Big photo help (mostly for myself)

The last two Digital Savant columns that ran in the paper have been how-to columns where I’ve been trying to help myself as much as I’m trying to guide readers.

Over the last couple of years, I’ve managed to get a few of my little organizational projects off the grounds. I scanned in every business card I ever got and turned those into digital address book contacts. I started (and am still working on) digitizing some stray VHS tapes that have stuff on them I’d actually want to keep.

But with photos, I’m still a bit a of a mess. I back up everything to a very reliable Drobo drive enclosure (it holds multiple hard drives and if one dies, which has never happened, you can just swap the bad one out and your data’s still safe). I’ve put the most important photos of ours online in a few strategic places. But I still haven’t done a full backup to somewhere off-site or online of the photos, videos and documents we can’t afford to lose. And we still have photos scattered across two computers, two phones, optical discs and other places. So it’s a work in progress.

That doesn’t mean I can’t advise others to do better! In part one of the how-to, we talk about how to sort and organize photos and, with the help of a professional archivist, we talk in part two about ways to store and protect your photos and videos so they stand the test of time.

Would I pass that test? Not yet, but I’m working on it!

The other new Digital Savant things of note are Micro features defining what’s an SSD (“Hey, what’s SSD with YOU?”) and the definition of “IRL,” a good suggestion from my co-worker Addie Broyles.

The SSD in particular has been on my mind because I’ve been thinking about upgrading my laptop with one of those for the BLAZING SPEEDS. But they’re pricey. I almost pulled the trigger in a 480 GB drive for $360 (which sounds expensive until you see what these things normally cost at that size), but hesitated too long and lost the deal. Plus, I was thinking that I didn’t really feel like opening up my computer and fiddlin’ around with that right now, although truth be told, I want desperately to be upgrading. I recently bought a Neat scanner (which arrived DOA and is being replaced), upgraded our home router on a whim and am in general doing little upgrades here and there, perhaps as much out of restlessness than out of a genuine need to incrementally improve our little home office.

Summer is flying by, but this year I’m weirdly OK with it. No, I haven’t gone toobin’ yet and I’ve only been to Schlitterbahn a few times, but I’ve spent a lot more time with the girls recently than I had earlier in the year and we’ve gotten to see more movies and done more relaxing stuff than our schedule usually allows, so it’s all cool in my book.

We’re taking a trip to New York soon and then another trip to the beach, so I feel like there’s plenty to look forward to even if it’s not involving getting soaked here in town.

Oh, and Carolina ate a lot of sushi the other day and that made me really happy. My 2-year-old is the opposite of a picky eater. She’s absolutely indiscriminate about what she eats, something I hope lasts for at least another year or two. At this point, if she orders lobster off the menu with a side of caviar, I’m inclined to just give it to her and grin.