Before:

After:

Here’s a quick example of some possibilities of what you can do. It’s nothing too elaborate, but should be impressive if you know what to look for.

Click on the image for a closer look of the before/during/after. Enjoy!

I – had – a – blast.

I’m SO glad that I attended, and would will absolutely be going again. Hopefully soon! I didn’t realize that NAPP was made up of such a great group of people – both employees, and members. Seriously. I went there on my own, made some friends, learned some stuff, and had a ball.

First I’d like to thank Mark (@tweakt) for letting me crash on his couch so that I could afford the trip in the first place. Thanks again! Would’ve been nice to actually hang out more while I was in town, but the schedule of events for PSW was pretty crazy as you saw. hahaha

I met a number of the forum peeps from the NAPP forums. They were all incredibly friendly and welcoming. My new buddies Lisa & Dave sage (@Lisa_Sage) – had a lot of amusing conversations with them. I was very excited to finally meet Nancy (@NAPP_News) – OMG she’s such a sweetheart! Margaret & April (@AprilAndrews?) were both cool – I ran into them a number of times. April has an awesome purse, and Margaret had a cool haircut so I could spot either in a crowd I met Firgs (@Firgs) of course! She’s a riot! hahahaha I can’t believe she talked RC into having the whole crowd do “the wave” right before the Closing Ceremonies started. Met Don Ricklin (@DonRicklin) the first night and realized just how small a world it is. Back in high school I knew his niece and nephew!

Met & bumped into a handful of others that I’m sorry I didn’t spend more time with and will probably get some of their names wrong… Hask/Harold was always smiling & friendly. Then there was Jeff (@jtamagini?), Will?, Roux (@LRoux?), Elizabeth (@egower), … and a number of others that I can’t think of at the moment. Too wiped from the trip – but I’m surprised I actually remember that many.

As for the instructors and staff – everyone was awesome (including Nancy mentioned above). I can’t believe how approachable everyone was! The instructors were knowledgeable and funny. Bert Monroy – as I said on Twitter – his work and knowledge just blows me away. He’s very inspiring. I wanted to send a special thanks to RC (@LayersTV_RC). He’s a big sweetheart and really helped make sure that I had a great time and felt at home. Thanks again RC!

Getting tired, and I’m dwindling, so I’ll have to stop there. I’m sorry for all those that I know I’ve forgotten. It was a pleasure to meet and spend time with you all.

This time it’s semi-local and in my favorite city – Boston. So that just makes me want to go even more My other justifications for going is that it would be a GREAT opportunity to network, I’ll learn a ton, and it’ll give me an excuse for a solid target date to work towards a few things … like finishing up my website design

I won’t have to pay for airfare, so that will help keep the price down. But the other variables… That’s what’s killing me!

Do I find a hotel nearby and pay the extra $$ for the convenience? Or do I borrow a friend’s couch for a few nights and hope that our schedules work out so that he’s home to let me in? If so, then I’ll either need to drive into the city and pay for parking ($$$), or walk to the T stop and commute in. Do I drive up to Boston so I have the freedom of going wherever, whenever, as I see fit – or do I take the train to save on parking while putting my commute to productive use?

My tax refund initially looked pretty promising to cover everything and I was really jazzed about going. Then I received more tax paperwork which made my refund significantly lower, and I started to wonder if I should just stay home and use the money to pay towards debt. I’ll still be able to cover all this – and more comfortably if I wanted to commute into the city and sleep on a friend’s couch.

Ok – that’s it. I think I’ve finally decided. I’ll buy the tickets.

On a side note, I think when my site’s redesign is done I’m going to add a NAPP referral link. Sure, I get some small bonuses for friends signing up, but friends get a bonus DVD “The Best of Photoshop User: The Tenth Year”. For now, here’s a referral banner: