The Sounding Board

We all have our own ‘things’ we like to do when the weather forces us indoors. Personally? Rainy days are the days I like to catch up on my reading. Sometimes it’s a book for personal interests, sometimes it’s something business-related, other times it’s for catching up on all the feeds in my feed reader. It really depends on my mood what I choose to read on those dreary rainy days. It never fails though, if it’s rainy and yucky outside, you’re most likely to find me sprawled out on top of my fluffy bedspread with the French doors open and reading material of some sort in my lap. (Sometimes, that means there’s a gagillion books, notebooks, and my laptop tossed all over the spread like pick-up-sticks.)

What’s your favorite way to pass the time when the weather keeps you in?

Please forgive me if you’re reading The Sounding Board today. I’m playing with some new themes, widgets, and adding some behind the scenes stuff to The Sounding Board. Don’t be surprised if the overall look of my blog changes from one post to the next as you’re reading. I’ve been bitten by the Spring cleaning bug today & have decided The Sounding Board needed something of a fresh coat of paint to match the beautiful Spring weather we’ve been having lately. So I’ve declared today my virtual Spring cleaning day!

So no, it’s not your eyes playing tricks, nor your browser gone wonky - I’m just spending the day ‘tinkering,’ as I’m want to do from time to time. Just bear with me.

Well I’ll be darned! I learned something new today that I didn’t know. How it is I never knew it, I couldn’t tell you…but until today I didn’t.

Did you know that the two abbreviations i.e. and e.g. are not the same thing? Maybe you did, but I didn’t until today.

The abbreviation i.e. stands for “id est.” In Latin, that basically means “in other words” (not a literal translation, mind you.)

The abbreviation e.g. stands for “exempli gratia.” In Latin, that basically means “for example” (also not a literal translation, but you get the idea.)

I’ve used i.e. on numerous occassions when what I really should have used e.g. Hmph. Interesting. I’ve been improperly using i.e. on a regular basis & didn’t even know it. I stand corrected.

I know, probably useless knowledge to some folks. But there’s a greater point to be made here. If you don’t continuously seek to improve your knowledge and skills, regardless of what line of work you’re in, eventually you’ll find yourself obsolete. It’s one thing to be good and what you do & know that there are alot of people out there better than you. That’s normal. However, one should always strive to be better. One should always strive for improvement. If you don’t continuously improve your skills (whatever those skills might be) eventually the greater majority of your industry will be better than you, rather than just a select few being better. Then what?