Hello impact, the ... verb!

Lately, I've realized that some of my youth has slipped out the window. I realized this when people started saying the same thing when looking at my wedding photo from seven and a half years ago -- things like, "You looked so fresh" and "You were so pretty. You must have been wearing makeup."

But I'm OK with this. Let's just say I'm well-steeped, like a nice container of sun tea.

So what is one thing I've learned in my old age (and I'm being sarcastic ... I know I'm a spring chicken)? All of my little pals will be glad to know that I've learned to be flexible and less stringent. And with that, I've started relinquishing some of the grammar rules I previously held near and dear to my heart.

This brings me to this evening's post. I have officially given up my fight on one particular grammar rule. I held on as long as I could, but when, this evening at church, the priest broke the grammar rule, I turned to Rory and said, "Rory, I have decided to welcome impact as a verb to my life."

Up until now, I have held steadfast that "impact" is a noun. I fought and fought as the rest of the world adopted it as a verb, but no more! I, too, will now use "impact" as a verb -- maybe every day! And you know what? We'll see how this impacts my life! I'm feeling footloose and fancy free already.

P.S.: Note to my readers.
OK, dear readers, it is time for us to have a chat. I know you're out there. Your compliments have reached me, and I've chatted online with a few of you. That said, Fact Sleuth doesn't seem to have taken off. I've used my network of friends. I've used social media. However, it could be that this particular blog just doesn't solicit an online chat. These things happen. I'm proud of the blog -- I've learned a lot and I've had some truly triumphant moments from it. That said, I still recognize that this just might not be working out.

Therefore, I've done a great deal of thinking about whether to continue this blog or not. Adding it to working full time and my freelance projects is not easy. So I'm going to take a break and see how I feel later. I have thoughts for other blogs that might garner more subscribers and comments, but ... well, we'll see.

So thank you for your support. I greatly appreciate it. I'm still out here writing away -- perhaps just not in the blogosphere.

Shortcuts are the path to corporate paradise

A few weeks back at work, I was training someone on a new Web system. I'm being as vague as possible with my opening sentence because I aim to keep my professional life out of my blog -- so pardon my lack of details. Anyhow, I allowed this person, who was truly doing great learning, to drive the mouse. That way, I would be assured that I didn't fly through the lesson too quickly.

Well, it can be super interesting to watch how someone else navigates a computer. Since there are usually a million ways to accomplish the same goal on a computer, it can be fun to see how someone goes about a certain task. I watched this person copying and pasting text within the system, noticing that he/she was going "old fashioned" on me and not using keyboard shortcuts.

Being the know-it-all that I am, I said, "You know, there is a much easier way to copy/paste. It will totally change your life."

Well, my pupil wouldn't have any of that. He/she was already learning a new computer system and didn't need me chiming in with other lessons. So, I'll admit that my timing was off. However, it occurred to me that other people out there might not know these keyboard shortcuts. Therefore, I'm going to share them here.

My favorite keyboard shortcuts:

To Select All the Copy on a Page: Click on the page. Hold down "ctr" and then click "a."

To Copy: Highlight the text you want to copy. Or, if you want to copy everything on your page, don't forget the previous shortcut. Now, hold down "ctrl" and then click "c."

To Cut: Highlight the text you want to cut. Or, if you want to cut everything on your page, don't forget my first shortcut. Now, hold down "ctrl" and then click "x."

To Paste: So you want to paste all that text you just copied or cut? Go click where you want to put it. Now, hold down "ctrl" and then click "v."

So those are my fav shortcuts. Do you have any to share? If so, post them in the comments section for everyone to see.

With kid gloves

On Sundays, Rory and I stroll. We don't run. We don't walk. We stroll.

During this time, we catch up on life, reminisce and plan the week ahead. No Boston blizzard ever stopped us from our Sunday stroll; no Atlanta scorcher has ever kept us inside. And despite our friends' laughter, we even arm ourselves with Smittens during the winter months. After all, you don't want your hands to be cold during a Sunday stroll.

Near the end of today's stroll, even though we had had a lot of laughs along our route, I fell into a bit of a mood. I do that sometimes ... fall into a mood. Usually, it happens when I become overwrought with self-doubt about my dreams and Rory has to bring it all back into perspective.

Today, I stayed in my little mood all the way inside the building, up the elevator and down the hall to our place. It took a quick mental recommitting to my dreams and a reminder dose of "you gotta have faith" to snap me out of it.

During that time, though, Rory kept a little distance, while remaining cute all the same. So, I turned to him and said, "Please stop treating me with kid gloves."

A few minutes later (after returning to my sunny disposition), I said, "Actually, Rory, do you know the meaning of kid gloves?" And so I then found myself not only smiling again, but also skipping over to my computer to type out this post.

As someone who loves reading historical fiction, I've known the meaning behind kid gloves for a long time. This is because, often, in a historical romance, the handsome suitor will send the ingénue a gift of kid gloves.

Kid gloves, as it turns out, are not necessarily gloves for kids/children. The "kid" in kid gloves refers to the leather from a baby goat (also known as kid). They are extra soft and dainty. Therefore, if you are treating someone with kid gloves, you are treating them softly and carefully.

I would rather not be treated that way -- so, thank goodness, I snapped out of it. Going forward, I will strive to be like our local Marietta, Georgia tennis star, Melanie Oudin, who has the following imprinted on her sneakers: Believe.

Catching the John

Between some hard labor at Rory's office this past weekend and chowing down on ice cream at Bruster's, we managed to snag a bit of couch time here at the Sprouse House. On the weekends, this often means finding me glued to my Kindle with the television buzzing in the background.

Rory loves reality cop programs, so he'll usually turn on some of those. In fact, I often find myself saying, "I can't believe this, but, Rory, this is a repeat. I've seen this chase before." I don't mind, though, because these programs afford me extra reading time.

This weekend, the cop program-of-choice focused on the policewomen of Broward County, a county down in Florida. I am familiar with this sunny, South Florida community because I did some business down there in a past life -- certainly not the type of business profiled on this cop show, though.

Certainly, these policewomen mean business. They are pretty darn cool, too. As you can imagine, it seems they often have to use their female skills to catch criminals in potential prostitution setups. (Come on, everyone, this is reality television!)

And this leads me to today's Fact Sleuth post and a question for you. ...

During these setups, the undercover officer is referred to as the "bait," an obvious choice. On the other hand, the potential criminal is referred to as "the John." Now, here's my question. OK, they are called "the John." Well, why? Is that just a generic name choice, like John Doe? Drop me a line or post in the comment section if you know the answer.

P.S.

A Bonus Grammar Fact

Did you notice in my second to last paragraph my use of an ellipse? I had a period at the end of the sentence, then a space and then the ellipse? This is because an ellipse actually counts as its own word. So if you throw an ellipse in any of your sentences, you actually need to have a space before and after the ellipse. And, if an ellipse occurs after a sentence, give that sentence its proper punctuation and then use your ellipse.

The case of "any time" v. "anytime"

I've been writing professionally now for nine years and dreaming of writing since I was a little kid and my dad gave me my copy of Anne of Green Gables. However, no matter how many grammar rules I commit to memory, there are some that I seem to always have to look up. For these, I comfort my ego by telling myself that it is more important to recognize WHEN you should look up how to do something and know WHERE you can find the answer than knowing everything. Right? ... Right?

So for this rainy Thursday Night Pasta Night (Rory and I eat big bowls of pasta every Thursday night complemented by rolls drenched in olive oil), I am going to share one of the grammar rules I have to look up several times a month. Perhaps by writing it out for you, I will also finally learn it!

Any time: One word or two?

So when do you use "any time" as two words instead of one? According to Patricia T. O'Conner's Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English (great book, by the way), "any time" as two words means "any amount of time," while "any time" as one word means "whenever."

Here are two examples:

• Because eating pasta in my little home on a Thursday night is a priority for me, I don't have any time to schedule other events.

• Anytime I get a chance, I eat pasta.

Case closed!

Now I'm going to go get that dinner going! I don't have any time to waste.

P.S.
I've been blessed with some exciting professional times lately, but they are certainly filling my plate. Please know I will do everything possible to post regularly, but I may slip some. Thanks for your understanding.