November-December 2009 - Issue #72

• Intro
  
• Article - All About It by Judy Vorfeld
  
• The Office Corner
  
• The Human Resources Corner by Anne Caldwell
  
• Grammar Question of the Month - When may I use brackets?
  
• Tech Tips by Terence Kierans - Excel
  
• Writing Corner
  
• Word of the Month - minatory
  
• Recommendations
  
• Judy's Corner
  
• Judy's Photo Gallery
  

* Here's a new website that might be of interest to you: NANRES, http://www.nanres.org - if you're interested in learning about nanotechnology.

* If you are involved in any kind of teamwork, you will find value in the below refreshing PDF document. The team could be your family, a group at work, church, an agency, school, a volunteer team, it doesn't matter: there's something here for everyone. You'll find refreshing, thoughtful ideas by Elizabeth Gilbert, Jacqueline Novogratz, Tom Peters, Dan Pink, Kevin Kelly, Tim O'Reilly, Dave Ramsey, Jackie Huba, Jason Fried, Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor, and Alan Webber. And many more. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-1.pdf

By Judy Vorfeld

Have you ever been confused about when to use an apostrophe with possessives? And where the apostrophe goes? Unfortunately, not all possessives use apostrophes. This includes the personal pronouns "its," "theirs," and "yours." Since they are the most frequently misunderstood, let's tackle them.

The wonderful but misunderstood apostrophe produces one of the biggest problems facing writers, as is evidenced on many Web sites and in all types of business documents. Let's see if I can help.

Its or It's?
The possessive form of the pronoun "it" is never written with an apostrophe, e.g., "Its start date is . . ." "What is its production record?" "Look at its nose!"

You only use an apostrophe when combining "it is" and "it has," e.g., "It's (it is) delicious," or "It's (it has) been wonderful."

Theirs
The children insisted the idea was theirs (not theirs'). Theirs isn't abused that often, but it's something to remember.

Your or You're?
Your is a possessive form of the personal pronoun, e.g., "I like your Web site..." or "Thanks for your gift to this project." Both in the same sentence: "Your knowledge of your product shows that you're a dedicated salesperson."

You're is a contraction of the words "you" and "are," e.g., "You're up for an award. Someone said you're leaving."

Bottom line: No apostrophe for these possessive pronouns:

Test yourself: write a sentence like, "I want to investigate its potential." If you're tempted to use an apostrophe, write it out as a contraction, and see if it makes sense, e.g., "I want to investigate it is potential."

Works every time.

1. FIREFOX 3.5: THE WORLD’S MOST POPULAR BROWSER
http://mashable.com/2009/12/20/firefox-popular-browser/

2. 5 WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR ANXIETY IN 2010
http://tinyurl.com/yksxcqr

3. HOW TO BUY A LAPTOP, PERIOD
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356818,00.asp

In order to be successful in today's environment, organizations need to demonstrate compliance with the laws but even more importantly, they must be able to make the most of their resources in order to achieve their missions. There are a variety of policies that are helpful to have in place, not only to avoid legal challenges, but also to enhance the potential of success.

Naturally, basics like an Equal Employment Opportunity Policy are essential not only for compliance with anti-discrimination laws, but to attract good candidates who want an environment free from bias. The policy should contain language that indicates a commitment to select, retain, promote, and terminate employees based solely on the individual's qualifications, abilities, and work performance.

It is should also address the goal to provide equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees in all aspects of employer/employee relations without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, marital status, veteran status, age, ancestry, and mental or physical handicaps.

Further, the policy should affect decisions including, but not limited to, recruiting, hiring, compensation, benefits, training, promotions or demotions, transfers, discipline, lay-offs, terminations and leaves of absence, and any other term, condition of employment or privileges.

Anne Caldwell is President and Founder of Outsourcing Solutions http://www.azoutsource.com, a human resource strategy firm committed to helping small and medium sized businesses succeed.

Square brackets are used mainly to enclose material (usually added by someone other than the original writer) that doesn't belong to the surrounding text, says Chicago Manual of Style 6.104. Sometimes the bracketed material replaces rather than amplifies the original word(s). This applies to text only, not mathematical copy.

Consistent chart formats

Often we find that more time is spent on appearance than the actual information with which you are working.

Consider a chart you've just created that details your organisation's first quarter sales for 2008, and you made a splendid job of formatting it for a presentation.

You not only like the format, but you decide to make the other charts in your presentation have the same, consistent, look about them. However, you don't have the time to manually reformat all 10 charts. So, instead of reformatting each chart individually, you can copy the format of the first chart to all of the other charts, thus maintaining that consistent appearance.

  1. Right click on the chart whose formats you want to copy.
  2. Select "Copy".
  3. Select one of the charts that you want to reformat.
  4. Select "Edit / Paste Special" from the menu bar.
  5. Select "Formats", and click OK.

Now repeat this procedure for each of the other charts.

Terence Kierans
Cyberspace Virtual Services
tkierans@virtualservices.com.au
http://www.virtualservices.com.au/
We keep your project on the boil, while you sleep

1. THE FICTION FACTOR
http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles.html

2. ULTIMATE RESOURCE GUIDES FOR MLA, APA, CHICAGO, AND CSE
http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/tips-and-tools/mla-apa-chicago-cse

Main Entry:mi-na-to-ry
Pronunciation:*mi-n*-*t*r-*, *m*-
Function:adjective
Etymology:Late Latin minatorius, from Latin minari to threaten - more at MOUNT
Date:1532

: having a menacing quality : THREATENING

*By permission. From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary at www.m-w.com by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.

1. 10 WAYS YOU CAN USE TWITTER LISTS:
http://mashable.com/2009/11/04/twitter-lists-uses/

2. SOCIAL MEDIA 101: HOW TO AVOID ALIENATING YOUR CUSTOMERS
http://cli.gs/N4aUQr

3. 5 SECRETS FROM SOCIAL MEDIA INSIDERS
http://cli.gs/NBmTtp

4. DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY STUDENT
http://www.dpstudent.net/

5. PHOBIA GUIDE
http://www.phobiaguide.com/

It's time to wind up another year. It's been a roller coaster year for the global economy, and this has affected many of our businesses. But we're in it for the long run. Here's hoping for a more productive year for you, and more creative ways to manage your life and your business.

Gentle Sentinels. My granddogs, Nellie and Nuggett, during the Thanksgiving 2009 Holiday I spent near Seattle.

Maple leaf on family property near Seattle. Thanksgiving 2009.

Raindrops on fallen leaves near Seattle

Happy Holidays from Judy

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