Personal Update 202603 | 2 Mar 2026

GREETINGS

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. I hope you’re doing well. The photos this month (above and below) are from a visit to Kent Park on 15 Feb 2026.

Puppy — Teacher and Trainer

I just returned from a high intensity interval training workout with our puppy. He likes to walk slowly, and then periodically sprint up hills. Typically I let him choose when we go for a walk, the duration of the walks, and where we walk. The workout he’s chosen coincidentally is considered one of the best fitness exercises available.

Our puppy is a wonderful teacher … in fact… he doesn’t teach, he does. I know about the benefits of deep breathing and have studied the practice many times over the past 40 years, but it’s nice to have inspiration from someone who is a regular practitioner with perfect form. He likes to be held at about 4 feet in the air when the cold wind is blowing, so he can face into the wind and breathe the air. When he does this, I can feel him deeply filling his lungs as his chest expands out. He seems to combine the breathing practice with deep relaxation and meditation.

Throughout history, dogs have had an active role in spiritual life. According to Google, “these dogs are historically linked to Asian monastic and spiritual gardens” …

Shiba Inu: Often associated with Japanese Shinto shrines and traditional Zen gardens.
Tibetan Spaniel: Bred as “little lions” to sit on monastery walls and turn prayer wheels.
Lhasa Apso: Known as “Bark Lion Sentinels,” they guarded the interior of Tibetan temples.
Pekingese: Considered sacred guardians in Chinese Buddhist temples.

In a pursuit of enlightenment, an alternative to having a dog living in the home would be to travel to Tibet and spend several years in a mountain monastery with Buddhist monks. Yet, that’s not a practical option for most people.

Dogs seem to bring a lot of insight and wisdom from their time in the wild that predates domestication (prior to 15,000 years ago). Given the length of time that dogs have had to evolve, you would think they’d be playing poker by now. Yet, instead, they choose to spend their days napping, going for walks, eating, socializing, playing, sleeping, and cuddling. They are either not very evolved, or, as I’m beginning to suspect… they are highly evolved and living an admirable lifestyle.

New Tech for New Challenges

I’ve recently upgraded all of my tech devices. I bought a new Apple laptop to replace my older Mac mini desktop computer. I also refreshed my aging iPhone and Apple Watch with current models. All of these devices now have extended battery life and fast recharging, which has been very helpful. Longer battery life allows for utilization from 20% to 80% while still having all-day operation. This results in batteries having a longer usable lifespan.

My life these days continues to be spontaneous, as I respond to our household needs, client tech requests, and the interests of our puppy. For video calls or phone calls, I will typically move to the living room to keep our main office quiet. Some of the tech work I do needs to be accomplished away from my desk while I’m mobile, out on service calls. On longer days and longer on-site support sessions, I’ll keep up with incoming emails and text messages throughout the day. So, the upgraded more mobile office has been essential.

Increasing Costs

Over the past few years, some of the services I rely on have doubled in cost from one year to the next, in some cases, year after year. To keep up with what seems like 100% inflation, I’ve worked more hours. I feel sorry for people who already have two or three jobs, and are struggling to get by. Other services are experiencing 50% inflation, such as the recent increase of a Microsoft 365 subscription from $100 per year to $150 per year.

Some of the price jumps seem unnecessary, arbitrary, and artificial. The cost for a gallon of milk recently went from $10 to $20 per gallon overnight, and stayed at that price, then dropped down to $10 per gallon again. At that price, a 42 gallon barrel of milk would be $420 to $840 depending on the price of milk in any given week. That’s for specialty grass fed local organic milk. By comparison, a 42 gallon barrel of oil is about $65 right now. The milk I buy is the store brand from a local grocery store. I’m using this example of pricing for specialty milk as an illustration of price fluctuations.

In recent years, we’ve seen flareups of global instability which impact the supply chain of electronics resulting in unexpected shortages of availability and increases in costs. There’s a rash of military conflicts happening again this week. I sense that such instability can have unpredictable outcomes for finance and other areas of life.

Last week, on February 25, I went to fill my car with gas. The price on the pump was $2.80 / gal. for the cheap gas and $3.50 / gal. for premium. I kept driving instead of filling up. I’d heard that gas prices in Iowa were at $1.85 per gallon, and I was determined to save that $15 on my next fill-up. I drove further and found the cheapest gas in our area which is about $2.36 per gallon for the store brand station. I didn’t have time to do a deep dive into the nuances and subtleties of politics and gas prices. Apparently I’d need to buy a new car designed to run on the $1.85 per gallon (E85) gas before I could benefit from the savings. The break even return on investment could be 7 years. Last week, I simply needed to fill the tank on the car I have and don’t have time to look into a long-term investment.

So, I’ve been working on accommodating market fluctuations and making my work sustainable while continuing to provide affordable tech support for the people in my community.

The sliding scale I use for my business is still based on the rate structure that I established in the 1990s. These days I’m using the sliding rate structure for profit sharing and rewarding customers for certain goals such as sustainability (making older computers run longer), digital literacy (learning), self-solving problems, and checking with me about possible scams (pop-ups, emails, and text messages). I reward people for these things.

Adjusting Workload for Long Term

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, my workload increased significantly. I began working 16 to 20 hours a day to keep up. Some days, a flood of phone calls, emails, and text messages would result in a flurry of activity. Handling the tech crisis needs of many people can be like working in an ER during a hurricane. I go from one urgent support call to another. Placing a priority on helping those in need, the administrative tasks pile up until the rare slow days provide an opportunity to get caught up a little.

Now, after 5 years, I’ve begun feeling some fatigue and exhaustion creep in. Going forward, I know it’s not sustainable to maintain this level of work, so I’ve been reducing the number of people and businesses I serve. I’m now focusing primarily on the people I’ve been serving for the past 20 to 30 years.

I’ve let go of some business customers since those can have unplanned urgent big support needs that disrupt a dozen other service calls. For requests from potential new customers, I am referring many of those people to other providers in the area — unless it’s a simple request. I’ve been supporting and encouraging local public initiatives that foster digital literacy and access to tech support, such as Repair Café and also tech classes through the Iowa City Public Library.

I appreciate the flexibility and understanding of many people during the recent months. I look forward to being refreshed to serve a smaller number of people better.

Burn Out and Battery Depletion

On a few occasions, I’ve attempted to start our car and found that the battery was depleted down to almost nothing. We have a portable jump starter, so I’ve been able to get it charged up again. Eventually, too many occurrences of battery drain will damage the chemical composition of a battery and it will need to be replaced.

I’ve had many days when I feel like my body and mind are at 10% and I keep pushing forward through the day. Something important to me is that I serve people with focus, attention, clarity of mind, and sustained strength. So, even when I feel exhausted, I reach deep down and give everything I can with a genuine smile.

The adjustments I’m making now to reduce my workload will hopefully allow me to not repeatedly work to and through exhaustion. I don’t want to reach the point of permanent burnout where I can’t recharge. I’ve seen that happen to people.

Health Hazards of Tech Work

Years ago I read a startling article about the dangers of tech work. To refresh my memory on the topic, I searched Google just now and found a good summary: “IT work poses significant health hazards primarily due to sedentary behavior, poor ergonomics, and high mental stress. Common risks include musculoskeletal disorders (neck/back pain), repetitive strain injuries (RSI), eye strain, obesity, and cardiovascular issues.” [Source Report]

I’ve used exercise, motivational music, and nature to bring balance to my tech work. I hope to keep that up moving forward.

To address concerns of repetitive strain injuries, I use a mouse and a trackpad simultaneously, switching off from my left hand to my right hand. So, by the end of a 20-hour workday, I would have only 10 hours of strain on my hands. Apple computers have a system-wide voice to text function so much writing can be done by speaking. This further allows for resting the hands. There is also a system-wide easy zoom feature to adjust the entire viewing area regardless of the current program, app, or task. All of these things help reduce fatigue.

Monthly Tasks

There are about a dozen monthly tasks that I try to get started on at the start of each month. When my monthly newsletter is posted in the last hours or minutes of the last day of the month, that reflects how it’s sometimes a struggle to get everything done each month. This month, I’m trying to get an early start on the task list to help reduce pressure at the end of the month to get everything done.

TECH WRITING

If you’re interested in the latest tech-related guides and articles I’ve posted, you can visit the Posts Page on the Iowa City Tech website.

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THANKS

Many thanks to all of you who keep in touch and provide support for the work I do.

Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began about 24 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith/philosophy), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and public interest efforts. This is based on the Life Map presented on the Resources For Life website. [View]