Yesterday, my mom and a friend of hers came down for a little workshop in video editing and DVD production. It's all being driven by my dad starting to produce videos on how to paint the fish replica product line he produces. The videos will cover how to airbrush the fiberglass blanks, in detail.

They had done one prototype, but weren't happy with the quality and had asked me to give them a hand with the equipment, software, etc. So, a month or so ago, I gave them a shopping list of books, software and the camera to get them started. Yesterday's workshop was a hands-on look at that stuff.

Anyway, they came down with a PC and their new 3 CCD DV cam and a bit of test footage. We installed Premiere Elements 2.0 ($55 after rebate) and set to work.

I have to say I was impressed with Premiere Elements. I had used the regular version of Premiere the last time I messed much with video, which is why I had her buy that for this project. I knew that Adobe generally keeps the same interface conventions when they do an "Elements" version of something and it would be relative easy for me to latch on to.

That was the case here. It didn't take long for us to have captured video, titles, credits, transitions, music, etc. all integrated and DVD's with menus produced. Their "final project" only took 30 minutes to produce a 10 minute video with all of those elements in it.

If you're looking to do basic DVD production, I'd definitely give Adobe PE a look. I know I'm going to be using it to do custom DVD's for the home theater.

Photo: Bee Sparkle

Day 3. The rain continues its oppresive occupation of the entire region. It has become relentless in its attempts to permeate everything. Mushrooms are sprouting in the back yard and may provide our only nourishment should the eternal blocking of the sun continue long enough to stop normal food production. Many in the neighborhood have left, seeking daylight after hearing tales of regions to the west and south that are exposed to the sun.

However, I, because of a deep hatred of hot weather, remain. I have pinned my hopes on the predictions of the meteorological prophets: an end to the rain and a return of partly cloudy within days. And yet, the grumblings about the prophets and their failed predictions from the past still linger.

I shall continue to write in this place until the water overtakes my electrical supply.

Photo: Andrew Semansco

Yesterday was my last day onsite working at Target. I start at Meritide on Monday, meaning that as of this morning, I'm technically unemployed. I celebrated the occasion like a good American: Shelly and I went to the outlet mall and spent money.

We headed up to the Albertville complex of stores, which has turned an empty set of farm fields into a mammoth retail beehive over the last 10 years or so. Since it was a weekday, it wasn't nearly as insane as it is on the weekends.

Our trip consisted of what it usually ends up as: Shelly going into all of the shoe stores and me going into all of the kitchen stores and the one big and tall store. It starts out with both of us going into both, and by the time we start getting tired, we start waiting outside of the respective uninteresting stores.

I did come home with a couple of new shirts and a pair of shoes to match the change in dress code. I also picked up a new chef's knife, lemon zester and a bunch of sauces and spices.

After returning, I hacked on a project for a few hours while watching some TV. All in all a decent Thursday.

A while back, when I was looking for graphics tools to do animation as well as visualizing my new aquarium stand, etc., I ran across SketchUp, which looked great. It was a 3D tool for building models and rendering them with shadows, etc. For things like architecture, it looked like a great tool. I got all excited until I saw the price tag: $500.

Then, a few weeks ago, Google announced that they bought the company that makes it. I sat in anticipation for what they were going to do with it until this morning, when I ran across a link pointing to the new free version of the tool. They stripped out some of the "pro" functionality like exporting, etc., but overall, the bits that would be fun to learn and play with are still there.

Check out Google Sketchup

I was buying a downloadable background music track for a project and nearly choked on my tea when I saw the fees they want if you happen to also want a CD sent to you via FedEx. $20 for a shipped CD via postal mail is price gouging enough, but switch from postal mail to FedEx and you get to pay . . . $78 for a 60 second track on a single disc. When did FedEx add "FedEx Limo" to ground and second day air?