It’s not something I make a big deal about, that birthday I just had, except to say that DW made on helluva nice blackberry cobbler. We waited to eat it for the movie choice for the evening was “Soylent Green.” I wasn’t going to mention the day were it not for the lose tie-in I felt with a rash of technological run-ins and problems.

Before I bought my new camera a friend had warned me that I would not be able to work in RAW format with my aging PhotoShop. Seems Canon doesn’t support older versions with the new products. He advised that since I have a Mac I purchase Aperture for both post and file maintenance. No problem, says I, and make my way to the Mac store. Of course the latest version of Aperture works only with the latest Intel-based Mac hardware. However, I am advised that Aperture 2 can still be found on the internet.

With winter coming on, the plan is to catalog not only my recent photos but also begin to archive the hundreds of slides I have of old sculpture and drawings. To do so, I would need a new scanner. My old one only works with Mac’s OS9, a ten year old version. And while I still have two OS9 machines, I did not want to bother. Besides, that old scanner has a malfunction that would require packing it off to get fixed, and I can buy a new scanner for what it would cost in repairs. (You know the story.) So, I read about a Epson scanner, the Perfection V500, and with a fifteen minute window in errands and appointments last week, I snatch one up. Home, I hook it up only to find that my computer can’t find it, Side of the box says Intel-based Macs only. It’s a 80-mile round trip to return it yesterday yet I now have one that works with my antiquated system.

I know 56 is not that old.

 Pull Toy (1992)