Mar 27, 2008
posted by Shelley
Today, Adobe releases Photoshop Express for the web.
Ok, so it’s not capable of doing everything you can do in Photoshop crammed into a web browser — don’t expect to be able create layers and do fancy photo masking — but for most of your photos, it offers pretty much all you need to fix ‘em up! Whether you’re adjusting brightness and contrast, exposure, touching up blemishes, or if you just need to crop and rotate your photo — you’ll find Photoshop Express is easy to use and provides stunning results. The easy slider and thumbnails give you an instant preview of your image at various settings, and you can even undo what you don’t like.
Everyone gets their own URL at photoshop.com to use Photoship Express … and get this! You can edit photos from Photobucket, Facebook and Picasa!
No, it’s not a Photoshop replacement, but it is well-designed and slick. It’s perfect for the blogger with a digital camera that doesn’t have time for Photoshop’s learning curve, but still needs a photo-editing application.
One more thing — you can even share your photos as a slideshow with your friends! Adobe allows up to 2G of space for you to use on their dime. You can even set-up your gallery any way you want! So you’ve got to check out Photoshop Express, and then, make sure you let me know what you think!
Mar 27, 2008
I’m telling you guys — somebody has been here…
Mar 26, 2008
posted by Shelley
Do you ever feel like life consists of nothing more than trying to make amends for less than perfect decisions? Or maybe your decision was good at the time you made it — but somehow, it just isn’t turning out the way you expected that it would — and now you’re stuck trying to “fix it.” Or maybe there’s someone close to you that made a decision that you’re stuck with. How do you know?
Have you ever questioned whether you’ve chosen the right path for your life? Whether relationally, professionally, financially, etc., how do you know when you’ve made the right decision(s)? There are so many things we could do with our lives, so many places we could go/live, so many people we could choose to spend our lives with, a virtually unlimited number of careers we could choose… How do you know when you’ve found your purpose and you’re doing what you’ve been called in your heart to do?
I’m curious how others answer the question of ‘how do you know?’ Are you living the life you thought you would? A life you’re passionate about? How do you know?
Mar 26, 2008
Posted by Perry
I read an article recently about a guy who was managing a play. He described how he had to be a ‘drill sergeant’ with his staff because of his relative youth and his drive to have the play succeed. He talked about how hard he was on them, and as a result, how little they contacted him whenever a problem arose because they knew he was always available – he was wrong.
This is not just my opinion, but my own personal experience talking. His staff didn’t contact him not because they knew they could, but because they didn’t want to deal with him. There is a simple fact in life and in business – no one wants to work for a dictator.
There are very driven people out there who really care about their job and how they are perceived by fellow employees – there are also people who have to have total control in their lives and careers and these are the people I’m talking about. You know them well – the ones who are constantly grumpy and talk down to you as if even the most mundane tasks are beyond your comprehension. They are perpetually stuck in the ‘I’m smarter than everyone else’ mode and no matter how good of a job you do – you can’t please them.
I’m sure this gentleman had the very best intentions insofar as the success of his play and his staff – but if I were to meet this man I would ask him this: “Do you seriously think that your staff performed brilliantly because you rode them hard, or could it be that they were just very good at what they do?”
A bit of advice here to all those ‘hard asses’ out there – being an Ogre in the workplace is counterproductive! Your staff will quickly grow weary of you, as well will your guests. Higher up management will eventually notice how you interact with employees – and they remember. The secret to being a great leader is not how loud you can yell or how hard you can be on someone – but how well you put the right people in place with the right tools to succeed.
So to this guy I say this – lighten up a bit and ease off. Your people know their jobs, just let them do it.
Mar 25, 2008
posted by Shelley
You may solely be responsible for a child who starves in Africa! Don’t believe it? You should…
My Mom always used the line about starving kids to try and make my brother and I eat stuff we thought was better left for the dog. I don’t remember that it ever worked, but it’s something that stuck in my head through all these years. How does that relate to the title of this post, ‘They Want 100 Miles?” Don’t let me lose you…keep reading.
Those starving kids rely on donations of food that we won’t eat (to hear my Mother tell it), and I’ve found that one person or a single experience can burn others to the point they don’t want to do anything for nothing, or give anything away for free ever again. You give some people an inch and they want 100 miles!
You’ve figured out by now that I’ve had an unpleasant experience, and all I will share is that it involved being asked to lend assistance to a very worthwhile organization. I can think of a million things that could’ve went differently that would’ve prevented this sour taste in my mouth — and resulted in a much better outcome for those who could really use the assistance, but I’m going to touch on just two.
If you ask someone for assistance and they agree to help, treat it like a gift.
You wouldn’t (and absolutely shouldn’t) receive a gift and immediately say, “Thank you. Can I have another?” That’s rude. While it doesn’t hurt to make a request if you’ve not already been given limitations, please don’t cross the line once the boundaries for the offering have been drawn. That’s rude too.
Let the person who is offering you the gift give it to you in the manner THEY choose.
If your best friend bought you a new car and said you needed to ride with them to pick it up, would you say, “No, I prefer that you pick up the new car and park it in my driveway”? Of course you wouldn’t. Some would…here’s how it went:
Me: My schedule doesn’t permit another phone conversation this week. Please email me an outline of your expectations, and then I’ll let you know what I can offer in the way of help.
What I Wanted to Say: I’ve spoken with you on the phone once already. You didn’t follow my instructions and called back. I told you I would honor your request, but I don’t have time to be your marketing director. Don’t sit around all day and think up what others can do for you and waste their time talking about it over and over on the phone. And don’t expect me to drive 100 miles to talk some more. Just tell me what I can do and let me DO IT!
Them: No, I don’t think email correspondence is practical.
Now seriously — do I care what they think? It’s what I wanted — and I’m offering my time for a service they need and requested! It’s no longer one mile…it’s 97 miles to go and “talk” about what I can give them. So now, I wish that I’d have never offered my help in the first place! It’s costing me more and more time (which is money) just to jump through hoops that I wouldn’t have in front of me if I would’ve just said, “NO!”
In protest, I left my uneaten veggies on the plate tonight. I don’t care if I ever do anything for free or give anything away ever again — and why? Because one person that should’ve been more considerate simply wasn’t. They should’ve listened. They should’ve treated my offering as a gift, and let me give it in the manner that was easiest for me.
Here’s hoping that you’ve never been the catalyst for someone else like me to stop wanting to help others that actually are deserving. After all, there are still starving children in Africa.
