Dueling pianos, open bar, and tasty appetizers – now that’s  a party. In this case it was a fundraiser for The Gifted Wedding at the Jive and Wail.

The Gifted Wedding is an organization dedicated to giving couples with a terminal illness, disability, or a unique financial situation the wedding or vow renewal of their dreams.

The Gifted Wedding team provided the first dream wedding to Anna and Manuel Jimenez. Anna is struggling with ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. The Jive and Wail event was both fundraiser and a celebration of the recent wedding.

Jive and Wail provided the right size venue. Their staff was eager and engaged. The bartenders were friendly and kept the drinks flowing.  Topping it off was the dueling piano team.

Dueling Pianos at Jive and Wail by Tojosan, on Flickr

Sharon and I enjoyed our time there, meeting both old and new friends. Elisabeth Cutshall gets the real credit for that though. She publicized this event on Twitter, Facebook, and in person.

Know someone that could use this help? Apply at the Gifted Wedding.

Links for this article:

The Gifted Wedding

Jive and Wail

Elizabeth Cutshall

So I’m stealing another great blog idea.  This time from One Dad’s Life - Wordless Wednesday – Spring Explosion! The idea is a minimum of words and some great photos. You go, you enjoy, you leave money. Okay, maybe not money, but your praise works.

In that spirit, here’s my Wordless Wednesday collection. Presenting my granddaughters.

I want to share one of my favorite online past times.  It’s great when you’re bored or just want to enjoy some great eye candy.  You can also get to know some interesting folks this way as well.  I call it Flickr Fave Tripping.

Here’s how it works. Click on the favorites link:

This will take you to a page showing that person’s favorited pictures on Flickr.  From there, find one you love yourself.

Favorite the picture you selected.

Display that person’s photo stream.  Select the favorites link again and repeat.

Sounds silly and simple but I’ve found wonderful pictures and photographers that I’d never know if I only looked at my contacts’ pictures. Heck, stuff you’ll find this way often won’t make explore either.

Here’s my latest favorites, found all through playing this little game:

Find me on Flickr.

Man, do they ever!

Actually what you are seeing is a giant iron wrought butterfly.  This is one of three at the Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin, Tx.

My wife and I had a great time taking pictures at the garden.  The butterflies are just a bit of the unique things to see there.

Of course there were flowers as well.

And of course fairies…

All in all, a magical place to visit. Cheers.

Dan Farber, CNET News,  brings us the scoop here. He’s found out that Flickr Video Beta should debut next month.

Will Flickr Video replace Yahoo Video?

“Flickr Video will not replace Yahoo Video, unlike Yahoo Photos, which was folded into Flickr. The audience for Flickr is different, Kakul Srivastava, director of product management at Flickr, told me. She used the term “authenticity” to convey the esprit de corps of the Flickr photo community, which numbers more than 23 million contributors.”

I’m excited about the Flickr Video Beta even if it replaced Yahoo Video and/or competed with YouTube.  If Yahoo can bring the same ease of use and community that Flickr Photo has, then they’ll be on the right track.

Let’s keep our eyes open on this one folks, and if you snag an invite before me, be sure to share.

I’m tojosan on Flickr.

Gnomad has arrived in the St. Louis area!

Charlie had to give him the sniff test and welcomed him to the family!

Gnomad has been traveling the States by way of Flat Rate US Postal Service post. His box was  full of fun stuff, including a journal.

Of course, Nanna J and I had to pose with him, and make him feel welcome.

Gnomad and I headed out a couple of hours later for a night in St. Louis.  More to come shortly.

Shashi, a social media guru from up in D.C. is down in SxSWi this weekend.  And from his pictures, he’s having a blast!

I hear he’s rubbing elbows with another friend, Liz Strauss, of SOBCon and Successful Blog.

If you are hanging out down there and have a minute, how about visiting his photo set and tagging them.