Tag: gregupdate

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above was taken yesterday while on a morning walk.

Workload Increasing

My workload has been steadily increasing. Whether for tech support or web support, outages are more common and security threats are an ongoing concern. As people get taken in by scams, there is an increased need for helping them recover. Delays in response time from support staff, and delays in needed products, are disruptive and result in greater effort to accomplish tasks.

These stresses and disruptions are disorienting and can result in cognitive strain for some people. This means that providing tech support may require that instructions be provided more slowly for it to be learned.

The various strains on our society such as wars, pandemics, supply chain disruptions, hackers, climate disasters, global inflation, and other concerns tend to preoccupy people’s minds. So, I tend to offer less information since people aren’t absorbing and remembering details as well.

Prepping to Help Others

The survivalist movement mostly consists of “preppers” who are people anticipating upheaval and various societal disruptions. Realtors have a category of home listings for underground bunkers and fallout shelters, typically in the rural plains west of the Missouri River.

I’ve given some thought to disaster preparedness after living through the pandemic, seeing empty grocery shelves, and being among the 300,000 people in our area without power following the Derecho storm of August 2020. Economic instability and supply chain problems are other motivations for preparing ahead.

My approach to preparedness involves assembling resources that will help me continue providing tech support to people during difficult times. Examples would be having battery backup systems for power during outages, and having a small inventory of commonly needed tech parts and supplies.

Being prepared for one’s own basic survival is fairly easy. There are food packs that promise to provide months of food with a shelf-life of many years. However, being prepared to help others takes a bit more planning and each person’s vocation or profession will have unique planning and preparation needs. This requires thinking through the current support needs people have, and how needs may change in a crisis.

Last year I began writing installments on the topic of simpler tech solutions that cost less money and use less power. I’m continuing to study what solutions may work well during disasters or other disruptions.

agile Preparedness

Most of us have been through power outages. In Iowa City, we’ve had 500-year floods that resulted in closed bridges. We’ve had tornados go through the city destroying homes and flipping cars upside down. The Derecho storm of August 2020 caused significant damage. These experiences help guide a preparedness plan.

One also follows news stories of disruptions elsewhere such as wars, droughts, and rising ocean waters that can all result in displacing millions of people who need to find a caring and welcoming community where they can live.

So, another kind of preparedness is that which allows us to be welcoming of others and supporting the needs of those who are new in our communities.

Minimizing Profits

We’re all familiar with the practice of maximizing profits. It’s a business strategy of spending as little as possible on products and services, reducing labor costs, cutting corners, and offering as little as possible of value to customers while charging as much as possible.

In business, I have always focused on minimizing profits. This means I’m fair with those who provide products and services to me. I seek out high quality products and services for the work I do, rather than inexpensive cheap ones. I acquire software, tools, equipment, systems, and resources that will benefit my customers. These things increase my regular expenses and cut into my net earnings. What’s rewarding is that I’m able to offer a lot of really great services to people at very economical prices.

There are regular monthly and annual fees and subscriptions I pay for software and services I use to do my tech work and website work. There are also purchases of equipment that build the business. These investments in the business over time help the business grow. I could cut back on these expenses, and provide less to the people I support. That would increase my profits. However, I think the practice of putting profits over people is selfish, short sighted, and ultimately not a very good business strategy.

The ideal balance is to invest in a business so it can grow, serve people well, and provide a good livelihood to the business owner.

Despite widespread inflation and rising costs of tech devices in short supply, I’ve been able to continue charging about the same hourly rate that I did over 20 years ago. This is possible through continuous improvement and efficiencies that allow me to provide more services and better support on less money.

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You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters [Subscribe] or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address where indicated to be notified of every post to this site.

THANKS!

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

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above was taken today and shows my latest desktop computing devices. Note that the screen image used on the Moto X phone (on right) is a stock image for that model of phone, so the date shown on that screen isn’t accurate. I downloaded it to the phone and zoomed in on it, since the home screen on that phone no longer looks like the original.

Simple Tech Devices

Last year I wrote about the importance of embracing simpler tech devices in 2022. [View Advisory] I’ve been promoting this message with everyone who comes to me for tech support. Reducing our dependency on devices, and choosing simpler devices can reduce the time, expense, and stress of technology.

This month’s update is being written using the iPad you see pictured above. It is an iPad mini and the first iPad I’ve had that has a USB-C port. Not shown in the picture is the 42-inch (diagonal) 4K Samsung display with 777-square-inches of display surface area. The iPad mini has 31.5-square inches of display surface area for the 8.3-inch diagonal screen.

Common sizes for big screen TVs would be 52-inches up to about 72-inches. So, the 42-inch display is considered to be on the lower end. I purchased it years ago as a primary desktop display. The reason I chose the smaller less expensive display is because for close-up work, the 4K resolution (2266 x 1488 pixels) looks much sharper when condensed onto a small screen.

The iPad mini functions well on its own without any other accessories, but having a keyboard, external display, mouse, and trackpad help create a desktop computing experience from the small iPad that’s about 5.3-inches by 7.7-inches in size and 1/4-inch thick. With a USB-C hub, the iPad mini can have just about every device imaginable connected. [View Example] For daily portability, I carry the iPad and keyboard which function like a small laptop computer. At home, I switch between portable use and desktop use.

I maintain a resource page for the Raspberry Pi computer. [View] It is the system on a chip (SOC) used for a DIY assembled home computer. A few years ago, the Pi computer could be purchased for about $35, making it one of the least expensive computers in the world. With advances in the features, and now being in high demand globally, the cost is up to about $200 just for the circuit board. A display, keyboard, mouse, and USB-C power adapter would also be needed.

The latest entry-level 10.2-inch iPad is about $330 [Learn More] and only needs a Bluetooth keyboard for about $40. [View All | View My Favorite] If you don’t mind using the iPad’s on-screen touch keyboard, then you can skip the cost of buying an external one. The basic $330 iPad can handle the tasks that most people need to accomplish — word processing, email, watching videos, reading books, reading news, printing, and more.

In addition to being relatively inexpensive to purchase, and inexpensive to maintain (fewer bills for tech support), the iPad is a low power device that works well during power outages from its built-in battery or a large reserve power pack. [View Examples]

I’m exploring these low-tech devices so I can give people the best advice on simple low-cost tech choices.

TECH WORK

My tech support workload continues to be quite busy, but I’m happy to report that today I was able to take a day off. I had some computers dropped off yesterday, which I would normally dive right into working on, but the people weren’t in a hurry for them, so I’ll start on that work tomorrow.

WEB WORK

My web projects for clients continue at a steady pace. I’ve put my own personal web interests on hold for now to make room in my schedule for helping others with their websites.

Because websites take ongoing upkeep, and regular development, I’ve been scheduling time daily in the morning for web work. The quiet focused morning hours are good for the detailed work that requires uninterrupted attention.

Groundhog Day

The movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray depicts what might happen if a person lived the same day over and over. The pandemic that started two years ago has resulted in many people permanently living and working from home. Having the same daily routine for work, meals, exercise, and regular tasks, reduces the variability of life. We have opportunities to see patterns and routines that can be improved.

Everything in life seems more efficient and effective. There’s less time wasted on driving and errands with more time for work, exercise, and sleep. Something I’m trying to do with the additional time is to have deeper connections with fewer people, rather than superficial connections with many people.

SUBSCRIBE

You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters [Subscribe] or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address where indicated to be notified of every post to this site.

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 22 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]

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above was taken on 9 Feb 2022 and shows the circuitboard from a 1991 Apple Macintosh Classic computer that I’ve been working with recently. You can see the individual transistors, capacitors, resistors, and other components. Today’s lowest priced entry-level Apple computers use an M1 chip with 16 billion transistors and the ability to complete 11 trillion operations per second. [More]

Tech Work

Since my last newsletter at the start of January, I’ve worked about 60 days straight of mostly 12 to 14 hour days. That’s why this newsletter is 28 days late. The reason for this extra work is because there has been a flood of tech support requests.

These aren’t the typical requests such as, “Hey, sometime I’d like you to show me how to make my mouse pointer larger and easier to see.” By now, most people find answers to those kinds of questions with a Google search.

The needs are complicated and time consuming. The computer circuitboard pictured above is from a refurbished and restored working Macintosh Classic computer that I purchased on eBay for a project I’m working on. I’m trying to assemble multiple computers that span 30 years for the purpose of getting some data from a very old computer, in approximately 10-year jumps, copying the data to successively newer computers and drives, eventually to a modern computer. Once setup, this process should work for a variety of applications.

Most of the support requests I am getting require a somewhat immediate response, and the solution is very time consuming. I’ve had multiple urgent requests related to critical computers that have crashed, some that multiple people rely on.

Supply chain problems and the aftermath of a depleted workforce from the pandemic makes it harder to solve problems when support staff and resources are limited.

Incidents of fraud and scams are on the rise, so I’m helping people protect the safety and privacy of their digital lives in all the ways I can — before trouble strikes.

I’m hopeful in March I can get a chance to get caught up on some of the basic administrative tasks and paperwork I need to do.

TECH ADVISORY — SIMPLIFY IN 2022

In November, I issued a tech advisory, encouraging people to simplify their use of technology for the coming year. [Read]

I shared some additional tech-related news in December that you’ll want to read if you’ve not done so already. [Read]

It’s clear that the need for simpler tech will increase in the months ahead as systems are failing and support resources are in limited supply.

SUBSCRIBE

You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters [Subscribe] or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address where indicated to be notified of every post to this site.

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 21 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), 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]

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a December 11 visit to Willow & Stock on Linn Street near Market Street in Iowa City. There are quite a few nice shops and restaurants in that area which makes it a nice place to visit.

New work Practices

In 2021, my tech consulting involved more requests for remote support as pandemic-era practices have not only continued but increased. Every day, I receive tech questions by phone, text message, and email which are replacing longer sit-down tech sessions. Often a quick screen-sharing session can solve problems.

In the past my work would involve sit-down visits for an hour or two, and then I would receive a payment for my work. But now support is more impromptu and projects can be spread over weeks or months.

My billing process has adapted to this new work environment. Invoices now include emails, text messages, phone logs, and typed notes from work done. It can take several hours to assemble the fragments of many micro-support sessions spread over a month or more, but I want to make sure I’m not over-billing anyone, or getting underpaid for my time and work.

I create a unified timeline of events for the billing period, which can help provide a picture of what was accomplished. The timeline shows what might begin as a text message exchange, then continues as an email exchange, then results in a phone call, and possibly an in-person meeting, all represented chronologically. This gives me and those I serve a sense of satisfaction, and also provides some reference.

For more involved tech problems, people continue to drop-off computers for me to work on which fits well with the remote support sessions by giving me more work that can be done from home.

TECH ADVISORY — SIMPLIFY IN 2022

In November, I issued a tech advisory, encouraging people to simplify their use of technology for the coming year. [Read]

I shared some additional tech-related news in December that you’ll want to read if you’ve not done so already. [Read]

Subscribe

You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters [Subscribe] or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address where indicated to be notified of every post to this site.

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 21 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), 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]

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a nature walk on 12 Nov 2021. You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters, or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address where indicated to be notified of every post to this site.

Tech Work

This year I’ve become more focused on my tech work. To keep up with the increasing number of tech support requests, I’ve had to set aside some of my other interests. This has involved pursuing greater simplicity and minimalism. I feel that the best way I can be of help right now is to be as available as possible in my area of expertise for those who need me. I’ve become the new IT department for the many people who find themselves working from home. Retired people and seniors are spending more time online and feeling more dependent on technology.

Quick Answers are Free

The homepage of my IowaCityTech.com website states “Quick Answers are Free” and “No Charge for Local Advice.” I typically receive several calls a day from people new to Iowa City. Often the tech questions people have can be answered quickly, and simple problems can be solved in a short phone call. Those unfamiliar with what’s available locally can get directed to the proper provider of in-warranty repairs or service. When callers are faculty, staff, or students at the University of Iowa, I am often able to provide them with some suggestions to point them in the right direction for on-campus services.

Tech Writing

On my tech services website, I’ve written many support articles and those articles are organized by topic on the Resources page. These articles are often written in response to common questions and support requests. This saves time, and allows me to offer answers free of charge.

Public Classes

I’ve create a reference directory of local public tech classes offered libraries and others in our area. [View] Many of these public courses are free or low cost. Directing people toward learning opportunities for greater digital literacy allows me to focus on the individualized and personalized support needs.

Tech Advisory — Simplify in 2022

In November, I issued a tech advisory, encouraging people to simplify their use of technology for the coming year. [Read]

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 21 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), 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]

Greetings!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a nature walk at Kent Park on 30 Oct 2021. You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters, or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address where indicated to be notified of every post to this site.

Tech and Web Focus

My work lately has been focused on tech services and website development. The new sites I am using are IowaCityTech.com and IowaCityWeb.com for this work.

Best Apple Rumors

I’m amused by the ongoing industry speculation about Apple products. Some people are making a full-time job out of predicting what new products will be announced and what features will be added to existing products.

This is sometimes the effort of fans trying to influence the company’s product development, or request features they would like to see. Sometimes Apple supporters will point out very glaring and obvious design flaws that the company seems to have overlooked.

Among the existing conspiracy theories is the belief that Apple removes certain desirable features so people will pay to have those features in later models a few years down the road. Another belief is that Apple adds frustrating design flaws, and takes years to fix them, so that people will be motivated to buy new devices when those design flaws are corrected. Or, perhaps the company just doesn’t have a good design team and lacks product testers.

Some ‘influencers’ have asked for new features (or old features to be brought back) and Apple seemingly has listened to them. Each individual YouTuber will announced, “Well, Apple finally took my advice.” Maybe the views of one or more vloggers can influence the direction of a company. It’s hard to know. I think sometimes the influencers like to imagine that they have more influence than they really do.

Yesterday, I launched a website called BestAppleRumors.com which promises to predict what the next Apple rumors will be. It usually takes weeks to begin seeing 1 or 2 visits a day to a new website. This new site in less than 24 hours has already had many visits from Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. I’m curious to see how interest in the site continues to grow.

What inspired the launch of the site is the Apple Polishing Cloth, which sold out immediately and now has a three month backorder status. New (and used) versions of the $19 retail cloth are selling on eBay for $50 to $60 or more. The absurdity of the cloth, and outrageous pricing, and global demand for the cloth warranted the launch of a site, and my speculation that soon there will be rumors of a Pro version of the cloth as well as Mini and Pro Max versions (similar to the iPhone offerings). We’ll see if my rumor prediction proves to be accurate. [Read Article]

LOCAL FOOD AND POLLINATORS (Part 2)

Last month I shared about how the bulk of my food consumption is a drink made of locally roasted coffee, local milk, and local honey. I’m continuing with that eating plan. In addition to this locally-sourced beverage, I eat salad, fresh cherry tomatoes, nuts, grains, seeds, and berries. Having my energy and diet be mostly from the home-made coffee beverage, continues to eliminate landfill waste, save money, and reduce trips to the grocery store. I like knowing that my food choices are helping the local economy and ecosystem.

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 21 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), 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]

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a nature walk at Kent Park on 25 Sep 2021. You can subscribe to be notified of these monthly newsletters, or scroll to the bottom of this page and enter your email address to be notified of every post to this site.

Local Food and Pollinators

I’ve been recently trying to create better environmental impact outcomes with my food choices. In recent years I started buying local milk from a dairy business in Kalona, Iowa. This past month I decided to get milk from a different source — a dairy that provides milk in glass containers that can get sanitized and reused.

People who go on diets will typically begin thinking more about what motivates their food choices and eating habits. When I’ve reflected on such things, I’ve identified that I generally eat to have energy for my work. Carbs had been my go-to food to keep going.

I’ve recently started drinking coffee and find the energy gained from the coffee is a great substitute for food. Whether I eat a big meal of spaghetti and garlic bread, or have a delicious cup of coffee, the energy I gain is about the same. Although with coffee, there’s less bulk in my stomach so I’m not slowed down by the digestion process. So, afternoon naps are no longer an issue.

I’ve realized that I don’t crave any particular food. What I crave is having the energy and clarify of mind that can help me get my work done.

I still eat salads and get nutrition from some essential foods, but the quantity of food is reduced considerably, and the few foods I do eat are selected specifically for their nutritive value.

What’s really amazing to me is the reduction in trash and recycling. I don’t know the specific numbers, but it seems like I’m eating about 70% less ‘food’ and have 70% less trash and containers to deal with. It’s really a surprising and unexpected outcome.

For my coffee, I use fresh locally roasted beans purchased just days after roasting. These get stored in air-tight containers. I grind just the amount I need for a cup of coffee when making it fresh. So, it’s a potent delicious cup of coffee.

The recipe I use for the coffee includes the local milk mentioned above, and raw honey from local farmers. So, now, the coffee I drink, which provides most of my daily energy, is made from mostly local organic ingredients.

The raw honey from local farmers helps support our pollinators and nourish the local ecosystem and environment.

With this new diet, I’m losing weight and reducing my landfill contribution. Rather than recycling so many materials, and looking for ways to buy in bulk with reusable containers, I’ve made a significant overall reduction in my consumption. It’s very satisfying.

The other unexpected and unanticipated benefit has been the savings of many hundreds of dollars every month on groceries. The energy density of coffee and honey with milk is very high. The ratio of energy per dollar is very high, and the amount of space required is very low. There are fewer trips to the grocery store. Fewer trips to the gas station. Less time spent eating. It’s a super efficient system.

Reducing Energy Consumption

Last year, an inland hurricane resulted in wide-spread damage and over 300,000 people were without power. Many people had no power for many days. This motivated me to explore ways to consume less electricity, to extend the usefulness of battery power systems.

Today I posted an article about the subject sharing some of my findings: “Low Power Computing During Power Outages” [View]

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 21 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), 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]

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a nature walk in Iowa City on 15 Aug 2021.

The Model 1 Desktop Computer

I’ve been assembling and repairing computers for many years. A topic that has interested me recently is the right to repair. This involves consumers pleading with manufacturers for permission to fix something they purchased. Companies are making products increasingly difficult to repair, and attempts to repair can void a warranty. It’s important for consumers and governments to pressure manufacturers so that products can be more easily upgraded, repaired, and kept out of landfills.

While we wait for that battle to play out, an easy solution is to become the manufacturer. My assembling and building our own devices, we don’t need to ask anyone for permission to repair them. We can design them to be easily repaired.

I’ve designed a desktop computer that I call the Model 1. It runs on 60 watts of power, and in standby mode uses 1/100th of a watt. It’s easy to build, easy to upgrade, and easy to repair. There is no Model 2 with ‘new and improved’ features designed to entice you into being dissatisfied with the Model 1. The system evolves over time as needed, but never needs replacing.

It is available with Windows, or free Linux operating system and software which are designed and supported by the people for the people.

Learn more at IowaCityTech.com/model-1/

The Grid of Stuff

As part of my downsizing and pursuit of minimalism, I’ve been selling off a lot of possessions on eBay, a few items at a time. It’s nice to be contributing to the “grid of stuff” where I know my things will end up with those who need them somewhere, rather than just having them sit in boxes.

Consulting

Over the past 18 months, during the pandemic, I’ve been working 12 to 16 hours per day, seven days a week. Much of that time was spent volunteering tech services to those who can’t afford do pay normal consulting rates, or even afford to pay anything. For those in need, I would donate computers, and offer some vocational and tech training to help them get back on their feet.

As the summer winds down, I’m at a turning point. I need to restore some balance to my life. I’ve been letting go of some recently added business customers, and also cutting back on my writing contributions to the Resources For Life website. However, my business operating costs and living expenses remain the same, so my consulting will need to continue.

From 2001 through 2015 I was working full-time at the University of Iowa, and also had a very busy evening and weekend consulting schedule. As a result, I had some excess income. Other than paying my basic living expenses, the excess mostly went to help others in need and was also donated to local non-profit groups.

Since 2016, I’ve been living on the consulting income only. The excess income of working two jobs is no longer present. So, there’s more pressure to fill my weekday schedule with billable appointments. To stay available for the daily unexpected calls, and administrative work that needs to be done, I’ve only been scheduling 2 or 3 appointments per day. This crunch just means that I’m less available to help individuals in need and non-profit groups.

It’s been a difficult adjustment to no longer have the excess income that I had in the past. I’m also realizing late in life that I probably won’t be able to continue a full-time work schedule into my senior years. So, I need to stay disciplined and consistent about saving for a modest retirement.

Going forward, I’ll continue working with those who have relied on me over the past 30 years, and those who come to me for help by way of a referral. I’ll also be making time for family in need of tech support, or just needing my skill as a jester.

Resources For Life

Last month I wrote about the launch of ResourcesForLife.ORG — a fast, simple, purely HTML hand-coded site focused on serving those working in the public interest. My plan is to continue building that site out in the months ahead. The site is unique in that it could be downloaded and viewed from a USB flash drive or CD drive on a computer not connected to the Internet. The entire site could be put into a ZIP file and emailed.

The ResourcesForLife.COM website needs significant work. After 24 years of development, there is content that needs to be updated or removed. I’m planning to bring the full site online for a few days four times a year to coincide with the quarterly seasonal newsletters.

The site is currently online and available for browsing through this weekend. I thought I would make it available quarterly in its present state for anyone who would like to see the site, or those who have specific reference materials they’d like to lookup and save. After that, the site will go back into the vault until December. While the site is under construction, a minimalist HTML version of the site will be available.

My long-term goal would be to have the .ORG site be focused on public interest work, and the .COM site to continue providing tech tips, life tips, and support to entrepreneurs.

The ResourcesForLife.com Fall 2021 Newsletter is available from Sep 1 – 5. [View]

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 21 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), 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]

Greetings!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a nature walk in Iowa City on 29 July 2021.

Resources For Life – going forward

The Resources For Life project was brought online in the 1990s as the culmination of work that began in the 1980s. The goal was to establish businesses that would fund public interest work, and have a unified website as the venue for all those activities. Public Interest Computer Consulting was the business name for my tech work early on. Then PC DOC. The names change over the years, but the purpose is the same.

Going forward, the familiar ResourcesForLife.com website will remain as a hub, with links to the businesses and outreach efforts that will continue on separate websites. [View] But it will be a bonsai tree compared to what the site had been in the past. This will make the site easier to maintain.

Going forward, the public interest work of Resources For Life will continue on the new minimalist ResourcesForLife.org website. [View]

My tech consulting will remain on the various websites where it is found, including my personal site.

I’ll continue to provide updates regarding progress through my monthly personal email newsletter.

Initiatives that have been impactful and valued over the years will continue. Those that didn’t gain traction or seem as needed will be phased out.

One of the reasons for dialing down my broader outreach — the writings, videos, podcast, and other efforts — is to free up time to focus on a smaller circle of people.

Let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions.

RESILIENCE in Difficult Times

I recently finished a three-part series on minimalism, and shared some changes I’m making to create a more adaptable and resilient life. For details, you can read those writings. [ Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 ]

I feel very fortunate to be living in the Midwest:

• We’re not on the coasts having to respond to rising waters, hurricanes, and tsunamis. 
• We’re not in the South-Western states dealing with drought, severe water shortages.
• We don’t have the ravaging fires of California and the Pacific Northwest.
• We live in an area where people are vaccinated and willing to wear masks, so viruses are less disruptive and lethal than elsewhere in the country.
• We don’t have the congestion, traffic, pollution, noise, crime, and poverty common in many large cities and heavily populated areas.
• I’ve watched videos of the 1,200-year floods and other natural disasters happening around the world right now. There have also been some infrastructure disasters globally.

The above conditions cause me to reflect on two things:

1. I feel a sense of responsibility to do something good with this good fortune. I want to be more focused and impactful with any public outreach work I do. For every 10 people dealing with floods, fires, and illness from a virus, each of us who are well and able need to work hard to support those who are suffering.
2. We live in a very turbulent world. It’s important going forward to establish a life that is adaptable and resilient. For myself, this means getting rid of things I don’t need — material stuff and digital stuff that’s consuming time and money.

Regarding websites, I wrote about the need for reliability and my reasoning for designing a resilient website.

“Modern websites are developed using many complex layers of interdependent technologies and third-party services. If any of these fail, sites may go down or become infected with harmful malware. Whether from human error, system failure, or malicious intentions, disruptions can occur. The cost in time and moneyise excessive. There is also a great environmental cost in having so many computers running continuously, hosting millions of websites. During times of global instability due to climate extremes and pandemics, outages may happen more frequently and take longer to recover from when there are fewer people available to repair systems.”

[Source: RFL ORG – Design Notes]

This is why ResourcesForLife.org was launched as a fast, simple, purely HTML-coded site.

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 20 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and public interest efforts. This is based on the Life Map presented on the Resources For Life website.

GREETINGS!

Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. The photo featured above is from a walk in Iowa City on 15 May 2021.

Communications

In May I returned to providing an outgoing voicemail greeting that is updated daily. This way, anyone calling will get some information about my availability for the day, and when to expect a response from me. I have a similar automatic reply for text messages when I’m unavailable.

When convenient for others, my preference is usually to receive an email rather than phone call. Emails are easier to find, organize, and prioritize. I’m also able to provide links and attachments.

Text messages are a good way to communicate on matters that require a quick response, but otherwise email makes more sense.

Forward-Looking

Starting in August 2020, I began posting my personal newsletter and Resources For Life newsletter at the beginning of the month rather than the end of the month.

I found with an end-of-month deadline, the newsletter would get completed in haste with other activities having a priority. Setting a goal of getting the newsletter done early in the month helped me not feel pressured. It was on the top of my list of monthly tasks, but need not be rushed.

In recent months I’ve switched to forward-looking tasks, preparing for and completing tasks ahead of the goal. I’ve started this month’s newsletter a day early so that after some revisions and reflection it will be ready to send out on the first of the month.

I have some other monthly tasks that I start preparing for in the final days of the previous month.

Tech Work

As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, April was mostly spent working on annual finances and bookkeeping. As a result, May was very busy catching up on web project commitments and some unplanned tech support needs. This had me working 7-days-per-week to catch up and keep up. I’m still keeping a busy schedule heading into June.

Tech Upgrades

Something else keeping me busy in May was the purchase and setup of a new primary computer used for my daily work. I wrote about the process. [More Here…] This required some planning. The new computer uses a different processor than the previous one (the Apple M1 replacing the Intel Core i7), so I’m trying to limit my work to the software written for the new processor. The old computer is still running, but had some ongoing reliability issues so it needed to be replaced.

Another slight disruption during the month of May was caused by a Microsoft update that caused some Windows computers to have startup trouble. I assisted people who had crashed computers, and had to perform a fresh Windows 10 installation on my own computer.

Fortunately for all of the above work, I have backups and didn’t lose any data.

WRITING

Due to the excessive tech work last month, in May I created only four posts on the Resources For Life website. You can see the latest new content on the What’s New page.

Road to Minimalism – PART 1

In recent months, in addition to doing less writing, I’m spending less time on dozens of other non-income-producing activities and initiatives I was involved in previously. In my December 2017 newsletter, I referred to this as “Bringing in the Fishing Nets.”

This downsizing and simplifying will take years and involves shutting down numerous websites, closing outdated online accounts, and going through hundreds of boxes of old work-related items in a pursuit of online and offline minimalism.

Going forward, I want to make sure my schedule and life are as lean as possible. Having to work seven days a week through the pandemic, and through the Derecho storm, during power outages, despite multiple system crashes, has taught me the importance of being prepared for the next crisis situations and not being overextended.

I plan to contribute less to the Resources For Life website, and starting with the June 2021 newsletter, I plan to have quarterly seasonal updates for RFL rather than monthly. I’ve discontinued the Heart Songs program which I started 20 years ago, because it was an example of something that had been taking more time. I’ve explained more about that below.

The direction I’m heading in will be an increasing focus on tech services and web services. As I’m looking to the next 20-30 years, I need to anticipate that I won’t be able to continue working 60 hours a week, so I’ll need to plan accordingly.

[Part 1, Part 2, Part 3]

Heart Songs

I’ve enjoyed sharing music each month through the Resources For Life newsletters. Starting this year, I’m planning to switch to occasionally sharing music through posts on the site, but not as featured items in the newsletter.

In the past, I’d encounter new music while driving and listening to the radio, or at restaurants, or watching movies, or a new TV series, etc. With the pandemic I’m at home more, working more, and not exposed to much new music. These days, much of the music I hear, I already know. It’s not new. 

In the past, one of the primary opportunities for me to enjoy music was during my daily workout. I’ve changed my exercise routine and these days go on nature walks without listening to anything other than nature. My work these days requires more focus, or time on the phone with people, so the role of music in my life has diminished.

Because I’m no longer exposed to music on a regular basis, finding songs to share every month required some additional time in an already busy schedule.

In addition to these factors, the music industry has gone through seismic shifts in recent decades. For many years I used an Apple iTunes playlist sharing feature to share music. That service was eventually discontinued. Other similar services came along, but didn’t last. YouTube has been the most recent service I relied on to share music, but often great music videos are not available months later. Either the artist removes their own videos from YouTube or someone not authorized to share the music is asked to remove it from a personal YouTube channel. Spotify allows for playlists and sharing links to songs, but not all music is available there.

Given licensing and copyright restrictions, I considered using services like Artlist.io as a source for unique royalty-free music that I could share without worrying about it not being available in the future. The music comes with a lifetime unlimited license to use and share through created works. However, the service is expensive, the collection is limited, and it takes time to download and manage the items. I did use the service for a while. Here’s a music video I created from one of the songs I liked. [View]

The Soundcloud music service is a nice way to learn about and follow local musicians and lesser known musicians, but downloading and sharing can be a bit limited, and the premium service is expensive.

For all of these reasons, I’m planning to phase out the Heart Songs tradition.

THANKS!

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

Want More News? To signup to receive monthly notifications from me, please click here. For additional news and updates, you can click here to subscribe to the Resources For Life Newsletter.

Origins. For those of you who are new to these monthly personal updates, they began about 20 years ago out of a desire to share from my personal life about topics of lifeways (faith), health, career, finances, relationships, effective living, and public interest efforts. This is based on the life map presented on the Resources For Life website.