Our first video game was Pong and we thought it was wonderful! Batting a virtual ball back and forth over a virtual net with controllers that had only a dial and were attached to the game with long wires, oh yeah, that's living!
Photo courtesy http://blog.pongr.com/2011/05/16/mountain-dew-ping-pong/
Our first computer was TRS80. Remember those? Radio Shack’s finest!
From 5¼” floppies we went to 3½” floppies. Somewhere in the mix were 8” floppies and tape drives as well. How long has it been since you have seen a computer with a 5¼" drive? We recently tossed a bunch of 3½" disks because they are totally useless.
I could go on but you get my point. Things change and the way we did things yesterday is not necessarily the way they will be done tomorrow. So what will happen someday when we no longer have computer CDs, or thumb drives or SD cards? What will happen if all your blogs are in “The Cloud” and it starts to rain?
Where will all your posts go? Will your children and your grand children and all their descendants be able to read what your life was like way back in the early 21st century? Or will they even care, but that’s another topic.
So, not only for the generations to follow who want to see what it was like back in the olden days, but also just for ourselves, we have put our blogs into book form. At least we know the good old printed on paper book will last for a while, even if computers and media storage continue to evolve.
Russ surprised me by making these blog books for me.
He didn’t do any editing but let Blog2Print do the whole thing. That works okay and is quick and easy but I will do some editing on the next book. Also, the default choice is to save pages and let the program squish the pictures in amongst the text. This can give some strange (but not totally unacceptable) results as Loree just found out when she got her book. This option will save money by saving pages but you can opt to have the pages print as they appear on your blog. It will take more pages but the pictures and captions will be where they ought to be!
A slide show will of course not show up so if you have one embedded in your blog, it will be necessary to edit the book and insert a picture. There seems to be a lot you can do with editing. I am going to order twice a year as I tend to be longwinded and my books are already fat.
I think you might be surprised how family loves the books. I was going to do this post some weeks ago but my sister has had the books, reading every word and was not quite finished with the second one. However, I told her I needed them back as Granddaughter Bekah is coming this weekend and she was not finished with the books either! They have been a real hit.
Russ also surprised my with a book from our Canadian Trip that we took in 2009.
This is a larger coffee table sized book and is hardback with a dust cover. I don’t remember how much it was but that wouldn’t help you anyway as it is based on the number of pages. He did this one on My Publisher. He makes books like he makes videos – there are nice pictures in the book but NOT ONE WORD!! So we will have to stay together forever to help each other remember where the heck we were when we took these pictures.
I liked My Publisher so well that I did a book for my sister. We used to travel together as couples quite a bit and so I titled the book “…and Four to Go.”
You know me, there are lots of words in this book. My sis and her husband loved it and were so happy to have some of their memories in a handy, permanent medium. Blog2print is better for capturing your blog but I really like My Publisher for doing a stand alone book. (just my opinion)
No I don’t get a commission nor do I own stock in either of these two fine companies!! I just wanted to share with you an idea for keeping your treasured memories in a permanent fashion. I know many bloggers have already done this but if you haven’t, you might want to consider it. Yes, it costs some money but it’s not a fortune. Jerry and Suzy are the ones who originally started Russ thinking about making our books so thanks guys!
I also want to mention that I tried using Blurb to do a book and I didn’t like it at all. It was not user friendly, in my opinion, and did not allow enough editorial capabilities to suit me. I know of some who love it so it is just a matter of personal opinion. Russ actually purchased a blog book by Paul and Margery Zeller that was done on Blurb just to see what a finished book looked like. Theirs turned out great but I don’t know how much work they did on it. Hope you all find a way to keep and preserve those wonderful memories we are making everyday. Your family will thank you.
