Easy! Reader

I've been insanely busy building a new Rails app for a client and travelling a lot for speaking engagements. I just got back from an incredible trip to San Jose (well, Cupertino actually) where Molly, Andy and I were doing some training. I had an amazing time with both of them and it was really fun to see Andy in action (I, unfortunately, did not have the peasure of seeing him rock the audience at @media). We had a really great group of conference attendees too. I am a little saddened that this was my last stop on the WOW tour (I am missing Hawaii as it takes place on election day, but more on that later), but I have heard some rumblings that the show may go back on the road for a European leg. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, we've pushed a new issue of ALA out the door which includes a fantastic piece by Eric on the new ALA print stylesheet and I have a new article is in there as well: Improving Link Display for Print. It's print mania at ALA aparently.

Anyway, I am apparently going to New Jersey today for work, so I need to get ready. Ta for now.

In the wake of the tragedy that befel the citizens of and visitors to New Orleans recently, I've been amazed at the amount of support and kindness being shown to the survivors (Barbara Bush's comments notwithstanding). Help has come from the likely places as well as some unlikely ones and I am sure most of you have already donated money, blood and possibly even a room or two in your house/apartment. While a good deal of assistance is still needed for our fellow humans, there are others in need too: their displaced pets.

I received an email from a friend in Florida who has agreed to take in two dogs that made it through OK, but there are thousands more animals that need temporary homes, be they in kennels, animal boarding houses, veterinarian's offices, animal shelters, foster homes or rescue programs.

From what I understand, there are all breeds of dogs and cats in need of our help. Some are in family groups of 2, 3 and 4 while others are solo. And there are volunteers willing to drive them to you, no matter where you live. The current safe houses for these animals are being inundated and some of these pets will have to be euthanized if they are not moved to make room for the incoming animals.

If you are interested in taking in a dog or cat (or know someone who is), contact Lynda V. on her cell: 203-515-3024 or at home: 203-227-5308 at any time (day or night).

It's funny, but the more I take on, the more zen I get about work. Perhaps it's the recent addition of a daily trek to the gym in the wee hours of the morning which is getting my day off to a better start. Or maybe it's the Pragmatic philosophy which is beginning to take hold since finishing The Pragmatic Programmer and starting Agile Web Development with Rails. Who knows, but I am thankful for the calm.

So what else have I added to my already overfull plate? Well, I recently joined the staff of A List Apart as a copy editor. In fact Ross Howard's High-Resolution Image Printing (in Issue 202) marks my editorial debut at the famed publication. I am very excited about getting to work with Erin, Jeffrey, Eric, Jason and the rest of the ALA all-stars as I have been an avid reader since I discovered it back in 2000. If you are reading an article and notice an overabundance of <abbr> and <dfn>, there's a good chance I am to blame.

I am also pleased to confirm that I will be speaking at SXSW Interactive in March of 2006. At present, I am working on one session with Jeremy Keith and two other panels which are still in the formative stages. I will have more details to provide you all in the coming weeks.

Also to come are some great award announcements, a few more articles, and another potentially big announcement in the web standards arena. In the mean time, I am preparing for a private web standards training session down in North Carolina and next week's trip to Silicon Valley, where Molly, Andy and I will be putting on a great 3-day training session as part of the Web Design and Project Management Tour from WOW.