Holistic-Personal-Development.com

No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the planet. Life has been pulling at me from many directions. Between the election, major home renovations, taking Photoshop CS3 courses, preparing for a photo exhibit, plus travel and website design work, I have been busy.

Today I finished up a website for a wonderful company here in the Myrtle Beach area, LHT Cooling, Heating & Refrigeration, Inc. They were also part of the home renovation work I mentioned earlier, as they put into our house a new top of the line Carrier Infinity Heat Pump, and last week I had to call them back for a new hot water heater. When the owner of LHT, Joe Cornett, found out I did website design work, he asked me to create a new site for LHT. It’s great when you get business when you give business. And if you live in the Myrtle Beach area, take it from me, their service is fantastic — way beyond expectations.

I also am working on a site for the artist, David Barison. I recently bought three of his paintings, and now I get to help establish his presence on the Internet. I still have additions to make on his site. Fabulous artist.

I mentioned Photoshop CS3 courses. Some of you may be familiar with Lynda.com. It is a site that offers thousands of software courses on their site, all in streaming video, all in great depth. It is phenomenal what they offer. I purchased a one-year premium membership that entitles me to take as many courses as I have time to take as well as download exercise files so I can follow along with the instructors. If you’re like me, sometimes you can get overwhelmed trying to learn the ins and outs of a piece of software. For me, the learning curves have just become much, much easier.

I remember how it was for me when I was a student at the University of Cincinnati. I was a terrible note taker at lectures. But now, I can play a whole video or a section of a video over and over, until I really have it mastered. And the depth of the subject matter is way beyond expectations. Just in Photoshop, I have taken (and absorbed) over 30 hours of classes via streaming video. And I still have another 30 hours of courses to go. I think of it as giving my brain a major upgrade in creative potential.

Regarding photography, I have been doing a lot of shooting with a Nikon D80. It’s a digital SLR with 10.2 megapixels. And now, thanks to the Photoshop course I have been taking, I have learned how to stitch together numerous detailed photographs of a single subject and create one fabulously large and seamless image. In essence, it enables my 10.2 megapixel camera to create images with the size and sharpness that I thought only a 50 megapixel camera could take. And since I can’t afford the $30,000 that a 50 megapixel camera would cost, I am a happy photographer.

I guess it just proves that continuing education beyond college doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, but it can save you a lot. It’s like the saying my old late friend Rocky Rodgers shared with me years ago: “Education is what you get when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get when you don’t.”