Meet Cleo

This is Sara's newest Best friend Cleo, a 3 year old pug that became a part of our family last weekend. The first week has been full of learning, surprises, and laughter as we become accustom to being pet owners. Cleo is starting to get used to us as we are to her. Sara loves running around with her and giving her treats. One interesting fact that I learned is that you will never be at a loss for pet accessories. Wow, from clothes, to costumes, to toys, to food, there is an endless supply of 'things' out there. I'm sure we will be investing in more this coming up weekend.   *As funny as it might sounds, a toothbrush will be the next purchase. While Cleo might only be 3 years old, her breath is full grown!

Well here is Cleo at her best, looking to get into something.

Enjoy.

Migration

It's funny how you never realize how much stuff you keep on hard drives until it's time to migrate data to a new machine. I recently acquired a new computer, so I am going through the old one to see what data needs to be migrated over, which can be a daunting task. System migrations are good times to take stock of what you have, what is needed, and identifying your clutter. Here are a few tips:

1. Taking a little time to document, electronically and a hard copy, the names and serial numbers of the software loaded on your computer. Going forward this will help to avoid spending time looking for the boxes or CD/DVD cases to find the serial numbers needed. Also, it's the perfect to determine if you still need or will use the software and if there are any dependencies that you need to load with the package.

2. Check the versions and verify they are up to date, the last thing you want to do is load old software and then wait around for the updates to download too. If the software is out of date, look for updated versions while considering the pros and cons of updating and free vs. purchasing an update.

3. Just as you should write out how your website should flow before designing it, the same applies to how you will manage your files. Folder hierarchy, backup plans, and workflows should be written out and followed to avoid clutter and non-efficient structure. This will give you a process to follow when creating new folders in the future, which will speed up your workflow in the long run. Avoid clicking around for files because you don't remember where you saved that album design last week.


4. Backups - even though I mentioned it in the previous note, your entire backup plan should be analyzed at this point. Do you have a offsite backup solution like backblaze ? If you studio were to flood or catch fire, would you be able to access your files/backups? How long would it take to get them? Where do you store your archival disc onsite? While the disc maybe guaranteed for 50+ years, it has been 7 months, have you tried them recently?

5. Determining the need for a work and a non-work computer. It is possible to get a switch that will allow you to toggle between the old and new computer [MAC or PC]. This will help keep the new machine free of sharing the music and/or movie files that can eat away at your precious space. *You can always plug your speakers into the old computer and listen to music while working on the new computer - switching back and forth really only takes 3 seconds.

Just a few things to think about that may help make your future computing (editing, uploading, designing, and jamming out in your PJ's ) more efficient.

Ja mata,
Brian

Returned

We are back from Mexico with a lot of images to show. Here is one to start off the series of 'Around Mexico'.

We already cannot wait to go back...