The email looked legitimate and fishy at the same time. It had what appeared to be the URL of a legitimate chapter of the Better Business Bureau and was mostly well-written. Yet it did have a single sentence with a grammatical error that should have raised a bigger red flag than it did. No genuine email would say, “Your emails is…” At least I hope not; the grammar nazi in me would have a fit.
Against my better judgment I clicked on the link anyway. Continue reading
T-shirt created by Sarah Catherine Designs
One in 88 kids has autism, says the latest CDC report. And when you drill down to boys, it’s an even more alarming 1 in 54. That’s roughly double the rate measured in 1992 when the CDC first tracked the numbers, prompting some autism advocates to call it an epidemic.
As disturbing as those statistics may seem – and they are disturbing – the more important thing to me is that my son has autism. That’s as real as it needs to be. That’s why I talk (a lot) about the need to support autism research and awareness and about the need to support families dealing with autism. I’m especially passionate about the need to give hope to young families just receiving the dreaded diagnosis. It can be a helpless, lonely moment. Hope can be in short supply unless they can find the guidance and support that’s crucial for making it through the maze that is autism.
Today, though, I was able to do more than talk. I got to walk the walk.
Robin and Evan walking and smiling
Video production used to be a huge part of my life. Having started my career in radio, I saw video as a natural progression. After all, we used to refer to TV as “radio with pictures.” So after 12 years in radio I made a career change and spent the next 12 years doing video production. Half of that time was spent at what’s now known as Time Warner Cable in Greensboro, and the other half was in the local public school district where I taught video production to high school students and produced programming for the district’s education access channel.
Then I made another career change in 2001 and haven’t done any editing since. Until this month. Continue reading
This isn’t laced with deep regret about it being too late to say what I wanted to say. Our oldest child went off to college a year ago this weekend and I started writing this letter to her that next week. But I didn’t finish it until she was nearly done with her first semester and at that point it seemed a little late. This weekend as we prepare to move her back for sophomore year I decided it’s never too late. So this is the letter I wrote and wish I’d sent a year ago: Continue reading
As my high school graduation approached, I looked around at my classmates during a school assembly. I then turned to my best friend and observed, “You know, some of these people will not die of old age.”
It wasn’t some mystic revelation or prophecy. I wasn’t privy to secret information, just an understanding that things happen. Even to young people. Even people I knew.
It didn’t take long for the “prophecy” to be fulfilled. Continue reading
To clarify, I’m not a complete outsider but I’m close. My father-in-law’s dad and family built a cottage on Sand Bay in Door County, Wisconsin in the 1940s. The cottage is still in the family. I’ve lived in North Carolina all my life but paid my first visit to Door County 25 years ago this summer, only months after my wife and I married. It’s been about 14 years since we’ve been here though, so it all seemed new to me again when we returned this month. Continue reading
My wife is my hero. I always knew she would be a good mom but I had no idea just how great she’d be until I watched her for twenty years.
During our engagement she made it clear she would not work outside the home if we ever were blessed with children. I really didn’t think that was realistic in an era where it seemed pretty necessary to have two incomes just to pay the bills. How would we afford the added costs of parenthood on my modest salary alone? I knew she’d see the error of her thinking in good time.
A few years later when we were expecting our first child she reiterated.
“Now, remember what I said – I won’t be working when it gets close to time for the baby to come.”
“But you’re earning more than I am right now. There’s no way we can afford having our income drop by more than half now!”
I’m serious. We’ll just have to find a way.”
Adamant, she was. Quit her job, she did. Continue reading
Here’s another Saturday afternoon digest of blogs I’ve read in the past week that are worth a look. Enjoy!
Graphic Design through the Decades
I was reading a blog on the CAREEREALISM website about personal online branding , Career Truth #1: Brand or Be Branded, and flashed back to a sage bit of advice I once heard from a good friend: “Never send anything in an email that you wouldn’t want in your personnel file.”
Online communication can be a dangerous thing
I had to laugh when he said it, because we’ve all hit “reply to all” when we only meant to reply to the original sender, or replied with pithy comment when we thought we were forwarding to someone else. Some of us have forwarded the inappropriate joke on the company domain only to wish we hadn’t, or made inappropriate comments about bosses or clients. There’s a word for this kind of action: boneheaded.
And I still laugh about the email I received years ago from a complete stranger that simply read, Continue reading
Just in case I haven’t said it lately, GO PACKERS!!
Cheeseheads everywhere are rooting for the Pack to bring the Lombardi Trophy back home to Green Bay tonight. Check the Packers’ live blog at the official website of the Green Bay Packers.
Chip Away 