Over the past couple days, I've been reviewing cover letters and resumes for a new position at AIER. As I look them over, I'm struck by a few recurring problems that seem to plague cover letters.

1. Please, please don't have typos or grammatical errors in your cover letter. I know you've heard that a thousand times before, but it cannot be stressed enough. Read, re-read, and re-read your resume and cover letter a thousand times. And, while you're at it, go contact your smartest friend and have her give it a look over.
2. Avoid long bullet lists. Fine, if you really have to use bullets, make sure it highlights a few of your most important accomplishments. But 10 or 12 bullets in your cover letter? This is beginning to read like an abbreviated, poorly designed version of your resume.
3. Don't go smaller than 12-pt font. I'm  young enough to be able to read 6-pt font, but that doesn't mean I want to. Learn how to narrow down your cover letter to the most important points instead of narrowing down your font to cover all the different things you've done.

So, in summary: take your time, proofread, and focus on the most important and relevant aspects of your experience as they relate to the job you're applying for.

Please.

Just how important is the Apple tablet to Steve Jobs? According to several sources, Jobs has been reported as saying the iSlate "will be the most important thing I've ever done." Or maybe it's going to be called the iPad...who knows!? All I know is that it's going to be big.

And here's some absolutely wonderful news. According to the website HotHardware,

...an inside source close to the going-ons involved in all of this [claims that] a new tablet of some sort may not be the only thing on deck for next Wednesday though. We have been led to believe by an inside source that AT&T will lose their iPhone exclusivity on the same day, though it's not yet clear what other carrier (or carriers) will be stepping in to also carry the phone.

I had the treat of creating a website for a coworker's partner, Arthur Yanoff. Yanoff is an extremely accomplished abstract painter whose work really stands out in the current field of abstract artists.

I'm not usually a fan of abstract work, but I think Yanoff's has real strength. Click the link below and explore.

http://yanoff.carbonmade.com/

Now this is starting to get exciting. As Engadget points out, it seems like Apple may be stressing the creative aspects of a tablet. Could be trying to target the media producer crowd.

I'm still holding true to my predictions (1 and 2), most of which won't turn out to be true. But I'm sticking to them, nonetheless.

I really dislike acronyms. I especially hate the ones that ruin your ability to write properly.

What am I talking about?

Ever since I started working at AIER, I cannot write a sentence about "air" without spelling it "aier." Never fails.

I was chatting with my someone who plays a similar role to me at UAlbany's University Auxiliary Services (UAS) who often has problems with writing the word "us," instead coming out as "uas."

I'm sure you can think of examples in your own life. Part of me wonders if ESPN writers can write ESP anymore, but at least that word is fairly uncommon. "Air" and "us"? Not so uncommon.

So this is why I hate acronyms. Besides the fact that there are way too many of them and people love them way more than they should, they also have completely ruined my ability to write about aier...I mean air.

So please, corporate business world, do not invent a clever acronym like "THIE" and destroy any chance of me typing a sentence again without making an annoying mistake.

We're not quite as fast as the Pony Express, but we do deliver mail!

It was actually a nice little walk to take with my parents' snowshoes. A good way of making some fun out of a pretty awful (weather-wise) situation. Oh well, I guess that's the downside to living in such a beautiful area of the country...