What to do with photos?

I realized I had multiple copies of some photos on my phone. That’s what started this adventure. Well, maybe I should say restarted. Back in time before phones were as smart as they are, I decided to digitize all our photos. I had to use a scanner though. Phones are much faster.

Decisions to be made include:

• where to keep the digitized photos for perpetuity. I’ve already got pix in several places. Too hard to find and not good for sharing. I mainly used photobucket before. I don’t think I’ll keep it because it’s not easy to maneuver.
• what editing app to use ( I almost typed software here. How yesterday. 😉 )
• how to organize the photos.
• which ones to keep. I’m trying to approach this like weeding books, but I’m finding it to be much more difficult.

I’ve tried a couple of apps on my phone.

• Heirloom – not bad. It allows you to keep your photos in albums as well as to share them. Lacks an editing component, and it’s kind of clunky.
• Camera+ – this was more what I was looking for. You snap the pix of the pix and edit right there. Much easier to save to the camera roll than Heirloom.
• Aviary – this one is on the computer (although there is also a version for the phone) and I haven’t used it yet.

I’ve spent days reading all the best organizing advice. The one I like to most is to make a folder for each year and then put folders in that folder for events, or just number the photos in chronological order. The issue comes with those photos that you have no idea of time. I’m going to make some folders with just names and then see if I can narrow it down.

A couple of pix from my Mama & Papa Raper box.

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Chinese vs. Western Mothers

via Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior – WSJ.com.

Article is by Amy Chua, author and Prof at Yale Law School. I’ve got mixed emotions on this piece. She is using the term Chinese Mothers as a catch-all for VERY strict parenting. Thing is, I thoroughly believe she’s right about how western society so protects children’s self esteems that they barely know how to reach any goals. As a society we’ve crippled them. I see it at school all the time. Kids get bent out of shape because I ask them to sit in their chairs correctly or come to class with supplies and then use them. I totally agree with the struggle of leaning new skills. No, they aren’t fun in the beginning. The fun does come after the struggle when the accomplishment is clear. Western kids in general don’t know that feeling. They are allowed to give up when things are not easy anymore – not even anywhere near when they become hard. Success comes with hard work. Some successes take even more work. Children have too many choices.

But she is hard. She mentions that the first hour of practice is not the hard one, it’s the second and third hours. There are no sleep-overs, no plays, no computer games. She was called garbage and she calls her children garbage. It didn’t hurt her, it won’t hurt them. There’s more, much more.

I want to believe that there is some middle ground here. Western society has decided to cave to the whims of children who are untrained and don’t know what they want in any case. They are terribly undisciplined. They get to set their own hours and decide things like where the family eats on a regular basis. This is certainly not healthy.  But, would not an hour and half of practice be sufficient? Is it not better to say, “That’s inappropriate. Don’t let it happen again.” or “I’m disappointed in this grade. I know you didn’t study hard enough.” I think there lies somewhere between these two extremes something that will benefit children and society.

Father’s Day Book Drawing

I’ve got four copies of The Father Connection (1996) by Josh McDowell to give away to four lucky winners!

So, let’s make it easy – just make a comment (or write a story!) about what’s wonderful, challenging, or even surprising about being a dad. OR you can write about your dad. I’ll have the drawing on Sunday, June 6.

Also, if you don’t mind helping me get the word out through your blog, I’ll put your name in the hat twice.

Limited to U.S. mailing addresses . . .

Brandon is Home

and we had to take the boy to the doctor first thing! He’s got an ear infection – silly thing!

Bella

I reviewed Bella last year. Touching movie.

This is from BreakPoint about Bella being used in prisons with some heartwarming results:

Since the movie won the People’s Choice Award in 2007 at the Toronto Film Festival, and was released later that year, efforts have been underway to get the movie into all crisis pregnancy centers across America. But according to an article in the National Catholic Register, new efforts are underway to get this life-changing film into prisons across America. The cook, Jose, is a great example of a man whose life has been devastated by a mistake, but who has used that mistake to turn his life around and do something redemptive with the days he has left. I think this film could have just as big an impact in the prison community as it has in the community of crisis care, where initial reports say that over 100 people have contacted the Bella production company to say that they decided to keep their baby as a result of seeing the film.

Joe is back in the emergency room!

*sigh*

Prayers please

Our youngest son had an emergency appendectomy in the middle of the night. No word yet on how he is.

Let’s do something about fathers

Commentary: Let’s end disposable marriage

Great piece by Leah Ward Sears – personal reflection about her brother who took his own life with tie-ins to marriage, divorce and fatherhood.

snippet:

Tommy’s loss has catapulted me even farther down a path I was already on. This may sound like heresy, but I believe the United States and a host of Western democracies are engaged in an unintended campaign to diminish the importance of marriage and fatherhood. By refusing to do everything we can to stem the rising rate of divorce and unwed childbearing, our country often isolates fathers (and sometimes mothers) from their children and their families.

Of course, there are occasions when divorce is necessary. And not everyone should marry. But it has become too easy for people to walk away from their families and commitments without a real regard for the gravity of their decision and the consequences for other people, particularly children.

Master Manipulator

Do you know one? Do you have one in your life? Someone that will say and do most anything to get their way, to control the situation, to be on top everytime. Never happy over any event or act. These people are easier to avoid if you only have them as casual acquiantances. If you are related to one or have to work in close contact with one, life can be miserable until you escape . . .

Another snow day

This was a surprise. We were supposed to get snow two nights ago and nothing came.

But yesterday, I’m sitting in the chair at my hairdresser’s and the snow came. Just a few flakes at first and then the bottom fell out for about an hour. I drove home in it. It was beautiful. By the time I got home, it had stopped and didn’t start up again.

High today is under freezing, but I still thought we’d just have a 2-hour delay. Nope, no school today.

The men in my life that live in this house slept a little later so the sun could start to rise. I was up really early for my phone call on how to change the webpage. That is a wonderful time – a house with sleeping people in it and you listening to the quietness.