The indie life: Your life no longer awaits
At one time, radio ads for Workopolis (“Canada’s biggest job site”) featured various people talking about “the job that changed my life.” It was a great series, with both inspiring tales of jobs that led to interesting careers and...
A nice customer service follow-up
I just love those Nerds on Site. After my local Nerd, Graham, came to the rescue when I had problems getting on the Internet last week, I filled out a follow-up survey. (The top rating is “Nerdtastic!”) Today, I received a note from the head Nerds, John,...
How to cope with the indie’s rollercoaster life
The freelance life is a true rollercoaster ride. There are stretches of calm, measured work, maybe even not too much work. I like these because I know they won’t last and I use them to run errands, organize my office or occasionally goof off. The quiet times are...Resistance to acronyms is futile
Have you run across this one? “SSEWBA” — it’s short for “someday soon everything will be acronyms.” (It may already be happening in companies you and I know!) I thank Ragan Communications (their now-defunct Grapevine e-newsletter)...
Dogs make great communicators
There surely is proper etiquette for visiting the dying, and I recently had an occasion to try to figure it out. My elderly neighbour, a widowed Scot in his eighties, knew he was dying of cancer and had just been moved to Ian Anderson House. This is a warm, homey...Watch out, ‘holiday season’ approaching
Did you know that there is another “holiday season” approaching? I know this because a weekend flyer from a local grocery store mentions it several times. It was a little puzzling, at first, because it’s March. The only “holiday season”...Hint for useful manuals: cover the features
Jakob Nielsen’s latest post on usability pointed to an interesting article on cellphone “function fatigue.” The USA Today article reports: “Manufacturers have become so enamored of cool features — including cameras, recording devices and...