By Meredith Kinder, Carolina Communiqué Managing Editor

I recently returned from a mini-vacation at a North Carolina beach. When I returned, I felt refreshed, rejuvinated, and ready to come back to work. As I reflected on how summer vacations can put energy back into us, I was reminded me of how STC can act as a similar stimulus.

By participating in chapter events, discussion email lists, or training activities that are sponsored by STC, you can rejuvinate your career. Additionally, writing an article for this newsletter is a good way to get excited about contributing to the profession. If you think that your daily routine might need a pick-me-up, then try investing a little "vacation" time with STC to get invigorated again.

This issue of Carolina Communique will certainly help you think about fascets of the technical communication field that you might not have thought of in a long time:

• Give yourself a brief orientation to e-learning with Julia Hall
• Brush up on how to communicate effectively with Rich Maggiani
• Read a summary of the past year from the outgoing STC Carolina Chapter president, Jenna Moore
• Capture information that you thought you missed at the Carolina Chapter May membership meeting with a meeting recap from Vincent Rey
• Catch up on the comings and goings at the 2009 STC Summit with articles about the conference from Elaine Abousalh, Chris Benz, Nicole Black, and E-Ching Lee.
• Learn tried-n-true best practices for reviewing documents online with Terry Smith
• Get students' perspectives on information architecture as they describe a project they completed for Duke University's Continuing Studies Program
• Learn basic principles on writing and editing for non-native English speakers through Andrea Wenger's review of John Kohl's book titled "The Global English Style Guide"
• Explore web-based design techniques by reading David Dick's book review on "Web Application Design Patterns"

Meredith can be reached at newsletter at stc-carolina dot org.