Dave's a Cesar Fan

Dave is a Dog Whisperer fan and so am I. Livy and I have adopted two rescue dogs with checkered pasts. At first, we had a really hard time dealing with them but once we started watching Cesar Milan (and Livy met with him once), we learned how to gain control. It's not a miracle solution--you have to work at at it. Nevertheless, our former death-row dogs are part of our pack now, and we're the leaders. (Most of the time.)

"Hawaiian for Karen"

Krista Vernoff, writer and executive producer of "Grey's Anatomy" has blogged the story of her friend

I write stories every week in which doctors are heroes. In which medicine saves lives against every possible odd. In order to write those stories, we do a lot of research and read a lot of medical horror stories. It’s enough to make a relatively well-adjusted person something of a hypochondriac. There’s a lot of scary stuff out there. But this story has been scarier to me than just about anything I’ve ever heard or read.

Powerful stuff.

That's Right!

This interactive rhyme book by Chad Geran is great. I love the illustration style--especially the transparency on this whale. (Via Dunstan)

Good for Tahoe

Vacation Rentals: A How-to Guide - 71Miles: "Vacation rentals can be tricky to navigate, but the payoff is huge. Whether you’re a budget traveler who can’t afford the double-whammy cost of hotels and restaurants, or a luxury traveler who wants seclusion and over-the-top grandeur, you’ll get more space and privacy for your money by booking a rental property."

The Future Will Be Confusing

Please flush after use.
Originally uploaded by veen

Does the door open by magic or by handle? Should you dry your hands on recycled paper or a Dyson dryer? Push or pull? Paper or plastic? Debit or credit? For here or to go? Tall, grande, or venti? Aisle or window? Hot or not? Veen's photo of this sign telling people they need to flush after use is a welcome sign to the future.

Adopt an Acre for Indian Farmers

The Navadanya organization has some smart folks doing some good stuff. Check this out, it's serious business.

Thousands of farmers in India have taken their lives because of debt and recurring losses in crops. The sadest part is that their misery is not their doing. They are victims. They have been cheated by companies that sold them expensive genetically modified seeds which were less productive than traditional seeds. They were sold ineffective pesticides and varieties of cotton with false promises of worm resistance. No lesser blame goes to callousness of government and common man's apathy. The end consumer that the farmers' toil feed has taken no cognisance of the farmers' plight. Lets end that here. Lets do something about it. Lets give the farmers of India a ray of hope, one acre at a time. Adopt an acre.

Us Chaps

cw, biz & ev
Originally uploaded by Mai Le

We dressed up for Maggie Mason's birthday over the weekend. Champagne and little sandwiches were involved. I had just shoved a tiny sandwich into my mouth when Mai snapped this photo. Classy.

This Bird Can Jam

Bird Lovers Only Rescue: May I have this dance?

"Nice"

The blog of "unnecessary" quotation marks

Threadless Chicago Sign

Threadless Chicago Sign
Originally uploaded by cshimala

Neat, they're opening a Threadless retail store in Chicago.

Fancy Place

Pool at St Regis
Originally uploaded by bizstone

As a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences I was invited to speak at Webby Connect about Twitter and other subjects. The conference is being held at the St. Regis in the OC. It's a giant resort with a great view of the Pacific. In a few minutes I'm heading to the BBQ wrap up. Caterina Fake, Michael Eisner, and Vint Cerf were also here--pretty fancy and well organized for the first ever IADAS conference. Caterina challenged me to work a phrase into my time on stage. I'm not sure if she stuck around to hear it or not but the phrase was "Kragen Auto Parts" and I totally rocked it.