Sometimes I just happily stumble across a web site that’s fun to look at and also has cool elements. I’m having a blast right now with the menu buttons across the top of the Piano Man, Inc web site. Not only do they look like piano keys, they play notes when you click on them. They are even accurate, though the minor notes aren’t clickable. I know. I am easily assumed, but I really find this to be an ingenious way to design a web site that is all about selling pianos and organs.

It makes me wish I had been the one to think up that design. Very cool, indeed.

The Piano Man is a Boston area business that also does tuning, repairs, lessons, moving, cleaning, and other services related to pianos and organs. When you need to have services specific to your keyboard instrument, you absolutely need to make sure you are working with professionals who know their stuff. When we moved our family piano down here to Florida from my dad’s house up north, we hired a specialty piano company up there and down here to handle the loading and unloading of the piano. We also had someone come and tune the piano after the move. You have to know what you are doing or you can damage the instrument.

My nephew is already taking lessons and I am hoping that Gigi will be ready for lessons soon, too. She is actually allowed to practice on our church organ. My sister and I took lessons on the very piano we had moved down from dad’s and that now sites in my sister’s home. I was never terribly talented when it came to the piano, but my sister was a musical genius. Perhaps her son will take after her. Who knows, maybe my daughter will even take after my sister and not end up with fumble fingers. I enjoyed playing the piano when I was growing up, I just never advanced as far as my sister did.

Sing us a song, youre the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, were all in the mood for a melody
And youve got us feelin alright
–Billy Joel

…or, Picasso lovers beware.

A Wesley Chapel man, Ethem Ulge, was arrested by Tampa police on felony charges of scheming to defraud, as well as other charges. Apparently, the guy had listed art pieces on eBay that he claimed were by Pablo Picasso and another by Marc Chagall.

The arrest came after police here got a tip from law enforcement officials in New Jersey. Ulge is currently out on bail.

Believe it or not, when I did a search engine query on Picasso fakes on eBay, I came up with a handful of sites that actually coach people, in great detail, on how to obtain cheap art and pass it off as something by a famous artist on eBay. There is apparently a massive market for this kind of stuff. Whoda thunkit?

Before I bought my own domain names for my blogs and signed up for an awesome multi-year web hosting package that would give me 100% of the control over my own blogs, I used to have blogs on a sub domain of someone else’s site. Aside from the disgusting level of censorship this person exercised, she also did her users a disservice by hosting that account on DreamHost. Needless to say, her website was offline more than it was up and running. That is frustrating for a blogger.

Downtime was the least of the worries endured by DreamHost customers in recent months. Lately, customers have had their accounts hacked, files “accidentally” deleted, seen DNS numbers disappear, and had their credit cards billed for excessive amounts multiple times. One customer said his card was hit for $150 four times in a row one night. Another said he was hit four times for $500 each! In the end, reports are saying there is $7.5 million in erroneous credit card charges.

What in the world!?

DreamHost’s team chalked it up to a casual mistake and tried to laugh off that they attempted to bill all of their customers for the entire year of 2008 and sometimes 2009 ahead of time, without notice.

And in the midst of all this, DreamHost does not have phone support. Take it from me: if you are going to pay good money for a web hosting account you need to make sure you can get a hold of customer service and tech support 24/7.

In a direct response Lunarpages has issued a coupon code, which gives you $40 off hosting with Lunarpages. They will buy off to 9 months of a prepaid contract with DH. You can get the package deal here: Lunarpages Offer for DreamHost Customers.

Lunarpages has a basic hosting account with 15,000GB of transfer, 500GB of storage, afree domain name, and 10 add-on domains for $6.95 a month. They also allow their customers to earn affiliate commissions on hosting plans they sell.

It’s never a dull moment here in Florida for news surrounding the celebrities who have chosen to reside here.

I wrote earlier about Wesley Snipes and his adventures with the IRS. An all-white jury was assembled Monday in Ocala, FL to hear his case in Federal Court on charges of tax evasion.

Snipes’ lawyer says the actor attempted to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service and it took six years for the IRS to respond to his written request for a meeting on whether he owned money or if they owed him $11.4-million in refunds. The lawyers for Snipes say more than 24 packages were sent to the IRS over time and they have been trying to get the IRS to schedule a sit-down meeting to discuss the issue.

“Welcome to the wacky world of the IRS,” the attorney told jurors.

The U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill in the case told jurors he will prove Snipes during the years he did not file taxes and made money while willfully not filing his taxes.

One of Snipes’ attorneys counters that, “Wesley Snipes has never had any intentions to default the government. He has never been a conspirator. He has never been a tax protester, and he has never ever been a cheat… He is an American like all of us, who asked questions.”

If convicted, Snipes faces a maximum of 16 years in prison.

Job reviews are never fun and games. They often determine bonuses and salary increases. Sometimes you find out about all of the negative feedback someone has been storing up for the entire year. Sometimes, though, you get great input that helps you improve your performance and become more motivated about your job.

I want to tell you about the most helpful type of job review I ever received. It was called a 360 review, because it involved input from all directions – 360º, as in full circle. I did a self assessment, my peers turned in reports, my direct reports evaluated me as a supervisor and my boss also filled out some forms. I got even got feedback from clients.

It really helped keep things in perspective. Generally, you only receive feedback from your boss or supervisor. You get one person’s view of your performance. And, in my case I had gotten off on the wrong foot with one of the three owner of the company from ay one. So, she and the consultant who was known as her sidekick both gave me reviews just barely on the positive side of scathing. It would have been a real kick in the pants if it hadn’t been for the reviews I received from all of the people who actually worked with me on a regular basis. It turns out that the people who worked FOR me thought I was a thorough, organized and fair boss. My clients loved my response time and dedication for going the extra mile. My peer editors and project managers actually saw me as a mentor and great support system for their own projects.

Because of the 360 Review, I had a full and accurate picture of my performance. Not that I totally discounted everything said in the two negative review documents, but I was able to take them into perspective and see that there was some bias attached to the things that those reviewers had said. I was also able to work up a detailed gap analysis to see areas where I wanted to improve.

Even if you do not know Brad Renfro’s name, chances are you have seen him in a movie and been charmed by his presence. He was only 25, but was found dead yesterday in his L.A. home by his girlfriend. Word on the street is that he had been drinking the night before with friends. Were drugs involved? No one is saying yet, but he has a sordid past chock full of drugs and arrests. He was a troubled guy – talented, but troubled.

Renfro was most often noted for his work in “The Client” and “Apt Pupil”. I liked him best in “Bully” and “Ghost World”.

Renfro outlived River Phoenix by two years. Phoenix was only 23 when hr overdosed and died on the streets of Hollywood. Certainly, they were two very different guys, but if you consider their apple-pie good looks and sincere film careers, as well as their struggles with addiction, they seem very much the same in many ways now.

An autopsy is likely to take place tomorrow.

Note: Alternate sources say Renfro was found in aan apartment where he had spent the night with friends. Reports say he was heard snoring overnight, but found not breathing later Tuesday morning. Friends then called 911 and paramedics declared him dead at the scene at about 9 a.m.