Print Problems: Part 1

Several odd strings of events have led me into doing a lot more print-work than I would normally. And this has led me to learn quite a few things.

Today I went down to a local print shop that one of my clients was going through. I was dropping off a copy of a file for him. I have no intention of naming this shop.

I walked in with the disc that I had place several versions of the files on. I had several Adobe Illustrator files in .ai, .eps and .pdf as well as a .psd of the original work.

I realized immediately after entering the shop that there would be problems. They asked me to wait until they confirmed that they could “read” the file. I assured them that there were several formats that they should be able to choose at least one of them that they could work with.

They returned several minutes later shaking their heads saying that they could not read the file. And before I could ask why they told me that I needed to provide the file in either Illustrator version 7 or older or Corel Draw 6 or older.

Needless to say I was astonished.
Version What!!??!!? This is 2004 right? This is a print shop?? right?? and you want what?? I managed to settle myself before I opened my mouth only in time to see the Windows ME logo of the screen of the computer that they shop employee was working on. I cannot believe that they are running a print shop on ME. As my brother put it, “Nothing should run on ME.”

Immediately I knew that any discussion would be useless. And soon I was being told that I needed to make sure that I burned the disc and files in “IBM format”. I didn’t bother to explain that a cd was always burned in a standard format (iso) that is readable on any computer. And an illustrator file, like a pdf is universal if one platform or another writes a file it is the same file regardless, especially pdf (Portable Document Format ??). This was only made more ridiculous when they told me that they would also accept the file in jpeg format. They would actually do print-work from a lossy format! Absolute idiocy.

I hope for my client’s sake the work turns out correct, although I have no influence over the decisions that were made about the printer I wish I had known about this going into the whole deal.

(Client name & print-shop name withheld to preserve any relationships that other people may enjoy.)

If this company can make money then any company can make money!

Alien Vs. Predator

I just got back from seeing Alien Vs. Predator. I had read some of the reviews before the movie and I thought I would be a little disappointed. Not true! While I don’t think there are any Oscars coming out of this movie, it did have all the elements that make up a good Alien movie.

Alien Vs. Predator is more like the Alien series than it is like the Predator series. The cinematography was similar to all of the other Alien movies. The acting was similar in both series, so there is nothing to compare. You could see more of the creatures that in any other movie throughout either series.

Some of the reviews that I read talked about how seeing something directly reduces the fear of it. I would disagree. The scenes induced the same amount of anxiety that I remember when watching the Alien(s) movies for the first time many years ago.

Overall I have to say that it is a great movie, and does justice to the two series that precede it (excluding Predator-2 which was crap).

Contingency Design for Coffee Makers

I am always looking for a faster / better / different way of doing things. Today I decided that I was going to make a cup of coffee. I usually just opt for a cup of starbucks, but I didn’t feel like going anywhere. I loaded the coffee maker up with grinds and water. Then I decided that there was no need to put the lid on the coffee pot while it brewed.

About 20 minutes later I went to pour a cup for myself and found the entire floor covered with freshly brewed coffee.

It seems that the coffee maker that I have requires the lid to be on the pot so that it depresses a small lever underneath the part that holds the grinds. If the lever is not depressed the water will not flow from the container that holds the grinds into the coffee-pot. This conveniently forces the water to build up in the coffee grounds reservoir and accumulate on the floor.

Hurricane Charley Preparation

With the upcoming hurricane I have decided to put together a list of useful bits of informational links and other such stuffs.