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50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Of 2008

Earlier today, I wrote on my other blog about discovering the 50 Most Beautiful Icon Sets Created In 2008. I wanted to share that info with you here too. Custom icons are fun, easy to use and they really revitalize work flow-especially for those of us who have the tendancy to spend alot of time behind the computer. This Merry Christmas set was voted #8. Did I mention that most of them are free?

If You Can't Be Topless...

Its that time of the year folks. Yep. Time for the Year in Review. 

Let's get the ball rolling with some fun stuff courtesy of Time Magazine and their The Top 10 Everything of 2008. 

Top 10 Buzzwords:

10. Topless meeting

 9.  Tweet

 8.  Puma

 7.  Rickrolled

 6.  Staycation

 5.   Nuke the fridge

 4.  Fist bump

 3.  Hockey Mom

 2.  Bailout

 1.  Change

  

Arianna Huffington on Workalholism

I am always heartened when I come across compelling arguments for pushing back the common work ethic insofar as "the idea that to be a success you have to drive yourself into the ground, and that making work the be-all and end-all of your life is a good thing." Arianna Huffington wrote these words in an op-ed piece that appeared in The Huffington Post yesterday. 

"The prevailing culture tells us that nothing succeeds like excess, that working 80 hours a week is better than working 70, that being plugged in 24/7 is expected, and that sleeping less and multi tasking more are an express elevator to the top." 

She was referring to an off-the-record comment by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on President Elect Barack Obama's appointment of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano being "a 'perfect choice' for Homeland Security Secretary because she has 'no life', 'no family' and 'can devote, literally, 19-20 hours a day' to the job."

Huffington continues "Rendell's paean to workaholism epitomizes this wrong-headed approach to acheivement. Indeed, the truth is the exact opposite. It turns out people are not only happier--they are also much more productive if they are able to get away from work, and renew their passion and focus."

Read the article here and watch Huffington on The Early Show talk about the issue.

Heavy Lifting

I don't want to be one of those friends that only calls when bad things happen to them. I know the regularity of posting since August has left much to be desired, but as I introduced in my other blog recently, there has been a reason for this: I've been birthing. Not a baby but a concept. 

Sadly, this coincided with Larry's illness and the moving of home and business. 

In a few short weeks everything is different. 

This takes deep skills. To process. To manage and to filter. 

Skills I might add that do not naturally run optimally at high speeds for me.

Writing just became too much. The therapeutic nature of the blogs and the reason I began them couldn't be exercised because I couldn't/can't process all the events happening at the same time. 

I totally get 'micro-blogging' not that I didn't before. It has been the only means that I've been able to keep consistentlyish connected with my own inner dialogue and the mysterious healing process of putting words on a page or in this case a screen. 

I was thinking about all of this stuff today in between bouts of profound despair about Larry and life without him when I happened across an article in the Science section of today's New York Times. It begins:

 "James W. Pennebaker's interest in word counting began more than 20 years ago, when he did several studies suggesting that people who talked about traumatic experiences tended to be physically healthier than those who kept such experiences secret." 

If this is true maybe everything will be okay. 

Read for yourself here. 

Twitter here.

My Hero: Larry Martin 2001-2008

So much in our lives just kind of happens. Forces conspire to create events and opportunities that we unwittingly enter or are thrust upon us while we were paying attention to something else.  Or so it seems. Some of the most signifigant events in my life have, it seems to me, happened like this. 

One of the greatest such moments was when I happened upon a cat running between parked cars one rainy September evening in 2002. He was black and white and strikingly handsome- even though he had a chunk missing from his ear and his fur had been stained with blood and grease. There was something elegant about him despite his limp that captivated me and I realize now that it was love at first sight. 

By snow fall this broken bodied, flea infested terminally ill cat and I began our years long love affair (indoors of course). Together we made a life out of what we were cast: each other and not much else. He doted on me and as anyone who knows me will attest to, I most certainly doted on him. Often the brunt of jokes (not to my face or his of course) most pet owners scoffed at our relationship. No matter. Larry has provided me with the sort of unconditional love that I had never known before, the kind that transcends most human or familial bonds. And for that, dear reader, I will be eternally grateful.

We'd dodged several attempts on his health before: FIV, leukemia, diabetes, toxoplasma, cancer. But today was the day of his last battle. 

So dear friend, today I raise a bottomless glass to you and light an inextinguishable flame. You have made the world a better place and I thank you for your love, your companionship and your support. 

Quote Of The Week: Randy Pausch

"But remember, the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people."

-Randy Pausch