getting into video was not what I saw myself doing as recently as 3 years ago. I didn’t even own a video camera. Getting into it was more or less, one of those supportive dares from my wife, in response to off the walll comments I would make at things I saw. “Oh, that’s easy, I can do that” type of comments somehow made her believe I was actually serious.
November 2000, I lost my job, and her first response was, “Now you can start that video business you’ve been talking about.” and “You have no business working for other people anyway.”
I guess from there, the rest is history. I am mostly involved in the modeling industry, but am starting to branch out into hunting and fishing work as well. I also do DVD consultation for local production companies that are wanting to branch out into DVD.
I never went to school beyond the high school, so it is kind of a thrill for me when I walk into some producer’s office and I am given “guru” status for whatever information they need, and in the mean time, I am looking over the degrees they have on their walls.
Now that prices are falling rapidly on photo quality digital cameras, and I can easily generate an income from my photo work, I am starting to get back into photography after recently purchasing a Fuji S2 Pro camera. It is built around a Nikon body, so I didn’t throw out your Uncle George’s advice that he gave me about Nikon cameras more than 20 years ago.
Slow times? I know it’s slow for alot of people out there, but I haven’t had a break in so long from my internet ventures, that I was in to see the doctor last week for tension headaches. On the up side, it keeps the bank accounts full, and all the top of the line cameras and computers I buy pay for themselves rather quickly.
I am envious of those who have the time (and the skill) to learn how to manage servers. I looked into it a few months ago, and decided that it wasn’t for me. Good luck with it Chris, you seem to be a very determined and resourceful person.