Photo Booth?

Patches was laying down on my desk.  I thought it was a good candidate for today’s photo-a-day.  Unfortunately she was sitting on my phone, and my Nikon was not quickly accessible.  What can I do?

Well, I have a webcam on my laptop.  Could I use that?  I did a Spotlight Search for camera and webcam but they didn’t turn up anything useful.  I checked Launchpad to see if there was a camera app of some kind.  That’s when I saw it.

Photo Booth?

Is that still a thing?  I popped it open and sure enough, it’s still a thing.  I angled my lappy to face the cat and BANG, photo acquired.  I opened it up in Photos to clean it up a little and, as always, was a tiny bit saddened by the lack of groovy filters.  I messed around with it a tiny bit and then clicked the export button to see what my options were.  It used to be able to connect to Flickr, but not any more.  I clicked the “more” option at the bottom of the drop down and saw something I never noticed before.

Extensions?  In Photos?  Huh.

There were no options available but I wasn’t ready to let it go so I did something I never do… I went to the Mac App Store.  I searched for Photos Extensions and sure enough a few things came up.  I searched for Photos Filters and much to my surprise a Free app displayed.  I figured I would install it just to use it as a guinea pig for the Photos extensions.  Much to my surprise, it worked!

Now my Flickr Photo-a-Day pic is a Photo Booth snap, edited in Photos, using a third party filter app.  It’s just a day of firsts for me!

253/365 - I took this with Photo Booth because... it was there.

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Worlds Colliding Part 2

This is insanity on a level hereforto never imagined.  Is herforto a word?  No… no it isn’t.

I am back on my MacBook, but now I am using the keyboard from my work PC.  Oh the humanity!  I have the MacBook, my work PC, my work keyboard, and the USB mouse I use on my normal telecommuting laptop and they are all mixed and matched and both computers are using the same monitor and keyboard and mouse all depending on the pressing of one button and the plugging of one cable.

Goodness gracious me, what have I done?

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RPM Prep Work — I am Such a Nerd

I started some of my annual RPM Challenge prep work. I created a new soundcloud account to use for listening to works in progress on my various mobile devices. Also, I created a new trello board to keep track of the progress of each new idea. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

I still have to do some test work with my new MacBook Pro. I’ve used GarageBand on it, but I haven’t recorded any live audio. I have to make sure my Lexicon audio interface will play nicely with the USB 3 connections via an adapter. I don’t expect any issues, but who knows. If I can’t get audio into the computer then it will be another iPad based project. Of course, Apple went and updated GarageBand for iOS yesterday. Couldn’t they have waited until March so I wouldn’t have to waste time learning any new features? How inconsiderate of them, eh?

Then I have to set up my amp and my pedal board and my mics so that when the urge hits I can just plug in the lappy, switch on the amp, and play whatever needs to be played.

The January prep work always makes me feel like a super nerd, but I don’t care. It’s fun… in a super nerdy way.

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Apple Awesome!

Kneel before the awesome power of my brand spanking new MacBook Pro!


I am still waiting for my old MacBook Pro to back up. Not sure why it’s taking Time Machine multiple days to finish, but what can you do. I set the new puppy up, fully intending to wipe it and restore from the back up, but I just couldn’t wait!

The touch screen is intersting. My function key fears were assuaged by the little fn key on the lower left of the keyboard. Right now as I type this, the touch pad is offering suggested text. Ummm… that’s getting turned off right quick!

The keyboard is totally different than my 2013 model. I’m not sure I like it, but I know I’ll get used to it. The fingerprint scanner is awesome. The only downside to all of these features is that more often than not I use my MacBook in clamshell mode with an external monitor. Maybe some day Apple will release a USB keyboard with the touch pad strip. We’ll see.

For now though, what is my first impression? Laptop Love!

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