Monthly Archives: January 2021

A FEW Words on Email Signatures

The year is still young and it’s not too late to take up a resolution for brevity in the arena of email signatures. Far too often do threads end up as 95% signature text and 5% actually useful words. I have no credentials to provide advice—only an above average amount of unapologetic grammar snobbery thanks to some good friends in college that made a mockery of any sentence that so much as misplaced a comma, but here is my opinion.

  • Create 2 signatures in Outlook: The verbose one that is required by your company and a super short one, ideally just your first name. Configure your settings to use the long one only on original messages and the short one on replies and forwards. Remember you can always change it manually (by selecting the desired signature from the drop down) before sending the email. Pro tip: have the short one as the default and bring in the big guns only when necessary (i.e. the first time you are emailing someone ever). Another really good time to switch over to that short signature is when you are sending a personal email with your business email. (Or consider using your gmail for personal emails, but that is another topic)
  • Every character in the signature should have a purpose. I’m not going to say don’t do it, but I am going to point out that quotes rarely enhance a business email and that’s an awful lot of characters.
  • Nobody cares that you sent the email from your smart phone. It takes 30 seconds to change the default signature to anything other than that. I configured two signatures for my iPhone: “Sent from my iPhone” and “Sent from my Android”. I then select the one that matches the person I am emailing so they feel a false sense of camaraderie and are more likely to consent to do it my way. I don’t actually do that, but now I’m kind of tempted to.

My Favorite Children’s Books

I absolutely love children’s books that have beautiful illustrations and tell a good story and I love reading them to my kids. Here are a few of our favorites.

Imogene’s Last Stand by Candace Fleming / Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

I love history, but mostly I love how this story encourages kids, particularly girls, to stand up for what they believe in.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

Peter Brown is a go-to author for us. His illustrations alone would do it for me and his stories are just as good. This is such a heart warming tale of being yourself even if being yourself is different from everyone else. We have been through it many times.

Up the Mountain Path by Marianne Dubuc

Read it and you’ll see.

Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Suess

This is such a no-brainer, it basically needs to explanation. However, what I like about reading this book is that contains lessons for all phases in life and it is always nice to have reminders for myself.

Chirri & Chirra by Kaya Doi

There are a handful of these books in the series, but the premise is almost always the same: 2 girls go for a bike ride and proceed to live out an adventure cyclist’s wet dream. They ride through incredible landscapes and make frequent culinary stops at ridiculously eclectic cafes. These books make me want to ride more.

Farewell to Shady Glade by Bill Peet

I read this book as a child and now I read it to my kids. It is a very approachable story of the impacts of urban sprawl and deforestation and rewards the more mature reader with ridiculously potent irony.

Locomotive by Brian Floca

We have read this book cover to cover more than any other book. Everything by Brian Floca is outstanding and we own a good number of his books, but Locomotive is our favorite probably because our love of trains.