Craig and I visited Yosemite on Friday where I tried out my new camera on the beautiful scenery including flowering dogwoods and frothy white waterfalls. Check out my gallery on Photo.net in a few days for more pictures.

A Day at Yosemite

Maine, Nova Scotia & New Brunswick

Remember HAITI in your prayers.

If you would like to help the people of Haiti, make a donation at ADRA.ORG

Going Forward To Nowhere

For a long time the phrases "going forward" & "moving forward" have "gotten under my skin". Some cliches in our cultural speech are inevitable, but, please, "enough already."

Here are some postings from blogs.msdn.com that give us "some food for thought".

Microspeak: Going forward

The jargon phrase going forward has largely replaced the more mundane equivalent from now on. It appears that I'm not the only person who is bothered by this phrase. Sample usages:

• We discussed the membership and timeframe for support team meetings going forward.
• There will be change to the status reports going forward.
• Going forward we will be doing this for every milestone.

Notice that the phrase going forward usually adds little to the sentence. You can delete it from all of the sentences above and nobody would notice a difference.

Published Tuesday, September 25, 2007 7:00 AM by oldnewthing

Filed under: Other, Microspeak

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:09 AM by skst

Seriously. This mindless filler has bothered me from the first time I heard it. Does the speaker think the listeners are so confused they need to be told we can't change the past? Do people have trouble understanding that the past is inviolable so the only place to make changes is "from here on out"?

Can anyone describe a situation where "going forward" disambiguates a statement?

John S.: I also agree about "at the end of the day." Ugh!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:49 AM by Steve Nuchia

I believe the origin of this phrase can be traced to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules for "forward looking statements" in the communications of publicly traded corporations. They require that statements about the future be weasel-worded and the "going forward" construction seems to have migrated from CEO speaches into the general business vocabulary.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:51 AM by Qian

@Nickd, I'm with you, except for me it's the variation "at this point in time." I'm trying to work "at this point in space" into my own speech as much as possible just to achieve some kind of dimensional balance.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 1:14 PM by Mikkin

This silly phrase is widely used, not just in Microspeak. The verb "to go" is usually not germane to the idea being expressed, even when the idea is not redundant. English already has a good word for this: "Henceforth."

I try not to laugh at people who think they sound sophisticated when they are actually using dumbed-down language. Heretofore I have not tried very hard, but henceforth I shall try harder.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 6:57 PM by Mikkin

At the risk of incurring Raymond's ire for commenting twice on the same post, I just realized why people say this. "Going forward" tries to imply that the change represents some kind of forward progress. It is probably a good indicator that one is going nowhere.

Line from Dilbert cartoon" "At the end of the day we'll be in a market place on a going forward basis".

Riley - In Memory

I just learned that Riley, the special Maine Coon cat I met at one of the B&B's we stayed at in Maine tragically died Oct. 17. He was found in an above-ground swimming pool. It saddens my heart so much. He was a beautiful and lovable cat, and very much loved by his people who will miss him so much. We are reminded how important it is to keep pools covered to help prevent a tragedy like this.

I will always remember Riley, the great big boy who so graciously let me take pictures of him while he lounged in the yard.

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, Nova Scotia, Oct. 11 & 12

What a beautiful sunset at this picturesque lighthouse that stands guard outside Margarets Bay, on the eastern shores of Nova Scotia. Winds were gusty and brisk off the bay making the 55° temperature feel like 33°.

Cape d'Or Lighthouse Oct. 9 & 10, 2009

Situated on the Bay of Fundy, Cape d'Or Lighthouse is a beacon of safety for the boats

in this sometimes tumultuous sea. We stayed two nights in the keeper's house (I am standing in front of it, therefore it is not visible in this picture) and enjoyed a blustery rainstorm the first morning. The second morning we awoke to this beautiful sunrise.

Fall in Nova Scotia, Oct. 11, 2009

Riley, our host at our first B&B in Calais, Maine, Oct. 8, 2009

Tutankhamun, the Young King of the 18th Dynasty

The King Tutankhamun Exhibit at the de Young Museum features amazing sculptures, ornate gilded boxes, jewelry encrusted with precious gems, and numerous murals outlining the 18th dynasty. However, King Tut, himself is NOT resting in the de Young Museum, but his mummy along with his gold mask resides in Luxor, Egypt.

Despite not seeing Tut and his coffins and sarcophagus, I did marvel at the final chamber that depicted, via video, the gold foiled, nested coffins that housed the sarcophagus. Amazingly, the third coffin is made of solid gold.

de Young Museum Lily Pond