Extreme Makeover: School Lunch Edition

Extreme Makeover: School Lunch Edition

School Lunches In Santa Barbara County Receive A Much-Needed Revamp

It’s back to school time, and for millions of kids across America, that means it’s back to school lunches. Many parents don’t know just how unhealthy and unappetizing school lunches can be, but kids everywhere can tell you that frozen chicken nuggets, packaged burritos, oily french fries, and canned fruit are pretty much the norm, and they usually taste even worse than they look. 

Luckily for the kids in Santa Barbara County, change is on the horizon. The country school system has sent 24 cafeteria employees – “lunch ladies,” as we used to call them (though not all of them are women) – to a culinary boot camp run by Cook for America founders Andrea Martin and Kate Adamick. The program is designed to teach the cafeteria workers the skills they need to prepare fresh and healthful food for their students. While all of the cafeteria workers in the Santa Barbara Country schools have been trained in food safety, many of them have no culinary training. The boot camp teaches cooking basics such time management, menu planning, and knife skills, but also discusses concepts that are specific to school cafeterias, such as child psychology and nutrition, the history of school food, and the culinary math needed to design large-scale meals within strict government budgets.

The above photos, which were scanned to digital for use on the Los Angeles Times website, show the cafeteria workers learning the skills they need to make food that tastes good and meats government standards for nutrition. Adamick and Martin’s Cook for America boot camp is one of many efforts across the nation to fill lunch trays with more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and freshly cooked foods. The issue was brought further into the public eye by the reality TV show “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” in which Britain’s “Naked Chef” attempted to reform the school food service in one of America’s unhealthiest towns. But while that program depicted a TV-worthy struggle between the forward-thinking chef and the change-resistant school staff, everyone seems to be on the same side in Santa Barbara County. Cathy Kelly, a cafeteria worker from Lompoc Unified School District, says she was “totally impressed” with the culinary boot camp, adding, “I would like to serve something I’m proud of.”

To see the full slide show of boot camp photos that have been scanned to digital, visit http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-culinary-boot-camp-pictures,0,978938.photogallery.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

Customer Feedback: “ScanDigital is AWESOME!”

We love our customers. That’s why we follow up with everyone after their order is complete to assure we’re doing our job right. If there’s ever any issue, we address it immediately. Most of the time however, we receive rave reports. On behalf of the ScanDigital team, I’d like to say “Thank You” to our amazing customers. We’re truly flattered to know you are happy and honored to have been trusted with your family’s precious memories. Please find a sampling of the testimonials below that we’ve received recently.

If you’d like to hear more from our customers, you are welcome to visit our Testimonial page. As always, we’re always here on Twitter and Facebook, by email at info@scandigital.com or by phone at 888.333.2808 if you have any questions or just want to chat!

 “ScanDigital’s service is AWESOME!  I was a little scared a first, shipping my family heirloom photos so far away and all, but everything worked out fine. The pictures were returned in excellent condition. The scanned images are even better than I had expected, considering what the paper photos looked like.

Your staff did a great job. Yes, I plan to use you guys again in the future; once I get another pile of pictures together for scanning and mail them to you! I would definitely recommend your service to friends, family and anyone who asked.  The professional way my pictures were handled means a lot to me. Your company is great. Thanks very much for checking with me. Keep up the good work!” Heather – Ridgeland, MS

“I loved that I could follow my order online. The language you’ve used on the website made me feel like my negatives were safe and in good hands.” Cara – Apopka, FL

“I found ScanDigital’s service very easy to use, and the thorough follow-ups during each step of the process was very comforting. I felt completely secure in knowing that my old photos were being handled with great care. The website is easy to understand, and the package containing the photos and CD was well-packed. I will use ScanDigital again, definitely. Thank you!” Tammy – Arlington, MA

“I received the CDs in yesterday’s mail.  They were awesome and we are very happy.“  Este – Thousand Oaks, CA

“Easy to understand.  Glad we found you through Groupon.” Monica – Encinitas, CA

“I am very happy with my videos from your company.  They were filled with lots of great memories and it’s been fun watching them!  It was easy to follow your directions and I will use you again.  I will recommend you to friends and family.  I was glad to see your company on Groupon, I had looked for a company to transfer my beta tapes to DVD but hadn’t found one.  When I saw your ad, I was really excited.  It took me a little while to gather my tapes but I finally put it together and it only took a couple weeks to get them back. Thank you for offering such a great service.” Carol – Columbus, OH
“I love your service–and, was very pleased with the results. I would love to convert more pictures–I have so many.  Thanks so much!” Carole – New York, NY

Tags:
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

Back To School: The Return Of Home Economics

The Return Of Home Economics

It’s Back To School For Home Ec

As summer comes to a close, kids are gearing up to head back to school. But it looks like kids may not be the only thing coming back to school after a long absence. Home Economics classes, or “Family and Consumer Sciences,” as they are often called outside of California, are becoming popular again after years of perceived obsolescence.  Some educators are even pushing to make these once-forgotten electives part of the mandatory high school curriculum, suggesting that basic cooking skills, which are being taught less and less in the average home, are essential for healthy living.

The above photograph, which has been preserved via photo scanning, shows a home economics lab at the University of Wisconsin in 1948. The second photo, also digitized via photo scanning, shows an Indiana home ec classroom in 1931. Test kitchens like these were once commonplace in high schools across the country, but have become forgotten relics of another time as recent decades have shown a significant decrease in the percentage of American high schools offering home ec. But recent trends suggest that home ec is on the rise once again. According to Patricia Scott, a longtime teacher and home economics expert for the Los Angeles Unified School District, says that the home ec program in her district is one of the most popular electives offered. Scott believes that the image of cooking has changed, and that the advent of the Food Network and popular cooking shows like Bravo’s “Top Chef” has made it seem cool to know how to cook.

According to a recent survey conducted by the National Coalition for Family and Consumer Sciences Education, the number of high school students enrolled in home economics classes is currently close to what it was in the late 1950s, though the classes themselves have changed. In the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, home economics classes were composed almost entirely of female students learning a curriculum of traditional homemaking skills. But home ec is no longer about teaching girls how to become good housewives; the classes are often very specialized, and focus on topics like catering as a business, international foods, or food service and hospitality careers.

Alice Lichtenstein, a nutrition scientist at Tufts University and the co-author of an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association entitled “Bring Back Home Economics Education,” is one of many educators who believe that home economics, especially basic cooking skills, should be a mandatory part of high school curriculum. According to Lichtenstein, the disturbing rise in child obesity and the generally poor diets of young people in America could be combated by teaching youths how to cook and eat well. She suggests that adolescents rely on packaged and fast food at least in part because they lack the skills to prepare food themselves. Lichtenstein goes on to suggest that “(t)he only way to really ensure that more kids get this type of instruction is to have it mandatory.” She and other educators believe that school should prepare students not only for careers, but also for life, and that important life skills like cooking should not be left out.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

Labor Day Now And Then

Labor Day Now And Then

The History Of Labor Day Celebrations

Labor Day has a long history, and it means different things to different people. Some people escape to the beach for their long weekend. Others go camping, or fishing, and some stay at home to throw a barbecue (personally, I’ve always preferred Disneyland.) However you like to celebrate, Labor Day is a great opportunity to spend some quality time with friends and family, and these days it’s all about taking a break. If you can’t get away, try a fun “staycation” idea, like going through old photos and videos from years past with the whole family. A trip down memory lane can be just as fun as a trip to the beach, and you don’t have to worry about all that sand getting into those uncomfortable places. One way to make this kind of activity work even better is to digitize your old photos and videos to make them easier and more fun to share. You can covert VHS tapes to DVD, and even edit old footage together to tell a cohesive story.

But the stories of Labor Day didn’t always involve family vacations and fun in the sun. For decades, citizens of major cities marched in parades on Labor Day to show their support for the rights of workers, and to celebrate immeasurable contributions of the American workforce. The above photo, which has been scanned to digital for preservation, shows the Women’s Trade Union League float as it made its way through the streets of New York City in 1908. By then, Labor Day had already been widely celebrated for over 25 years.

Dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers, Labor Day was created by the labor movement in the early 1880s as a way of showing tribute to the workforce that built this nation and made it great. Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, is believed by many to have founded the holiday to honor those Americans “”who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” More recent research suggests that the holiday was first proposed by Central Labor Union secretary Matthew Maguire, who was a machinist from New York. We may not know exactly how Labor Day came to be, but we know that it was first celebrated on Tuesday, September 5th, 1882.          

On June 28th, 1894, Congress passed an act officially making the first Monday in September a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. By that time, Labor Day was already being celebrating by 24 states. The official holiday was to be observed in two ways: a street parade to show the “strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations,” to be followed by a festival. Nowadays we may not celebrate Labor Day in the way Congress laid out over a century ago, but honoring the American worker is still as important as ever.

To find out more about Labor Day, visit the Website for the United States Department of Labor, at http://www.dol.gov/.

To find out more about converting VHS to DVD, visit http://www.scandigital.com/scandigital-film-video-transfer.php.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in video transfer | No Comments »

Photo Scanning Captures American Awkwardness

Photo Scanning Captures American Awkwardness

AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com Features American Families In Their Most Hilariously Uncomfortable Moments

Thanks to the wonders of photo scanning, the Internet is full of photo-based blogs and Websites that feature pictures of e everything from classic cars and Hollywood stars to sports legends and recording artists. But there is one increasingly popular photo blog that is all about depicting scanned photos of the average American, or more specifically, the average American family.

We all love our families. These are the people we most identify with, the people we trust. But as Mike Bender and Doug Chernack happily point out on their blog at AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com, family is also awkward. Just because you share a last name, that doesn’t mean your personalities don’t clash. And when the inevitable uncomfortable moments get immortalized on film (and digitized through photo scanning) an awkward family photo is born to the Internet. 

Childhood friends Mike and Doug launched the blog in May of 2009, after the two laughed at an awkward vacation photo in Mike’s parents’ house. The two friends realized that everyone must have these hilariously awkward family images, and decided to make a Website devoted to the sharing of the little gems of awkwardness in an open forum. What began with about 10 of Doug’s and Mike’s own family photos has now become a viral Internet sensation. This endlessly entertaining compendium of uncomfortable poses, creepy smiles, bad hair cuts, and crying or frightened-looking children attracts hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of visitors each day, along with hundreds of daily photo submissions coming from Brazil, Russia, China, and everywhere in between.

In May of 2010, just one year after launching their site, Mike and Doug released an Awkward Family Photos book, which has been both critically acclaimed and extremely successful. Following the format of the website, the book features comically uncomfortable family photos, accompanied by witty captions provided by Mike and Doug. Book reviewer Jennifer Weiner called Awkward Family Photos more than just a book: “it’s a public service on the page, a living, breathing, laugh-out-loud reminder that no matter how badly you dressed, how oddly you posed, and how weird Uncle Dave who lived in the basement was, somebody out there had it worse. Particularly the girl on page 77.”

Therein lies the real appeal of these Awkward photographs – as much as we hate to admit it, they remind us of our own families, so we can all relate even to the most bizarre of the bunch. Filmmaker Judd Apatow put it most succinctly, saying, “This is the best book of embarrassing and strange photos of people who look like my family that I have ever seen.”

To see more embarrassing family photos that have been immortalized through photo scanning for all to enjoy, visit http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/.

Tags: ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

Star Wars Producer Gary Kurtz Speaks Out 30 Years After Leaving Franchise

Star Wars Producer Gary Kurtz Speaks Out 30 Years After Leaving Franchise 

Lucas Dictated By Merchandising, Not Story, He Says

As a genre, Science Fiction draws its primary credibility from being a perspective media that allows us to examine the fundamentals of our society. But what ever happened to the good old-fashioned adventure story about good and evil with no ulterior motives save entertainment and delight?  That’s exactly what George Lucas and Gary Kurtz were wondering in 1972, five years before their collaborative film, “Star Wars.” In the photos above, which have been scanned to digital for preservation, Kurtz is shown lending his artistic vision and expertise to the making of Star Wars.

But a quick reference to the credits of the original Star Wars trilogy will reveal that Lucas and Kurtz only worked together on “Star Wars: A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” Over fifteen years after having started the Star Wars saga, the two visionaries could not compromise on their ideas, resulting in Kurtz’s absence from “Return of the Jedi.”

Last weekend, Kurtz stepped back into that galaxy far, far away, as a special guest at Star Wars Celebration V, a massive Lucasfilm-organized convention in Orlando. The event attracts thousands of fans eager for autographs from their favorite cast members, purchasing or trading memorabilia, and attending panels on a variety of topics in the Star Wars universe.

This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back,” a movie many consider to be the best of the trilogy (or of any of the subsequent movies, for that matter). But this year also means that three decades have passed since Kurtz’s departure.

While fans may be excited about the return of the wayward producer, not everyone at Lucasfilm is thrilled to have him back. His creative contributions to the Star Wars universe (for instance, having come up with the title to “Empire”) stand in contrast to his quite public and quite contrasting view of what the saga should have been.

According to Kurtz, the original plan for “Return of the Jedi” included recovering Han Solo early in the film and having the character die in the middle of a raid on an Imperial base. This type of tragedy was exactly what Lucas wanted to avoid, insisting on none of the main characters dying and that the ending be … well … full of dancing Ewoks. Kurtz explains this kindergarten maneuver as being motivated by the sales of Star Wars merchandise, rather than the telling of a compelling story.

While merchandise was never unimportant for Kurtz, he felt that creating a quality movie had to take priority over creating a market for quality toys. This sentiment is mirrored in the opinions of many Star Wars fans who, after having been witness to the second Star Wars trilogy, were left feeling dissatisfied.  And while the second trilogy has captured the hearts of a new generation of Star Wars fans and generated thrice as much profit in merchandise as ticket sales, many fans would have preferred a slightly less juvenile and more complex approach to the latest installments in the Star Wars universe.

So what did Kurtz have to say after been absent from the Star Wars scene for thirty years?  Well, at least we can be sure it wasn’t an idea for a clumsy Gungan that sells more in merchandise than I make in a year. To find out more about the Star Wars Celebration, and to see more photos and artwork that have been scanned to digital, visit http://www.starwarscelebration.com/.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

Entertainment Weekly Previews New Potter Film

Entertainment Weekly Previews New Potter Film

Articles Includes New Interviews, Photos

On November 19th 2010, Harry Potter fans all over the world will wait in line to see part 1 of the final Harry Potter film installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 2 of the 759-page story will hit the big screen on July 15th 2011, though filming for both movies wrapped up earlier this summer. The young trio of stars, Daniel Radcliffe, 21,  Emma Watson, 20, and Rupert Grint, 21, sat down to interview with Entertainment Weekly at Leavesden Studios outside London as the final stretch of filming grew near.

This week’s Entertainment Weekly includes a full article “preview” of Deathly Hallows Part 1, complete with interviews from the cast members and director David Yates, who helmed (or is in the process of helming) four of the eight Harry Potter films. 

Along with the article, Entertainment Weekly has also debuted some new photos from the film, which have been scanned to digital above. (The full article and more photos from the magazine have been scanned to digital by RupertGrint.net, and can be seen at Mugglenet.) The interviews made it clear that the film’s young stars had mixed emotions about the end of the decade-long film saga. They all seemed glad to be seeing the project through, and ambitious to make these last two films the best yet. But they also seemed eager to move on, yet sad to leave their friends as they moved in different directions. The three young stars who portray Harry, Ron, and Hermione, have dedicated half their lives to the roles.

In addition to the interviews, the EW article contains several interesting facts. For example, did you know the last Harry Potter book sold over 11 million copies in its first day back in July of 2007? That’s right, it’s the fastest-selling book of all time. Perhaps even more interesting to some, the article also tells its readers the point in the story at which Part 1 and Part 2 are split up. Ever since it was announced that the book would be split into two movies, fans have speculated how and where that split would occur. SPOILER ALERT: According to the article, Part 1 ends “at about Chapter 24 of the book, with Voldemort gaining possession of the Elder Wand, one of the three Deathly Hallows that allow the bearer to conquer death.”

The article also discusses the decision to split the book into two movies, which Warner Bros. Entertainment President Alan Horn said was not “purely” financial. According to Horn, author J.K. Rowling endorsed the idea of a two-movie adaptation because it would allow for a more faithful telling of the story, with fewer omissions and greater detail. We’ll have to wait until November to see if it pays off.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

MyMemory Contest: Share a Memory, Enter to Win!

What was one of your favorite summer vacations? Share your answer with us for the chance to win a ScanDigital gift card to preserve some of those memories!

It could be any aspect of your vacation- the place itself, an activity, experience or exotic meal that you’ll never forget. For example, it could be the time you sang ‘This-is-the-song-that-never-ends” for an hour straight on your roadtrip to Disneyland, the vacation where you went snorkeling with your family in the Bahamas or the visit to Grandma’s when she taught you how to cook her famous lasagna. Just share a memory from any summer vacation and enter to win!

Entering is easy, just share your favorite memory with us. We’re drawing 3 random winners- one from Twitter, Facebook and from the blog comments below. You can also post your answer in all three places for the maximum of three entries!

Post your answer by midnight on Tuesday, August 24th. Winners will be announced here on our blog the following day on Wednesday, August 25th and contacted by direct message on Twitter and through the post on Facebook.

How to Enter on Twitter (Prize: $75 ScanDigital gift card): Tweet your answer. Make sure you include both “http://bit.ly/9lxkVw” and “#mymemory” so we’ll see it.

How to Enter on Facebook (Prize: $50 ScanDigital gift card): Post your answer as a comment under the post with the link to this contest. Visit ScanDigital’s Facebook page here.

How to Enter on our Blog (Prize: $25 ScanDigital gift card): Post your answer as a comment on this blog below. Comments must be approved, so be patient if you don’t see your comment appear right away.

Rules: ScanDigital employees, past employees and their family members are not eligible to win, but are always welcome to participate.

If you have any questions about this contest, please feel free to contact us on Twitter or Facebook anytime. You can also contact me personally by email at weiss@scandigital.com or my personal Twitter.

Good luck and happy sharing!

Tags: ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | 3 Comments »

6 Back to School Organization Tips by Jodie Watson

I cannot believe how fast the summer is going.  It seemed like just a moment ago school was getting out.  Now it’s time to get the kids ready to start back and ourselves ready to transition into a busier and more scheduled daily routine.

I always take some time over the summer to go through and purge my son’s school papers from the previous year in order to keep just the best of the best of his work for the future.  It’s a great time to look back over his progress and achievements.

Now that he’s older, this year I decided it was time he took responsibility for doing this himself.  I would help, but the final decisions of what to keep would be his.  I was resolved to keeping it all if that was what he chose to do.  He had three choices to make with each paper.  In addition to keep or toss, he had the option for extra special work to go into his 3rd grade binder. It was interesting to watch him let go of papers I would have thought he’d want to keep and keep papers I thought he would want to throw away.  He knew which ones had special meaning for him and those were the ones he wanted to save.  I was also surprised at the amount he was willing to let go of.  I assumed it would be hard for him to decide and he’d want to keep everything.  But not so!

Back to school is a great time to organize your kids and their rooms.  Where possible, get them involved in the process.  You may not be able to have them around as you organize their entire room, but you can give them little assignments as you go.  You can set aside a box of toys or books for them to look through.  Let them pull them out the ones they are done with and put in a box ready to be donated.  They can help to separate their clothes into categories – socks, T-shirts, pants, skirts, etc.   Decide together where they will go in the drawer or closet so they know where to find them and put them away.  Have them help pick out school supplies or sit down together to set up their binders for school work.

Teaching kids how to organize themselves is time well spent.  You may not be able to get things done as fast as you would doing it alone, but allowing them the opportunity to learn the skills and benefits of organization will serve them well into their adult years.

Check out my August tips for some more ways to get your kids ready for a great school year!                                              

~ Jodie ~

6 Back To School Organizing Tips

Six things you can do to help make you child’s school year get off to a great start.

1) Sort clothes:  Pull out and go through clothes category by category.  Discard any that are old, torn or your kids have outgrown.  Use shelves, drawers and hanging space that your child can reach easily.  Keep underwear, socks, vests, etc in bins or drawers.  Use drawer dividers to keep each category separate from the one next to it.  T-shirts, sweaters & shorts can go on either shelves or in drawers.  Hang long pants, skirts, dresses and coats.  Place a low, horizontal shoe rack on the floor of their closet or a canvas shoe rack that can over the door of their closet to house their shoes, sneakers, etc. 

2) Sort toys & games: Make it real simple for your kids to clean up after play time.  Sort through and purge all toys that your child has outgrown, are broken, have missing pieces or your child just isn’t interested in anymore.  Divide toys into categories such as: games, puzzles, dolls, actions figures, Lego, etc.  Place each category of toy into a storage bin.  Label the bins so your child will know what’s inside and can easily find what they are looking for.

3) Sort papers: Go through your child’s previous school year work.  Keep the best and discard the rest.  Create a binder to house the papers you are keeping.  Make a front cover for the binder with your child’s name, school, year, etc.  Use dividers to make sections for homework, artwork, certificates of recognition, awards, projects, etc.  Keep papers inside sheet protectors so the work will stay in good condition.  Take pictures of any larger artwork or projects they make and place the photo in the binder. 

4) Sort schedules: Place a dry erase calendar where you and your child can see and reach it.  With a marker write down all the upcoming school dates for the year – school breaks, events, field trips.  As you go through the year, use the calendar to track project due dates and help your child to schedule in the days they will be working on long term homework assignments in order to complete them on time.  Calendar can also include play-dates, parties, doctor’s appointments, and sports or dance lessons. 

5) Sort supplies:    Shop early for supplies that your kids will need such as backpacks, lunchboxes, binders, notepads, etc.  Create an area for them to do homework and stock with paper, pens, pencils, erasers, glue sticks, calculator etc.  Place a bin or basket close by to house completed homework & artwork as the year progresses.  Supplies can also be kept in a portable tote, basket or bin if necessary.

6) Sort folders: As the school year gets underway you will start receiving a ton of paperwork for each child.  Some of these can be discarded as you go.  Have folders ready prepared for the ones you need to keep.  In a file cabinet or file box, create a separate section for each of your children and label with their names.  Create folders to go into these sections and label them.  Labels can include categories such as  School Information, Report Cards, Contacts & Emergency Info, Projects, Medical, Sports/Dance programs, etc.

Enjoy the rest of summer!

Contact Jodie Watson:

If you have any questions, would like to schedule a free professional organizing telephone consultation, or would like Jodie Watson to speak at your next corporate function, group meeting, social event, or retreat, call at (818) 590-7800. You can also contact Jodie on Facebook and Twitter or visit her website at Supreme Organization.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Photo Scanning | No Comments »

Customer Spotlight: Paula Parks Fulford!

One of the best parts about following up with our customers after every completed order, is learning how people are actually using our service to reconnect with their memories. Afterall, it’s not about photo scanning or video transfers, it’s about preserving precious memories. To celebrate these stories, we’ll share a particular customer’s photo each month. Our Customer Spotlight this month, highlights one very special customer, drum roll please…Paula Parks Fulford!

Paula was first motivated to use our services because she wanted easy access to  the photos from her childhood without lugging out the slide projector. “My father took slides when I was growing up.  Looking through the “photo album” meant projecting slides on the wall…My last visit home, my mom gave me a pile of old family pictures, many I had not seen and I was excited to have those organized and in one place.”

Paula chose this particular image to share because it fills her with emotion to see herself embraced by her mother. “The picture that took me most by surprise was taken on a vacation to Colorado when I was about 6 yrs old.  My dad caught my mom and me in an unguarded moment, not a posed picture.  I feel warm and secure seeing myself wrapped in a blanket held by my mother…Now that I have a child of my own, looking at my young parents holding me with smiles and pride has a totally new meaning, and I feel a connection to them.  I like thinking about how happy they were to have me.”

She has also been using her newly digitized memories in unique ways. She writes the blog LoneStarLifer where she share photos for tributes to both of her parents. Paula also has a card business SnailMailNotes and has used some of her old photos to make humorous cards.

Paula has not only been a ScanDigital customer, but a true friend. She regularly interacts with us on Twitter and FAcebook, and even just recently tweeted from her @lonestarlifer account, “@ScanDigital I talk you up every chance I get!”

When asked about her ScanDigital experience she said, “I have been very pleased…My slides and photos have been transmitted safely and they come back to me in the same condition in which they were sent.  I appreciate that ScanDigital keeps me informed through each stage of the process: where my photos are, what stage of digitizing they are in, that they are on their way back to me.  Customer Service answers me quickly when I have a question.  I will continue to use your service!”

Read Paula’s complete interview here:

What motivated you to first use our services? Did you have a project in mind or simple desire for preservation?

My father took slides when I was growing up.  Looking through the “photo album” meant projecting slides on the wall.  We didn’t have many photo prints.  My father passed away several years ago and I had been thinking for some time that I would like to have a way to look at the photos when I wanted, and be able to give my younger brother a copy, also. I didn’t know how to go about this, then I learned about ScanDigital from a Groupon. I was a little nervous about sending my precious slides across the country but ScanDigital and UPS made sure they were safe.

One of my ultimate goals is to make my brother a photobook tracing our family line, and having all his baby pictures in one place.  Also, I enjoy scrapbooking and got the first four months of my now 13 year old son’s life in a scrapbook.  I finally faced the fact that I am never going to get the remainder of his pictures in a scrapbook, so I should get them scanned and make photobooks for him. 

What was one of the best memories you were reminded of? Was there a particular image or video that you were most excited to see?

I have been most touched by the pictures of my parents when they were young.  My last visit home, my mom gave me a pile of old family pictures, many I had not seen and I was excited to have those organized and in one place.  I also enjoyed seeing pictures of my parents as young parents.  Now that I have a child of my own, looking at my young parents holding me with smiles and pride has a totally new meaning, and I feel a connection to them.  I like thinking about how happy they were to have me. Since my father passed away in 1998, I really enjoy looking at pictures of him, from all periods of his life.

The picture that took me most by surprise was taken on a vacation to Colorado when I was about 6 yrs old.  I remember the vacation and the slides, but I don’t remember ever seeing this picture.  My dad caught my mom and me in an unguarded moment, not a posed picture.  I feel warm and secure seeing myself wrapped in a blanket held by my mother.

How have you used and enjoyed your newly digitized material (shared with friends/family, created a slideshow, posted online, etc)?

I have used my digitized materials in two ways, so far.  I write a blog www.lonestarlifer.wordpress.com @lonestarlifer and have used the photos for tributes to both of my parents, and to write about myself some.

Secondly, I have a card business, www.snailmailnotes.com @snailmailnotes, and I have used some of the pictures of me when I was very young to make humorous cards.

How has your experience as a ScanDigital customer been?

I have been very pleased with ScanDigital service.  My slides and photos have been transmitted safely and they come back to me in the same condition in which they were sent.  I appreciate that ScanDigital keeps me informed through each stage of the process: where my photos are, what stage of digitizing they are in, that they are on their way back to me.  Customer Service answers me quickly when I have a question.  I will continue to use your service!

Tags:
Posted in Photo Scanning | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries