Wow, we really do love our pets don’t we?

U.S. consumers spent $34.3 billion on pets in 2004:

• Food ($14.3 billion)
• Vet care ($8.3 billion)
• Supplies/ medicine ($7.9 billion)
• Live-animal purchases ($1.6 billion)
• Grooming/ boarding ($2.2 billion)
MEDIA 4.05

per the Iconoculture newsletter

This is interesting for all of you artists out there looking for a bank of free audio sounds in all shapes and sizes. Check out Freesound:

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, … released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License.

per j walk

Check this out - the Alarm Clock weblog posts about what they call the “Dork Boat”- this is an interesting idea that solves the timezone problem between offshoring programming and development to other countries. Of course expect some strong opinion on this….without a doubt.

“Geeks are enthralled by the story that a San Diego company called SeaCode is purchasing a cruise liner, is then going to pick up a shipload of 600 Indian coders, and park the boat in international waters three miles off the coast of Los Angeles. That way outsourcers can pay Indian prices but enjoy proximity and local time zones”

Read more about it here.

Happy Earth Day. Its always good practice to acknowledge and respect the planet.

Presurfer linked out to an interesting site. Check out the make up of your American English dialect.

Here are my results:

Your Linguistic Profile:
55% General American English
30% Yankee
15% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern

On the virtual fun kick today. Here is a site where you can build a virtual model. Check it out, you dont have to register to create a model.

The site and technology was designed by My Virtual Model, Inc which is in the business of improving the ease of purchasing clothing online:

My Virtual Model Inc. has set the standard for online apparel shopping. Two core technologies - the My Virtual Model™ Dressing Room and My Virtual Model™ Fit - enable consumers to ‘try on’ clothes on the Internet. 2002 saw the introduction of a third product, My Virtual Model™ Imail. This innovative marketing tool offers a unique, fun and simple interactive My Virtual Model™ Dressing Room integrated in an e-mail.

I am sure you all remember Tammy , she is still a very popular force online. Beer.com continues the viral fun with Trish and Lisa, with Virtual Bartender 2.

Like VB1 there are many commands you can use. Try these for starters: banana, beer, blow, can, clothes, grab, gun, hair, jedi, jump, kiss, magic and pitcher.

per presurfer

Hey all, sorry about complete lapse in posting this week. I have been in NJ dealing with a family situation that is quite unfortunate. In a nutshell, my parents home was completely devastated in a fire this week. It was a horrible situation, and they lost everything. This occured on Tuesday afternoon to be specific. Fortuantely, no one was in the house at the time of the blaze. My mother had run out to do some errands around 3:30pm and when she returned at 5:15pm, the entire house was ungulfed with flames. My Dad was coming home from work. Five fire companies, an air unit, and 5 first aid squads responded to the scene. The fire took 75 firefighters over an hour and a half to get under control, 2 of them were injured with second degree burns. The fire was caused by some electrical wiring in the basement that was hooked to an old exhaust fan that we never used. The investigators think condensation had built up on it. Amazing….

Its been a very trying and emotional week as many of you can imagine. Its amazing how a lifetime of “things” can be completely taken away in less than one hour. My parents are doing ok given the circumstances, they are troopers. It turns out they are going to have to level the house and rebuild from scratch. They will be ok, a new life in a new home is on the horizon. Times they are a changing.

Thanks to all of you who knew about this for your support, its very much appreciated. All of the emails and comments and the outpouring of kindness means so much.

Time to get back to work, get back in the groove and still support my parents through this trying time.

More later.

Great fucking time blunty stated, but very factual. Its been too long since I have visited the Big Apple for either a business or pleasure nature, and there is just no reason for that to happen! After all it is only a 2.5 hour train ride from Baltimore Penn station to the center of Manhattan (Amtrak is my preferred method of travel to and from NYC). I have 3 favorite cities so far in my travels, NYC, London and Amsterdam, all of which I frequent and have posted about regularly in my blog. These are some of the finest epicenters of culture, trends, new ideas and change. Blistering with art, music, creativity and hipsters from all walks of life.

After the suprisedly quick 2 hour stint at the Extracts show (the business part of the trip), it was off to the east village for some shopping at the boutiques. Good stuff all around, my wife particularly enjoyed acquiring some new jeans and bikini (a hot one I must say), and I got my trip on at G-Star, first time for me, totally my style. It was one of those “where the fuck I have been?” moments. I worked up a couple of new shirts and then we bolted to Pravda, a really cool underground lounge / restaurant that is completely unassuming. Its decked out and sophisticated entirely with a Russian flare. Serving some great vodka and delicious food. The place is also absolutely vibing with sensuality. The servers and staff were all female and very attractive in that super sexy eastern european way, it was all good. After a martini and a pressed tomoto and cheese sandwich we headed back to the hotel.

We capped off the night at Fiorello’s on Broadway up in the 60’s. Unbelievable time, the pizza is seriously out of this world. The crust is paper thin, literally! and we had buffalo mozzerella and tomato sauce. Peeps, seriously, you have to check this out when in NYC sometime. A buddy of mine turned me on to the place a few months ago, and I have been itching to get back. It was a total hit with the Mrs.

Blah blah blah, I wont bore you anymore with trip details, and will summarize it all like I started this entry, just that it fucking rocked. We are on the Amtrak train heading back now, happy Sunday!

Peace!

Sarcasmo has taken the study of various personality types and broken it all down into two simple concepts that make up the sum of people. I dig it, I am definitely more of an “outie,” however, I think I peter back and forth between the two depending on the day, week, month, I can be complex

“Innies”: Innies are those who take great pains to leave as early as possible for social engagements not because they are necessarily anxious to get there and enjoy themselves; but rather because the earlier they can get to an event the earlier they can leave said event and return to the familiar comfort of their own homes.

“Outies”: Unlike their counterparts, “Outies” thrive on activities and socializing; and can do so for hours on end (often to the chagrin of their charming hosts and patient hosts). Anxious and eager for new and stimulating experiences, “Outies” will often “stack” plans one after another, so their out-of-home experience doesn’t have to end simply because an individual event does.

per the J-Walk blog