Living Loud: The Mobile Lifestyle. Justin discusses how mobile phones have changed our minds and manners. He mentions Cellmanners.com which I of course traipsed over to and found Great Ways to Use Your Cell Phone and Saved by the Cell, how cell phones are saving lives.

No more Happy Mac.

RIAA site hacked. [Thanks, Dave]

Tom's interesting public relations blog. [Thanks, Deborah]

The Art of Brainstorming.

“…according to Lawrence A. Bossidy, who recently retired as CEO and chairman of Honeywell International Inc.: 'You've got to promote people who want to be creative and innovative. Drones don't have good ideas.' Bossidy touches on turning ideas into reality in a new book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done. 'Companies that set out in some formal, structured way to get ideas--I think that's bunk. You've got to make sure that it's done in a free-form environment, where people have self-confidence,' he said. 'Ideas come at unsuspecting times, at unusual places.'”

[Thanks, Redwood City Public Library]

Take a survey: Code Style's Font Sampler. [Thanks, Mr. Gnuhaus and Ms. CodeBitch]

Grandparents Day is September 8th. Here are some facts and figures on the part grandparents play in our lives. [Thanks, Gary]

A normal day begins. I'm riding the peaceful wave that comes after the big push. Yes, the dildo site is now live.

I did make it to Kepler's this weekend which is always a warm fuzzy experience, but hard to leave with less than an armful of new books. One book I'm really excited about is Geometry in Design by Kimberly Elam. Great examples that even non-math me could understand.

Fellow WebHead, Mr. Persistance, pointed out to me that my boys are coming to LA and New York. What? No San Francisco where they'd be such a natural? I wrote to them and get your calendars out, it looks like they'll be in the City in October. WooHoo!

Still not able to send email, so I post an entry. In the mornings, that's all I have time for—post an entry or answer email, but not both before going to work. Hopefully I'll get the email issue resolved this afternoon.

Eric's on a rampage. Is my beloved Peniszilla in danger from the boys at Toho?

Thanks, Dan, for the dose of positivity. Behind the economy's dark clouds, here are some silver linings. One of the silver linings: Customers—not consumers—awaken.

“A consumer's role is limited to ordering what's on the menu and paying for it. A customer wonders what's not on the menu, asks for something he or she actually wants and then negotiates the terms.”

The Importance of Information Architecture: Answers to the Ten Most Critical Questions (pdf). [Thanks, Christina]

Always looking at style guides. Here's BCR Online's. What's interesting here is how they have a style plan for converting to CSS.

Sun's Designing for Accessibility

New XHTML carries a language barrier.

“I'm really hesitant over the line in the new spec (v2) that reads, 'While the ancestry of XHTML 2 comes from HTML 4, XHTML 1.0, and XHTML 1.1, it is not intended to be backward compatible with its earlier versions,'" Frances Currit-Dhaseleer, a technical trainer and Webmaster in Colorado Springs, Colo., wrote in an e-mail interview. "What exactly does this mean? Does this mean that everything else is obsolete? If that's the case, it'll be a long time before I move over to XHTML.'”

Europeans finding ways around Hollywood's DVD controls.

From APA Style, how to quote electronic references.

Librarians' Index to the Internet's Possible Resources Blog.

Bah-bye, Avantgo. Avantgo doesn't know if or when they will be able to upgrade their product so that it works for OSX. Let them know how you feel.

Have been doing the lo-fat lo-cholesterol mambo. Last night was a meatless night. Yeah, I know. I crockpotted some pinto beans (with chicken broth and onion in lieu of ham hock) the night before. Found Betty's Easy Spanish Rice. The recipe calls for 1/8 t. garlic; Honey wanted to know what the clove equivalent is, and voila, Betty's got it.

Just finished The House in Paris by Elizabeth Bowen. Psychological slow cooker. Story didn't come really alive until Karen was introduced and then, zoom.

Next book: I've broken from my usual women writers and am diving headfirst into Kazuo Ishiguro's “When We Were Orphans”. “The Remains of the Day ” was great and I expect a similar experience here.

When I update frequently, you get to catch all the fine details like dragging ass. And that's mine dragging. Could only handle Richard's Sweatin to the Oldies for 15 minutes. Tummy's not feeling well.

Was going to play email ketchup this morning, but no can send (our webhost is changing mail servers); sorry, Karen, Anne, Jeff, Daphne, Cassia, Mama, and Dave.

Will post this single url: Molly Ivins discusses class warfare.

10 Tips on Writing the Living Web: Mark's good article on improving the writing on your website.

Off the web design path…

Crush sites: Cleverly disguised spam mosheens.*

Are you horny?: The Quiz.*

[*Thanks, Evan]

Coming clean: Tips for sex and sexy bathrooms.

Menopausal women: Use it or lose it.

“ Forget the pill-pushers—the best way for older women to stay sexually interested is to keep having sex. “

Sounds like a deal to me.

Imagine my disappointment when I thought yesterday was Thursday. Okay, now today is definitely Thursday.

Cory asks, Can the digital hub survive Hollywood? Showdown at the Apple Corral? We'll see. And here's a rumor for you: Discovery of Microsoft Accounting Irregularity Reveals Apple Has 95% of Market. [Thanks, Dan]

Top Ten Conservative Idiots. [Thanks, Buzzflash]

See illicit photos of the new G-4's coming out at Phil's place. [Thanks, As the Apple Turns]

Keith's Evolt article, Guidelines for the use of <span>.

From Scott Rosenberg at Salon, The Media Titans Still Don't Get It. Here's a quote from the article:

“Motavalli, lamenting the post-bubble state of the industry, asks the quintessential media-insider question about the Web: ‘There are billions of Web sites, but how many of them matter?’

“Excuse me—matter? To whom, exactly? To the Manhattan lunch crowd? To the Beltway lobbyist? To the person searching Google for ‘Anna Nicole Smith’—or ‘expansion joints’?

“What Weinberger reminds us is that every Web site, every Internet posting matters to the person who created it—and maybe to that person's circle of site visitors, whether they number 10 million or just 10. Sure, some 11-year-old's book review on Amazon may be full of grammatical errors. OK, the world may not need any more Britney Spears fan sites. But lord, here's the quark machine some imaginative scientists built in 1997! Here's the complete lyrics of Bob Dylan! And here's everything you ever wanted to know about repairing your old Volkswagen!”

Amen.

Rhonda's home. Yea!

I know, I know…an entry two days in a row. I must have a fever or something.

From Web Page Design for Designers, Suzanne discusses web page color schemes based on your photos. And unlike that Joe, she spells color right.

Accessibility: Mark explains in detail about using relative font sizes.

I'm watching for Dan's suggestions on what we can do against the Greedy Bastards.

Sounds like fun: Finding info about real places from real people. Here's my Sunnyvale, California. [Thanks, MetaFilter]

The searchable archive from the css-discuss list. [Thanks, Mark]

My business, Makes Grown Men Cry, turns five today. I'm smiling.

I am so coastin into the last month of my 40's. In the zone and lovin it. Sorry for the lack of updates. Have been muy occupado.

Good News. The polyps on my vocal chords have vanished. I found this out Friday morning when I went to my pre-op doctor's visit. She sees no reason to do surgery, and will look into other avenues of why I still have my sexy whiskey voice. Relief is a six letter word.

Wait. There's even more Good News. I now have a full-time Web Designer position at the local power company. It's a temp position, but one that could last awhile. Eleven months of filing makes one quite grateful.

I've been dipping my toes into personas. What a useful tool for keeping focused on visitors needs. I had looked forward to hearing Drue Miller speak at last month's Web Design Conference, but had to catch an afternoon plane. Gentleman that he was, he emailed me the url to his presentation after I found his notes weren't included in the conference binders. Drue points to Alan Cooper. I can't help but be reminded as I combine demographics info with various "users" end goals that this is more than a lot like rolling up an NPC in D&D. I'm taking to this like a duck to water.

Sensitive Language from Random House. The article covers 'sexism, race, age, sexual orientation, depersonalization of persons with disabilities or illness, partronizing or demeaning expressions, language that excludes or unnecessarily emphasizes differences'.

And while you're there, be sure to check out the new words of the decades: 40's (bikini), 50's (junk mail), 60's (doofus), 70's (X-rated), 80's (mall rat), and 90's (bad hair day but no WooHoo).

More words: do you spell it: 'website' or 'web site' or 'Web site'?

As I sit here listening to Pearl Jam jam via my new Harman Kardon SoundSticks…

…I know I've been looking at nothing but dildos lately, but is it just me? Fortunately, I'm pretty desensitized at the moment so it's not like distracting…well, not too much…

…I haven't bought a music cd all year. I hate spending $20 on a cd and only have one song you like on it (Three Doors Down, Everclear's last new, Offspring's last new one, Puddle of Mudd's). I've waited with baited breath for Linkin Park's new one and it's a remix. Yuck.

I find myself even going through my vinyl in search of something good. But I can't live in the past musically all the time. Radio stations play boring music. The ones that play any decent sort of songs censor them. I can't believe everyone's gone boring all at the same time. I try to be hopeful like Janis, but it's tough not to be cynical with all the Greedy Bastards running amuck. I hear Santana will be putting out a new album. Keeping my fingers crossed.

More stupidity: Don't Link's list of urls to stupid policy pages of various sites.

Leaving on a more positive note, How to Create a Successful Annual Report.

p.s. Hurry home, Rhonda. Mama misses you.