Happy New Year! I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.
Career Change News
As I shared in last month’s update, I recently accepted a job offer. Yesterday was my last official day at the University of Iowa. The new job won’t start for a few weeks. In the meantime, I plan to expand my tech support and other consulting work, as well as the public interest work I do. I’m thankful that the new job will not be taking up the 50-60 hours I’d been working at my old job.
Yesterday evening, a few short minutes after finishing up at the University, I was grateful to have computer work to do for someone. This morning and this afternoon, on the first day of the year, I was also busy with tech support. As of this evening, I have enough support requests to fill next week. I’m looking forward to spending more time on my technology services business.
Also this morning, I received an email from a supporter of the advocacy work I do relating to small houses. They wrote to let me know in the year ahead, they will be doubling their monthly donation.
So, the year is off to a good start.
A Focus on Public Interest Work
About 25 years ago, when establishing my technology services business, the name I chose was Public Interest Computer Consulting (PICC).
My intention at the time was to support those who serve the public interest working with non-profit groups or their own personal outreach. Sometime later I named the business PC DOC, yet the same mission to support those in public service remains today.
By providing a sliding scale for services, volunteering when possible, and offering other in-kind and financial donations, my hope has always been to have a hybrid business model that functions much like a self-funded non-profit organization. The income I make from traditional computer support helps fund the public interest work I do.
In the months ahead, I hope to share some inspiring stories about some of the work I’m doing in the Iowa City area and beyond.
Small House Event
On January 23, from 2-3 PM, I’ll be giving a presentation at the Marion Public Library about small house living. The presentation will hopefully be just a part of a larger gathering of small house enthusiasts. Click here to learn more about the event.
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 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.
Personal Update 201512 | 27 December 2015 | Sunday
Greetings,
I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.
Career Change
Earlier this month I announced an exciting career change. As you may know, I’ve been working at the University of Iowa for a long time. Over the past year, with expanded duties, the workload increased significantly. Although I enjoyed the work, I was putting in 50 to 60 hours a week, cutting into the evenings and weekends when I do some outside consulting. This month, a company approached me with a job offer, and I decided to accept it. I’m feeling good about the decision, and sleeping better at night.
In case you missed it, last month on Thanksgiving I was surprised to learn that a radio interview from earlier this year was airing again on NPR, apparently nation-wide. Since it was originally recorded live, it convincingly seemed to be happening on Thanksgiving day. I wouldn’t have known about the interview except that friends and family were texting me to let me know about it. I’d neglected to put the interview on my website, so I took the opportunity to create a post of the interview.
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 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.
I first started working at the University of Iowa in 1983 as a student in a computer lab. Over the past 30 years I’ve had the pleasure of working at the College of Law, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC), and the central IT group. In 2001, I returned to working for the same department (and boss) that employed me as a student, and I’ve been there for the past 15 years. I always imagined I’d continue at the University until retiring.
Those who follow my writings and social media posts know the that I’m often writing about and promoting various companies and products. I’ve had friends and family ask me if the writing and promotions work I do is paid advertising. I take it as a compliment, but explain that it’s just something I enjoy doing.
Last week on Wednesday, I received an email from a small startup company that you’ve likely never heard of. My previous interactions with the CEO had been nothing more than a few short informal tweets. He’d appreciated what I had to say about their company and products. The email last week, with him copied, was from a member of their team asking if I’d like a job with the company.
After considering their offer, I decided to accept it.
I think their company is doing some really innovative work in an important niche market. They’re not just following best practices, but establishing best practices and creating new approaches to doing business. This has the potential to positively influence how other businesses operate — creating better workplace environments and positively impacting consumers. So, it’s exciting to have at least some part in helping them grow.
In my new role, I’ll be able to stay in Iowa City, have flexible hours, and work from home or while mobile. The initial commitment will free up my schedule to do more of my own consulting work, as well as the public interest work I enjoy doing. My work at the University had at times been taking 50 to 60 hours per week. I’m eager to get back to a more livable schedule.
My last day at the University of Iowa will be December 31. I’ll miss everyone, but I’m also looking forward to the opportunities ahead.
I’ll share more details as they unfold, but today I wanted to let everyone know about this big change.
Personal Update 201511 | 29 November 2015 | Sunday
Greetings,
I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.
NPR Interview
On Thanksgiving I was surprised to learn that a radio interview from earlier this year was airing again on NPR, apparently nation-wide. Since it was originally recorded live, it convincingly seemed to be happening on Thanksgiving day. I wouldn’t have known about the interview except that friends and family were texting me to let me know about it. I’d neglected to put the interview on my website, so I took the opportunity to create a post of the interview.
Fitness & Wellness
I’ve been spending more time walking and biking these days, and looking forward to getting outside throughout the winter months.
Bevel
This past month I continued promoting Bevel and having a good time doing that. My original article about Bevel has had 50 shares on Facebook and many readers from coast to coast. This past month, I’ve spent time responding to some prospective customer questions that are showing up as comments in the Bevel Facebook posts. These days, companies need loyal customers to help participate in various discussions on social media. Company employees can talk about their products, but there’s no substitute for a positive review and feedback from a happy customer. When anyone uses my personal Bevel link and signs up, they get a month free, and so do I.
Tile App – Find Your Lost Stuff
If you’ve ever had the frustration of losing or misplacing something, you’ll see the value in the Tile tracking system.
The Tile App is a brilliant system that uses crowd sourcing to find lost items.
Put a ‘Tile’ on your keys, in your wallet, or on anything. Then, when it’s misplaced, lost, or stolen, you can track the item. Click here to learn more.
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 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.
I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.
Bevel
Earlier this year I learned about a company called Bevel through their ads on Facebook. I was impressed with their product design, advertising, photography, and also liked the interesting articles on their website. In September I started using their unique shaving system. I wrote an article about Bevel and was surprised to get a nice response from the company CEO minutes after posting the article. [Read Article]
Career
As I mentioned in last month’s update, I’ve been very busy with my work at the University of Iowa — which has required putting in some extra time beyond normal hours to cover some expanded duties and additional responsibilities this semester. My expanded worked included an additional 20 to 30 hours a week of work supporting several departments (for someone who took a job elsewhere). It’s been an enjoyable challenge to take on an additional workload because it gives me an opportunity to figure out more efficient ways to do things. After 8-weeks into the Fall semester, the work load has tapered off and I’ve been able to have some evenings and weekends again — which is good since we don’t get paid for overtime work.
Email Efficiency
Like everyone, I receive hundreds of emails every week, and it doesn’t take long for thousands of emails to pile up in the inbox. Over the past two months I’ve been trying to keep my inbox empty by responding to every email. Some requests that come by email may take more than one day to accomplish. For such requests, I have a task list to prioritize various requests that come in by email, phone, Facebook, and other means. The system has helped me keep my inbox empty (a great feeling) and prioritize my day-to-day work.
Technology
As a consultant and small business owner, I’ve had to take care of all aspects of the business, and the wide variety of requests that come in. I like this diversity. My work at the University of Iowa also involves various areas of responsibility. In a larger institution or enterprise, usually there are separate positions for these roles because for most people it can be challenging to attend important meetings, keep up with administrative paperwork, respond to urgent support requests, and keep up with the repair or setup of computers. This month I wrote an article about the four quadrants of technology service and support and how larger organizations provide technology services and support. [Read Article]
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.
Growing up, my stepdad Paul was a positive influence in my life. In August he passed away. A celebration of life event was held on October 4, but I wasn’t able to attend so I wrote the following message to share at the event.
Paul Carter Celebration of Life
I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you today for Paul’s Celebration of Life. Whenever I meet someone who knew Paul, I learn something new about Paul, and I grow to respect, appreciate, and love him more. So, I really wanted to be there today.
Paul was in my life at an important time during my pre-teen and teen years as I was growing into who I would be as an adult. Because we had a family business, with the dog kennel, Paul wasn’t just a parent who I’d see in passing. We worked together at the business after school and on the weekends, and he was there in the evenings at the dinner table. That’s a rare experience for a kid to have these days unless you’re Amish.
The lessons I learned about hard work and genuinely caring about people and their animal companions have stuck with me and continue to shape my own business that I began in my early 20s and still have today.
As a parent, Paul wasn’t one to lecture. The most important lessons he taught me weren’t spoken, but lived out, and those are the things that have stuck with me through my entire life. His daily examples of kindness and caring had an impact on me.
Paul was concerned that I be brought up right. I remember at the dinner table, if I was resting my elbows on the table Paul would gently correct me. Sometimes with just a thoughtful glance. He wanted to make sure I was becoming a young gentleman with proper manners. It was a little bit like being in finishing school, but I appreciated it. He instilled in me the little things that shape who I am today.
In my adult years, after going to college and starting a career, it was nice to continue to have Paul in my life whenever I’d go home to Maryland for a visit, and to keep in touch with the occasional phone call.
As is typical in families that are spread out, we’d often hear news second hand. I was thankful that my brother Sherman stayed in Maryland to be close and keep that connection and give us news of how everyone was doing.
I was awake in the early hours of the morning the day Paul passed away. When I heard the news, I wasn’t sure what to say or share with others. I posted a photo online from my last trip to Maryland with these words:
Looking back, we also look forward. Then we know what really matters. Sincerity. Laughter. Smiles. Kindness. Caring.
Today as we celebrate Paul’s life, I’m reminded of so many things to be grateful for.
Personal Update 201509 | 30 September 2015 | Wednesday
Greetings,
I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update.
Career
Since sometime in August, I’ve been working about 50-60 hours per week for my job at the University of Iowa. When one of my colleagues took a new job in Des Moines, I was asked to take over his position, while continuing with my existing full-time job duties. At the same time, we had someone in my office retire. So we’ve been very short handed.
It’s been a challenge to keep up, yet, by creating support documentation, refining workflows, and implementing some efficient procedures I’ve been able to make it all work out.
Some people take a vacation from work, to enjoy life. I’ve been taking an extended vacation from live to catch up on work. Working 7 days-a-week, I’ve done little to no writing, photography, Facebook postings, or socializing. Now into week 6 of the semester, things are starting to slow down a little bit. So, it will be good to get back into a more balanced work-life schedule.
Writing
As you may know, I really enjoy writing articles. Some are commentary, others are product reviews or how-to guides to technology.
After almost two months of overworking, I’m looking forward to returning to writing more. The Bevel article was an important one for me because their products and company integrate a lot of areas I’m interested in.
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.
I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update. This month from my Life Map I’ll be covering Health, Career, Activism, and Effectiveness.
Health
Over the past month I’ve lost about 8 pounds and overall from my heigh weight I’m down about 15 pounds. I’ve been trying to get to the gym more frequently for strength training. I have a program I developed about 10 years about that I’m returning to. I’m also riding my bicycle more often, and eating nutritious foods prepared at home. I’ve written previously about the health drink I’ve been making in the morning. It’s a combination of protein-rich nutrient-dense ingredients that seem to satisfy hunger for many hours. All these things seem to be working together for some success.
Career
I’ve been very busy at work due to taking on the workload of another full-time person who took a job elsewhere. As a result, I’ve been working a few extra hours to keep up, and I’m developing some systems to make the work more efficient. You can read the full list of responsibilities on my bio page at the University of Iowa.
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.
I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update. This month from my Life Map I’ll be covering Health, Career, Activism, and Effectiveness.
Health
My two biggest health highlights are the juicer I recently bought and my new bicycle trailer. The juicer is helping me to eat more fruits and veggies, along with wheat germ, flax seed, and more. The bike trailer is making it possible to ride my bike even when it’s raining or when I need to haul something. So, it’s increasing my exercise and activity through the week.
I had a couple of exciting visits to the hospital this past month — a regularly scheduled colonoscopy and two weeks before that, an unscheduled trip to the emergency room for a sharp abdominal pain. The story I wrote about the ER visit received many comments and thousands of people read it. So, that was fun.
Efficiency
The right technology can really make life more efficient. This past week I purchased an HP Officejet Pro 8630 e-All-in-One Printer, Scanner, Fax, Copier machine. It’s been a while since I got excited about a new piece of equipment, but this is a truly amazing system. What I enjoy most is the seemingly instantaneous scanning capabilities. It takes about 3 seconds to scan a legal size page at a color resolution of 300 dpi. In the past I was reluctant to take on big scanning projects with scanners taking 10 seconds or more per page to scan. Now, I’m looking forward to clearing out many boxes and files of papers that I didn’t quite want to part with, but have been taking up a lot of space. Professional HP systems come with ReadIRIS OCR software which reads text on pages and makes them into PDF files that are text searchable. So, later you can search through thousands of scanned pages for keywords, and find the scanned documents with those keywords on them. The paperless office promised in the 1980s is becoming more possible.
I’ve upgraded one of my computers to Windows 10 and so far I really like what I see. As you know, I use Linux, Windows, and Apple. For the Windows work, I think Windows 10 will be a great improvement and I’m happy that Microsoft is giving it away as a free update for Microsoft Windows 7 users.
Activism
An area of activism I enjoy is Consumer Advocacy. Last week I was excited to discover a misleading advertising campaign that nobody else had identified yet. It relates to an automatic ink subscription service offered by HP. The marketing materials promise 50% savings on ink. In reality, the cost can be 100% higher than if you purchase your own ink cartridges at the store. I wrote an article about the misleading advertising, and contacted HP about the issue. Their case management team has promised changes to their advertising in response to what I discovered.
Career
This month I expanded my responsibilities at the University of Iowa. In addition to my previous duties, I’m now supporting an entire Division of departments. It’s an opportunity to work with more people and create an efficient system of excellent service delivery. You can read the full list of responsibilities on my bio page at the University of Iowa.
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.
When I was a teenager, I worked at McDonalds. I took the job to earn a little extra money, but over the years I’ve realized that I got much more out of that job than some extra spending money. At least in my case, I really learned, internalize, and honed a valuable work ethic. I was at an age where I was receptive, so it wasn’t a chore I resisted. I also learned that something as simple as a small bag of French Fries is important. Each customer — each person — is important.
We’d use stopwatches to time how long it took for a customer to wait in line, have their order taken, and get their food. My manager told me it was critical to provide prompt attentive service. I was told my work was important. We’d all compete with each other to see how quickly we could provide exceptional service. There was a comprehensive video training program, and we’d get credit for continuing education.
As I continued in life, I held on to the idea that even a simple task such as providing someone with an order of fries was very important and should be done thoughtfully. When I began my career as a computer support specialist, I felt my work was even more important than giving a person french fries. So, I determined that computer work deserved an equal or greater level of attention, responsiveness, and care.
Mysterious Abdominal Pain
Last week I had a sharp pain in my abdomen. It persisted over a few days, so I went to one of the exceptional satellite care centers we have in our area. These are the offices you go to as a first point of contact. They are limited in what they can provide, but they are convenient, fast, and a good way to see a doctor quickly for an assessment of what to do next.
The doctor I saw told me to go to the emergency room immediately. The concern with abdominal pain is that it could be just about anything from intestinal gas to a life-threatening appendicitis or other serious condition.
The ‘Other’ Hospital
I went to the emergency room of a local hospital.* Upon arriving and beginning the check-in process, my first question, was how long it might be — considering the pain I was in. My wife asked and got the response, “I don’t know,” from the person at the check-in window. My wife persisted, “Will it be an hour? Two hours? Four hours?” The answer came back again, this time a little more rudely, “I really don’t know.”
I looked around the waiting room, and seeing that almost all the seats were empty, and only a few people were there comfortably reading magazines, I couldn’t imagine why we wouldn’t be seen right away, and couldn’t understand why we wouldn’t be given at least a general estimate of when we might be seen. From the person’s expression at the check-in window, it was clear our presence there was an unwanted inconvenience. While DMV offices are known for a long wait and sometimes poor service, at least you get to take a number and know where you are in the queue.
Just getting to that ER was challenging. The narrow winding road with multiple unexpected sharp turns, and painful potholes, arrives at a confined dead-end entrance area where you’d imagine a loading dock to be. The few parking spots close to the door were already taken. Then there was the entrance. Sliding doors. Enter the first set of doors on the right. Then the next door requires you enter on the left. Trying to move in a serpentine motion isn’t so easy when you’re not feeling well. Then there were obstructions to reaching the check-in window. It was like an obstacle course. They certainly weren’t making it easy or convenient for people.
After some time went by, with nobody in the waiting room getting called, it was clear that things weren’t just moving slowly. They weren’t moving at all. We decided to cancel the check-in, but by then there was nobody at the check-in window and no hospital employees in sight. Hmmm… “How do we even get out of this?” I didn’t want to get an emergency room visit fee. Finally the grumpy person returned, and we told them we’d be going to a different hospital. They gave no response. Just a smirk.
Emergency Room Experience at Mercy Hospital
We went as fast as we could to Mercy Hospital in Iowa City. The hospital was easy to find. The emergency room entrance was easy to get to. There was abundant parking close by.
We entered and were immediately attended to by a cheerful person at one of the many check-in windows.
After my previous experience, I thought I should ask how long it might be before I could see a doctor.
“It’s an emergency room, so right away,” she responded smiling, but also looking a little perplexed.
I explained, “It’s just that the last emergency room we visited was very unfriendly and they wouldn’t tell us when I’d be seen by a doctor. They said it might be four hours.”
She smiled and said at Mercy they try to have people with a doctor in triage within 5 minutes of their arrival. “Would you like a warm blanket?” she asked. “Not right now, thanks,” I replied.
I felt like I was flying first class or checking in at some kind of fancy resort.
I asked where the restroom was.
She responded, “It’s right over there. Here, take this,” and handed me a urine sample cup. In most doctor’s offices you sit in the waiting room, and then after a while see a nurse who gives you the sample cup, but only if its deemed necessary, and usually after you’ve already gone to the bathroom.
The moment I stepped out of the restroom the doctor was ready to see me.
So, I was being seen and cared for in minutes after my arrival.
A few more minutes later, there was a team of nurses and doctors surrounding me working on diagnosing what might be causing my abdominal pain — asking me various questions to rule out bladder infection, pancreatitis, bowl obstruction, appendicitis, hernia, and various other possible causes. “You may need to go into surgery,” one of them told me.
Comprehensive lab work was done with blood and urine samples. A full CT scan was performed by two technicians.
In all, I think there were about 12 medical professionals attending to me, including the doctors, nurses, CT technicians, lab technicians, and other staff.
It was the kind of care you’d imagine a dignitary or celebrity getting — but that’s just apparently how they treat everyone.
Well, the good news is that the sharp pain was apparently caused by a pulled abdominal muscle. I just needed to rest up and get better. After knowing it wasn’t something more serious, my worries subsided and the pain subsided (with the help of the pain medication they gave me in my IV line).
I was home in time for lunch — rather than still writhing in pain at the other hospital.
The prompt and caring service at Mercy reminded me of when I was younger, working at McDonalds, learning that if bag of fries is important, then certainly something like caring for a person’s medical needs should be more important and deserving of fast, professional, compassionate care. It helped me to set a standard of excellence in the most menial of tasks, so I’d always excel beyond that in other areas.
Painful experiences are always difficult, but I can say I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit Mercy Hospital that day.
P.S. Thanks! To those who’ve asked… Yes, I’m feeling much better now. Thanks! 🙂
P.P.S. Comparison Data. I didn’t discover it until later, but ProPublica has an online ER wait time comparison guide based on data collected between April 2013 and March 2014. I’m not sure how representative that data is a year later, and don’t know how accurate the data collection was. It would be nice to have a national map showing real-time data collected live from hospitals across the country.
P.P.P.S. Praise & Criticism. It’s always a good idea to offer praise publicly, and criticism privately. So, I didn’t mention the name of the ‘other’ hospital in my writing. Additionally, while personal experiences are helpful to encourage and coach teams, overall assessments of an institution should be made with longitudinal data from the experiences of many people over time.
P.P.P.P.S Comments. Okay, so it’s been about a week since I shared my story online, and I didn’t realize that people had been posting comments below awaiting approval. Sorry about that! I’ve approved them all, and replied to each one. To those of you who felt I was too harsh on the ‘other’ hospital. I have another story to share from this week about a very positive experience with the other hospital. No, I don’t plan to start a weekly journal about hospital visits. 😉
Impact: The Rest of the Story
When we make an extra effort to go above and beyond in our workplace, or perhaps maybe outside of work we do something nice through a special act of kindness, one often wonders what the impact is. Today, with social media, we can actually see the impact visually. The maps below show people who have read this story, and then were moved to share it with others, who shared it with others, and so on. Exceptional acts of excellence and kindness are inspiring. They encourage others to raise the bar, to do more, to do better, to be better.
For the nurse who is tired after many long shifts, who has had a difficult week, but chooses to set those things aside and give one more smile while focusing on someone in need or in pain… That nurse wonders what impact their kindness has in the world. Here’s the impact.
In the few hours after posting this story, 230 people had shared it, reaching 1,200 readers. After two days, there were 890 who shared it reaching 4,800 people – and the story spread to Europe. After three days, the story had reached Australia, Iceland, Romania, Ireland, and the United Arab Emirates.
The maps below shows the 200 most recent visitors. Click any map for a larger gallery view.
What we do in life, for good or for bad, has an impact in the world. Live your life for good.
Global Visits – Day 3
Page Visits – Global
Page Visits – United States
Page Visits – US East
Page Visits – Midwest
Page Visits – Iowa / Illinois
Page Visits – Iowa
Page Visits – Eastern Iowa
Page Visits – CR/IC Corridor
__________
* I didn’t name the ‘other’ local hospital because I really didn’t intend this article to be a criticism of that hospital, but instead a word of thanks to the team at Mercy and a general commentary about the importance of quality customer / patient care. I subsequently received comments from people who are very pleased with their own experiences at the ‘other’ hospital. I’ve also had some very positive experiences with various departments within the ‘other’ hospital. It’s just that their emergency room process and procedures could use some improving.
