The charity that I have selected this month is the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in response to the floods that have affected some 20 million people now in Pakistan.

This is Pakistan’s worst flooding in 80 years with millions of people losing their homes, crops and livestock in this disaster. What is the IRC doing? The IRC is delivering the necessities like blankets, clean water, shelter, sanitation, health care to the people in need. Another very important thing that the IRC is doing is working on preventing the outbreak of waterborne diseases.

Who We Are
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

At work today in over 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, the IRC restores safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home. – Who We Are http://www.theirc.org/about

Our commitment
When an emergency arises, the IRC arrives on the scene within 72 hours with urgently needed supplies and expertise that protect people caught in the midst of chaos. We commit to stay as long as we are needed, helping survivors to heal, recover and rebuild their communities to be stronger, more stable and more democratic. In the United States, the IRC has helped hundreds of thousands of refugees thrive in the country that gave them sanctuary and a new beginning. – Our Commitment http://www.theirc.org/irc-a-glance

Learn more about the IRC and find out how you can the help Pakistan >>

For other charities and ways to help see Yahoo’s News Blog Pakistan Floods: How to help

Do you have Technotrash (obsolete computer accessories and electronic media)  that you don’t know how to get rid of responsibly? GreenDisk is the answer to your problems.

After doing some cleaning this year I found a bunch of VHS tapes that were utterly useless to me that I wanted to dispose of responsibly. I was hoping to find a local place to take care of it but without any luck. Then I found GreenDisk which took care of my VHS and CD trash for a very reasonable price. It sucks that you have to pay for it but I like to believe that these little things I do, do make a difference. I purchased the Technotrash Pack-IT where you can ship up to 20lbs of Technotrash to GreenDisk to dispose of responsibly.  See the full list of everything that GreenDisk can help you dispose of here.

Technotrash is an ever growing problem these day as more and more electronics become obsolete.  It is important to recycle and dispose of Technotrash responsibly to keep electronic waste out of our landfills. This is also important because some electronics contain hazardous waste that can be dangerous to our environment. On top of disposing electronic waste responsibly, GreenDisk also safely destroys your data on floppy disks, hard drives, CDs and etc. to keep your privacy.

Electronic waste is another problem that our world faces and it’s our responsibility to do what we can do to preserve our environment. If you can’t get rid of your Technotrash responsibly locally, check out GreenDisk.com for a complete list of products and services they offer.

• 3 hour drive to JFK
• 16 hour flight to Hong Kong
• 3 hour flight to Beijing
• First tour bus and 1 hotel for 3 days
  • Forbidden City
    

    

    

  • Tienanmen Square
    
  • Temple of Heaven
    
  • Birds Nest Olympic Stadium
    
  • Great Wall
    

    

    

  • Summer Palace
    

    

• 2 hour flight to Xian
• Second Tour Bus and 1 hotel for 2 days
• Xian Bell Tower
  
• Big Wild Goose Pagoda
  
• Xian City Wall
  

  

• Terra Cotta Warrior Pits
  

  

• Hua Qin Hot Springs
  
• 3.5 hour flight to Shanghai
• Third Tour Bus and 3 Hotels for 4 days
  • Wuxi Tai Lake
    

    

  • City of Suzhou
    
  • Suzhou Grand Canal and Water Village
    

    

  • Humble Administrator’s Garden Suzhou
    

    

  • Hangzhou
    
  • Yue Fei Tomb
    
  • Taste of Hangzhou dragon tea
    

    

  • Boat cruise of West Lake
    
• Shanghai
  • Shanghai Bund overlooking the Oriental Pearl Tower on the western bank of the Hanpu River
    
  • Nanjing Road
    
  • Shanghai Old Town
    

    

  • Hanpu River Boat Tour
    
  • Xian Tin De bar street
    
  • Maglev Train to Shanghai Pudong Airport
    
• End of the tour of China
• 3 hour flight to Hong Kong
  • Sai Kung Seafood Market
    

    

  • Tsim Sha Tsui Harbour City
    

    

  • Avenue of Stars
    

    

• 2 hour bus ride back to the mainland China
  • OCT Park Tea Stream Valley
    

    

  • Tai Pang City
    
• 2 hour bus ride back to Hong Kong
• 1 hour ferry to Macau
  • Macau tower
    
  • Macau Casinos
    
• 1 hour ferry back to Hong Kong
  • Lan Kwai Fong bar street
    

    

  • Wan Tai Sin Temple
    
  • Victoria Peak by Tram
    
• 16 hour flight to JFK
  
• 3 hour drive back to home sweet home Albany

Hover over the image below to see some of the key features in the design

Using the CSS image swap I posted about back in February you can hover over the above image to see some of the key design features we implemented. Some highlights of the new design include CSS3 @font-face and drop shadows which was nice because we had the opportunity to try CSS3. Ultimately the new design should convert better with the focus on selling products then content.

There’s still a lot of work to be done for the Gulf oil spill clean up, so the charity that I have selected for this month is Oceana to follow up my June 2010 Monthly Charity featuring 13 organizations aiding the clean up efforts. Founded in 2001, Oceana is protecting the world’s oceans and it is ever so important while there’s still oil in the ocean. Oceana campaigns for changes like the ending offshore drilling to prevent disasters like the Gulf oil spill.

Oceana, founded in 2001, is the largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Our offices in North America, Central America, South America and Europe work together on a limited number of strategic, directed campaigns to achieve measurable outcomes that will help return our oceans to former levels of abundance. We believe in the importance of science in identifying problems and solutions. Our scientists work closely with our teams of economists, lawyers and advocates to achieve tangible results for the oceans.

– What We Do http://na.oceana.org/en/about-us/what-we-do

Oceana seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they once were.

– Our Vision http://na.oceana.org/en/about-us/what-we-do/our-vision

Our ecosystem is becoming more and more fragile and we as a world need to make changes. Oceana is taking on the problems with our oceans head on by fighting for change to preserve our oceans. Oceana works on stopping ocean pollution, promoting responsible fishing, protecting marine wildlife, climate and energy and preserving special places to hopefully fulfill their vision of returning our oceans as they once were.

Visit Oceana.org to see you how you can help our precious oceans.

Search includes auto-suggest.

Easy to navigate results and you can filter by size and licenses. Both PNG and ICO formats are available as well.

The site is wonderfully designed and it functions fantastically. The bottom line is it provides an efficient way to find high quality icons which is useful to almost any web designer. Another tool added to my web designer arsenal.

Overstock.com Shhhits!! Not quite but I love this subject line from Overstock.com that says “Shhh! It’s a Secret Sale”. Now if you glance it quickly or say it quickly it’s like saying “Shits a Secret Sale”.  I think it’s pretty funny and this is not the first time they’ve used this subject line.

When it comes to urls and subjects lines be careful not to create a phrase or word that you don’t mean accidentally. This reminds me of a list of urls I heard of a while back that are hilarious when you read them that were completely unintentional. Yes, yes I found it and posted it below. Hope you get a chuckle from it.

The top 10 unintentionally worst company URLs

Attn: Entrepreneurs
Everyone knows that if you are going to operate a business in today’s world you need a domain name. It is advisable to look at the domain name selected as other see it and not just as you think it looks. Failure to do this may result in situations such as the following (legitimate) companies who deal in everyday humdrum products and services but clearly didn’t give their domain names enough consideration:

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is www.whorepresents.com
2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net
4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com
5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…www.powergenitalia.com
6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com
7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always www.ipanywhere.com
8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is www.cummingfirst.com
9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website: www.speedofart.com
10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at www.gotahoe.com

Source: Independent Sources http://independentsources.com/2006/07/12/worst-company-urls/

My favorite one is speedofart.com but they’re all pretty damn funny. You can see how your domain name or subject line could turn into a disaster. Anyone want to go to penisland.com for some pens?

The company looks like it ran smoothly while I was gone and that’s because I have some kick ass partners. I know there were some server problems along with other minor issues during my hiatus so I want to thank all my partners for managing the problems. Like Adam said in his Bon Voyage Mike post we have systems in place that allowed me to be away for a prolong period without too much internet access.

We have solid systems in place to manage a temporary absent partner and with me being gone it has proven itself to work. We have a very transparent company from within and we are cross trained to the extent where at least one partner can fulfill the duties of another partner satisfactorily or better.

In my case before I left all my work was front loaded because of the lack of internet access during my trip. Here’s a quick and dirty version of my vacation preparation list before my departure.

• List my absolute duties
• Plan out upcoming promotions till I return
• Prepare upcoming promotions and set them up in our automated systems
• Create contingency promotions and graphics
• Delegate my duties to my partners and distribute the workload
• Document any processes that aren’t used by my partners on a regular basis
• Teach any processes that my partners don’t do on a regular basis
• Forward emails to appropriate person
• Update my personal voicemail

My return was heralded by my many fans (that was only in my head though) but everything seemed to have worked smoothly while I was gone and I’m confident that our company will be fine with anyone of us being away for an extended period of time. Many thanks to my partners for giving me the opportunity to take the trip to China and I will be ready to cover for them when they need it.

I’m back and ready to kick ass and make heads roll. Everyone enjoy their July 4th weekend celebrating our great nation’s independence.

In the midst of the Gulf oil spill I have found a list of charities aiding the Gulf oil spill clean up that have been approved by the Better Business Bureau or BBB to be featured in My Monthly Charity this month.

Charities Assisting the Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up

• American Bird Conservancy
• Defenders of Wildlife
• Ducks Unlimited
• EarthShare
• Environmental Defense Fund
• Friends of the Earth
• Greenpeace Fund
• International Fund for Animal Welfare
• National Audubon Society
• National Wildlife Federation
• Natural Resources Defense Council
• Nature Conservancy
• Oceana

The Gulf oil spill is one of the worst disasters that I’ve ever seen. I can’t see how the spill can be completely contained while oil continues to leak into the ocean. As hurricane season comes full swing the problem will only become exacerbated. Hurricane Alex has already brought the spill to many Gulf Coast beaches. Help the Gulf out today by donating to any of the charities approved by the BBB above.

One major complaint I want to make about the Gulf oil spill is why the hell we didn’t treat this disaster with more urgency with government intervention from the beginning and bring in other oil companies to solve the problem! I understand that BP caused the problem and is the responsible party but this is one of the problems that needed to solve asap. There’s oil leaking into our oceans for crying out loud. It is BP’s responsibility but we really needed to come together on this one to stop the leak then call blame and repayment. Today is the 72nd day of oil spilling into our oceans and it doesn’t look like it is stopping anytime soon. If we don’t stop the leak oil will spread to the oceans around world if it hasn’t already started.

You can track the oil spill on CNN with its day to day animated oil slick spread, oil spill estimates and closed fishing areas at http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/04/29/interactive.spill.tracker/index.html.

We have a difficult task at hand as a nation to aiding the Gulf oil spill clean up. Be aware of scams whenever you’re making a charitable donation, especially when disasters happen like the Gulf oil spill. All the charities listed above have been identified to meet the BBB Wise Giving Alliance’s Standards for Charity Accountability.

Help the Gulf Oil Spill Clean Up Now

5 different plane flights,
3 different tour buses,
3 different boats,
1 Maglev train,
multiple public subway rides,
multiple public bus rides,
and 2 rental cars,
I made it home!

I logged many, many hours of traveling on this trip.

I’m still a little jet lagged but it’s good to be home.

Time to get back in the swing of things and I look forward to posting more about my trip.