Antonio Carusone’s got a new site dedicated to the ever wonderful grid. Aptly titled The Grid System, the site’s filled with articles, tools, books, and templates to help you design grid systems for both web and print. Perfect for the anal retentive designer.

Clearly inspired by Khoi Vinh’s Subtraction, the site’s design is clean and conforms to a strict grid. If you’re curious, you can even make the grid visible.

Antonio’s goal is to create “the ultimate resource in grid systems. So far, he’s off to great start.

Thanks to Sean for sending this my way!

Note: I’m still alive. I’m working through some emotional and personal issues right now. Thanks for bearing with me.

Date more to work less

Be sure to leave some juicy comments, so I can feel loved.

Here are some examples:

Instead of:

“Can you give me a raise?”

Ask this:

“I’d like a raise. How can we make this happen?”

Instead of:

“Can I be your boyfriend”

Ask this:

“I want to be your boyfriend. How can we make this happen?

Instead of:

“Can you sell it to me for less?”

Ask this:

“I’d like the price to be lower. How can we make this happen?”

Why the rephrasing? It lowers the chances of a flat-out rejection. At the same time, you increase the possibility of collaboration on reaching your stated goal; if the other person can’t give you want you want now, it’s easier to negotiate how you can get it later.

Asking “How can we make it happen?” shows guts and diplomacy without seeming demanding.

Try it the next time you want something from someone else.

I do wish I had a team of magic elves maintaining and pumping out content on this site. But since it’s just me, I’d be lying if I keep using “we”.

So it’s time to put the “I” back into this old blog. I know I’ve been inconsistent in the past, so I’m now making it my official position.

I’ll be posting a new About page this week—proudly written in the first person. There’ll be a few other changes, too. ;-)

If you own a solo blog, tell me: do you use “I” or “we” when writing?

Also, I now have a little stint on Dell’s Digital Nomads blog. Check out a few things I’ve written recently:

• 12 essential services for the digital nomad
• Baggu: The perfect on-the-go bag
• How to lost 10 pounds of junk in one day
• Set office hours—even if you don’t have to
• Even more ways to divorce your laptop

Thanks for your patience. ;-)

I’m taking a much needed vacation and will be out for the rest of the month on a Southern adventure in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia–yikes!

I know I haven’t been posting much lately, but I promise I haven’t totally checked out! After reading Merlin Mann’s recent posts on the dismal state of productivity blogs, I got a bit embarrassed about the lack of focus on LifeClever. I’m doing some blog soul searching and hope to come back recharged and in full force.

Thanks to everyone for sticking with me.

So here’s my new rule for lunch: stop the shop talk.

That means no complaining about clients. No agonizing over schedules. And absolutely no discussion about anything else work-related. Lunch is not the time to reflect about work. It’s the time to eat, rest, and relax. Remember, lunch should be a micro-vacation.

I know I haven’t been blogging as much as folks would like. Thanks to everyone for bearing with me, as I try to balance my blogging duties with my working duties.

Amazon’s Wish List feature just got way more clever with the Universal Wish List Button. The newly introduced tool lets you to add any item on any website to your Amazon Wish List—even products not sold on Amazon.

Just drag the button to your browser’s bookmarks bar, and click the “Add to Wish List” link when you see something you lust.

It’s perfect for letting your friends and family know about absolutely everything you crave. And, of course, the convenient link to buy the product doesn’t hurt.

I’m in love with this feature, but man, Amazon is truly weirding me out. Two days ago, I was fantasizing about this exact functionality, when I randomly discovered it on Amazon’s site. Are they reading my mind?

Your morning just got a little cuter with Pantone’s line of swatch-inspired coffee cups. With a range of vivid hues and shades of espresso, they’re perfect for hardcore designers who crave a dose of design in the morning.

I’d really be swooning if they were available in every Pantone color. It won’t happen soon, but I can still dream, right?

Can’t concentrate because you’ve got a billion windows opened?

Check out Isolator. The clever Mac app dims background application windows to keep you focused on the current application. Couple it with Menu Eclipse to dim your menubar, and you’ve got a distraction-fighting dynamic duo.

I’ve covered similar apps, Doodim and Menushade, two years ago. Unfortunately, bugs in both apps have made them unusable in the long run. Doodim doesn’t support drag-and-drop between apps, and switching programs doesn’t always work. Menushade now breaks on my MacBook Pro running Leopard.

Isolator and Menu Eclipse resolve these issues splendidly. With Isolator, you also get a few new features.

You can:

• Blur, “bloom”, pixelate, or crystallize background windows (in addition to dimming them)
• Set the color of background tint to any color you want
• Turn Isolator on and off with a keyboard shortcut

Windows users, I haven’t forgotten about you. Check out Jedi Concentrate or Dropcloth.