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I was recently profiled at Communication Arts as part of their “Insights” feature. Check out the article. I basically ramble about why I love social bookmarking, Edward Tufte, 80s music and rotisserie ovens (set it and forget it). It’s great to get a little bit of press…although I hope I don’t seem like too much of a dork!

Communication Arts recently went through a redesign and rolled Design Interact into the main site. The new site looks great and is improved by the integration of their interactive stuff.

Check out this awesome new wallet, made by an Australian company called Dosh. It’s supposedly the world’s fist “injection-moulded model”, composed of flexible and semi-flexible polymers. I want!

In addition to being waterproof, there are number of neat features including special compartments and holders for cash, cards (credit and sim), keys, notes, etc.

The wallet has won a number of design awards. This is the only site that I could find that sells it in the USA.

Woody Allen said, “Most of the time I don’t have much fun. The rest of the time I don’t have any fun at all.” That’s how I feel about 2007. It was a tough year, mostly defined by long work hours, business trips, and tough decision but…as a whole, turned out to be an exceptionally positive year with lots of both professional and personal growth.

Not being one to ruminate, my year in review is presented in list format…

Work Highlights:

• Growth, growth, growth…RDVO grows by nearly 40% (for the third year in a row).
• New people. We were able to attract and retain some great new team members in ’07. The company nearly doubled in size and only one person left the company in 2007.
• Great work. We had a number of awesome website and product launches in 2007. Our work for MBTA.com was recognized as one of top websites of 2007. RDVO did some innovative work for Microsoft and Oxfam America.
• New services and focus. We grew our research and strategy capabilities and team. I believe this is a critical piece of RDVO’s future success (and our industry in general). In 2008 we plan to continue to grow in the area and plan to establish the company as a leader in this area.
• Awards. RDVO won more awards than any year in our history. We won a Webby for the MBTA website, as well MITX Awards for MBTA, Gillette Young Guns, and PHT Corporation. We also took part in Microsoft’s Phizzpop challenge and were nominated for a technology award at South by Southwest.

Life Highlights:

• New home. I bought a new place in Boston’ South End, housing market be damned! I moved into a parlor level on Union Park. The move was generally painless although actually “moving in” has taken much more time and energy than I thought. Should there still be boxes laying around six months after the move? 2008 will be marked by home improvements, including new kitchen, bathroom, and a number of other small projects…
• Traveling man. I spend well over a month on the road this year. Most of the travel was work-related, with a number of trips to Seattle. Ilisa and I took a nice (albeit short) vacation to Mexico. I also had visits to New York, Chicago, Austin, and San Francisco. Numerous frequent flyer miles were obtained!
• Red Sox. Saw one of the playoff games in their historic championship run!

I also saw a number of great movies, dined at a few great restaurants, and read some wonderful books. Here’s my quick “best of 2008″ list.

• Best Meal – a toss-up this year. I had an amazing meal at Café Juanita in Seattle while traveling on business. In Boston, the best meal I had was the amazing Ribeye at Boston’s new Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. Yeah, yeah – Ruth’s Chris is a big chain, but I’m not embarrassed—I was generally underwhelmed by Boston restaurants. Two new restaurants in my neighborhood – Gaslight and Rocca were both extremely disappointing.
• Best Movie – I can’t recall a year where I saw fewer movies than in 2007. I was blow away by No Country for Old Men, which was definitely my movie-going highlight of the year. I also enjoyed Eastern Promises and Ratatouille.
• Best Book – I read a number of books this year, but nothing really stuck with me. I enjoyed Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. I also re-read a couple of classics, including I, Claudius, Ragtime, and The Autobiography of Ben Franklin. Most entertaining, however, was Edmund Morris’s Theodore Roosevelt biographies, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex. America could certainly use Roosevelt today!

By Michael Chabon

I’ve read pretty much everything Michael Chabon has written. I am in awe of his evocative writing style and enjoy the whimsical nature of his story lines. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is his follow-up to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a book I completely enjoyed from cover to cover. While equally ambitious and enjoyable, Union ultimately runs out of steam and fails to engross the read like Kavalier.

The premise is inventive and engaging. Imagine if the Jews ultimately failed to establish the State of Israel after World War II and instead were given a small swath of land in coastal Alaska to settle. Instead of Tel Aviv, Jews in this alternate universe have Sitka as their capital and have established a large Jewish community in the far Pacific Northwest. As the book begins we learn that Sitka will soon lose sovereignty as an independent territory and, not unlike the last two thousand years, Jews will again have to seek a new homeland.

Enter Meyer Landsman, a Sam Spade (Spadestein)-like detective down on his luck. The run-down hotel where he lives is the scene of an execution-style murder of a junky chess master who turns out to be much more than he appears…

The novel unfolds as a class murder-mystery with a number of surprises and turns of fate. Along the way Chabon introduces the reader to the large cast of beautifully drawn characters who inhabit the strange world of Sitka, including Mafia-like Hassidic Jews, Filipino Donut kings, and Tlingit Indian lawmen. Chabon’s writing and narrative brings the sights, sounds, and smells of this imaginary Kosher wasteland to life (although his copious use of Yiddish may be confusing to some readers).

Ultimately, I found that the novel ran out steam about three quarters of the way through and ends up limping to the conclusion. Creating a compelling murder mystery against the backdrop of such a lavishly fantastic setting must have been challenging for the writer. While it works on a number of levels, I thought all the competing elements of story became exhausting and I limped through the last fifty pages or so. The mystery becomes more complex and far-reaching as it unravels (and quite difficult to follow!)

I would recommend The Yiddish Policemen’s Union to Chabon fans and readers who enjoy thick and juicy power-fiction. It’s a must read for anyone who enjoys Chabon’s work. However, I would try Kavalier or Mysteries of Pittsburgh if you haven’t read any of his work.

ABC News has a neat little Flash app that matches a presidential candidate to your political views based on a series a multiple-choice questions.

Admittedly, I haven’t been following the presidential race as closely as I probably should be, but who the heck is Mike Gravel? Apparently his platform matches the most closely to my views. And if I decide that I’m not a Gravel-backer (is that Graveler?) my next choices are Kucinich and Biden…yikes!

Are you like me and never know what day it is? Does the fact that a week is seven weeks long get lost on you? If you need a helpful pocket calendar that doesn’t have a power switch then you should download the 2008 Thumb calendar.

Last year I downloaded the calendar, printed it out and taped it inside the front cover of my notebook so I wouldn’t have to fumble through my handheld to find a date. Arranged quarterly, the design is nifty and a neat take on a calendar UI. The designer, Adam Sporka, also has some cool takes on subway maps.

If you need something a little larger than a business card, you can download David Seah’s Compact Calendar.

The Compact Calendar follows the “Candy Bar Theory” of calendar design where the whole year is displayed as a continuous stream of dates, which supposedly improves your ability to visualize a time period (as opposed to seeing time ranges in chunky month intervals).

The compact calendar can be downloaded as a PDF or as an MS Excel file that can be used for customizing project plans. Neat tool.