news – Page 11 – About Greg Johnson

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201609

September 29, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in Career, Health, news

Personal Update 201609 | 29 September 2016 | Thursday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Career

My consulting business continues to expand. I’m gaining new clients and still working with some who I’ve served for decades. These days I’m mostly providing tech support and also offering website development consulting and services. Over the past two weeks I’ve been working on two fairly large website redesign projects that I’m excited about. I continue to enjoy working as an authorized Apple repair technician part time.

Wellness

As we head into fall, the weather is more conducive to enjoyable bike riding and walking so I’m enjoying getting out more as well as continuing with my strength training program at the gym. For years I’ve been using a spreadsheet in my iPhone to track my weight lifting. It helps me keep track of my progress. I use the Apple Numbers program, along with the integrated form feature for data entry and drop-down options. This makes it easy to quickly enter strength exercises.

This past month, I’ve lifted over 94,000 pounds, and since I started going back to the gym regularly in April, I’ve lifted over 1 million pounds. This total is calculated by adding up each weight lifted by the number of times it was lifted. I’m looking forward to increasing how much I lift each month.

Here’s an example of what the entry system looks like.

Here’s a quick review of how it works:

Entry. Touch Entry to see the above screen that lets you enter information using a form-like presentation.
Sheet. Touch Sheet to view a spreadsheet presentation of the data.
Total Entries. The number above ‘815 of 815’ is a count of the total entries in the database.
Date / Time. The full date and time are shown above. To enter this information each time, you simply touch the time and press the ‘Now’ button to enter the current date and time, or enter any other date and time you wish.
Activity. This is a drop-down menu of the type of exercise you’re doing. You can easily add items to this list in the Sheet view, by selecting the column, choosing format, and selecting the Drop-Down option. This saves a lot of time because you don’t need to type each activity repeatedly.
Weight. This is the amount of weight lifted.
Reps. This is how many times you’ve lifted the weight.
Sets. This number represents how many times, if any, that you repeat this activity in a given workout session.
Total. This number is the total amount lifted which is equal to (weight) x (reps) x (sets).
Location. This is the gym or location where you did the exercise. This can be relevant if one gym has a different weight machine that requires a slightly different adjustment for the weight. For example, a chest press machine at one gym may be set at 200 pounds but to get the same resistance at another gym you might set it to 180. It depends on how the belts and pulleys are configured. Knowing the location and weight from last time can help determine what weight you should lift the next time.
Notes. This is a field for entering additional notes.

I’m using similar spreadsheets for tracking my weight, car mileage, and other data. What I like about the system is that it’s easy to setup and customize depending on the need, and it’s built on Apple’s own Numbers spreadsheet software that works on all iPhone, iPad, iPod, and desktop computers, as well as on the web at iCloud.com using their cloud apps. The form entry feature only works in the iOS version.

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

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Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began about 16 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201608

August 31, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201608 | 31 August 2016 | Wednesday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Career

This summer I studied to become certified with Apple as a qualified repair technician. So, I’m now officially certified by Apple — which is an exciting accomplishment. I’m one of two authorized repair technicians at the University of Iowa supporting thousands of Apple users. Since Apple computers are so reliable, the job is only part time, so the rest of the time, I continue staying quite busy with my consulting business. One of the highlights of the University work is having an opportunity to work in one of the best repair centers in our region under one of the best operations managers and business leaders I know.

Wellness

As mentioned previously, my primary focus these days is losing weight and maintaining optimal health. Over the past month I’ve been eating a high protein and low carb diet, and combine bicycle riding with weight lifting for a good overall workout. This month, I added elliptical and more walking in addition to bicycling and strength training.

Small Houses

This month I gave another talk on tiny house living, this time at the Marion Public Library. There was a good turnout. This is the fourth talk I’ve given in our area recently about small houses.

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

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Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201607

July 31, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201607 | 31 July 2016 | Sunday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Technology Consulting

My consulting business continues to keep me busy. This past week I had an interview with our local Fox News affiliate regarding email security. In the past my media interviews have been mostly related to the small house movement, so it’s nice to get more requests for technical commentary.

Wellness Focus

My primary focus these days is on losing weight and maintaining optimal health. Over the past month I’ve been eating a high protein and low carb diet, and combine bicycle riding with weight lifting for a good overall workout. I created a YouTube video that explains my strength training workout.

Small Houses

This month I gave a talk about tiny houses at the Cedar Rapids Public Library. We had a lot of people come out for the event. It was my first visit to the new library, which is an absolutely beautiful building with wonderful resources and a coffee shop inside. When leaving, I was able to take a photo at sunset of the building. Because of the lighting, the photo ended up looking sort of fake (in a nice way) – like one of those artists architectural renderings. Here’s the photo (click for a larger view).

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

__________

Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201606

June 30, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201606 | 30 June 2016 | Thursday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Bicycle Riding

At the start of June, we had a trailer hitch put on our car to accommodate a bicycle rack. So, now I’ve been driving around with my bicycle on the back of the car. With so many trails around the Iowa City area, I’m able to get in a short bike ride between appointments or after my workout at the gym. Having the bicycle rack on the car allows me to visit trails in the Iowa City area that I might not otherwise get to. I’m able to enjoy more riding. I created a YouTube video about the Küat bicycle rack.

Wellness Focus

I’m continuing my focus on exercise, fitness, and wellness. Over the past month I’ve been eating a high protein and low carb diet, and combined bicycle riding and weight lifting for a good overall workout. I created a YouTube video that explains my strength training workout.

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

__________

Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began about 15 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and activism. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201605

May 31, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201605 | 31 May 2016 | Tuesday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Wellness Focus

About a month ago, I started going to the gym daily. I returned to the weight lifting and strength training program that I had been following about 12 years ago. I’m really feeling the benefits of that. I’ve also continued with walking and hiking.

Digital Sandcastles

An article I wrote recently addresses the topic of how to have ongoing access to older achieved data files. There’s a problem when the software or online services we rely on are no longer supported. If you’re interested in the topic, you can read the article, “Sandcastles: Online Digital and Social Media Equity Continuously Eroded.”

Small House Workshop

I’ll be giving a presentation about the small house movement on June 14 at Prairiewoods. Attend if you’re interested and please share. [Read More]

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

__________

Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201604

April 30, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201604 | 30 April 2016 | Saturday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Wellness

I’ve started going to the gym again, which I’m really thankful to be doing. As the weather improves, I hope to return to my morning walks which usually includes some picture taking.

Career News

For the past three months I’ve been keeping very busy with my consulting business providing technology services and developing websites for individuals, organizations, and businesses. I want to start writing and blogging more about the work I’m doing. We’ll see how that goes in the months ahead.

Audio Podcast

Several years ago I created the IowaCityArchitecture.com website to showcase development projects and urban planning news in the Iowa City area. This week, I produced a second audio podcast in what hopefully will be an ongoing series of shows with guests discussing area issues and topics of interest.

Time With Greg

I’ve been using an online scheduling system which makes it much easier for people to schedule time with me. The web address is TimeWithGreg.com and that forwards to the service I’m using.

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

__________

Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201603

March 31, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201603 | 31 March 2016 | Thursday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Career News

For the past three months I’ve been keeping very busy with my consulting business providing technology services and developing websites for individuals, organizations, and businesses. In December, Bevel & Co. asked me to do some work for them. So, I’d been busy with that for the past few months. For more details, you can read my update about working for Bevel and Company.

Websites Launched

Here are a few of the websites I’ve been working on recently:

CoinSalesUSA.com – This is a site I’m excited to launch. It’s an information site as well as a sales portal to eBay. Next week is the Grand Opening, at which point the eBay sales will begin showing up on the site. You can see the basic site right now. It’s a good template for other similar sites.
CombinedEfforts.org – The website for Combined Efforts recently underwent a major renovation that I was able to assist with. Mary Vasey envisioned much of the visual design and layout of the new site, and I provided some technical expertise to make that all happen.
CommunityVisionHealing.com – This is a site that I helped launch a little while back, but I’d not mentioned it yet. It’s the website of Jamila Tharp, a minister who supports individuals, families, and communities through various services.
FriedmanAssociates.net – This is a consulting group that helps non-profit organizations get the funding they need to improve our communities. I worked with Jason Friedman to create a site that explains their group and services.
PetersenIronMetalRecycling.com – This is a recycling center in our area that partners with other local materials recycling centers. I enjoyed working with their office staff to develop a site that would convey more about what they offer.

With most of the websites I help create, it’s really a co-labor endeavor. I typically train people to design and manage their own website. I like this approach because each site is uniquely designed with creative input from the site owner. My online web design portfolio has some of my other recent work.

Time With Greg

I’ve started using an online scheduling system which makes it much easier for people to schedule time with me. The web address is TimeWithGreg.com and that forwards to the service I’m using.

The Apple iPad Pro

This month’s update was written using the Apple iPad Pro. I’ve been doing more of my work on the iPad Pro since it’s the only laptop/desktop replacement from Apple with a Touch Screen. Also, the iOS apps are often more efficient than the desktop or web equivalents.

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

__________

Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Career Update: Working with Walker & Company – Bevel

March 29, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in announcements, Career, news

On 17 December 2015 I announced a big career change. After 15 years at the University of Iowa, I planned to return to consulting as of 1 January 2016 and begin working with a mystery company that I planned to reveal in January. Due to some delays in HR processing, I wasn’t ready to make the announcement until now.

So, this is the story I’d hoped to write two months ago.

In May 2015, I learned about Walker & Company through their online magazine BevelCode.com which has articles on culture, style, and personal grooming with a focus on people of color. The magazine offers exceptional photo journalism with great pictures and articles. So, I began reposting and sharing their content.

In recent years I’ve been enhancing the content on my own websites and social media channels to depict positive portrayals of Black people. I’ve been doing this because with the recent rise in racism, it seems like mainstream media and news networks generally propagate an inaccurate and derogatory portrayal of Black people through images that are disproportionately negative. Positive stories help offset the negativity – inspiring people of color, and re-programming those with bigotry.

After several months of promoting the BevelCode content, I decided to try out the Bevel Shaving System which is one of the Walker & Company products. I wanted to learn more about the company, and figured becoming a customer and using their products would be a great way to do so.

On 30 September 2015, after receiving the Bevel products and using them, I wrote “Bevel – A New Tradition in Shaving” as a review of the company and products. That article got the attention of Tristan Walker, the CEO and founder of Walker & Company. Tristan wrote a nice response to the article via Twitter.

I wrote a few more articles and had a lot of positive social media interactions with prospective and current Bevel users.

In early December, Tristan and his staff reached out to me asking if I’d like to work formally with the company. I didn’t need too much time to think over the offer. Having seen Tristan in various YouTube videos and having already studied the company fairly thoroughly over the previous months, I knew it was a move I wanted to make.

The initial offer was for 1-2 hours of work per day. Which doesn’t seem like much, but my job at the University had expanded to 60+ hours per week. Fitting in an additional 10-hour-per week commitment just wouldn’t be possible without dropping the University job.

I’d already begun feeling the financial impact of cutting back on my outside consulting work to take on additional responsibilities at the University. The Walker and Company work would be a perfect fit for me. I could expand my consulting work, and enjoy working for a company that I believed was doing some good work.

By mid-December, I put in my two weeks notice at the University. This would provide about 30 days over winter break (while classes would not be in session) for some reorganizing needed to find people who could cover for the work I’d been doing. My job was eventually delegated among four or five people. I had a chance to offer some transitional support and training after my last day, which I enjoyed doing.

I’d imagined that my consulting work would slowly ramp up, but on January 1 which might have otherwise been a holiday, the consulting work started pouring in. I’ve had steady work since then, which is great.

After getting the offer from Walker and Company, I decided to ramp up my work for them — the work that I’d already been doing voluntarily at that point. I was told I’d be officially on-board by mid-January, so I figured I’d give them a few weeks of free work as a good faith expression of appreciating for getting hired on.

Over the next two months, I was given some fun assignments to do, and had a chance to connect with top leadership in the company. From the consumer perspective, I’d been very impressed with the Bevel brand as well as Walker and Company. So, it was nice to get a more complete understanding of the company.

Heading into April, given the abundance of client work that keeps coming my way, I’m going to focus my attention entirely on my consulting business as well as the public interest work I do.

Many thanks to all those who continue supporting my work.

Greg Johnson – Personal Update 201602

February 29, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in news

Personal Update 201602 | 29 February 2016 | Monday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.

Career News

For the past two months I’ve been keeping very busy with my consulting business providing technology services and developing websites for individuals, organizations, and businesses.

Websites Launched

This past month I’ve designed and launched many websites. Here are a few that I’m really pleased with:

My online web design portfolio has some of my latest creations.

Time With Greg

I’ve started using an online scheduling system which makes it much easier for people to schedule time with me. The web address is TimeWithGreg.com and that forwards to the service I’m using.

Brand Loyalty Case Study

I’ve been a fan of Bevel for a long time, and recently I’ve begun doing more research examining the company and their products. I recently wrote a short case study on brand loyalty using Bevel as an example. As a business owner, studying Bevel has been a good grounding and engaging experience. Another Bevel related article I wrote was an product evaluation and comparison of the Bevel Trimmer. I’ve been pleased with the response to the Trimmer article. In just 24 hours it’s had readers from coast to coast, as shown in the map below.

Thanks!

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

~ Greg

__________

Want More News? For additional news and updates you can subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter by sending an email to resourcesforlifenews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Great News: Business is Expanding

February 17, 2016May 15, 2022 by Greg Johnson, posted in announcements, news, technology

In December 2015, I received an unexpected offer to work for a business I really admire. The new job would allow me to return to doing more consulting and public interest work. It seemed like an appealing option. I decided to take the offer, and make a change.

I wasn’t sure how long it would take to build-up the consulting business. Surprisingly, in less than 24 hours, I was busy with all the work I could handle, and it’s been busy ever since. Many thanks to everyone who has been calling and requesting services.

Recently my wife Makur, also a technology support person at the University of Iowa, decided that she also would like to do more consulting work, so she decided to leave her job at the University and in March will join me in providing technology support through Iowa City Technology Services.

Makur has a broad range of experience in expertise in small business and enterprise-class computing, as well as an array of other skills. So, we’ve launched MJIowa.com as a website for her to bring in additional business. Over the years she has developed a following of people who specifically ask for her, so the new site is a great way to connect with those clients.

I look forward to the coming months, and appreciate everyone’s support.

Thanks!