Bad News...
Technology and I have not been getting along over the past few months. Unfortunately, as a blogger I'm forced to rely on it to a large extent. So it just makes it that much more irritating when it fails.
Just last month I was forced to buy a new MacBook Pro when my old one died. Now, my second computer, the PC, has gone the same route. This is important because, ironically, I use it and Paint Shop Pro 7 to create all of the graphics for Icethetics and, more importantly, the IceHL project.
Effective immediately, the IceHL project must be postponed. I cannot create graphics for the polls nor add the embroidered effect to the logos that have already won their polls. It sucks, I know.
As I try valiantly, yet hopefully not in vain, to rescue the files from that machine, we'll be without any IceHL updates for a little while. The worst case scenario is that we're down for the rest of the week. I expect to have a back-up plan in place that I can implement by the weekend so we can be up and running again by Monday. But no promises.
In the meantime, I'll be looking into running Windows on the Mac. But it looks like that will have to wait at least until October 22 (when Windows 7 is released). Any advice would be appreciated.
Please continue to vote on the current polls. There will not be any extensions for them. Polls remain open for seven days each.
Chris
I've got some good news for IceHL fans at this late hour. I seem to have resolved most of the aforementioned computer issues that were stopping me from bringing you guys the final four IceHL logo polls as well as the remaining winning designs.
I'll get started on building all the necessary graphics so that we can move forward right away. I mentioned earlier on Twitter that the first would be posted Monday but I may wait a day in consideration of the long holiday weekend. I don't want people to miss out on voting because they didn't know. That also allows us to tie things up in a nice bow by posting the final poll on Friday.
So that's where we stand. Here's a revised schedule for finishing up this part of the IceHL project:
- 9/8 - Chicago Hitmen poll, Calgary Cavalry logo unveiled
- 9/9 - Edmonton Kodiaks poll, Baltimore Blue Crabs logo unveiled
- 9/10 - St. Louis Archers poll, Houston Hellcats logo unveiled
- 9/11 - Portland Pioneers poll, Atlanta Arsenal logo unveiled
- 9/12 - Seattle Aviators logo unveiled
The remaining four winning logos will then be unveiled the following week. At that point I will outline how the jersey submission process will work and begin accepting entries.
By the way, thanks to commenter IslesHockey21 for the suggestion about CrossOver. That software is perfect for what I need and will serve as a great backup should another issue likes this ever arise. You have my undying gratitude.
Reader Comments (14)
Chris,
You scared me for a second. Glad it should only be a week. Sorry about your computer trouble. I am a huge Mac fan and also have a MacBook Pro. I have had success using Parallels on my Mac. Most people I know that have tried both prefer it to Boot Camp because you can run Windows in side of the MacOS and use both at the same time.
Dude, what's wrong with Mac OS? don't you like the brand new snow leopard?
Ouch.
Will you still unveil the logos?
Answering all your questions...
NHLJeff: That's what I was leaning towards. From everything I've read, Parallels sounds like a pretty good way to go. The only drawback for me is the price tag. Would mean almost a $300 price tag all in and I would only ever use it for working on Icethetics. But thanks for the advice!
iMark: Nothing's wrong with Snow Leopard. I love it. Just got my $9 copy in the mail and installed it last night, actually. So far I can't complain. However, the graphics software I use only runs on Windows — hence my dilemma.
Jacques-Andre LeBeau: Since we're just going to have a delay of about a week, probably not. I'll just wait until next week and unveil them with the embroidered effect as usual. If it looks like there's going to be a longer delay, I'll probably at least announce the winner here.
Mark, I definitely love OS X, but I think Chris wants to keep using the paint program he's used to, which I was guessing was only available on PCs. Maybe it's time to switch to Photoshop..?
Sorry to hear about your computer troubles. I seem to have that problem every couple of months... Hope you can fix it!
Why not use the Windows 7 Release Candidate until October? Microsoft may have delisted the download, but they still provide the keys so you can just get it off torrents and use it.
Chris don't waste your money.
Download VirtualBox, it does the samething as Parallels and the best of all IT'S FREE!
http://www.virtualbox.org/
I think VMware Fusion is a lot better than Parallels. There is also Crossover, but I've had limited success with that.
Have you thought about making the transition from Paint Shop Pro to Photoshop? I started with PSP 7 back in the day as well, but over time after using it at work and such, got more used to Photoshop and never went back to PSP.
Aviary.com has an interesting online photo editor I think I still an signed up for. Didn't use it much, but a neat solution for on the go editing.
And, I've never used it, but http://www.pixelmator.com/ might be a good mac based solition if you don't want to go the photoshop route but are sticking to the mac. It's cheap like paint shop pro but is for mac.
You could also try Crossover, its much cheaper than Parallels and is fully "integrated" with the MacOS. I don't know if it would work specifically with your favorite image editor, but its worth a shot to use the free trial and see.
No problem on the delay. Something similar happened to me over a year ago and it really sucks because I always use Photoshop. I just hope you'll have better luck than me when it came to getting things back on track.
CrossOver has been very hit or miss for me. Either a Windows program works fine on the Mac OSX, or doesn't even install.
That being said, definitely worth trying on the free trial.
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
http://www.brothersoft.com/paint-shop-pro-format-for-mac-184654.html
LET'S HEAR IT FOR MICROSOFT PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!! (I actually am still using it for my jersey submissions.)