Fun Photo Stamps

Make postage stamps from your own photos!

Using Stamps.com software you can create and print any kind of postage with an image of your very own, right from your computer. How Cool is That!?

Digital Photography Tips

I like to edit my digital images on the computer - my digital darkroom - to fix color temperature and lighting problems. I am passionate about not using my flash unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, so I often have photos that need special corrections on the computer!

I got passionate about NOT using the flash after reading a few books by Nick Kelsh (he's my hero!) His books have inspired me to become a much better amateur (in my humble opinion) photographer. Some of his best books are:

• How to Photograph your Life
• How to Photograph your Baby
• How to Photograph your Family
  

Anyway, I've noticed that some of my "corrections" that look great on screen don't look so good when I get the finished prints back from Snapfish (my favorite online photo-processor).

So I am looking into getting a ColorVision Spyder2 (color monitor calibration) It comes with a tool that you hook up to your monitor so it can "teach" your monitor how to display colors correctly to give you more of a "what you see it what you get" experience.

Kent Falls, Kent CT

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Originally uploaded by AskJoanne.

Is there anything more green than New England in May? This is Kent Falls after two weeks of rain almost every day.

What's for Supper?™

The three greatest things about the What's for Supper?™ program at Loree's Kitchen in Bethel Connecticut are that Loree's does the:

• shopping
• chopping
• mopping

You just order ahead what delicious entreés you want and

• show up with a cooler and a few ice packs
• assemble your meals - add or remove spices to your own tastes
  
• pack your entreés and bring them home for your freezer.

Scrumptious dinners whenever you need them, just add bread or a side dish and a salad and you're good to go.

I just went there today with my girlfriend Lori (not Loree) and now we both have freezers filled with yummy dinners ready to heat and eat.

Avatar® Course Success

Doing the Avatar Course changed my life in the most profound ways.

I have never been able to look at my existence with the same eyes since. My viewpoint is wider and broader. I am able to look at my life experiences with a detachment that I never before had. I have been able to transform my unhappy, un-fulfilled life into the life I am leading today - which is a perfect fit for me.

To read about other Avatar Course Successes, visit: http://www.avatarepc.com/html/acsuccess.html

To find an Avatar Master, visit: http://www.avatarepc.com/html/localmaster.html

The Avatar Masters that I know are the most compassionate, kind and REAL human beings I have ever met....

• Linda Houser - who first inspired me to do the course
  
• Karen Ryder - who showed me that I can "Mind the Edges" of my most intense emotions
• Shakti and Dev Kirn Khalsa - who helped me step out of the box I built for myself into the wide open space of being the creator of my life.
  
• And so many others that I couldn't possibly list them all here.

The Original Bewitched on DVD

I'm a Bewitched fan. Samantha Stephens, aka Elizabeth Montgomery, was my childhood hero.

Imagine being able to twitch your nose and clean the entire house. Or snap your fingers and have lunch in Paris. Really, how good is THAT?

So, while cruising the net today, I discovered that they are now selling the entire first three seasons of Bewitched on DVD.

• Bewitched - the first season
• Bewitched - the second season
• Bewitched - the third season

They're on my wish list at Amazon. Somehow watching re-runs of Bewitched on TV feels like comfort food for my brain.

Route 132 Connecticut

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Originally uploaded by AskJoanne.

A beautiful route for a motorcycle ride on a sunny spring day. The views from the tops of the hills are simply breathtaking.

Flickr Fun!

I had heard of it before, but just recently discovered the fun of exploring Flickr a photo posting and sharing website.

You can post your own photos there to share with family and friends. What I like to do it just look at all the really incredible photographs people are taking! The photo above is by "BC Anna"

And another really neat tool is Flckr Lilli that lets you search for images on Flickr that can be used commercially.

Have you discovered del.icio.us?

http://del.icio.us/

Is a website filled with favorites, organized by tags.

You can tag your own favorities there and keep them organized, but the most fun is going to del.icio.us and finding what OTHER people are tagging. I discovered a lot of very cool software tools, photography sites, research resources and silly games by looking through the del.icio.us tags directory.

Check it out.

Jo's Notes on Music

Have you heard of www.Pandora.com? It's the coolest thing to hit streaming radio that I've ever seen.

You type in an artist or song you like and the "music genome project" serves up songs that fit the "style" of the artist or song you entered. You can guide Pandora by telling it what songs you like and which you don't.

I love it!!