I’m looking to redesign the website and blog – debating whether to go with tweaks here and there with the colors and layouts, or whether I should go for a full out conceptual overhaul.  I’ll probably do the former first and the latter later. If I can find someone whose skills are up to the task.

A few months ago I read an interesting article in Slate about cloud computing. The idea is that you can chuck your computer out the window, watch it smash into tiny little pieces, and think nothing of it. Why? Because all your data, your photos, your files, your digital life, are stored on the web instead of on your hard drive. A smashed computer means bits of plastic lying in the street; it doesn’t mean your life as you know it has disappeared forever.

Unless Adobe comes out with web-based versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and InDesign, I won’t be giving up my desktop anytime soon. But I recently purchased a very tiny, very cute netbook that I plan to tote around with me for client meetings and photography shoots. We’ll see how much of the cloud I connect with when I’m jetting about town.

I’m also trying to give Twitter a go and feel terribly unhip that it hasn’t become a part of my web arsenal yet. I signed up for an account last year, and, well, it’s been dormant for a few months now. Twitter will most likely be a mix of personal and professional tidbits, minus the ranting.

Become my fan on Facebook. Follow my tweets on Twitter. Trust me – I’m fascinating.

I have experimented with different looks and color combinations, but I know this one is going to be it for a while. I love yellow and I love warm colors; they make me happy, happy, happy.

I’m in the process of completely redesigning the website. It will not be an all-Flash site. I have grumbled before about my ambivalence towards Flash sites. They are beautiful with everything glowing and blinking and sliding around, but I find them difficult to navigate. You can’t use your back or forward buttons, you can’t bookmark anything, and sometimes they’re agonizingly slow.

I will still have Flash slideshows, but they will be embedded in an HTML site. And this site is going to be simple, which I think better suits my aesthetic. Look for the new site later this month.

I am still working on redesigning my website so that I can ditch my template by the beginning of 2009. I’m a big fan of sites such as this one for Peter Yang. I like that you can view all the gallery images on one page, unlike many Flash websites.

I don’t find Flash to be very user friendly. Flash can definitely create some beautiful sites, but often they’re slow to load, can be difficult to navigate, and don’t allow any bookmarking of specific images.

But Flash is definitely the flavor of the day when it comes to photographer websites. I might not ditch it completely, but I will definitely not have an all-Flash site.

But no . . . apparently that’s not the case.

I mail CD’s of photographs to my clients. I place the CD in a cardboard sleeve, write a letter full of pleasantries, and place everything in a 6 x 9 envelope. And it usually costs about 60¢. But the other day when I went into the post office, the clerk charged me $1.35 – more than twice as much money!

I asked her why, and she explained that if the envelope is not bendable, then it’s a parcel, even though it’s an envelope. And how it has to do with the machinery used to process letters, and they’ve been enforcing this for a year, and it’s so confusing for everyone, etc. etc.

Hmmm. So the next time I go into the same post office to mail CD’s, a different clerk charges me . . . 60¢. Apparently it is confusing for their own employees.

So I found this little pop-up on the USPS website. Yes, envelopes that do not bend easily incur an extra charge, as do square envelopes or envelopes that contain pens (?). But I don’t know why that clerk charged me the parcel price, instead of the extra 20¢.

Not that I usually get bent out of shape over 75¢, but who wants to pay more money when they don’t have to?

Which is why I was especially interested to read “Turn Those Bytes into Books” in the New York Times. The article focuses on Blurb.com, but lists several other related websites, such as companies that sell templates and illustrations, or those that offer design services.

Price-wise, Blurb.com is very affordable. They also offer an on-line bookstore where you can sell your creations at whatever price you wish. All very intriguing.

Of course, my first thought with all of this is self-publishing my Project Blended book – once I have enough portraits to fill a book. But I also want to have album options for clients. I’m sure that for weddings, people will spring more for AsukaBook or Zookbinders. For more casual occasions, however, such as birthday parties or family portraits in the park, a Blurb book may better suit the occasion.

The Los Angeles Times has had several articles about the wildflower season, now in full swing. The one they published last weekend just has me dying to go out there.

I went to Joshua Tree last month and saw quite a few blooms. I have more pictures here.