Cereal 4 Supper » jnanevans

iPhoto vs Blurb

jnanevans — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:00:12 +0000

Instead of getting numerous prints made, I decided, about a year ago, to start making books for each year to document our family.

It’s a great way of decreasing clutter, and the cost is probably about the same after you factor in the price of prints and the album in which to put them.

I had to backtrack a bit, completing 2007, 2008, and 2009 this year. I used iPhoto for the first two and switched to Blurb for 2009.

I just got the 2009 book in the mail today, so I was anxious to see how the two books stacked up against each other (pun intended).

Software Usability

I found both pieces of software relatively easy to use although Blurb did not work very well at all on my PowerBook. It wasn’t until I upgraded to the MacBook Pro that it was usable.

Blurb has A LOT more layout options and flexibility. I especially liked the ability to customize any layout and save it as a template for later use. The page on the right in the bottom book is a custom layout. I switched the middle photo box for a text box.

I should note, however, that iPhoto has a number of pre-determined themes, such as Travel and Family Album, that can be very effective in quickly creating a particular look and feel to a book. iPhoto also has a great map feature where you can insert a map page and then add pin points for places visited. To my knowledge, Blurb does not have anything comparable.

With all of the options comes an extended time to complete the book. I don’t have any firm numbers, but I know it took me considerably longer to compile the Blurb book than it did the iPhoto one–endless tweaking takes time.

Finished Product

Overall, I thought the finished products from the two companies were very comparable. The bindings in both seem strong. The paper quality is very similar, and the covers appear equally sturdy and well constructed.

Since the Blurb book is a bit smaller and I had more pages in it, the gutter was a bit bigger than in the iPhoto books, but the image quality was about the same in both.

I do think on the next Blurb book I will get the full image wrap, so the front cover image is printed directly on the hardcover. The iPhoto book came with both the image wrap and a dust jacket. I like the dust jacket because I put a little summary of the year on the inside flap, but the blank bookcover without the jacket is kinda blah. If anything ever happened to the dust jacket, I don’t have the title or year anywhere else in the book…something to remember for the next one.

Price

Blurb–Hardcover, dust jacket; standard landscape 10 x 8; 80 pages; premium paper; lustre finish

40.95 + 6.99 shipping = 47.94

—————————————-

iPhoto–Hardcover, dust jacket; standard landscape 11 x 8.5; 66 pages

75.53 + 3.78 tax + 7.99 shipping = 87.30

Summary

With a significant difference in price, yet a similar quality, I will be going with Blurb for the 2010 Family Album.

Izzy’s First Chemo Treatment

jnanevans — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:14:42 +0000

Izzy had her first chemo treatment today. She had injections of Carboplatin. You would never know she was sick. So far no side effects, and she seems like her usual self. Now that all of that is out of the way until the next round three weeks from now, we can get her groomed. She is looking rather scraggly and will be cooler with a shorter hair cut.

Sick Dog Gets Medicine

jnanevans — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:26:51 +0000

Well, Izzy started on her cancer regimen today.

She will be taking Cyclophosphamide on alternating days with Piroxicam. Once every three weeks, she will go in for an IV of some chemo agent. I hope she doesn’t get too sick.

Isn’t it weird how sometimes you don’t notice things until you have a reason to do so. I’ve gotten my haircut at the same place for the past fifteen years. Next to the salon is a business called the Wellness Pharmacy. That’s where I picked up Izzy’s meds.

It is a pharmacy that specializes in making drugs that are not readily available at a commercial pharmacy. I never knew such a place existed. For instance, where else can you get beef-flavored cancer drugs for dogs? They also do things like make capsule medicine into liquid for children or those who have difficulty swallowing or make drugs without common allergen components, such as gluten.

What an amazing way to really make a difference in someone’s life!

Sick Dog

jnanevans — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:54:45 +0000

Hard to believe this beautiful, little creature is sick with cancer. I met with the vet this evening, and the prognosis is not good. She has breast cancer that has spread to her lungs. She doesn’t exhibit any signs of illness except for the lump on her belly, so we opted to try a round of chemotherapy.

She will get two different oral medicines on alternating days and then a round of chemo via IV every three weeks. Hard to know if this is the right thing to do.

Heartbroken.

GF Betty Crocker

jnanevans — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:57:50 +0000

Imagine my surprise when I spotted this box of Gluten Free Betty Crocker cake mix in my small town grocery store. I’d seen the BC GF products on Amazon, but really didn’t want to buy the four-box package in case it turned out disgusting

I whipped up some cupcakes and was pleasantly surprised with the results. It was exactly what you would expect of Betty Crocker–few ingredients, easy-to-understand instructions, reliable and tasty. The cupcakes weren’t gritty, which you can get in some GF baking. The tops got a little bit soggy by the second day (I did not frost them), so then I just used them as a bottom for strawberry shortcake.

**Photo modified with Poster Edges filter.

Sunset Study

jnanevans — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:25:10 +0000

Trying out the settings on the new camera makes it really clear what a difference an adjustment here or there can make. These photos were taken within seven minutes of each other. Which one do you like best?

Scene Capture: Night

Scene Capture: Nostalgic

Scene Capture: Sunset

Color Accent Sample

jnanevans — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:36:09 +0000

The three b&w ones were taken using the color accent feature on the camera.

Picnik Collage Sample

jnanevans — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:07:12 +0000

Sad Bean Plants and a Photo Test

jnanevans — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 02:11:04 +0000

I came home from training this evening and found the bean plants in a sad state. Despite watering, they look terrible. Are the pots too small? If you look closely you can see the tiny bean pods hanging down.

The photo on the left was taken in Auto. The photo on the right was taken in Scene mode set to Foliage.

Update on 2010 Tasks

jnanevans — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:11:57 +0000

In January, I made a list of things that I wanted to accomplish in 2010.

I just marked #4 off, reaching my goal of posting forty blog posts.

7 done, 9 to go. With half of the year left, I better get a move on. Here is what is left:

Exercise at least once a week
Sew the couch cushion cover for the sun room
Sew sun room curtains
Finish the photo books for 2007 , 2008, and 2009 (April and July 2010)
Finish FH’s baby book
Finish cross stitch for niece
Paint entryway wall (July 25, 2010)
Get will made
Organize the office/files (Feb. 2010) W and I made some progress on this. We got rid of a lot of paper and got a new shelf. Still some more work to do before I can cross this one off though.