Tuesday, December 23, 2003

 

Happy Holidays! and an Update


Long time no post. The last few months have been packed with projects and personal changes--it's all good. :) Thanks to those of you who have written asking Office-related technical questions--I appreciate your patience! I hope to catch up with my correspondence over this brief winter break (none of my clients are working between the holidays) and post common questions here on BlogOfficeXP. And it looks as though our subscription system is working again (Yay!) so if you're a subscriber, these posts should actually make it all the way to your inbox without me having to send hundreds of individual emails. :)

Two quick notes: First, I just installed the release version of Office System 2003 this morning and the process worked like a dream. This was a welcome change from the sometimes clunky process of upgrading with previous versions. The release searches for old beta pieces, removes them, and then installs itself. And the packaging is very smart--the entire system is packaged on two discs (one primary program CD and the Outlook Business Contact Manager on a second CD), and they are placed in a DVD case. No more clunky jewel cases or envelopes with a dozen discs. I'm thrilled by how simple and smart the whole process was. (Little things mean a lot to me.)

Secondly, I wrote an article for Sony about holiday gift ideas you can create with the great digital images you've been capturing. I had a lot of fun using Word, Publisher, and PowerPoint to create specific project gifts for people in my family who love personalized items. You can create a PowerPoint photo album to send to a far-away relative or create candle sleeves with pictures of the kids to make those Pier One candles sparkle even brighter. I created an over-sized calendar in Word for an elderly friend of mine who has trouble reading the numbers on a traditional calendar and designed a digital scrapbook for someone who had great stories and memories to share.

I hope you all have a wonderful, restful holiday and are looking forward to a great 2004. And don't forget to take a moment before the old year passes to feel good about all you accomplished--in work and in life--with or without Office XP or 2003! :)

One more note: In preparing for the new year, I've made some revisions on my other weblogs and added a new one. On Joyful Family Life, I'm going to post articles and free e-books related to finding balance, wholeness, and joy as individuals and families. I envision it as embracing all of what I write about faith and technology--the blossom of goodness flowers in our daily lives, right? Please stop by and visit that weblog if you feel so led. :)

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