Ah, back to the blog after spending time at the excellent ILTA ’08 conference and the holiday weekend.
I got in quite a bit of seat time on my bike over the weekend (120 miles), with a 50-mile ride this morning.
Here’s a picture of the technology I use for cycling:

The bike was conceived, selected and created for me by cyclist extraordinaire, old school bike designer (yes, it has a lugged frame), and high school classmate, Howard Smith. When it comes to technology, it’s one of my favorites.
I’ll be getting back to legal technology observations and reflections on ILTA shortly.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Now Available! The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell.
Technorati tags: cycling

Robert Paterson writes one of the blogs I really enjoy reading. Today, he posts some sobering statistics about the housing crisis, with St. Louis showing up higher on the list than any of us might like to see.
He has also done some cool work with St. Louis public TV, KETC. He is working on a new project that combines these two areas and is looking for St. Louis bloggers who might me able to help him. Read the post and see if this is something you might be willing and able to help Robert with. If so, get in touch with him. In any event, his post is a must-read, whether or not you are in St. Louis. It will also be interesting to see if and how blogging and the Internet can be used to collaborate on these kinds of projects. Please help put out the word.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Now Available! The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Join the book’s Facebook Group here.
Technorati tags: housing crisis collaboration collaboration tools st. louis robert patterson public tv KETC

I enjoyed reading Kevin O’Keefe’s post tonight marking the fourth anniversary of LexBlog.
Kevin has done so much to bring blogging to lawyers and I’ve enjoyed watching the steps he’s taken all along the way.
In fact, one of my favorite memories from the early days of lawyer blogging involves Kevin. I had known Kevin for a while and always admired what he did with his Prairielaw site.
In the early days of LexBlog (and Kevin’s blogging), Kevin got in touch with me to talk about blogging and what he was working on. I remember that we finally got the chance to talk on the phone during a layover I had in the Kansas City airport over a terrible cell phone connection. I ended up talking with Kevin until the last possible minute before my flight. I really liked Kevin’s ideas, his plan, and the clarity of his vision for bringing blogging to lawyers. I must admit that he was much more of an optimist than I was. He’s definitely transformed the world of lawyer blogging in great ways.
As Kevin says in his post . . . to the next four years.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Now Available! The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell. Join the book’s Facebook Group here.
Technorati tags: legal technology blogging

Like many others, I spent the weekend working on tax returns. No doubt that’s why Robert Reich’s comments in Time to Pay Your Taxes, Support Wall Street, and Take a Licking seem to capture the spirit of the tax season, at least for me. And maybe for you, too. There has to be an easier way to do this.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Now Available: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together, by Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell.
Technorati tags: taxes

Got a little busier than I expected, so the blawgiversary series of posts hasn’t happened yet (always a danger of pre-announcing what you’ll do on your blog). Got the birthday celebrated, the book is at the printers and on schedule for a debut at ABA TECHSHOW, and watching the lunar eclipse here tonight took the place of catching up on the blog.
I’ve been working on some by request posts and will probably do them as a batch in the next couple of days.
If you have questions for me that you’d like to see answered as a “by request” post, go ahead and email me. I’ll add them to the list.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
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This blog got started on February 15, 2003. I got started on February 17, 1958. This blog was a birthday present to myself. I have a tradition of doing a week of special posts on this blog to celebrate. Welcome to the 2008 version of blawgiversary / burthday week.
If someone asked me what has changed the most in the world of blawgs in the last five years, I’d have to say that things have gotten a LOT more serious and focused. Perhaps it was the freedom that came in the early days with knowing that you had about a half a dozen readers (all of whom you knew), but I used to do some posts that no one would ever advise a lawyer blogger to do these days. A great example was my somewhat infamous “Metallica post.” Ah, well, one of my essential blogging guidelines is to be sure to break the “rules” from time to time.
In its own odd way, blawgiversary week has proven to be almost as controversial as my Blawggie awards. It’s meant to be a way to have fun (especially some fun at my own expense) and as a form of a reader appreciation week. So, let’s have some fun.
This is a big year for this blog and me. Five years for the blog and fifty years for me. It’s also a big year for multiples of five around me. My father-in-law will be celebrate his 90th birthday this weekend. My daughter turns 15. My wife and I celebrate our 20th anniversary this summer. This is my 25th year of practicing law. You see the theme.
Every year, I try to arrange some special things to recognize blawgiversary / birthday week, and I’ve outdone myself this year. I’ve talked NASCAR into running the Daytona 500 (also celebrating its 50th birthday) on my birthday and the federal government into making this a three-day weekend. Ahem.
So, for the next week, I’ll be doing a few things to celebrate. First and foremost, I’ll be doing as many “by request” posts as I can. If you have a question for me, leave a comment or drop me an email at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com and I’ll turn the answer into a post.
I’ll also try to come up with a treat or two. In the past, I’ve been able to make special discounts and free downloads of software available. If you are a vendor and want to do a special promotion this week, let me know and we’ll see if we can put something together in the next few days or at a later time.
Anyway, this is a time to remind people that the best part of blogging is that it is fun.
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.
Technorati tags: blawgiversary blogiversary denniskennedy.blog

I’ve wanted to do regular feature on this blog where I simply list some of the most interesting links I’ve found during the previous week – sort of a “best of” from my Google Reader Shared Items.
So, I’m kicking it off today. the idea is that I’ll pick out a set of links that I might have wanted to write about or that I found especially thought-provoking or useful. I might or might not agree with the posts or items I link to, but I found them to be something I wanted to share.
In general, I’m just going to give a link to the item, without any explanation. I’ll try to do this every weekend, and I’ll include the latest additions to my 52 books in 52 weeks project.
And away we go.
How Buildings Learn
Sample Chapter of If We Can Keep It: A National Security Manifesto for the Next Administration, by Chet Richards
Kahn and Mann’s Ten Common Pitfalls
Overnight Sensation
Countering the Enemy’s Expectations
A President Like My Father

It’s all in the frame: how to promote your services without breaking rapport – a writing challenge for business bloggers
Getting Past Done: What to Do After You’ve Finished a Big Project
Legal Secretaries 2.0
Twenty Snacks That Help Productivity
The Coming of the Cloud, Networked Knowledge Work and New Business Logic
This Week’s Additions to 52 Books in 52 Weeks:
The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World’s Most Dangerous Secrets…And How We Could Have Stopped Him , by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins

Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.
Technorati tags: links

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I’ve written before (here and here) that the Martin Luther King Holiday is one of my favorites holidays of the year. It’s a perfect day to take some time to reflect in a way that the crunch of the end of the year holidays simply does not allow anymore.
I also enjoy monitoring Technorati for the posts about MLK, with Springsteen’s Land of Hope and Dreams (lyrics and a player here) as the soundtrack. Try it.
Lots of interesting posts to find today. Start with Bert Decker’s The Speaking Style of Martin Luther King and follow some blog posts to see where they lead you. As they say, “Make It a Day ON, Not a Day Off!”
[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Read the blog posts and RSS feed items I find most interesting on Google Reader Shared Items or subscribe to its RSS feed. High volume, but lots of interesting items that will get you thinking.
Technorati tags: martin luther king musings

In the least couple of years, I’ve enjoyed reading the posts of several bloggers who are trying to read 52 books in 52 weeks.
With The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies due out this spring, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on book-reading for 2008.
I’ve also wanted to find a good way for me to keep track of the books I’ve read. I experimented a bit with Shelfari, but didn’t stick with it.
So, for 2008, I’ve decided to do the 52 books in 52 weeks meme (and encourage others to do so).
My approach will be to update this post periodically throughout the year to keep the running tally in one place.
December
64. Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Sanction, Eric Van Lustbader
63. The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, John Bogle
62. Bumping into Geniuses, Danny Goldberg
61. Chain of Blame, Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla
November
60. The John Boyd Roundtable, Mark Safranski
59. Looking for Trouble, Ralph Peters
October
58. The Medici Effect, Franz Johansson
57. The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, Charles Morris
56. Reinventing Collapse, Dmitry Orlov
September
55. The Integral Vision, Ken Wilber
54. First Daughter, Eric Van Lustbader
53. Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?, Thomas Kohnstamm
52. The Art of Cycling, Robert Hurst
51. The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide, Sharon Nelson, John Simek and Michael Maschke
August
50. The Faithful Spy, Alex Berenson
49. The Third Coast, Ted McClelland
48.The Unthinkable, Amanda Ripley
47.A Simpler Way, Margaret Wheatley
46. Richistan, Robert Frank
45. Downsizing Your Home with Style, Lauri Ward
44. Seeing the Old Way, Jonathan Hale
July
43. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
42. The iPod Book, Scott Kelby
41. Kingdom of Shadows, Alan Furst
40. The Foreign Correspondent, Alan Furst
39. Sins of the Assassin, R. Ferrigno
38. The Orpheus Deception, David Stone
37. Terror and Consent, Philip Bobbitt
June
36. Flashback, Raymond Chandler
35. Pulp Stories, Raymond Chandler
34. Double Indemnity (script), Raymond Chandler
May
33. The Amateur Spy, by Dan Fesperman

32. Still Broken, by A.J. Rossmiller

31. The Big Switch, by Nicholas Carr

30. High Window, by Raymond Chandler

29. Farewell, My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler

April
28. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

27. The Rolling Stone Interviews, by Jann Wenner and Joe Levy

26. Bathroom, by Suzanne Ardley

25. Darkness Falls, Kyle Mills

24. Prince of Fire, by Dan Silva

23. Beyond Bullet Points (Second Edition), by Cliff Atkinson

March
22. Certain to WIn, by Chet Richards

21. Crashproof Your Kids, by Timothy Smith

20. The Physics of NASCAR, by Diandra Leslie-Pelecky

19. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle

February
18. Absolute Power, by David Baldacci

17. Stone Cold, by David Baldacci

16. The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzkin

15. The Shell Game, by Steve Alten

14. Coltrane, by Ben Ratliff

13. The Sign of Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle

12. A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle

January.
11. How to Pick a Peach, by Russ Parsons

10. Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds

9. The Nuclear Jihadist: The True Story of the Man Who Sold the World’s Most Dangerous Secrets…And How We Could Have Stopped Him , by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins

8. Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

7. No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain

6. The United States of Arugala, David Kamp

5. Ronnie, Ronnie Wood

4. Dance with the Dragon, David Hagberg

3. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

1. Last Harvest: How a Cornfield Became New Daleville: Real Estate Development in America from George Washington to the Builders of the Twenty-first Century, and Why We Live in Houses Anyway, by Witold Rybczynski


[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]
Technorati tag: 52 books in 52 weeks