Welcome to the Family, iPad

Yes, I did get an iPad. A free one, in fact. I won't go into the details, but I'm going to make the most of it with drawing and taking notes... and games. Sweet, sweet games.

It feels kind of weird because I already own an iPhone 3GS (and it's going strong!), but I'm looking forward to jotting down my ideas in it, to see if it'll replace my teeny tiny idea sketchbook that I carry around with me.

You know you're old when you see your fellow students in your required undergraduate class all holding tablet computers while you're still taking notes with your pen and paper. :P

Well, not old... but witnessing the dawn of a new era of technology, at least.

I remember the days when anyone with a laptop was a big shot... soon, everyone had a laptop. Then, netbooks where the next big (small) thing... and here we are now with the tablet craze. Is it one that will last? Who knows. One thing's for certain: I am stupidly excited over the mobile pressure-sensitive tablet that WACOM announced will be released sometime in the US Summer. Maybe I can save up for that instead of a Cintiq if it's good enough for high-resolution, professional quality work.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated with the shenanigans I come up with with my new toy, including but not limited to video blogs, maybe? :P Throw me questions you'd like me to answer on-camera and I'll try my best not to be an awkward penguin.

- Mel

Cleanliness and Productivity

I think it's true that having a cleaner environment helps you focus on your work.

Case in point: I finally reformatted my laptop, Lumi, and cleaned her on the surface as well. Even gave the keyboard shield a much needed bath, even if the poor thing has a hole where my pinky's long nail stabbed it by accident. Granted, I should have cleaned her much earlier and at more frequent intervals, and I haven't been the best caretaker since I didn't avail of a case (I thought the aluminum finish was such a waste if I was to hide it in a, frankly, ugly plastic transparent shell), but I've rectified that now.

I cleaned my work tablet today as well, and by tablet, I don't mean those newfangled iPads, I mean my drawing tablet.

But it seemed like such a waste if I was going to put shiny-like-new Lumi back on the dirty desk. I got frustrated that I didn't know where to put all the stuff that was there, too. So... I pretty much cleared it all off and wiped it down with vinegar and olive oil. Seems to have worked, though I still have to decide what to do with the stuff I swiped off. At least my old and ailing work desk looks so shiny now. :)

Ahhhh... perfect place to study, too... though I could do without the pesky mosquitoes. Ah, but speaking of studying... I have a growing pile of schoolwork. ;) Tata for now!

- Mel

Hard Drive Status Update 2

Amazing how much trying to fix electronics affects my blogging :P

I managed to get most of my files off of the hard drive by using Linux, though I had to give up my Games folder as it was taking way too long for all of it to copy. No worries. I can always get them again where I got them in the first place: on the internet. :D Lots of free games I could peruse. :) Besides, I'd been meaning to free up more space by throwing out some files, anyway.

I've made at least 3 back-ups of my most important files and am just waiting for my Mountain Lion OS X Installer finish downloading. Going to reformat my laptop to see if it helps it run any faster. It's been about 3 years and a half since I bought it. :) Wish me luck.

- Mel

External Hard Drive Status

I was able to access my files through Linux (via Parallels Desktop), but then found that when I transferred them to my Mac partition, they were corrupted. It wasn't that big a blow, though, since I've learned to let go of my attachments to files, and thankfully, most of the ones on it weren't that important, or ones that I could re-download.

Only slightly disappointed, I was about to format my external drive, when I noticed something odd: I could still open some of the image files while in Linux. I tested a .pdf file by transferring it to a USB stick, and what do you know: I could still open it!

Encouraged, I'm now trying to transfer the files to my other hard drive. Here's hoping they work! Cross your fingers!

- Mel

Hard Drive Failure

Sorry for the short post today. One of my Western Digital hard drives is refusing to mount on my laptop and it's draining my energy. While I don't think I left anything that important in it (since I kept most everything on my laptop, and another back-up hard drive), it's kind of sad if this one bites the dust. I'm not sure what may still be hiding in it. Here's hoping it revives itself so I can at least peek at what I may be leaving behind.

- Mel