April 29, 2025

It's Time For Affinity Manager

Since refocusing on Adobe Bridge to manage photos on my laptop, I've been trying to choose a good image processor to go with it. At first, I thought Photoshop Elements was best, but now I'm favoring Affinity Photo. I noticed two things: it could use a digital asset manager of its own, and the Affinity company (Serif) was bought last year by Canva. So now I wonder (worry?) about the quality of Affinity's future.

April 27, 2025

Managing Photos On My Laptop

A few months ago, I was deciding between traditional photo apps and settled on Adobe Bridge. But then I reverted to Google Photos because I had started to lean back into a Chromebook. Yet moving my photo collection from my local PC into Google's cloud over time pressed me: I would soon need to subscribe to a paid cloud storage plan, and I would need to further cull and organize my picture files on my laptop. Then I snapped out of Google Photos. Bridge is the way to go.

April 25, 2025

Creative Cartography

A few years ago, when I started making my own role-playing video game via RPG Maker MZ, I discovered map-making software. These are like purpose-built "photoshop" apps for creating fantasy maps. How cool! I was interested but never ended up diving into them. Fast-forward to this month — the creative bug bit me again. Two cartography tools I found are Inkarnate and Wonderdraft. I must choose...wisely.

April 23, 2025

Keeping Kindle Without Color

Well, I mulled it over. After my eyes were opened to Kobo, I decided that despite some greener grass there, I’m gonna stay comfy in Amazon’s pasture. The reasons are simple.

April 22, 2025

More Busy Building Than Blogging

It's been over a week since I last posted. I've been super laser focused lately, building a new room onto our house, even taking time off work. I last mentioned it when I finished the framing. Now the exterior is almost complete! That's a gigantic milestone I've been pushing for. With that and the interior finishing around the corner, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. This DIY project will finally be done before long. I can't wait.

April 11, 2025

Parks By Keymaster

Not all gaming is with video games. My focus now is Xenoblade Chronicles X:DE on Switch. But last year for Christmas, I was given a new tabletop board game — I love it! Made by Keymaster, it's called, Parks. The original base game was accompanied by two expansions, one of which I also was given for Christmas. In early January, before I expanded the base game, I learned that Keymaster opened pre-orders for a new and improved 2nd edition. Coming in two versions, the best one is the deluxe Summit Edition; it was delivered to my house this week — yeah!