Month: December 2011

Learning to Unplug

It’s the last day of the year for me. I won’t be writing any new blog entries in until next year. Rebecca and I take each Christmas off and don’t come back until after Epiphany, which is the actual 12th day of Christmas (just in case you were wondering about the songs that use it). If you send me an e-mail, I won’t respond until January 9th-the first work day after Epiphany. I completely unplug while on vacation and you should too. Here are the top reasons I unplug during my down time–perhaps you’ll find a reason that works for you.

  • Rebuilding Our Marriage: Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m devoted to my wife. I consider my marriage far more important than any other element of my life here on earth. Rebecca patiently waits for me the rest of the year, but vacations are devoted to her and our marriage. I look forward to our time together and count the days until we can spend time doing something interesting together.
  • Focus on Family, Friends, and Neighbors: My family has always been good about working around my schedule. There are times during the year where I simply tell them that a book deadline is far too important to visit with them and they understand. My closest friends and even my neighbors are equally cognizant of my need to work. I try to make up for the lack of attention during the rest of the year with visits throughout vacation.
  • Personal Health: I want to provide my readers with the best service that I can. That means taking care of my personal health: spiritual, mental, and physical. Disconnecting from everything gives me time for self-reflection and helps me to grow as a person. It also provides me with much needed rest. No one can do a job well unless they have received the proper rest and nourishment.
  • Organizing Personal Finances: Believe it or not it is never too early to sort out your retirement plans. I have been doing lots of research into retirement planning on websites like Key Advice and have decided that I might release some equity from our home to fund my retirement. In case you were not aware, equity release is a way for homeowners aged 55 and over to release tax-free funds from their homes without having to move. It is an increasingly popular way for people approaching retirement age to boost their finances. This makes it one of many finance options in retirement for those who are looking to make a retirement plan. In fact, a friend of mine recently decided to release some equity from his home so I must remember to ask him for some advice about what to do. Apparently, nowadays you can even use an equity release calculator to work out how much money you might be entitled to claim. Naturally, I am very interested to see how much money I might be able to claim from my own property. Furthermore, although no one likes to think too much about no longer being around, I have also established who I want to take on the responsibility of lasting power of attorney over my estate. After talking to a solicitor and writing a will, I found some brilliant estate planning resources online that explained how to establish an LPA. You can take a look here if you would like to learn more: https://willstrustslpa.co.uk/serviceareas/lasting-power-of-attorney-online/.
  • Personal Projects: It seems as if too many people wait until retirement to work on anything fun. I’m not planning to wait. During vacation, I take time to work on personal projects–things I want to do for the sheer pleasure of doing them. I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to retire anytime soon, unless an injury or some other unforeseen issue makes retirement necessary. So, I plan to do a few of these projects while I’m still able to do them. Vacation provides the opportunity.


During this holiday season, whatever your beliefs or wherever you live, I hope that you take time to unplug. Do something interesting, exciting, spiritual, or simply satisfying. The world of work will still be here when you get back–you’re truly not indispensable. It may seem as if the world will come down around your ears if you disconnect, but that’s a lie. I’ve been doing it for many years now and nothing terrible has happened. I have no cell phone, no computer access, no connectivity of any kind to impede my efforts to relax and recharge.

Rebecca and I will spend the next two weeks putting puzzles together, baking cookies, working on crafts, and sitting by the wood stove reading. We’ll spend part of the holiday in church, addressing our spiritual needs. Yes, there will even be some movie watching on our television, but that’s going to take second place to getting reacquainted after months of hard work writing, gardening, and generally making a living. Of course, I’ll need a little exercise after my lack of restraint in holiday eating (I hope my doctor doesn’t see this), so I’ll do a little wood cutting too. I’m sure that we’ll spend plenty of time with family, friends, and neighbors as well. See you next year!

Many Hands Make Light Work

I’m not sure who first came out with this bit of wisdom, but it’s true. Dividing a task amongst many people does make the work a lot lighter. You get the task done a lot faster for a number of reasons, some obvious, some not. Of course, with multiple people doing the work, the task is completed faster and with less effort from each individual. The people working on the task can encourage each other and a gentle gibe can prompt less motivated individuals to work a bit harder. However, I’m not talking about a team here. Teams are organized and often rely on one really skilled person to carry other less skilled people along. What I’m talking about is a group of individuals, with relatively the same ability, getting together to accomplish a task without the usual trappings of the team environment. There truly is a difference.

I was reminded of this difference when I read the post of my friend Bill Bridges, entitled, “The Good Cheer Drive.” It’s precisely this sort of example that I’m thinking about when it comes to the expression, “Many hands make light work.” These people came together and in a dizzying array of disorganization managed to get food together for those who are less fortunate and need a bit of a helping hand during the holidays. There is no concept of team (and the associated ego) here—simply a group of people getting together for the common good. It sounds like my sort of event.

Self-sufficiency sometimes requires a touch of this sort of environment as well. Whenever I can, I try to get someone to help when I go into the woods. To do otherwise would be foolish. When I’m cutting wood, I fell old trees that no one is using (no animals or helpful insects have made the tree a home). The trees sometimes do unexpected things, especially when the crown is caught in the branches of another tree. If someone is there helping, they can at least go for help should a tree decide to fall on me. There is safety in numbers.

Trying to wrestle a large trunk is also quite an experience. It doesn’t take much tree to produce enough wood that it’s nearly impossible for even a well-muscled man to move it about. Since I don’t use any sort of heavy equipment, I have to rely on careful cutting techniques and the help of others to move some of these large trunks around. Most of the time, the time in the woods is spent with others who enjoy being out there as much as I do. We’re a group of individuals working together to get the wood down from the hill without disturbing other trees in the safest manner possible.

This year I’ve been relying on the help provided by a new friend, Cody. He’s been out at least once a week (and often twice) to help me get my wood in for winter. As a result, for the first time ever, I have almost all of the wood I need for the winter already stacked, and it isn’t even Christmas yet. Even Rebecca has been able to get out to help a little this year, so a number of us are involved in getting the wood done up. Many hands do indeed make for light work.

WoodCutting

When you start your self-sufficiency effort, consider the need to help other people and to ask others to help you as needed. Yes, you do need to do as much as you can, but when there would be an immense risk in doing the work by yourself, look for those individuals who are willing to help. Make sure they get something out of it too. Exchange labor as you would exchange products (see my Sharing and Swapping Food post for details). The most important gift you can get out of the exchange is a friend you can rely on and believe me, they’re scarce in today’s world.

How do you work with others? Have you ever contributed toward a group effort of the kind I explore in this post? Let me know at [email protected].

 

The e-Book in Your Future

Back in February I wrote a post entitled, “Paper or e-Book?” where I stated a personal preference of using paper for fiction books and e-books for anything technical. I expanded on that post by writing about the advantages and disadvantages of online media when compared to technical books in my “Is the Technical Book Dead?” post. I even considered the effects of electronic media on libraries in my “Future of Libraries?” post. Let’s just say I’ve given this topic a lot of thought, but up until now, facts have been a little hard to come by. Most people speculate about e-books, but they can’t truly back up their speculation with hard facts of the sort that just about anyone can accept. However, I’ve been seeing articles such as, “Ebook Sales Both Rise and Fall in Wiley’s Divisions” (by Mercy Pilkington) as of late.

It seems as if I’m not the only one who finds the convenience of e-books addicting when it comes to technical topics. However, according to this article (probably the best of the batch I found online), the sales of e-books are stratified. Someone is less likely to buy a cookbook in e-book form, than a tome on writing your first application in C#.

My take on everything I’m seeing is one of practicality. A technical book in e-book form is convenient. You can pack entire bookshelves in an incredibly small form factor. Even the least expensive Kindle can pack 1,400 books in a tiny form factor. You can read all of your books anywhere you go and modern screens have become better at presenting information under a range of conditions, as long as you can focus on the e-book, rather than the surrounding environment.

I also see e-books becoming status-quo in the classroom. In addition to being able to store a hoard of books in an incredibly small space, schools will find book updates far easier to provide and less expensive as well. The media options provided by e-books will enhance the learning experience. From what I’ve seen, e-books are already becoming well established in the school system and I see a day coming soon where a student won’t touch a paper book as part of the educational process.

However, e-books are less useful in some situations. If you spill a sauce on your paper cookbook, you wipe it off and continue on as if nothing happened. Spilling the same sauce on your Kindle will have disastrous results as the sauce oozes into the device and damages it. Even a cheap Kindle costs $79.00 (at last look), which makes for a mighty expensive sauce.

I can also see problems using a Kindle for woodworking. For one thing, the print is small enough that it would be really hard to read construction instructions while using a Kindle. Not only that, but imagine trying to use a drawing in the Kindle—good luck. In addition, dust specs from the woodworking environment would eventually end up inside the device. I haven’t met an environment yet that wood dust can’t penetrate.

It’s hardly surprising then that e-books have become quite popular in some areas, but not in others. The debate is over though. Sometime in your future you’ll likely find yourself using an e-book for a practical need. The more time I spend researching the topic though, the less likely I find it that paper books will go away anytime soon. Paper is still quite practical for many needs and people will use something that’s both inexpensive and practical. Not many people are into gizmos for the sake of having them.

That brings me to my latest project. For the first time I’m writing a book that’s designed from the ground up for the electronic environment. The book is entitled, “Java eLearning Kit for Dummies” and the more I work on it, the more fascinated I become with the possibilities that this book provides. You’ll receive a CD with this book that contains a fully interactive environment. In fact, for the first time ever, you’ll be able to engage in one of my books without bothering with the paper content. You’ll gain access to the book’s information by interacting with the content on the CD. The entire concept is amazing and I’m having a great time working on it.  I’ll let you know more details when the book gets closer to release, but for now, it’s something to think about as you look over the book offerings online. Expect to see more books of this sort.

What is your take on e-books? What niche do you see e-books filling? Do you see yourself using e-books in the future (why or why not)? Talk to me about your expectations for e-books at [email protected].

 

Christmas Remembrances

The firelight,
Eye’s delight,
Rest upon a pudding made with plum.

Holiday cheer,
Christmas is near,
Putting smiles on faces glum.

Mistletoe,
Love will grow,
In hearts dressed for love.

A tree bright,
Lights delight,
An angel peers down from above.

Cookies sweet,
What a treat,
When served with beverages festive.

Fire’s warming,
Friends charming,
With nary a soul that’s restive.

Choirs sing,
Bells that ring,
A service of children’s design.

Christ is near,
Source of cheer,
In a manger of another time.

Copyright 2011, John Paul Mueller

 

Flying Squirrel Antics

This is the time of year that I spend a good deal of time in the woods cutting fallen trees as fodder for my wood stove. Not only is cutting wood good exercise and a cost effective way to heat our home, but using wood can be better for the environment because it’s a renewable resource. We do our best to replace the trees that we use to heat our home. In fact, some areas of the woods that we initially began using 15 years ago are already growing back quite nicely.

Some people get the idea that I keep my nose to the grindstone while out there, which would be a true waste. For one thing, not paying attention to what’s going on around you is a really good way to get hit by a falling tree. They all have to fall sometime—there isn’t any unwritten rule that states they’ll wait until I’m no longer around to hit. However, the thing I like best about being in the woods is seeing all of the animal life. You might think that Wisconsin in the winter is a dead place, but life abounds in all its forms. So, it was with a great deal of glee that I watched flying squirrels glide between trees the other day.

It’s a common misconception that flying squirrels actually fly. They’re fantastic gliders, not fliers. A flap of skin between the front and back legs provides lift for them to glide between trees quite swiftly. In fact, of all the squirrels, I think they move the fastest (we also have red and gray squirrels around here). Trying to grab a picture of them is a near impossibility. I’m sure someone has done it, but they’re more skilled than I am .

I haven’t seen much of Woody, the pileated woodpecker this year. He often watches me work on trees. I can differentiate this particular woodpecker from the others in our woods in two ways. First, the bands of colors on Woody’s head are different from other woodpeckers in our woods. Second, he has a habit of looking at me sideways with the right eye. I’m not sure if his left eye is damaged or it’s simply a characteristic of this particular woodpecker. What attracted Woody is unknown to me. Most woodpeckers want nothing to do with me (granted, Woody does keep his distance and isn’t in any way tame).

Of course, there are always rabbits, endless assortments of birds, and all sorts of other animals in the woods. Sometimes I’ll see opossum. On one occasion I saw a fisher—something that is extremely rare from what I’ve been told. The fisher seemed to be chasing after rabbits, but it was far enough away that I don’t know what it was chasing with absolute certainty. On rare days I’ll see a deer, but because I make so much noise cutting wood, such sightings are incredibly rare for me. I’m most likely to see a deer on days when I go to the woods for the sheer joy of observing nature, rather than cutting wood.

Some people question why I’d go to the woods to sit on a tree stump in the middle of winter when I could be inside safe and warm. Nature offers considerable entertainment for anyone willing to take the time to view it. During this particular day, the antics of the flying squirrels had me chucking quite hardily. You just don’t get that sort of entertainment on television. Do you ever observe nature and all it has to offer? What are your favorite sights? Let me know at [email protected].

 

Remembering Pearl Harbor

Today is a special day—it’s the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that caused the United States to enter World War II (WWII). The attack began at just before 8:00 am Hawaiian time. The Japanese aircraft did everything they could to destroy our fleet. They almost succeeded. I say almost because the most important ships, the aircraft carriers, happened to be somewhere else that day. The Japanese also somehow managed to miss the dry docks that would be used to repair many of the ships they damaged, along with oil depots, repair shops, and submarine pens.  We lost 2,341 Navy, Marine, and Army personnel that day, along with 49 civilians. The destruction of ships, aircraft, buildings, and other war materials was equally impressive. As terrible as this day was though, the loss would be just the tip of a much larger mountain of people who would be killed during WWII. You’ve probably heard all of this before. If not, you’ll likely hear it today.

One of the more interesting facts about the start of WWII is that Japan was actually an American ally during WWI. I’ve always found this interesting because the start of the tragedy that was WWII was sown during the completion of WWI. You can’t really understand how WWII started without first studying WWI. For example, most people don’t realize that there was outright discrimination against the Japanese in the League of Nations. America was one of the countries that voted against the Japanese proposed “racial equality clause” that would have reduced discrimination against Japan on the world stage. Of course, none of this excuses the Japanese attack and I’m not trying to defend them in any way—I’m simply interested in trying to figure out what series of events eventually caused the outbreak of WWII. The causes are not nearly so one sided as many would have you believe and the results, terrible as they were, were not simply the delusional efforts of madmen that came to power in these countries. We all have a seat at the table of conspirators for that war—one that could have been avoided.

Causes aside, reading the stories of the veterans of Pearl Harbor tells a fuller story. These men had no political ambitions and most of them weren’t even aware of the Japanese grievances. Remember, America was xenophobic at the time—we didn’t concern ourselves in the affairs of other countries. They were there to do a job—a really hard job. Having been in the Navy myself for ten years, I can attest to the difficult conditions, long work hours, and excessively low pay anyone in the service has to live with. The world is an imperfect place and it’ll always be imperfect because it’s staffed by equally imperfect humans. If Japan truly had a gripe against America, it should have resolved these grievances in the right way. Instead, Japan killed thousands of service personnel who weren’t even able to arm themselves in time. The attack was a complete surprise.

I’ve stood at the Arizona Memorial several times when my ship visited Hawaii and tried to imagine the terrible conflagration that broke out on that day. It would have been incomprehensible. I’ve read the first hand reports of burn victims whose skin simply peeled off when touched. Yet, our service personnel distinguished themselves by trying to defend our country against the Japanese attack. It boggles the mind. I’d like to think I would have had the inner strength to join in and do my duty during such an event. Thankfully, I was never tested in quite that way.

A recent article in The American Legion magazine talks of that day and the ways in which we have remembered it. Unfortunately, most Americans won’t have an opportunity to see the Arizona Memorial or fully understand the horrifying nature of that event. Still, as the actors in that war continue to pass on and fade from memory, we must never forget that day or we’ll be doomed to relive it. Americans owe part of their freedom today to the blood shed on that day. If we’re to honor those combatants and their ultimate sacrifice, we must consider today the ramifications of the events surrounding that war. Remembering the causes, the effects, and the loss of innocent lives is the best way to honor our war dead.

 

The Garden in December

Most people don’t think about their garden after everything is harvested and cleaned up for the year-it just sits there, waiting for spring. However, your garden should actually be growing something this time of year, even if you do live in a colder climate like Wisconsin. You can look at getting mini greenhouses where you can grow things all year round, or find plants that are suited to the cooler weather. If your garden isn’t growing something, there is a good chance that you’ll lose some of your soil to erosion. I know that there are a lot of methods that can help, such as not tilling your garden, but the presence of a live root system holding the soil in place is a really tough act to follow.

Our garden currently has winter rye planted in it. Don’t confuse winter rye, the cereal, with perennial rye, the grass. Believe it or not, the winter rye will remain alive throughout the winter. I keep an eye on our winter rye (at least, until the snow flies), which is currently doing quite well.

WinterRye

It probably looks a bit sparse here, but this concentration of winter rye is more than sufficient. I plan to wait until the winter rye is about 12 inches tall in the spring, and then till it into the soil. Of course, this process seems a bit odd to anyone who doesn’t realize what I’m doing. Planting winter rye (or another ground cover like it) has some significant benefits and presents few problems.

  • The ground cover keeps erosion at bay.
  • Winter rye fixes nitrogen that will be released as the plant decomposes.
  • There are fewer weeds because the winter rye shades it out.
  • You can plant earlier because the winter rye soaks up excess water in the garden.
  • The tilled-in plants act as a natural fertilizer, which reduces your costs.

The biggest problem with winter rye is letting it get too big. You’ll have to work with winter rye for a while to know precisely when to till it in, but if you let it get too big, winter rye can quickly turn into a frustrating mess. The best advice I can provide is to mow the winter rye down and then till several times. Be prepared to work really hard with the tiller because once the roots grow to a certain size, they don’t till very easily. We only let it grow too big one time–the result was enough to ensure we didn’t let it grow too large ever again.

For now, the winter rye is doing its job of keeping the soil in place. The snow will fly soon (as early as tomorrow) and I’ll lose sight of it until next spring. When the snow melts, the winter rye will still be there doing its work. I’ll till it into the garden and then plant our vegetables. The results will be great. This particular change in my gardening technique was easy because the results are so good. For me, winter rye works really well, but it is quite labor-intensive. For those of you who may not have the time or ability to plant and mow and till, your best option is to look at some erosion control products such as jute or coir. You simply lie them over your soil, protecting it from heavy rain and meltwater. Many erosion control products are also made of natural fibers, so they conveniently compost down in the spring.

This year we are trying something new. Part of our small garden is planted in spinach. From what I’ve been told, the spinach will sprout extremely early next spring and be ready to pick long before I even have anything else planted. So, we’ll be having salads long before anyone else has even thought about planting their gardens. I’ll be sure to let you know how it works out.

One word of advice here. If you do decide to plant spinach, it doesn’t appear to act as a ground cover. You want to plant the spinach up hill of the winter rye so that the winter rye can still control any erosion. We planted our spinach in thin strips so that we could get to it easily, but the erosion wouldn’t be a problem. That’s one of the fun parts about gardening–trying different things out to see how they work. Let me know if you have any questions at [email protected].

25 Years and Still Going Strong

It was 25 years ago today that my first article, “The Forgotten Chips,” was published in Byte Buyer magazine in San Diego. A good friend, Wally Wang, encouraged me to write it and even helped me put it together. It seems that IBM managed to leave quite a few important chips out of the original PCs design in order to offer a hobbled system at a price they thought everyone would pay and I was upset about it. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine that I’d still be writing articles 25 years later. I can honestly say that I’ve never tired of writing articles—not that every article is easy or even well written. The best articles have been difficult to research and write, and sometimes the editor has to work mighty hard to turn my prose into something worthy of the reader’s attention. Still, this first article is special and only someone who has had something published can understand how I felt when I saw it.

ForgottenChips

It never occurred to me that I would eventually write books. In fact, this first article was slated to be my last. Wally encouraged me to write other articles after the first article turned into a success and I’m happy he did. In fact, we wrote our first five books together. However, the first book, “Illustrated VP Expert,” wouldn’t be finished until mid-July 1988 or accepted by the publisher until August 1988. So, this first article was followed by quite a few more before that first book happened.

IllustratedVP_Expert

I’m currently working on my 89th book and have lost count of the number of articles I’ve written in 25 years (in excess of 300, probably closer to 400). I’ve also accomplished technical editing on at least 63 books and achieved all kinds of other tasks associated with technical writing over the years. It has all been interesting. Nothing worth doing is easy though and there have been times where I’ve pulled my hair out trying to discern why something wouldn’t work. Schedules and deadlines have caused me more woe than I care to remember, but I wouldn’t have selected any other career for myself.

There is a secret to my writing and it’s you. My writing has always been about the reader—how to convey the importance of a topic or make the mundane more interesting. Delving deeply into technology is addicting, but I could have done that in other ways and earned a far better living (technical writers are notoriously underpaid, but you knew that already ). Getting an e-mail from someone who has benefited from something I’ve written makes my day special. It fills me with glee to know that you’re better off because I’ve written something that helps. As long as there is an audience who needs my help, I’ll continue writing.

The question I’m asked most often is where I get my ideas from. That’s a hard question because there isn’t a single source of ideas. Some ideas are easy—the publisher or a client requests that I write about something. A number of ideas came to me as I was doing something else or even in my sleep. What can I say? I dream about technology. A few ideas were wrought from the forge of deep confusion and consternation as I struggled to achieve seemingly unreachable goals. My wife has inspired me more than once by asking simple questions that would never have occurred to me. Readers provide more than a few ideas and sometimes a book happens because readers have complained about a book that came before. More than a few of my ideas come from experiments—I set something up on my computer, try it out, and see what happens. In this last respect, I get paid to play.

Where do I plan to go from here? Well, I’ll definitely continue to write technical books. Most of my books are about Microsoft products, but I’ve also written about other applications and languages. A few of my books are hardware related and I even wrote a home security book. I’ve written certification guides in the distant past. All of these sorts of books still interest me and I’ll continue to write them. However, an author needs challenges. I’m currently working on ideas for self-sufficiency books. I may eventually write a book of poetry or two. Perhaps I’ll even get into some fiction. Precisely where I end up depends on what sorts of ideas I get and what opportunities present themselves.

This year saw me starting a blog unlike any other blog on the Internet—a diverse blog that encompasses everything I do so that you can get to know me as a person. As a reader myself, it’s hard sometimes to imagine what an author is really like simply by reading books that author has written. This blog is meant to bridge that gap for you. I hope that you’ve enjoyed my writings here and in other places over the years. I’m always there when you need me. Here’s to another 25 years. Thank you for your support!