Spring Fever in the Print Business

Yes it is, Spring is finally here! This blog is supposed to be reserved for printing & technology related subjects, but I think it’s a little bit of a grab bag today.

First off, Check out these 2 links, courtesy of Guy Kawasaki and Twitter. The first is on how to use a Business card as a weapon, it’s pretty cool (actually unbelievable); I’d like to have this guy as a business card client. The next is on 42 ways to improve your life, I think there’s something here for everybody if your really into self growth.

No, I did not get an ipad last Saturday (they sold 300,000 of them on the first day).  Not sure what all these people will do with them, but I have no doubt that it will change many of the dynamics of home computing. And Adobe CS5 is just about due out, remember CS5 will only run on Intel based Mac’s. You can continue to use CS3 & CS4 on PowerPC based Macs, but Adobe will only support critical issues. And for staying up on technology, I am getting ready to go to the EFI Connect show in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks. EFI is the company that not only makes all the Fierry Rips that control most digital printing, but they are also developers of the major Estimating/Order writing systems that control a lot of Printing Companies out there. I’m looking for them to paint a picture of what a future printing company using Internet Based Store Front for Printing will look like (Yes, they also develop & host that platform for our Internet store front). This should prove to be interesting, we all need a vision to help build our business.

In the “It’s all about us” column, our own Mike Green has been wearing around his neck brace for 2 weeks, since some goofball slammed into the back of his van in the rain on I75. We thought about putting up a sympathy photo of Mike with a saying “Please buy printing from me”, but that was a little tacky. As for the company as a whole, we are still working with Aileron on looking into the future and setting our direction; what a cool bunch of people and incredible facility to work with. And best of all, Anita walked into my office with a stern look on her face and handed me an envelope with “Letter of Resignation” on the outside. I guess I was a little to gullible to realize it was April Fools day until I opened the letter. It was her way of making a joke that it was 10 years to the day I purchased the shop from her and Marvin.

I think 2010 is going to be a good year. The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce featured Oregon Printing in their latest Focus magazine (Winter 2010) and the printing business has been good and steady around the shop. Outside of the shop, we’ve been on 2 great canoe trips in the last couple of weeks (and 2 more big ones coming up), Laurie’s son started Tee Ball (look for some photos from her husband) and Mike at least came out of his “accident” with a new Saturn Cross Over van. My personal goal is to revive and use a Tamron lens that I have had around, but out of use for a while. Its a f2.8 constant aperture, 28 mm to 75mm zoom that I’ve never been really fond of (I never thought it was that sharp), but I decided to put in on a D70 body and take it out on the water. So far it’s actually done pretty good, for me it’s about trying to add a shallow depth of field to canoeing pictures with people in them. Sometimes it fun to give something like second life and have it work.

So with a trip coming up this weekend to the Clarion River in PA, and another in 3 weeks to the Beaver Creek (on the border of OH & PA), I think we’ll have plenty of time to talk printing, technology, photography, fishing and so on. I might even send a tweet or 2 from the river (OregonPrinting on Twitter), but don’t hold your breath (I’ll probably forget).