Schonhose

Today I have received my copy of Lightroom v2.0 by mail. Since I choose not to participate in the beta-testing all new features are really new. I’ve spend most of the evening figuring out “what does this button do?” (And yes, that is indeed DeeDee from Dexter’s lab )

It only took about a month to have the new Lightroom in stock for the stores in my country, which is pretty fast considering the normal pace we get stuff from the US. However, with the internet you would have expected a faster update.

Anyway, I’ll just continue to figure out things in the new version (the adjustment brush is amazing!) and the waiting begins for the local stores to carry the Lightroom v2 book by Scott Kelby. It has been on my wishlist for sometime. Currently it is for sale in the US for $39 and I wouldn’t be surprised if they sell it for €39. It never cease to amaze me how this stuff works in real life.

Today one of the other members of the Pixelpost development team contacted me. He has added my photoblog to the “Featured Sites” section on Pixelpost. This was a very nice surprise. It is nice to see my site listed with some of the best Pixelpost sites on the web.

I have to admit, I could have added my site if I wanted to. But I choose not to do this as I feel the section has to be a realistic selection of amazing Photoblogs. It would have lost credibility if all members of the team added their own site and those of their friends.

I know the title has gotten your attention. It is true, I’m addicted. I admit it, I plead guilty on all accounts.

I’m truly addicted to basketball. Just the other day I spend two hours on a court all by myself shooting some hoops. And it felt good. I was amazed to find my shooting in pretty decent condition. Not as good as it used to be but certainly not as bad as I thought. I feared the extensive weightlifting sessions over the last four months might have a negative influence on my shot. It is a little off, but give me a few weeks and I know it is going to be ok.

The funny thing is I just reread the post I made in April about basketball, the one about “reflecting and looking forward“. I still feel the same way.

In that post I mentioned I was determined to get in shape again. Over the last two months I have been running three times a week to get a better condition (turns out it was still more than decent at the last test in June, but it has improved steadily since). I also continued pushing weights and do strengthen exercises for my knees. Over the last 5 years I never have been in better shape at the start of the season.

I just hope all the work will pay off and I will continue get even better in shape. Just two more weeks of three times running a week and then practice will finally start. I probably cut down the running to at least once a week, since practice is two times a week.

I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully the next two weeks pass soon. I’m like a junkie who needs to take a lot of shots.

Over the past year I’ve been compiling a list with several entries about things that either were unclear or annoyed me to death about my photoblog layout. Fixing bugs or adding features took some time but yesterday I finally uploaded the beta version of the layout.

In general it is still the same, it only has evolved into an even better template (thanks for that comment Jay). So what is new?

• Lights out feature: turns all elements to dark except the photo. Can be found in the section Photo details in the Sidebar when looking at a photo
• Tooltips all around. People were having trouble locating things. I hope tooltips popping up will help with this.
• In case the tooltips cannot be found, have a look at the help page (right upper left in the menu). It will explain everything.
• The ratingstuff has moved to a more prominent place. It is more visible now and I hope people will start to rate more this way.
• The archive page now displays navigational elements in the thumbnailview.
• Find out the other stuff…

Once in a while I’ll get some mail asking me where the download of the template is located. I’m truly sorry, but you cannot download the template. It is part of my identity and I put in so much hours that giving it away for free or for a small amount of money just doesn’t feel right.

Thanks for all the kind words through those emails, those are really appreciated.