After a while, that got pretty tedious.

A few months ago, I recreated the Design Description Document directly in OmniGraffle (Mac only), as a template. I’ve used it ever since, and while it can require a decently wide monitor resolution at times (depending on the width of the design you’re creating), it has proven to be a great solution. Now, I create wireframes directly in the template. It completely eliminates the tedium. A few notes:

1. To name the screen shown in the DDD, just name the canvas as you normally would. The header is updated automatically.

2. A canvas in the DDD template is made of two layers — a Chrome layer and the Canvas layer. The Chrome layer is locked by default, as are the elements in that layer, including the header and sidebar, and the name of the app you’re working on. To change these elements, simply unlock the Chrome layer, make your edits, and then copy/paste that canvas to create more pages.

3. The Last Edited date and time is saved automatically.

4. Since it’s all in OmniGraffle, you can assign actions to your wireframes and create a click-through PDF version of the DDD. Quite handy.

If you use OmniGraffle and are interested in DDDs, try out this new template. I’m sure it will make your life easier.

Download the template! (ZIP, 53kb)

Sliced — the namesake of my new collection of slice-fo-life essays — will feature autobiographical stories from Jeff Moriarty, Evo Terra, Brian Dunn, Christine Pearson (my wife), and myself. No notes. No props. No slides. Just a person, a microphone, and a story.

Got a story of your own to tell? We have room for just 3 more storytellers. Contact me for details!

To make things even more interesting, we’ll be taking volunteers from the audience to tell stories on the fly. Afterwards, we’ll head out for drinks at a nearby bar (location TBD).

So swing by Hob Nobs at 8pm on Saturday, check out the cool stories, have some coffee and cake, and join us for a beer.

See you there!

Yesterday, two volunteers hiked around the mountain preserve again, and they found Tyler.

Sometime in the past couple of days, for a reason I will never know, Tyler walked around to the other side of the mountain, near a service road that leads up to a water tower on the Cave Creek side. Just off the right side of the road, he crawled under a tree, he laid down, and he died.

The two volunteers, Jennifer and John from Mayday Pit Bull Rescue (the foster organization we’d worked with to find him a new home), and myself went to him. They wrapped him in a blanket, put him on a makeshift stretcher, and carried him down from the mountain. We brought him to the emergency animal clinic in west Phoenix; they work with a cremation service there. Tyler’s ashes will be returned to us in a couple of weeks.

When we took him in, he was injured, malnourished, and terrified of every sudden movement, noise, and person. We did everything in our power to give him the best nine months he could possibly have had. To prepare him to be proud and confident on his own. To enable him to be as happy as he deserved to be. To assure him he would never be hurt, abused, or neglected again. To give him the chance to live a long, happy life.

When Tyler came to us, I saw myself in him. He never had the great start to life he should have had, and despite that, he found a way out, and found a way into a situation where he could learn to be happy. Where he could grow. His story echoed my own. Every single day I knew him, I felt proud of him.

We were all so confident that Rachel, his would-be new owner, was the right person for him. We couldn’t have been more wrong.

Less than nine hours after leaving him in her care, she did the exact thing we explicitly told her not to do, the one thing that most blatantly defies common sense: she let him off of his leash. In less than nine hours, she took away everything we did, everything we hoped for, and every chance Tyler would ever have at living the life he deserved.

Tyler was depending on Rachel. We were depending on her. She failed at her commitment to love and support this wonderful, sweet, and loyal dog so miserably and so quickly that it has absolutely stunned each and every one of the amazing people that have volunteered their time and energy to bring Tyler home safely. Even worse, Rachel opted out of continuing to aid in the search, citing her outrageously absurd belief that Tyler would simply go back to doing what nature designed him to do best: be one with the Earth through his nomadic and migratory instincts.

People who never met Tyler, my wife, nor myself came to the area night after night, morning after morning. They hiked through the preserve. They walked neighborhoods. They posted flyers. They talked to everyone they came across. Every last one of them did so much more than Rachel could be bothered to do. Every one of them cared so much more than she ever could.

I wish more than words can say that last Saturday had never happened — that we had decided to keep Tyler ourselves and not brought him to his new owner’s apartment and said goodbye. I wish we had been able to see her naivete and arrogance before it was too late. I wish so many things were just slightly different than they were.

I will never forgive Rachel for her foolish and fatal decision. Tyler will never have the chance.

But far beyond this, the focus of our anger must be on whomever was responsible for Tyler before he ended up in our alley nine months ago. This person’s abuse and neglect and ambivalence were the reason Tyler was afraid of human beings. The reason he was malnourished. The reason he was injured.

Simply and directly: Tyler should never have needed saving.

To those who sent your support and well-wishing and condolences over the past week since Tyler’s disappearance, thank you. I have been overwhelmed by the support of the Twitter and Facebook communities, and I will never forget all that you have done to help us stay motivated and hopeful and positive. I wish so desperately that I could report a very different outcome today. Alas, Tyler’s story has become a tragedy that defines a moment in my life I will never forget.

I don’t yet know how we’ll honor Tyler’s life, but I do know this: he will be honored.

Rest in peace, Tyler. We love you. We miss you.

Help save other dogs in Tyler’s honor (use the “click here” link). Every dollar helps. Thank you.

Here’s the video of my 5 minutes on that amazing and beautiful stage:

There were some amazing responses from the audience through Twitter (start on this page and use the Newer links to go in order from oldest to newest). The most complimentary and funny quote: “The next presenters could set something on fire and it wouldn’t be as cool as @rhjr’s.” (I’m @rhjr on Twitter). Very high praise indeed!

There is also a Flickr set with a few good photos from the talk. They start on this page. Just click the first one you see of a guy dressed in black and playing a taiko drum (that’s me) and advance through them.

The audience was absolutely fantastic. I speak at conferences quite often, but let me tell you, I’ve never gotten a bigger reaction than during this Ignite talk. I feel very fortunate to have been part of the event, and I thank the Ignite Phoenix coordinators for putting on a wonderful, lively event.

Ironically (and unfortunately), I had to miss practice to speak at the event, but hopefully, the group thinks I still did my job as a taikoist.

As promised to those who attended, I’ve uploaded these photos to  Flickr. It was pretty interesting to see some of the things they came up with — especially the Conversions group, who managed to spot 25 or so different ways that hotels make money.

• Information patterns
• Navigation patterns
• Conversion patterns
• Privacy & Security patterns

Enjoy!