Category: Managing your Team

Oh, English – the language that keeps us all on our toes! Whether you’re a seasoned language pro or embarking on a linguistic journey, the “Me” versus “I” dilemma can leave even the best of us scratching our heads. But fret not! In this witty and enlightening guide, we’ll unravel the mysteries of these pronouns and equip you with the finesse to navigate the tricky waters of English with flair.

Ah, the allure of “I” – so proper, so formal. But beware, indulging too much in “I” can make you sound like an egomaniac! D drowning in “me” won’t do any favors either; it’s a grammatical no-no. So why not sprinkle in some “we,” “us,” or other pronouns to share the spotlight and include the whole crew?

Now, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty of “me” and “I.” The golden rule is to channel your inner star, use “I” when taking center stage, and embrace “me” when you’re the supporting actor. Sounds simple. But hold your horses; there are sneaky exceptions. Here’s a trick: kick out the other person from the sentence. If it still flows seamlessly, you’ve got the proper pronoun. Bravo!

But hang on tight because there’s a twist involving verbs. Whenever you encounter verbs like “like” or “as,” bet on “I” every time. For instance, “He invited my wife and I to the party” – incorrect! Cue the buzzer sound. The correct version is “He invited my wife and me to the party.” Bingo!

Tip: Harness the power of the written word to conquer this pronoun puzzle! Writing helps unveil those sneaky errors and fine-tune your masterpiece. Take a moment to polish your words, and watch your message shine crystal-clear.

Conclusion: In the epic battle of “me” versus “I,” the stakes may seem low, but the impact on your message is colossal. Fear not, brave reader! Equipped with rules, tricks, and a dash of panache, you now possess the prowess to wield “me” and “I” like a language virtuoso. Embrace the exceptions, proofread like a pro, and remember – practice makes perfect! Now, conquer the world of pronouns with your newfound wit and wisdom! ✨💫

Get ready for some shameless Grammarly love! Grammarly is your trusty linguistic sidekick, helping you craft flawless and confident writing. With its AI-powered wizardry, it not only checks grammar and typos but also offers stylistic suggestions and expands your vocabulary. Grammarly comes in different flavors, with extensions, apps, and mobile companions for flexible writing. Try it for free or upgrade to Grammarly Premium, with advanced insights and a plagiarism checker. Join the legion of writers who rely on Grammarly to unleash their writing potential.

Here’s how to change your default app for items like your browser (IE or Edge to Chrome), your Mail (Mail to Outlook), or Photos (Photos to Adobe or Paint).

1. Click on Windows button on keyboard or lower left hand corner of main screen.

2. Once open, begin typing Default Apps. Once visible click on Default apps.

3. Once open find the Default App to change, click on it and you’ll be given different options. Select the one you want and it should automatically change.

If you’re anything like me, then you probably have several phrases you may have to type tens, if not hundreds of times a week or month.

It could be a simple acknowledgement response to a customer email or service instructions for a technician ticket. Whatever it is, if you have to type it more than 4 times, then you’re wasting your time.

A free, fast solution to solve this problem is Text Blaze. Text Blaze is an easy to install Chrome Extension that will change the way you handle repetitive tasks.

You can head over to the Chrome Web Store to download the extension or check out this video from Text Blaze to learn more.

The free version gives you up to 20 free snippets, but there are several paid upgrades available for personal on up to enterprise/business use. And the software doesn’t just help with quick basic text expansions, like “Thank you for reaching out”. It can also utilize dynamic commands to identify things like the user you’re responding to or even adding in dynamic dates. For example, you can build a snippet for letting clients know you received their email and they can expect a response in two days. During the set up, you can direct the snippet to take the name from the email contact and add two days from the date you received the email. Then those items automatically populate when you click your command.

I hope you check out Text Blaze and find it to be as much of a time saver as I have both professionally and personally.

Have you ever wanted to write senseless text using Latin words? Or maybe you’ve just needed some sample text to check out a layout you recently made in a PowerPoint slide or a Sharepoint post? Well your answer to both is to type in the formula =lorem(x,y) to automatically generate sample Latin text for you.

The formula works in Outlook, Sharepoint and Powerpoint. Unfortunately, at this time it won’t work in OneNote or Excel.

So what does the formula mean?

X = number of paragraphs

Y = number of sentences per paragraph

Pick the number of paragraphs you want and how many sentences per paragraph, input it as =lorem(x,y) and voilà!

Below are a few screenshots of examples.

Why would you need this? Well, if you’re like me you may need to use random text examples to fill space on templates, in testing, or even Sharepoint pages to depict what it may look like in production or during a presentation. Using this tip prevents you from having to copy and paste the word “Test” in a sentence a hundred times or use some random paragraphs you copied and pasted from a recent email.

So why use Lorem Ipsum text instead of english (or any other language) text? Mostly because it isn’t distracting to the reader, who won’t try to comprehend the details and instead, will pay more attention to the layout or design. Unless of course you dabbled in Latin, then you may find you’re translating a bit of gibberish.

Where did it come from? According to an issue of “Before and After” magazine in 1994, “Lorem Ipsum” originated from a text written in 45 B.C. The same phrase and other portions from the text have been used for centuries by typographers to determine text size, font, and layout. To learn more about this random bit of knowledge, check out this Wikipedia link.

Disclaimer: This is only for Outlook desktop.

For anyone who receives more than a few emails each day in their Inbox, this quick Outlook tip will help you preview multiple lines of an email without opening it. This is especially helpful if your organization implemented any type of message, usually the first 1-2 lines and possibly color highlighted, to warn you that the incoming email is from an external party and to handle with caution. These types of reminders can be helpful in deterring and preventing phishing attacks.

As a default your preview is normally one line like this.

But you can change it to show as many as 3 text lines. This is extremely handy so you can make quick decisions on what to do with the email without opening it.

To change the default go to the View tab, then Message Preview, then select 1, 2, or 3.

Definitely helps me with messages from external senders with security alerts or to quickly deal with internal emails that I can file or delete, without opening each to read.

If you’re like me you probably operate with partners in different time zones. Use this quick tip/hack to add up to 2 additional time zones to your Outlook Calendar. This will help you schedule meetings for times that work for both you and your participants.

This will need to be done on Outlook desktop.

1. Go to File. Upper left hand corner of Outlook.
2. Click on Options.
3. In new window that opens with “Outlook Options”, click on Calendar on the left side.
4. Scroll toward bottom to header “Time zones”.
5. From here you can add a second and third time zone. You can rename your current time zone, like I did below to “me”, then I would highly recommend labeling the two additional time zones.
6. Once added you should see the new times on the left hand side of your calendar. For the example below, I’m on EST and I’ve added both CST and PST.

Its end of the month and I’m scrambling to pull together my mileage details. I knew I had been out to a particular office at least 2 times, but I thought it had been more and I needed to appropriately account for the days I was in that office. As I sat there fretting about how I would come up with it (I forgot to calendar all my days), I remembered something I learned several years ago. It should be no surprise in this age of information overload, but your iPhone is tracking you pretty much wherever you go. No I’m not talking about a particular app, there are those too, I’m talking about your iPhone location tracker.

So here’s how you can find where you’ve been and how you can turn it off, if the tracking is a little too creepy for you.

1. Click on Settings on your iPhone
2. Scroll to Privacy Settings and select
3. Select Location Services
4. Scroll to the bottom and select System Services
5. Click on Significant Locations
6. Drill into the city and state to see the address or area your phone recognized you were

And there you have it, your last 90+ days of locations all in one little package.

To turn off, click the Toggle Button on the Significant Locations, but beware… this will turn off the tracking on your Mail, Photos, Calendar and more (according to the disclaimer).

Or you can leave it on and use it for future mileage, travel, and other reference. Your choice.