What a rare moment. I am up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday and can’t fall back to asleep. Which is weird because my favorite thing about waking up early when I don’t need to is that sweet realization that I have more slumber time right around the corner! Grrr. Might as well squeeze in the blog entry for the month before March passes me by. Random early-morning thoughts:

1. Breakfast of Champions:
Oatmeal + Brown Sugar + Crumbled Bacon

Thanks D.Dennis for this brilliant suggestion, I now crave this every morning.

2. Screencap Tip:
Command + Shift + 4 + Spacebar

A camera icon will appear. Roll over the window you want to capture (highlights blue) and click. The window is captured with complete header, perfect borders, transparency around the edges with shadows and rounded corners. Great for showing web comps in context, tutorials, note-taking, the list goes on.

Comes in very handy and I have used it many times since discovering this off of H.Kong’s Facebook. I feel the need to share.

3. Blurb Books
So I started a post and actually left it up for a bit in June 2009 that said:

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Like many other newly married couples, it’s been 9 months since Basil and I got married and we have yet to choose 200 of the 1500 available wedding photos from which to create our album! Recently, I mailed a package out to my parents in China including a small picture of the two of us and here is the email my mom sent me:

“We just received the package you sent along with the father’s day card and a picture. I was hoping for your wedding pictures. But I will be satisfied with this picture of you two.”

Translation: “Send me your wedding pictures.”

Such a delinquent “daughterie” as my dad calls me.

So I’ve finally started putting together a wedding book using Blurb.

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They received the finished product last week. Not sure why it took me so long and I’m actually shocked to see how much time I actually managed to let slip away from me! This seems to be a theme in my life. Anyways. The point of this post is to review the Blurb experience and not dwell on my amazing ability to procrastinate.

My thoughts on Blurb:
1. The BookSmart Application is very easy to use and comes with an extensive template library. I had no problems tinkering around and figuring out how to use the app. One of Blurb’s main selling points when I was looking for a photo book publisher.

2. Cost:
Standard Landscape 10×8 inches (25×20 cm), up to 40 pages on Premium Paper: $36.95
Large Landscape 13×11 inches (33×28 cm), up to 40 pages on Premium Paper: $65.95

This cost is for the Hardcover with ImageWrap with all the added bells and whistles so you can save money if you go with fewer options. The Standard Landscape gives you the choice of a Softcover for about $10 less and if you go with a Dust Jacket instead of ImageWrap you can save about $2. Premium Paper came at an extra cost of $5.

3. Turnaround Time:
Ordered on 3/8/10 and Received on 3/17/10. Worked for me. Each book came pre-wrapped in plastic and in pretty good shape. One had a small little dent right across my face but could be easily ignored.

4. Quality: I chose Premium Paper but overall do not recommend using Blurb if you want a professional photo-quality portfolio. This was great for sharing photos with family and friends but some of the larger photos lost luster and definition. For a portfolio-worthy album, I would recommend looking into other alternatives which at first glance looks like it will come in at least double the cost. I’m planning on creating one more book – if you’ve found a vendor you like, please share!

Overall I would use them again for fun photo memory books or as gifts. However, if the goal is to show off some amazing photography I would definitely go elsewhere.

Wow, I thought after posting I’d want a nap but now I’m wide awake. Time to start the day, maybe with some bacon.