A dad for the weekend

I got to be a dad for the weekend! I have to admit, I miss her!!!
SO CUTE!!!

Oh, hello snake...

Who knew Steve is ticklish?!

Moving day is there

Gotta Love BabyGirl!

Google Timeline

We're keeping track of ours, I can't wait to put one together that is this long and full of content!
Shoutout to Nigel for the original link:

On August 1998

Andy Bechtolsheim is first Google investor
then just 10 months later - looking at the Google timeline is remarkable - investors/venture capitalists gave them $25million on June 7th 1999.

2 full years before the dot com burst in 2001 - you can check out the time line here:

http://www.google.com/tenthbirthday/#start

Web 2.0 Expo NY: Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library), Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape

This is what I'm talking about! At LW we are 2 people away from him as per the Kevin Bacon game rules. Can't wait to meet him in person once day!

He's absolutely amazing and funny! Completely inspired after this!

6 Tips For Completing An Intimidating Project

Great article by Anita Zinsmeister, President of Dale Carnegie Training of Central & Southern NJ.

Greetings!:
 
One of our clients was given the opportunity to head up a complex and high visibility project.  Although he was excited about the opportunity he also found it daunting.  He found himself not sure of which way to turn to get the project started and how to execute it most efficiently or productively.
 

Many people let fear get in the way of progressing in at least one area of their lives.  Don't let fear of an intimidating project at work cripple your chance to get ahead at the workplace and take on additional responsibilities. Tackle that project head on and everyone will be better off.  We've put together a list of tips to make this easier for you.

The 6 Tips For Completing An Intimidating Project Are:

Tip # 1. Make Sure You Are Organized - If you are not organized you will find yourself  floundering, making the project seem more difficult than it is.  Create a list of things that need to be done in order to bring your project to completion.  Organize the list by what needs to be done first as well as order of difficulty.
 
Tip #2. Get Started Now - Look at the task list you created and decide whether you want to tackle the most difficult parts first or just get the easy parts over with.  This will help you start momentum on the project.  Looking at a large project in smaller steps will help you get over your fear of a "huge" project.  Prioritizing what is most important and needs to be done first can give you a sense of self direction.
 
Tip #3. Set Deadlines - Set appropriate deadlines for milestones in the project (hourly, daily or weekly).  Check your progress against your deadlines at least once a day to be sure you are on track.  Make adjustments if necessary and continue on your path.  Don't allow yourself to get flustered if you get stuck on something - move on and come back to that part later with fresh eyes.
 
Tip #4. Take Breaks To Keep Yourself Working At Peak Performance - If you are tired or hungry your productivity will slow down immensely.  Do yourself a favor and schedule in lunch and snack breaks and do not skip them.  Invest a few minutes to take a short walk or get some fresh air.  It can invigorate you.  If the project is being completed over the span of a few days, choose a time to leave work for the day and stick with it. Overworking yourself is not an efficient way to get your project completed.
 
Tip #5. Ask For Help If Necessary - If you get stuck on something, ask for help or feedback from your co-workers.  This will help give you another perspective on something you may have overlooked.  If the project is truly more than you can handle or you are falling behind on deadlines, see if you can delegate parts of the project to others.  Further increase efficiency by matching each task to the person who is most likely to do the best job on that particular item.
 
Tip #6. Step Back And Review - When you are finished, or almost finished, step back and review the whole project.  Doing this will enable you to correct any mistakes and will help you be sure that the project is cohesive.  The completed version of the smaller tasks that you broke the project into needs to fit together well.
 
Summary - These tips will help you stay on track to complete any large project in a timely manner.  Don't let fear get the better of you at work - take a logical approach to breaking a project down into manageable pieces and you will reap the rewards.

Usability Testing Software

Found this after following Pinaki's post to the Javascript post:

Morae 3

http://www.techsmith.com/featured/2008/morae/user_experience/?cmp=WDWM001

Seems pretty cool, and it's amazing how much easier things like usability testing and focus groups are starting to become!

Javascript in Modern Web Design

Web designer wall has a new post that catalogues some I'd the most
used javascript functions to extend designs and inscrease user
experience.

http://www.webdesignerwall.com/general/javascript-in-modern-web-design/

SugarSync is an app that seamlessly syncs files

SugarSync is an online tool that can sync folders over multiple
computers. It's been hailed by our good friend Jakob Neilson as one of
the most usable app interfaces of 2008.

I'm thinking that we can use this to sync our project files aka
LW_Projects folder.

Me thinks it would work better than MS Groove because of those of us
who own Macs.

I'll do some research and see what's up.

www.sugarsync.com

Check out the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVeDR63w6LU

Laraners

LW logo in chalk (good)

Tap is the New Click

Good primer on designing interfaces for touchscreen applications, Click here. (download alert: 8.5mb PDF)

Logo in chalk (bad)

Was out in the driveway and did the logo. I realized that I broke the
brand guideline... So I slapped myself on the wrist.

Stanford Engineering Launches Free Computer Science Classes

Another one from Kevin Rose's Twitter

For the first time in its history, Stanford is offering some of its most popular engineering classes free of charge to students and educators around the world. Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE) expands the Stanford experience to students and educators online. A computer and an Internet connection is all you need. View lecture videos, access reading lists and other course handouts, take quizzes and tests, and communicate with other SEE students, all at your convenience.

http://see.stanford.edu/

Jason Fried - Things We’ve Learned at 37Signals

Got this off of twitter from a Kevin Rose Tweet http://kevinrose.com/

This is a great read, from a guy at 37Signals discussing projects at the Web 2.0 conference, link at bottom, here's a preview:

Going to range from collaboration to design, hiring, lots of things without diving into too much detail. 20-25 minutes of talking and then Q&A.

1. Momentum - Has its hands in just about everything and is incredibly important. Esp for morale. Most typical projects are really exciting at the beginning and then people tend to lose interest and fade out. Long projects eat at you and you’re not even looking to do good stuff you just want to finish things and they don’t turn out well. Create a situation where projects are short and there’s excitement and it’s a short 2 week project and it leaves people in excited mode. Break big projects into as many small projects. 2 week rule.

http://www.krisjordan.com/2008/09/17/jason-fried-10-things-weve-learned-at-37signals/

Evernote!

Evernote available on the Iphone, now I'll use it!!!

http://www.evernote.com/

On your phone
Take snapshots, read to-do lists, record audio whenever and wherever you like

On the web
Create, clip, and share notes on the web and see them everywhere

On your desktop
Search through all your notes, even find text within images, whether online or off

Another successful meeting

Mornings in Ewing

Swimming Pool Destruction Final Destination!!!

The scrap yard:

Montreal Sleeper

Great Pic of the Bachelor on the way up getting work done :)

Behold the new Local Wisdom Brand!

For 10 years we've lasted with the current logo. Created originally in 1998, the logo has been our mark stating that wisdom is key.

Today, we've refocused our company and brand. Its all about the website! (and yea, we do other things as well)

Download the new brand guidelines and pop some comments with your thoughts.

Get Ready for Tomorrow's Startup with the LHC Rap

Pitstop

Headed to Montreal!!!

Celebrating Derricks last days as a single man. Congrats Derrick!!!

LW Exterminators!!!

List of medications with potential safety problems

Drugs under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration, what they are used for and the potential problem:
_R-Gene 10, a growth hormone, pediatric overdose due to labeling/packaging confusion.
_Suprane, an anesthetic, cardiac arrest.
_Cymbalta, for depression and other conditions, urinary retention.
_Intelence, an HIV medication, bleeding into joints.
_Carac and Kuric, creams for skin conditions and fungal infections, name confusion.
_Heparin, a blood-thinner, serious allergic reactions.
_Extraneal, used in kidney dialysis, low blood sugars.
_Humulin R (U-500), insulin for diabetes, dosing confusion.
_Stromectol and Warfarin, an anti-parasite drug and a blood thinner, drug interaction.
_Tykerb, for advanced breast cancer, liver damage.
_Revlimid, for multiple myeloma, severe skin blistering and bleeding.
_Tysabri, for multiple sclerosis, skin melanomas.
_Nitrostat, for angina, overdose due to labeling confusion.
_Sandostatin LAR, for abnormal bone growth, bowel obstruction.
_Oxycontin, a pain killer, drug misuse, abuse and overdose.
_Definity, used in cardiac imaging, cardiopulmonary reactions.
_Dilantin injection, for epileptic seizures, serious skin reaction.
_Seroquel, for bipolar disorder, overdose due to sample pack labeling confusion.
_Tyzeka, for chronic hepatitis B, nerve damage.
_Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Blockers, for juvenile arthritis, cancers in children and young adults.

Original Article here from the AP

Because You Wanted to See It...Or Maybe Not

Giving Geocentrists the Finger

After Galileo Galilei died, his students stole the middle finger off of his corpse and managed to preserve it. It now resides in a museum in Florence, Italy. Find out more.

Know any videographers and photographers?

My Dad’s 75th birthday is coming up and we’re looking for a good crew to take video and photographs.

Know anyone who can compete with 2K for a 6-7 hour event?

All I really need is raw photographs and video footage at the end. I can package it all up together myself.

Holler.

--
Pinaki A. Kathiari
Director, User Experience & Design
Local Wisdom, Inc.

office (732) 873-0611 x. 406
mobile (732) 742-8402
fax (732) 873-0699

email: pkathiari@localwisdom.com

What's on my drawing table now

More fish coming to life waiting to swim in murky water.

I hope this doesn't happen to your car.... *sigh*

BY THE POWER OF GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY SKULL!!!!!!!

She-Ra 6 Disc Set or He-Man 5 Disc Set - $10 @ Best Buy

She-Ra, Princess of Power: Season 1, Vol. 1 [6 Discs] - DVD

She-Ra, Princess of Power: Season 1, Vol. 2 [6 Discs] - DVD


He-Man & The Masters of the Universe: Season 2, Vol. 1 [5 Discs] - DVD

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe: Season 1, V. 2 [5 Discs] - DVD

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe: Season 2, Vol. 2 [6 Discs] - DVD

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe: Season 1, Vol. 1 [5 Discs] - DVD

Sharing some Links

I figured I'd share a link to a site I check out every day I'm on the internet:

http://slickdeals.net/

Great place to find Tech stuff on discount, everything from computer stuff to gadgets. Also random items like cheap trips or sales at Office Depot, great 30 seconds of reading each day!!!

Blogging on Vacation by Ricky Wisdom

Beautiful carving... seen in Liberty Corner, NJ

I don't usually frequent graveyards, but this headstone struck me as particularly elegant. Dated 1849.