John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

A business card holder with a wooden touch

On my to-do list this week is a new set of business cards. (Right up there with getting a few pounds of coffee, to keep the home office fully percolated - there are, after all, two of us working here now.)

I spotted this item, a wooden card holder, on Dwell, which ranks among the too-cool things that I really shouldn't pull my credit card out for. It's just over $80 US, to boot, but it certainly would be the conversation piece. And hopefully not a splinter generator.

Bits and pieces

Miscellaneous bits, with the morning coffee.

True Blood starts its new season in June. Given that the missus has a Fangtasia T-shirt, this kind of casting news is much appreciated.

Martha Stewart: Even her bloody dogs get book deals.

If you're going to quit your job with Google, to go work with Twitter, do it with panache.

Paul Wells writes on the Obama-Harper relationship. Such as it is.

Andres, my cousin-in-law (if such a thing exists) must be delighted with this: one of the twin Starbucks at Astor Place, a block or two from his place in Manhattan, is closing. (He's not a Starbucks fan, to say the least. Martha and I avoided arriving home with tell-tale white containers.)

Richard Simmons can swear like a &%^#@* sailor. Who knew?

From Rolling Stone, a Depeche Mode clip from 1982, with Dave Gahan resembling "the singer of a high school Gary Numan cover band." (Ouch.)

Daily math tricks

Five things you can actually use all the time, from tire pressure to quickly figuring out an annual salary. From Primer.

That Monday morning feeling

At least it passes, in time. As seen here, on Rob Sheridan's Sketchblog.

Cubism, or the weird appeal of the Nissan Cube

Is it just me, or is the forthcoming Nissan Cube ... just weird? Lots of buzz, and now a site hyping the launch next spring in the U.S. I know the boxy look has been popular among car designers, but the Cube is boxalicious. I'm curious to see what young, eco-affinity types make of it in the marketplace.

Who knew that shoelaces could be so interesting?

There are things I'm willing to spend a little extra time on; tying up my shoelaces is, um, not one of them. A feature on this site, Sneaker Freaker, suggests maybe I should change.

Beneath that sweater-and-shirt combo

This Kyle Cummings piece had some resonance for me. A teensy bit. More of his stuff here.

How do you get through winter?

I originally posted this on Saturday; I'm nudging it along to keep the debate going.

As I type, a snowstorm is blowing outside; not a blizzard, but enough to disrupt our plans for the day, and then some, and too stormy to go outside.

We're managing, of course; we'll put on a fire, a movie, and make something decent for dinner. And hope that it ends.

Which made me think: What gets you through winter? A song? A type of food? Some wine? An activity? A book? Leave a comment below.

Pop graffiti art

Banksy is the name of a graffiti artist in Bristol, England, who thinks differently, to say the least, from the usual lot. More here.

Honest greeting cards

Greeting cards come in only a few emotional sets (saccarine-sweet, just-this-touch-of-tasteless, self-help-lite), so I was struck by the candour of ones like this:

More like them here, at Bald Guy Greetings. (A caution: some of these really are meant for adults, and are/or more than just a touch tasteless.)