I just downloaded and installed MacJournal 2.5. I hope to use it to Blog offline and then load to Blogger, and you never know I might find it useful for other logs and lists. it looks like a fine program, and it sure comes with loads of positive reviews everywhere you look, including the Apple site. I must admit that blogging gets addictive, but the danger is a lot of extraneous bilge seeping into the web. I have been trying to keep that to a minimum, but since last July when I set up my Blogger site, it has been more and more appealing to use the blog as a compendium of my own thoughts. Given the fact that not many folks are reading this, that is probably a valid use.

WOW...way past fun is Burning Monkey MahJong. Hours of silly fun in this game! That I will register. I love to relax with several games of solitaire every chance I get. The game is stable on the Mac, no visual weirdness, and the background art is very classy. The stupid little jokes are even fun.

This weekend has been a MacFest. I registered Photologist after trying it out for various photo manipulations. It has some little features that others do not. For example, nifty little vignette shaping. It works in a rather simple and mostly intuitive fashion - you do have to read and concentrate just enough. On the other hand, I love my GraphicConverter. The learning curve for GraphicConverter takes a lot of concentration because it is such a rich program. It can do anything from freehand creation of your own drawings to photo tweaking any way you need or want to, and of course save in any graphic format you can think of. I like the folder display in GraphicConverter and use it to organize my graphic folders. I never use iPhoto. I guess I came to the Mac way after I was on that level. I organize everything on my Mac in hierarchical folders. You can use GraphicConverter and Photologist more or less in tandem - what one does better or the other does better - use them both.

The only annoying thing about Photologist is the multiple windows but you get used to that. The developer has done a great job and I look forward to even better versions to come. I like to support shareware development by the "lone programmer" or programmers out there in the small way I can - which is to try out and register those programs I like, and to try to get the word around about said programs.

Which reminds me that I love MacJanitor and Cocktail and use both. Cleaning out the assorted crapola that accumulates in any PC's system is so important. So many times I have helped someone out with their "computer problem" only to find that a good cleanup is the cure. And of course the old reboot.

Suddenly I couldn't put an application into the Application folder for all to use. WHAT? And of course I am the admin account. This forced me to use the Utilities that came with the eMac. A run of "Repair Permissions" and I am once more in the driver's seat. At least the Mac is letting me think so for awhile. First time I had run that program in the year and a month and a half since buying the Mac, and I must say that the utilities, like all things Mac, run with a quiet confident look and feel. Now my guilt resides in not using the iPod enough.

Yes indeed, the mouse speed was too fast. I had turned it up all the way and that was apparently too much for my little MacAlly IceMouseJr. I love the mouse though. Anyhow, now I can say that Photologist is responsive all the time! The photo gallery feature is so nice, and the interface, though needing figuring out, is easily learned. I have to admit I rarely use the HELP feature in a program unless really pressed, so perhaps a read through would have saved me even the small amount of time it took to get going in Photologist. I had tried this program before about a year ago to the week, and I am really impressed with the latest incarnation. Have a look at To the Point Software, Terry Findlay programming in Real Basic. I have the little calendar program and the font manager from him as well. Excellent little programs. Although I cannot call the font program "little." I like it a lot.

A long hiatus, and a change in direction here for awhile. Had to get a good FTP program for the eMac, so I installed (and paid for) Transmit 2 from Panic Software. An excellent program. In just a tiny amount of time I had my website - such as it is - up on a new server without advertising. That is really a plus. And a very smooth transition it was. Now to remember to edit it, and perhaps improve it from time to time.

And did I mention Mozilla Firefox? If not, then this is the time for all to go get a copy and install on your system. Linux, Windows and Mac - all run well. I use the Windows version at work and the Mac version at home, and both run smoothly and without many hitches. I can access all sorts of sites, online ordering at my favorite sites is a breeze, and the speed of Firefox is awesome. On the Mac at home with a modem the speed of Firefox makes all the difference in the world. And I have to admit the "skins" are as much fun as Opera's. And the Open Source Community of Mozilla makes the effort worthwhile. I hope that Mozilla attracts a huge number of users. To say it is better than IE is just such an understatement.

Meanwhile, the addition of Photologist (and I am going to register that too) to my passle of photo proggies has increased my ability to play with my photos even more. I love the effects you can create with photologist, including cropping in shapes, vignetting, coloring backgrounds, etc. Photologist is a bit eccentric though, sometimes I get no response when I click a folder to view my pictures. But it could be this mouse. More trial days to come. Final verdict to follow.