How many do you have?

Ok, so I've been trying to organize my computer(s). I have variously related files spread all over our home network and this week its time to bring them all together. Like the bearer of the "one ring to rule them all" I chose a computer of outstanding integrity and strength to manage the seemingly unmanageable. The iMac. Or, as Sara calls it, the "Bubble Mac" (it's the pedestal iMac and it's awesome - though its base does look like a big bubble).

First, the pictures...

Having a digital camera means having the ability to take as many pictures as you want...even if they are all of the same thing. It also means running out of card space and having to dump (offload) the pics onto any computer that happens to be nearest you and not broken down. This, of course, is the wrong way to keep track of your pictures. It would be the same as putting the clean silverware into any drawer in the kitchen that happened to be open at the time. This might have worked when I was a bachelor but now that sort of behavior will turn "nice" Sara into "deeply furrowed brow" Sara as fast as you can say, "Where are all the forks?"

So, I began the very tedious process of herding the pics onto one computer. We chose the iMac because: a) iPhoto is easy to use, b) Sara needs access to the pics more than me and the iMac is hers, c) The iMac has never failed...ever, and d) We have an iMac! Once I had copied the "My Pictures" folder from thing2 (we have computers named thing1 through thing4, lappy, bublemac and towermac) onto the bubblemac desktop I began to drag the sub folders in one by one. Mercifully I had previously organized the pictures on thing2 so this was not so much of a chore. Thing1 will be a bit more difficult.

The bubblemac took them all like a champ. iPhoto sorted all my folders and sub-folders into "rolls" with index photos, sorted by date. It even let me know when I had copies of the same picture in multiple folders - which was often.

The whole process took about 4 hours and Sara and I had a grand time seeing some of the pictures that we've forgotten about. So, how many pictures do I have so far? 12,140. Yup. I have managed to take over 12,000 pictures in the 4 years we've had a digital camera.

And there are still 3 more computers to get pictures from.

Oh and here are some of the gems I've uncovered...


Some Cows

My Great cousin Archie at Grandma's 80th birthday/luau

Me wearing my Grandpa's glasses and Grandpa wearing my shades.

Instead of sticking a grocery list on the fridge I just stick the things we're out of (milk cap, coffee filter, last paper towel).