03.26.08

10 Tips For Proofreading Success

Posted in Business at 12:11 am by CMJ Office

Nothing hurts your business image more than misspellings, typos and grammatical mistakes. Fortunately, proofreading can be easy if you know how to get the job done. Follow these 10 quick tips for proofreading ease and leave embarrassment behind.

Proofreading can be tricky but it is essential. We are all human and no one is perfect. Typos happen to the best of us. If your business depends on the written word, make sure you follow these ten quick and simple tips to help eliminate those pesky grammar and spelling mistakes.

The first five tips are as follows:

  1. Read and re-read. Make sure that you read your material carefully and more than once. If necessary, print off a copy. Some people find it easier to proof if they can highlight a hard copy.
  2. Take your time. Time is money but not when proofing. Take it slowly. If you write quickly, chances are that you will jump over thoughts and miss jotting down important words. If you must write a thought down quickly before you lose it, just remember to go back over your work later.
  3. Speak your words aloud. Sometimes we can read silently to ourselves and fill in words that aren’t actually there. When reading aloud, this may still occur but the chances are that you will discover the skipped words.
  4. Check your spelling. Software capabilities make it so much easier nowadays to catch spelling and grammatical errors. Utilize these functions. They lessen the burden on your own eyes. Do not depend on these tools. Software spell checkers cannot detect a misplaced or duplicated word in a sentence when it is spelled correctly.
  5. Get a second pair of eyes. Have someone else look over your copy. It is amazing how much can be missed when you are absorbed in the material. When someone else looks at your copy for the first time, they can spot the smallest errors glaring out at them. Get a friend if you cannot hire a proofreader. For example, a second pair of eyes can find a double ‘it it’ when it should read ‘it is’.

My next blog posting will list the last five tips for successful proofreading. Stay tuned and learn some valuable tips.

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

03.22.08

Competition For Women Business Owners

Posted in Business at 2:23 pm by CMJ Office

If you are a woman business owner or have a great idea for a business, you need to check out the Women 2.0 Business Plan Competition. Deadline for submittals is April 1, 2008. Eligibility guidelines are listed at http://www.women2.org/?page_id=44 with great prizes offered including a meeting with Esther Dyson.

Enjoy reading and best of luck.

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

03.19.08

Excel Database Function Codes

Posted in Virtual Ass't Info at 12:51 pm by CMJ Office

I’ve listed some database function codes for Excel. If you are working on a database within Excel, this tool can be quite useful. You can find more function codes at Microsoft.com.

Happy databasing!

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

Database Functions


Function 

Description 

DAVERAGE

Returns the average of selected database entries 

DCOUNT

Counts the cells that contain numbers in a database

DCOUNTA

Counts nonblank cells in a database 

DGET

Extracts from a database a single record that matches the specified criteria 

DMAX

Returns the maximum value from selected database entries

DMIN

Returns the minimum value from selected database entries 

DPRODUCT

Multiplies the values in a particular field of records that match the criteria in a database 

DSTDEV

Estimates the standard deviation based on a sample of selected database entries

DSTDEVP

Calculates the standard deviation based on the entire population of selected database entries

DSUM

Adds the numbers in the field column of records in the database that match the criteria 

DVAR

Estimates variance based on a sample from selected database entries 

03.16.08

Spread The Blarney In Irish

Posted in Genealogy at 7:02 pm by CMJ Office

 
 
 
Here are some Irish phrases to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  
More can be found at http://www.ireland-information.com. 
Beannachtai na Feile Padraig  -  Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
Tapadh leat  -  Thank you
Conas ata tu?  -  How are you?
Gabh mo leithscaal  -  Excuse me
Nil Gaeilge maith agam  -  I cannot speak Irish very well
Scriobh chugam go luath  -  skreevh coo-gum guh lu-ah
Slainte  -  Good Health!
Stad!  -  Stop!
Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

03.13.08

The Town Called Drumlish, County Longford

Posted in Genealogy at 9:04 pm by CMJ Office

    

There is a little town called Drumlish in County Longford. I never heard of it until I was twelve. It is where my grandfather, Michael Joseph Finnegan, grew up. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Irish immigrants in 1907, the Finnegan’s were told by their doctor to send him back to Ireland because of his poor health. I still cannot understand this. He was raised by his grandmother Rose Larkin until she passed away when he was around five years old in 1912. He then was taken in by his aunt, Rose Larkin McGee. Joe, as he was known, came back to America in 1924.

The Larkin family came from Co. Longford, Ireland, and settled in Providence, Rhode Island. While growing up, I would always hear my grandfather tell stories about growing up in Longford. The stories were always about everything Longford and nothing else.

That being said, my grandparents had arranged a trip back to their homeland one summer. Unfortunately for my grandfather, he was stricken with cancer and never saw his beloved Ireland again. My father took my younger sister and myself over. Our cousins in County Clare agreed to take us over to County Longford. My father was beaming that he accomplished a photo in front of the Longford News Station of us for my grandfather.

Once we got back to the states, we started chatting with grandpa and telling him about County Longford. We got the picture developed and I will never forget what happened next. As we all joyfully displayed the photo to grandpa, what do you think we heard? “Oh that’s just grand. If only you had travelled up the road a little bit to Drumlish, you could have seen the town I grew up in.”

Ugh!

I can still hear my father saying, “What?” Never had any of us ever heard anything about Drumlish. It had always been Longford. I now have researched this side of my family. Drumlish is just up the road from Longford. It is where he was raised with his aunt. Before that, he was living in Gaigue, County Longford. Not all the Larkin’s came over to America. There are still some there today.

The biggest irony of them all is that I have now discovered that the Degnan’s, my father’s family, came over from County Longford, Ireland. I can now say that if we had continued a little further up the road from Drumlish, we would have seen the town where the Degnan’s were raised!

I think we need to go back to County Longford and journey up the road.

Colleen M. Johnson, CMJ Office

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