The ROI on kids is not particularly good. At least, not at first. For those unfamiliar with the term, ROI - "Return On Investment" - is a common business term used to evaluate whether something is worth spending money on. If investing in that faster email system for $10,000 lets you earn money twice as… Continue reading Getting ROI from Kids
Month: September 2018
Look for the Helpers
One town north of me, a tragedy has unfolded. Problems with an over-pressurized natural gas line led to dozens of explosions and 70+ houses on fire. Three towns have evacuated their residents. Local news has been reporting nonstop on the craziness. But they've also been pointing out the places that evacuees can go for help.… Continue reading Look for the Helpers
Metallica
I am not a heavy metal fan. I rank it just above gangsta rap and country music in my mental list of "least favorite music genres." I tend to dismiss the songs as so much noise, much as a connoisseur on the other side of the spectrum would be dismissive of an operatic aria. Perversely,… Continue reading Metallica
Copy editing
"You're gonna come crawling back to the humanities," said Mrs. Thomas, my 12th grade English teacher, as I headed off to get my engineering degree. How did she know that years later, I'd take joy one evening in going through a draft of a marketing datasheet, and... Replacing passive voice with active Making sure bullet… Continue reading Copy editing
Coming back from the hiatus
First there's one distraction. Then another. Maybe an excuse. Perhaps a legitimate reason to deprioritize. Suddenly the personal project that started off as urgent and important, became less urgent but still important, until it slipped into that nice-to-have bucket that means it's on the backlog of activities that will never really get done. Fortunately, we… Continue reading Coming back from the hiatus
The Joys of JJFoley 