I don't think an STC membership is necessary, although it certainly wouldn't hurt. I would say one thing you definitely need is a couple of good technical writing samples. My technical writing background is all in the software industry, and if you are interested in that area, I'd suggest getting involved with an open source project and offering to contribute to the documentation. Everyone I talk to seems to agree that OpenOffice could really use some help. :D As for tools, it's going to vary. I would say becoming comfortable with DITA and at least one DITA editor would be the most useful, but I'm curious to hear what others say. It's been 14 years since I looked for a job, and the positions I've interviewed others for in recent years have been new college hires or internal hires (so, already familiar with our tools). Good luck!

Yes, I kept wondering how many shoe boxes she thought I had. :-)

I did the 23andme test because my mother has MTHFR mutations. I don't notice any issues with my health at this point, so that wasn't a motivating factor. I'm heterozygous for C677T. Personally, I'm doing some reading on and off and planning to ask my doctor to test my homocysteine levels during my next annual physical (sometime in February). I'm not planning to take any supplements until I get the results of that testing. I'm homozygous for another mutation that affects absorption of vitamin D. I'm following the same plan with that one--request testing early next year and add supplements if test results indicate an issue.

No, I don't knit or crochet. It never would have occurred to me to give the creator of a gift the first right of refusal if I ever wanted to pass it along. Even reading what you wrote, I'm not sure I could do it. I have a great desire to avoid awkward exchanges unless they are necessary to preserve a relationship. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I learned something. :-)

To me, putting a restriction on tossing handmade gifts runs counter to the idea of keeping only things that spark joy. Some of my kids really struggle with feeling like they can't declutter things they don't like and never use because those things were given to them by people they love. We spend a lot of time talking about how the things and the people are different, and getting rid of or not liking a thing says nothing about how we feel about or treat the person. (Although of course we are gracious and thankful when we receive gifts.) Sometimes this means I bite my tongue when my kids declutter things from me, but I don't want to undermine the message I am trying to teach.

Quill, yes, I struggle with parts of the Bible, to the point where I found reading the Bible cover to cover to be a faith demoting experience. And I was already starting from a position of accepting that different parts were allegorical, poetry, etc. Your posts have called out many of the parts I struggle with most. I don't have any answers.

I am not able to start a true KonMari project at this time <insert saga of my summer here>, but it has changed how I handle the back-to-school clothing sort for my youngest. As we sort through his clothes and the hand-me-downs from his brothers, instead of asking "does it fit?" I am asking, "would you be happy to wear this?" If the answer is no for any reason (even one that seems crazy to me), it gets donated. My kids tend to latch on the a couple of favorite outfits and refuse to wear anything else, so why even bother having the other clothes? No one has gone naked yet.

It might help if you told us what decade you were in elementary school. 😉

We took Spanish lessons in Costa Rica in 2011. DH was down there for a month with our 5 year old and our 11-year-old twins. Oldest son and I came down for the last two weeks. The little guy was enrolled in a regular Spanish-language kindergarten class at a privat school. It was mornings only. The rest of us (except DH, who is already fluent) took 3-4 hours of lessons each morning M-F. Because we were at different levels, we had three private teachers. (The twins shared.) We got out of it what we put into it. Which means results varied. 😉

Yes, they are similar to beignets. Although I'm suddenly thinking I should eat some of each right now, to make sure I'm not forgetting an important distinction. 😉 On the subject of fry sauce--I loathed both mayonnaise and ketchup until well into my twenties, but fry sauce was love at first taste when I moved to Utah for college at 18. Go figure. My non-Mormon kids can't figure out why I don't ever make Jello. When they were young, they used to gush over it at the relatives' houses.

Wait! He didn't check on the other guy? Given that standing on a ladder that was balanced on a moving vehicle was apparently NOT foolish in this man's mind, I think anything he reported as foolish would probably require the person to be locked up for his or her own safety and that of those around them.

Last year in Ireland, I was told the family rate include two adults and "a reasonable number of children." I asked that a "reasonable" number is. Three, apparently. (Now, maybe she said that because I had three kids with me at the time.)

I laughed all the way through, but it still inspired me to declutter. However, I refuse to feel guilty about balls of socks rolling around in my drawer. No, I don't feel the least bit bad that I am not letting them relax on their day off.

I wouldn't say it's bad to need a loan. It might (and often is) bad for a particular student to take out a loan for a specific degree at a specific college. Our goal is for our kids to graduate with their undergrad degrees without loans. Our oldest son is the only one in college yet, but he looks on track to do that. Partly though hard work and good grades in high school, and partly through being willing to defer his dreams of MIT, Stanford, etc., until grad school. It's not a realistic goal for every student, but when it is possible, I think it's better for kids to avoid loans.

I decided not to get progressive lenses for my prescription sunglasses because I was told they don't work well in cars, and one of my main use cases is when I am driving.

Praying for you and yours.

I didn't vote in the poll because I don't think there is one right answer. For my parents' 50th, my siblings and I planned a group trip to Yellowstone. My dad was in on it, but my Mom was completely surprised. She knew my dad was taking her to Yellowstone, but she didn't know the rest of us were meeting them there. My in-laws are celebrating their 50th next year. They just announced that they are taking everyone on a trip to Mexico to celebrate, but they picked finals week for my two kids who are in public high school, so our family won't be going. They are going with a package from a travel agent because it is less stressful for them, and that week is apparently the only week they can go. I was hurt at first, but I keep reminding myself that it is their anniversary, they are paying for the trip, and they should get to celebrate how they want to.

I wish I could believe that Harper Lee changed her mind, but it seems likely that people who will benefit financially have taken advantage of an elderly woman.

Based on what I'm hearing, it sounds like this is not a sequel to TKAM. It's an early draft of the story from back before Harper Lee decided to make Scout a kid, etc. I think it's a shame it was published. It's not fair to Harper Lee, and it will end up damaging the legacy of TKAM.

We took care of my husband's grandparents when we were first married. His grandmother had some speech issues from a stroke years earlier (although her receptive language was fine, so that might be a critical difference). His grandparents had a loud cow bell that they rang when they needed us. It worked great. Only downside is that I still (16 years later) sometimes startle out of a deep sleep convinced that I heard a cow bell.

I don't think of "bless their heart" as a Christian thing. I think of it as a Southern thing.

The question I wished that study had asked is whether people who had surgery had better outcomes than people with gender dysphoria who didn't have surgery. As it stands now, all it seems to tell us is that surgery doesn't solve all of the problems we would like it to solve, and trans people are still at significant risk post-surgery (as a group; individual outcomes can, of course, vary). It doesn't help trans people answer the question of whether surgery is beneficial for them.

Norwich is not in the mountains, so you might want to drive up through Albany, NY, and then cross over to Bennington and drive through the Green Mountain National forest to improve your chances of seeing good fall foliage. Are you driving both there and back? If so, you might want to take the shorter way through CT on the way up and then take the slightly longer way on the way back. Foilage will be better after the wedding than before.

When in September? Foliage season is short and a bit tricky to plan around, but in my neck of the woods, the last week of September is usually good. After NYC, are you planning to head north in New York State and then cross over, or head into CT and then turn north?

Not a package deal. Even with my twins. There are a lot of articles on the importance of treating twins as individuals. It seemed hypocritical to insist people treat them as individuals and then turn around and insist that they are a package when it comes to invitations.