by Thomas M. Pender
 
I don’t believe in rhetorical questions. Any question can be answered, or at least attempted. It’s a great deal of fun, in fact, to shoot out an answer to a question when you know the asker did not expect to get one. One of my favorites growing up was “You know what I don’t get?” In this circumstance, the speaker means this phrase as a preamble to what he is about to say next. Unless they have been in my company when they have asked it previously, I’m sure very few people expect or receive any assistance with this poser. I like to take a stab at answering the question, though, since the question itself is an invitation to join in.
 

At some point in our lives, most of us have tossed a stone into a lake, pond, or river to and watch the pattern of small circular waves expand from the center. One after another, each ripple grows larger and larger as it moves across the water. The entire surface can be changed from the impact of a single stone.
 
The ripple effect symbolizes the mission of Goodwill at work in our community. 
 

In this new year, don’t just take the hand that the market deals you. Now is the time to take charge for 2010!

Ugh.  The undead are everywhere.  There is no escaping them.  Believe me, I’ve tried!
 
Go into any bookstore at random.  Go into any Fiction subsection, be it Romance, Mystery, or Teen, and you will be facing a forest of fangs.  Vampires have permeated every corner of modern fiction.  Next, go to your local movie theatre, or simply turn to your newspaper’s Entertainment section, and again, you will be immersed in immortals.
 
Vampires have become cool and mainstream.  There are now vampire cults, fan clubs, websites, and television series centered around these bloodsuckers.  It’s at the point where they’re no longer scary.  They’re your neighbors.
 

Wes, a very intelligent and articulate former co-worker of mine, once asked me, “When do you say ‘Grace and I’ and when do you say ‘Grace and me’?”
 
Unlike many lessons in the complicated English language, this one is fairly easy to learn and remember.  When speaking of yourself and someone else, pretend you are speaking only of yourself, and use the appropriate pronoun.  Since “I am going to the store,” and not “Me am going to the store,” then it is simply “Grace and I are going to the store.”  Likewise, if “Wes gave a Christmas card to me,” then “Wes gave Christmas cards to Grace and me.”
 

The Electoral College: It's Time To Graduate Already!
by Thomas M. Pender
 
I’m not up on my current events, admittedly.  At the last Presidential election, I had to wait until the next day and check my email at work to see who won.  Newspapers, cable, home internet . . . they cost money.  Radio?  Every channel is now a gabfest, snoozefest, commercialfest, or noisefest, none of which ever get around to telling their listeners what’s going on in the world!
 
So when I was discussing the ’08 election with a friend, I ignorantly said “Isn’t it great that we know real numbers of voters, and don’t need that ridiculous electoral college process anymore?”  My friend blinked at me, and filled me in on my mistake.
 

When It's "Its" And When It's "It's"
by Thomas M. Pender
 
Due to the fact that America was settled by people from many countries, modern American English is probably the most difficult language to master – even for modern Americans!  Two words that stump many well-schooled countrymen are “its” and “it’s.”  In fact, many people are completely unaware of the word “its” and its usage!
 
The apostrophe in the contraction “it’s” signifies missing letters.  There are only two cases in which “it’s” will be used, and these substitutions are stated in the following rule:
 
‘ = “i” or “ha”
 

Lessons from the Other Side of the Counter
by Thomas M. Pender
 
Over the years and through several jobs, I have spent countless hours in one form of customer service or another.  Whether it’s at a cash register, information counter, or on the telephone, I’ve learned a lot about humans through customer service.  I’ve recently come to the conclusion that all citizens should be required by law to work in this field for one year, preferably between their last year of schooling and their first year of the career of their choice.  Society would certainly benefit!