Home Life / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: With the Christmas season upon us, it seemed like a nice idea to offer some tips on wrapping presents. First, make sure you have scissors, scotch tape (sorry fellows, this is not the place for your beloved duct tape, no matter how tempting that seems!), gift tags (you can buy them in bulk in the Christmas section of most food stores), wrapping paper,...
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College Life / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: As my own teaching winds down for the semester, it seemed good to share with you how to finish your courses strong. First, do the work! Do not make excuses; you have no where to go but with an “incomplete” and teachers don’t like the thought of having one student to check on over the holidays. Get your assignments done and turned in...
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Hobbies & Travel / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: The question of the day is: what is it with banks these days? I like to chat with tellers and to control my spending, so I deliberately do not have an ATM card. I go to the bank when it is open, for the express purpose of getting cash, making a deposit, and having a pleasant conversation. A few months back, my bank...
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Home Life / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: Welcome to December and the month in which we write our lovely annual letter to folks we care about and want to remember at this time of year. Today’s blog is about what to write- or not write- as you compose these weighty tomes. Please tell me how you and the family are doing. We want to know what you have been doing...
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College Life / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: This is the time of the semester when final exams take place. You need to be prepared for them, since they can have a profound effect on your final grade for a class. First, begin preparations the first day of class (too late for some of you for this semester, I know!). Take good notes, making sure that you make a special note...
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College Life / Suddenly Single
Hi everyone: A student emailed me today, in a panic about failing the writing class I am teaching at a major online college. Here is what I told her about writing an assignment: Please read all instructions carefully before you begin to write. Please write the document that the instructions call for. Look at each assignment as a separate and distinct document and do not...
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Home Life / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: Today’s blog is about following your dreams. Perhaps this does not seem to fit the category of being practical, but I would argue that it does. Folks sometimes spend a great deal of time and money being trained for a job that they quickly decide they detest. This is very sad; as the old saying goes, “Find a job you love and you...
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Books / Home Life / Suddenly Single
Hi Everyone: Today’s blog is just for fun. Since many folks will start decorating their tree in the coming weeks, I wanted to jump in with ideas for making your tree look superb. First, don’t decorate your tree like the stores do theirs. Keep in mind that they want to sell ornaments (or trees or both) and they will therefore put the ornaments on the...
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College Life / Suddenly Single
Hello everyone: With the end of the semester looming for some of my students, and mid-terms just over for others, it seemed appropriate to make some suggestions regarding asking for favors. One thing: do not ask for repeated favors. Do not use the circular argument that “you did it last time, so you should do this for me this time.” You may have gotten grace...
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College Life / Suddenly Single / Writing & Grammar
Hello everyone: Today’s blog is on writing for college. Having taught college for 11 years, there are some tips I would like to share with you. First, please use commas with introductory words and phrases. An example of an introductory word is seen in my previous sentence. If you are looking for an introductory phrase, I just gave you one in this sentence. These phrases...
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