by Sue Horner | Oct 4, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
When was the last time you received a hand-written note, in the mail? It’s not that you aren’t getting in touch with or hearing from other people. You send and receive dozens, maybe hundreds of emails every day. You read newspapers and magazines and listen...
by Sue Horner | Sep 11, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
9/11. It’s become shorthand instantly understood around the world for a day filled with tragedy. Can it really be 10 years since we watched, horrified, as one plane and then a second crashed into the World Trade Center? I was at work in my home office when my...
by Sue Horner | May 10, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Over lunch, a colleague mentioned that she had been on a job interview where the recruiter pointedly told her, “We have a YOUNG team here.” Do I need to mention that my colleague would not be considered “young” but what you might call “more seasoned”? I suggested she...
by Sue Horner | Apr 26, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy, without much time for an online life. But — shh! don’t tell! — I still allowed myself the guilty pleasure of watching Dancing With The Stars on Monday and Tuesday nights. And yes, I even had dibs on the...
by Sue Horner | Apr 14, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I’m late to the game talking about this, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people seem to be upset that the Oxford English Dictionary will now include OMG and LOL, as of the March 24 update. This adds insult to injury, I suppose, after previous additions...
by Sue Horner | Mar 31, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
An email arrived the other day and was promptly sent to the junk folder by my mail program. The reason? The subject line read, “Thought you might be interested in this.” I do scan mail in the junk folder, especially because postings to my school forums...
by Sue Horner | Mar 23, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I’m sitting in my curtained cubicle, in jeans and a drafty cotton hospital gown, waiting for the technician to usher me in for a mammogram. I’ve had this procedure before and know enough not to wear deodorant, which can apparently leave tiny deposits on...
by Sue Horner | Jan 2, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Along with a fresh new year comes the latest list of Banished Words, as issued by Lake Superior State University. How epic is that? While you might wish many of these words to actually be banished forever, that’s just wishful thinking. The list for 2011 includes...
by Sue Horner | Nov 22, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The author of one of my textbooks must be a friend of the magniloquent (see below) Conrad Black, or maybe a contributor to the harder levels of FreeRice.com. I say that because the text is sprinkled with so many obscure, unusual, “look how smart I am” kinds of words....
by Sue Horner | Nov 19, 2010 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Nobody believes a corporate announcement* that an executive has left to “pursue other opportunities,” so why do companies continue to pretend that they don’t fire people? Sometimes the person’s “contract has not been renewed” or he...
