Events/Art

Digital Art Gallery Opening - Palm Springs Area

It seems I know more and more people who regularly visit the Palm Springs area, so I thought I would pass on the following press release.

My sister, Denise, is opening a new art gallery in Palm Desert, dedicated to digitally created art. The grand opening is this coming Friday. If you happen to be in the area, please stop by!

From the press release...

COMPUTER COMPANY REVEALS SECRETS OF DIGITAL ART AT GRAND OPENING

Digital Art is a subject foreign to most Americans; it requires explanation. Computerworks Art Gallery will explain the secrets and techniques of digital art through Live Demonstrations when they open the only Digital Art Gallery in the Coachella Valley Friday, February 7th from 6-9pm.

To most digital art presents itself as consumer merchandise-like posters. Fine digital art is different; it derives itself from the same aesthetic impulses that produce fine paintings, sculpture and architecture. There is no basic difference between fine art and fine digital art, only the tools used.

Profound appreciation of any art work requires time, thought and a developed taste. The aim of the Computerworks Art Gallery is to assist with that cultivation by offering a wide variety of magnificent images throughout the world and by examining the explicit and implicit dimensions of digitally created pieces through Live Gallery Demonstrations at their Grand Opening Friday, February 7th from 6-9pm. Food and Drinks will be served. The Gallery is located at 41-701 Corporate Way Suite #6 in Palm Desert next to The Art Place.

Come be the first to witness this revolutionary event.

Computers/Macintosh

Apple iMovie/iPhoto Updates

Apple released two, huge updates today for it's iLife series of programs, iMovie, for video editing and iPhoto, for managing your digital photos. Both updates are available by running Software Update. This is available in your System Preferences under Mac OS X.

While it is great to see regular updates of these programs, the files are exceedingly large and almost require a broadband connection to the Internet, if you expect to download them in a reasonable amount of time.

(For more on the topic of the need for broadband Internet connection, see my column, Moving to Broadband)

iMovie 3.0.1 weighs in at a hefty 84.5 megabytes (MB) and iPhoto at 33.3 MB.

A detailed report of the new features and fixes these versions provide is available here.

Career Column

Career-Op: Long Memories
by Douglas E. Welch, ComputorEdge Magazine

Regardless of where you pursue your high-tech career, there are a number of pitfalls that can make your work more difficult and your career less secure. One of the most common of these pitfalls happens to be unreliable technology systems and the effect they have on your clients. Computer users have long memories, especially when it comes to technology that fails regularly and with sometimes damaging results. Even worse, they will remember, and often refuse to use, systems in the future, based on these bad first impressions.

(Continued)

What I'm Reading...

Organizing from the Inside Out

CD | Audio Tape

I am listening to this book in the car between client visits. So far, there have been quite a few good hints and tricks.

Time Management from the Inside Out

CD | Audio Tape

Benjamin McFadden and the Robot Babysitter.

My son pulled this off the shelf at the library and I found it quick fun. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is timeless, but with a fantasy twist.

Paths and Walkways: Simple Projects, Contemporary Designs

Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution

Writing a Book That Makes a Difference

Country Living Stylish Renovations

Instant Shakespeare: A Proven Technique for Actors, Directors, and Teachers

What Should I Do With My Life?

I just started this book but like it already. Instead of a grand list of questions, answers and recommendations, Po Bronson interviewed hundreds of people and let them tell their own stories about this grand question. I find myself reading one small section at a time and then digesting it for a while. There is so much to be found in these individual stories.

CD | Audio Tape

Paper Illuminated: 15 Projects for Making Handcrafted Luminaria, Lanterns, Screens, Lamp Shades and Window Treatments

Events/Photos

Travel Town Trains

Today was a "Daddy Day", so Joe and I headed out to Travel Town in Griffith Park. Joe always loves to climb on the old steam engines and I always seem to find something new to photograph.

Click on the picture above to see a few more shots from today.

New Wheels, Less Money

We bought a new car over the weekend, a Honda Civic Gas/Electric Hybrid.

We regularly drive to Palm Springs to host our walking tours on the history, architecture and celebrities of the city. I also drive around the wide-ranging County of Los Angeles on my computer coaching. This regularly takes me to the west side of LA and Santa Monica and also out to Malibu. I can easily put several hundred miles per month on our vehicles.

The thought of being able to reduce our gas costs, while also cutting emissions led me to investigate hybrid vehicles. The Civic is probably one of the most "normal looking" of the currently available hybrids. Hybrids use a smaller, more efficient gasoline engine along with an electrical motor. Honda calls it Integrated Motor Assist. Under quick acceleration or hill-climbing, the electric motor engages and assists the gasoline motor. The Civic Hybrid has similar power to its normal, gasoline-only powered cousins.

With a couple of important exceptions, the car drives like a normal automobile. First, there is Auto Stop. When you come to complete stop, say at an intersection or traffic light, the gasoline motor stops completely. When you take your foot off the brake and touch the accelerator, the engine restarts, and you are on your way. Secondly, the Civic has regenerative braking, where the stopping energy generated buy the brakes is used to recharge the motor assist batteries.

The car never needs to be plugged into an outlet and doesn't require the cumbersome and expensive chargers to be installed in your home, or located near your office. The 12 gallon tank yields a theoretical 600 miles at the top MPG rating of 50 miles per gallon. This single-tank distance far surpasses other non-hybrid cars on the road today. City driving reduces the MPG to around 38 and using the air conditioning system full time lowers it farther. There is an economy mode that automatically stops the air conditioning whenever the Auto Stop engages.

Finally, since the Civic Hybrid is an Ultra-low Emission Vehicle (ULEV), the Federal Government is offering a $2000 tax credit. Unfortunately, hybrids can't take advantage of special carpool rules for a unaccompanied driver afforded to fully electric or natural gas-powered vehicles.

After only a week with the new car, I can say we are very pleased. Time will tell how much savings we can gain, but I believe that they will be significant.

Web

Edward S. Curtis' North American Indian at The Library of Congress

The Library of Congress' American Memory program seeks to make major LOC collections available to the public via the Internet. These completely indexed and catalogued collections are a great resource for everyone, from the research scholar to the interest amatuer.

The Curtis collection consists of thousands of photographs of the various tribes of Native Americans. Curtis sought to record the remains of their cultures before they were nearly completed subsumed by contact with Anglo and Spanish explorers.

Events/Art

Portrait Painting Workshop

I have alwayws wanted to attend one of the Getty Workshops, but have never been able to put it together. Call soon for reservations if you are intereted. The classes fill up quickly. -- Douglas

From their web site...

Join instructors Zhenya Gershman and Guy Fish for this two-part, intermediate studio course on the art of portrait painting. Course explores the medium of water-soluble oil paint using traditional painting methods, with attention given to the anatomy and proportion of the face as well as capturing likeness using life models.

Course fee $55; students $40.

To register, call 310/440-7300. Limited to 25 participants;

Reservations available January 25. Museum Studios.

02/09/03 & 2/16/03 -- 1-5 pm

Events/California

California Visitor Guide

You can get your free copies of the 2003 California Visitor's Guide and Travel Planner and California Celebrations, a list of more than 1,200 events by calling 800-862-2543 or online at http://www.visitcalifornia.com