Happy New Year

Yeah, I know it's a little late. That's just me, man. You know that.

So, no sooner did I re-engage in the blogging effort when - zzzzaaaap! - my good friends at Flickr informed me the free ride was over.

This comes at an inconvenient time. 2006 was The Year of Broken Things (whether it was my car, toilet, amp or front tooth) and I am loathe to assume additional debt since most of my damaged goods are still pending repair. Plus, this is January, a month which sees more than its share of financial duress. Firewood. The annual contract with the septic tank guy. Propane. Dog tumors to be surgically excised. Christmas indulgences. New health insurance deductibles to be met.

So, no, Flickr. I don't think so. Nothing personal.

I made alternative arrangements for file storage (image, sound & multimedia) and, for all practical purposes, unlimited bandwidth, which means this is a good time to initiate a long overdue redesign. The process of migrating images and updating the links here at The Carnival, though simple enough, will be a time-intensive pain in the ass. It's enough to make a superstitious person suspect The Universe may be exacting a toll for the neglect I inflicted on this ignoble venture last year.

This is as good a time as any to explain the dearth of guerilla graphics. I finally abandoned my old graphic work horse, the user-friendly MS Image Composer, in favor of the industry standard, the remarkably anti-intuitive Photoshop. Since I'm also learning the entire Adobe CS2 package - and doing it on a Mac - well, let's just say it pays to take the long view. When it comes to software and home improvement skills, I believe in doing things the old-fashioned way - namely, by failing frequently and painfully until proficiency becomes the only possible outcome. Fake it 'til you make it. In a few short years, I'll be an expert.