Personal Update 201903 | 31 Mar 2019 | Sunday


Greetings!

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update. To signup to receive monthly notifications from me, please click here.

INDIA

This month I spent about a week in India. The trip lasted from March 14-25 with about four days total of airline travel over and back, and some days after returning to adjust to Iowa time again.

Flight Plan. Our original planned flight path would have taken us over Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan but as we approached these various military hotspots and no-fly-zones the flight path changed to avoid those countries entirely. It was interesting watching the rerouting in realtime on the seat-back display.

Global WiFi. My primary phone is an iPhone using AT&T. My secondary phone is a Moto X4 using Google Fi global connectivity. It was my first experience traveling around the world with virtually unlimited calling, text, and high-speed internet access. The Moto X4 is about $200 on Amazon and the Google Fi service starts at $20 a month. [Learn More] I’d been enjoying the Google Fi network in the U.S. to get phone and internet service where other providers have none. It was nice to use it internationally, and actually quite amazing to land in another country and have seamless inexpensive phone and internet service.

Infrastructure. I visited India about 7 times between 2008 to 2012 and was surprised to see back then how far advanced the country is beyond the United States in the areas of life that matter. On this most recent visit, I was astonished to observe the progress that transpired over 7 years since my last visit to Lucknow, India. This time I saw newly surfaced roads without potholes. Taxis running on clean solar power. New public transit metro subway train systems. Mesh network phone and data with seemingly no signal outages. They have a nationalized healthcare system. When is the farmers market? Everyday. Where is the farmers market? Everywhere. There are fresh food vendors just about everywhere you look. In the U.S. we have city parks that are decorative urban accents of green. In Lucknow, they built one of the biggest parks in Asia. See the video below of Janeshwar Mishra Park.

Economy. The United States is $22 trillion in debt. India has an economy 1/3 our size and the national debt is about 2% of what ours is. Where is all of our money going in the United States? We’re $22 trillion in debt, yet we have schools being closed down, teachers being underpaid, hospitals closing, roads crumbling, healthcare becoming unaffordable, bridges failing inspections, food scarcity, public transit initiatives not getting approval, and I still can’t get a good phone signal in many locations in Iowa City. We’re supposed to have a government (and an economy) of the people, by the people, and for the people, but I’m increasingly feeling that our nation’s wealth is being siphoned away by a few dozen people who have better ‘access’ to our government and are given handouts and bailouts that the rest of us don’t get – like the ability to write-off the cost of a private jet. Imagine walking down the street and before someone robs you, they help you apply for a bunch of credit cards, then they help you take out cash advances on all those credit cards, then they rob you. That’s our situation in the United States. We have all this debt but not much to show for it. The people robbing us have helped us take out a huge cash advance prior to robbing us. Hopefully, this trend can change soon.

Wellness

This past month I had some good progress with various wellness goals. I reported last month that I’m working on developing the mindset needed for optimal wellness:

“The most impactful wellness practice is the most elusive one. It’s not in a pill. It’s not in a gym. It’s a mindset or a zone one needs to get their attitude focused on.”

I’ve been developing a system of incremental fasting (this is different from intermittent fasting). Incremental fasting involves always fasting from several things in parallel. Building layers of fasting conditions a person to develop greater discipline and self-control. We all fast about 8 hours a day while we sleep. Carrying a fast into the day can be done in ‘layers’ by starting with only water, then a few hours later having a light broth, then adding veggies, and then adding heavier low-carb foods later in the day. The outcome of this eating plan is to reduce calorie intake, but also reduce reactive insulin spikes that cause the body to store fat. Sugar and carbs are powerful appetite activators, so by removing those the appetite is suppressed making fasting easier. I’m now about 23 pounds down from my highest weight. With focus, I will hopefully continue having progress.

Monthly Emails

I’ve been using Yahoo Groups for about 20 years as a system for sending out monthly newsletters. It’s worked okay in the past, but recently their system hasn’t been consistently functioning properly. So, in 2019 I’m switching all my mailings over to Mail Chimp. To signup to receive my monthly email, please click here.

The monthly emails are important because they offer a less intensive subscription for people who don’t want to receive updates every time I post something to my website. One email a month is more manageable for most people.

Thanks!

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

Want More News? 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 19 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 – Monthly Update 201902

Personal Update 201902 | 28 Feb 2019 | Thursday

Greetings! I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update.

Wellness

This past month I’ve been focusing on adjusting my wellness program. For several months I tried lifting heavier weights and doing more repetitions. I started noticing some micro-injuries, so I’ve cut back slightly on the intensity of my strength training by reducing reps and take some days of rest. The days of rest seem to give the muscle sufficient time to rebuild. There are no more micro-injuries.

The most impactful wellness practice is the most elusive one. It’s not in a pill. It’s not in a gym. It’s a mindset or a zone one needs to get their attitude focused on. I’ve been working on intermittent fasting and the mindset required for that. I’m combining intermittent fasting with reduced carb and reduced calories. One of my sources for creating a wellness plan is the Dr. Berg Healthy Keto approach which results in the body reprogramming its physiology to run on fat for energy rather than sugar and carbs for energy. Once this transformation takes place, then it is much easier to go for extended periods (20 hours per day) without food and eat within a 4-hour window from 1PM to 5PM. It’s not a restrictive diet. The body still has the same amount of nutrition and energy to draw on, but it’s much more efficient — like a race car compared to a lawn mower.

According to a talk by Dr. Sarah Hallberg, our typical American eating and lifestyle habits are creating a massive health epidemic and the medical guidelines and practices are sometimes making the problem worse.

This week Fed Chair Jerome Powell:

The single biggest thing that drives our fiscal unsustainability is healthcare delivery. We deliver healthcare outcomes that are pretty average for a well-off country but we spend 17% of GDP doing it. Everyone else spends on average 10% of GDP. That’s way more than a trillion dollars every year that we spend delivering healthcare. … It’s not that the benefits themselves are too generous, it’s that we deliver them in highly inefficient ways.” (Source)

We’re spending more and we’re getting sicker. Not only is the system inefficient in delivery, it’s often counterproductive — as explained by Dr. Hallberg.

Monthly Emails

I’ve been using Yahoo Groups for about 20 years as a system for sending out monthly newsletters. It’s worked okay, but recently their system hasn’t been consistently functioning properly. So, in 2019 I’m switching all my mailings over to Mail Chimp. To signup to receive my monthly email, please click here.

The monthly emails are important because they offer a less intensive subscription for people who don’t want to receive updates every time I post something to my website. One email a month is more manageable.

Thanks!

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

Want More News? 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 19 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 – Monthly Update 201901

Personal Update 201901 | 1 Jan 2019 | Tuesday

Greetings! I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read this month’s update.

Monthly emails

I’ve been using Yahoo Groups for about 20 years as a system for sending out monthly newsletters. It’s worked okay, but recently their system hasn’t been consistently functioning properly. So, in 2019 I’m switching all my mailings over to Mail Chimp. To signup to receive my monthly email, please click here.

The monthly emails are important because they offer a less intensive subscription for people who don’t want to receive updates every time I post something to my website. One email a month is more manageable.

Espresso Machine Video

As I mentioned in last month’s news update, I’m returning to making more videos for YouTube. One of the videos I made recently that’s had just over 200 views so far is a product review and usage video for the Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine. I’ve shared the video on the Resources for Life website as well as directly to YouTube.

When sharing videos it’s good to get them on YouTube but also share them in other places like a blog, Twitter, or other site so people can find them more easily. On YouTube there can be some interesting comments, feedback, and discussion.

As I get back into making videos, my hope is that I’ll become better in my presentation and in the video production process over time.

THANKS

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

Want More News? 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 19 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 – Monthly Update 201812

Personal Update 201812 | 28 Dec 2018 | Friday

Greetings,

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

SOCIAL MEDIA

As humans, there are many ways we reach out to have a voice in the world, to be heard, to be understood, to find connection. Social media makes that more possible. Whether art, music, writing, or some other form of expression, people are eager to have their message reach an interested audience. I was visiting with someone this past week who told me they go every week to perform their music on open mic night at a local club in town. I think that’s a similar effort to be heard.

In the past, I would use Facebook to post links to my content and that of others. My use of Facebook is diminishing because for me its effectiveness is diminishing. In the past, a post to Facebook would almost always get 5-10 likes. Now it’s rare to get a single like. I think this is because fewer people are using Facebook, and they are using it less often. Also, Facebook knows that in the past I’ve ‘boosted’ posts and paid for advertising. So, they are less likely to give me something for free that I’ve been willing to pay for. So, all my friends who I brought to the Facebook platform over the years, who I could communicate for free with in the past, are now only accessible to me if I pay Facebook to ‘rent’ temporary access to their feed. The more I pay, the more I have access to communicate with friends and family.

Postal Mail

I’ve tried using services like Mail Chimp to reach people. The delivery reports indicate about 10-20% success at reaching people, which is considered much better that average according to Mail Chimp.

Sending emails directly to individuals rather than groups can have better results, but often doesn’t generate a response from people. When I first started using email, it was a novelty. People were excited to get an email back then. Today people are overwhelmed with the flood of email and poorly equipped to handle it without a full-time staff.

I’ve recently returned to sending out handwritten cards and letters to communicate with people. This week I sent out 2019 calendars to friends, family, and some clients from this past year. I’ve already heard back from people by text message, email, and in-person who thanked me for the calendars.

With handwritten cards and letters I’m more assured that they will get read. They are today a novelty and something special in the same way that email had been 25 years ago. I have been drawing and painting digitally on my iPad using the Apple Pencil as a paint brush. The ‘Sketches’ app that I use reproduces the experience of painting even making accurate watercolor splats with random accuracy. I can print unique and personalized postcards with these paintings or with some of my photography.

Videos

About 12 years ago I started sharing videos on YouTube. Some of the older videos now have over 100,000 views each. A recent video about our vacuum cleaner has had over 3,000 views with plenty of positive comments and appreciative feedback. So posting videos to YouTube seems like a much more effective way to reach people. Facebook by comparison produces very little in return. Posts on Facebook quickly ‘evaporate’ before people see them. With YouTube, I don’t need to pay to reach an audience. You can view my videos and subscribe here YouTube.com/resourcesforlife

Personal weBsite

My personal website hosted with WordPress.com has become the most effective way to give people an organized, simple, and easy to navigate portal to everything I’d like to share — photos, music, art, writings, and more — all in one place.

Thanks

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

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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 18 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 – Monthly Update 201811

 

Personal Update 201811 | 5 Nov 2018 | Monday

Greetings,

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

Photography

Of everything I share on my website and through social media, photography seems to be a favorite with people. So, I’ve been putting in some extra effort to regularly share featured photos just about every week.

With each vacation, hike, bike ride, or walk I’ll bundle the best photos and share them here AboutGregJohnson/tag/featured-photos. I hope you enjoy them! Photography is a great catalyst and reward to get outdoors and stay active.

I use the photography for websites that I design, and also for printed greeting cards I mail out.

Wellness

This last month we went to Tahoe, so for one week my workouts were outside the gym – hiking and walking. My total for weight lifting the rest of the month was about 127,000 pounds. I’m back to my regular routine this month.

Music

I’ve shared before about the Koolulam project that brings diverse groups of people together to learn and perform music. On 29 Oct 2018 the group held an event in South Africa in partnership with King David Schools. In 45 minutes, a group of 3,500 strangers learned then performed the song – in English and Zulu – producing this 5 minute video. You can view the video on YouTube.

Thanks

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

__________

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 18 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 – Monthly Update 201810

 

Personal Update 201810 | 1 Oct 2018 | Monday

Greetings,

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

NEW SCHEDULE

Starting with this month I plan to begin sending out my updates at the beginning of the month rather than the end of the month. For the recap of September you can read the end-of-month update I sent out yesterday.

DEMOCRACY

For most of my adult life I’ve been interested in civics, governance, and politics. If you do a Google search for “a government of the people” you’ll see of the 10 million results the top site is AGovernmentOfThePeople.com which I created about five years ago. The site has had about 30,000 visits since then. It’s designed to be a reference site for materials related to democracy — what helps democracies thrive and what causes them to fail.

The site also looks at other governance models for an honest comparison and reference point. Countries with communist foundations like China, or monarchies like Jordan, also seem to thrive and function fairly well. So, the question is how can we make our fairly young democracy function well and thrive to produce equally desirable outcomes.

According to Social Progress Imperative, we are currently in position #25, lagging behind Slovenia, among countries graded on their positive impact in the world. The Good Country Index also has us at position #25. By just about any measure, we’re unfortunately not leading the world. This suggests that our Democracy needs tweaking.

Some European and Scandinavian countries offer us examples of successful democracies, but every country has unique challenges and opportunities and we have ours.

This summer from May through July, I assisted with the publishing format and layout of a book called “Columns of Democracy” by Nicholas Johnson (my dad). Through a collection of recent writings, the book examines the core institutions that support our democracy: media, education, judiciary, voting, and libraries.

I’ll share an excerpt from the introduction to the book (page 15):

It is said that as Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention he was approached by a man who asked, “Well, Mr. Franklin, what kind of a government did you give us? A Republic or a Monarchy?” To which Franklin replied, “A Republic – if you can keep it.”

For 230 years we did keep it. American democracy confronted challenges along the way, but none succeeded in abolishing democracy. From the time I first thought about such matters at the age of seven (December 7, 1941) the possibility we would not keep it never entered my mind.

Then my father was able to reassure me that America’s democracy would survive a traditional World War II. Today’s attacks on the columns of democracy are in many ways more invisible, invidious and destructive than those from Japanese fighter planes and bombs in 1941. Can we give our children and grandchildren a reassurance similar to what my father provided me 77 years ago – reassurance that American democracy will survive?

Not now.

What the future holds is up to us.

That’s an ominous warning, yet true. Keeping a garden, owning a car, or maintaining anything of value takes skill, commitment, and sometimes hare work. Democracy is no different.

However, like a car that has been neglected, and increasingly takes more time and money to operate, our democracy has recently been having more and more problems. It’s become more costly, stressful, and time consuming to manage. I find I’m spending several hours a week or more to keep up with current news. This last week I spent about 12 hours watching the Supreme Court nomination hearing and related news.

I’m embarrassed to converse with my friends from other countries. “Hey Greg, how’s that fancy sporty democracy doing?” they ask. My reply is often, “Oh, it’s back in the shop again for more repairs. It was getting really poor fuel efficiency and making a lot of noise.”

Our civic duty is more than just voting in elections. We need to stay engaged, be informed, and participate to help determine what initiatives and candidates will be on the ballot. Participation on election day is important, but it’s like participating in a football game in the final minutes of the game, rushing on the field and hoping we can impact the outcome of the game. That’s just not how democracy works. We need to be involved along the way.

Columns of Democracy” is a great field guide for those who want to have an informed and effective positive impact. If you’re someone who is civically involved, or want to be inspired to become so, I’d suggest getting a copy of the book. It’s available on Amazon, and locally in Iowa City at Prairie Lights.

THANKS

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

__________

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 18 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 – Monthly Update 201809

 

Personal Update 201809 | 30 Sep 2018 | Sunday

Greetings,

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

Health and Wellness

During the month of September I continued my normal strength training workout, lifting over 234,000 pounds which is up from last month. Toward the end of the month I’ve been emphasizing fresh raw vegetables, nuts, grains, fruits, and salads in my diet while working to reduce some of the unnecessary sugar, carbs and snack foods.

Consulting

My consulting work continues to be a mix of tech support and web design. The tech support is a good mix of business and residential, Windows and Mac, mobile and desktop, Android devices as well as Apple iOS. I like the diversity of support issues that arise. With the convergence, connectedness and integration of technology, I’m sometimes helping people with their home stereo and home theater technology.

Photography

I’m carrying a DSLR camera around these days and favoring that over my iPhone or point and shoot camera. I find the image quality is much better, and I’m adjusting to having an extra bag with me. The photo at the top of this newsletter is a photo from 27 Sep 2018 that I thought would make a nice background image.

The Department of Defense Read My Article

Sometimes after writing an article, I’ll check to see if there’s been any interest by looking at the page visitor stats. An article I recently wrote was almost immediately flagged by the Department of Defense and visited by a bot or person from the DOD Network Information Center. The article “U.S. Southern Command Uses Most Powerful ‘Weapon’ in History” explores a little known operation being conducted by the military.

In Defense of Nice People

I never thought I’d need to write an article defending nice people, but apparently nice people are now being criticized and there’s a national call for all ‘nice people’ to be removed from public office to be replaced by ‘street fighters.’ Learn more in my article LEADERSHIP: National Religious Leader Calls for Fewer Nice Guys – Asks for street fighters at every level of government. (29 Sep 2018)

A Special Message from Charles Koch

I try to seek out information from various sources with diverse viewpoints. So, recently I was curious to learn more about the views of conservative Republican billionaire Charles Koch. I was surprised to learn that he shares a lot of views with Bernie Sanders. Learn more in my article DEMOCRACY – Charles Koch Speaks Out Against Corporate Welfare and Crony Capitalism (25 Sep 2018)

Topics and Writings

In September I shared and wrote about a several topics of interest including: energy readiness, health, democracy, leadership, governance, diversity, technology, and more. A few are mentioned above, here’s a more complete list.

As you’ll notice in the list above, I’m starting to use all caps for an initial topic descriptive word to make the titles easier for people to skim through and identify on social media.

If I’m writing a commentary about some past event or video, I’ll assign the current date to my post. If I’m simply posting a video without substantive commentary, the original release date of the video is assigned to that post. For example, I recently posted over a dozen videos about education that date back to 2015. These are mostly of the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

THANKS

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

__________

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 18 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 – Monthly Update 201808

 

Personal Update 201808 | 31 Aug 2018 | Friday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my August update. I’m sending this newsletter a few weeks late and plan to send the September update out a little later this month. Although I’m writing this on Sep 21, I have dated the post as 31 Aug for the publish date.

HEALTH

For those of us working on weight loss, there are periods of success when we count how much weight we’ve lost, and other periods where we gain it back — usually in much less time than it took to lose it. So, it can be difficult to effectively track our net progress. That’s why I track my progress based on my highest weight. I’ve lost about 10 pounds since my highest weight, and about 7 pounds since last month.

For some people, weight isn’t an issue — losing it and keeping it off is easy. For other people, it’s easy to gain weight and hard to lose it — requiring more effort to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

Some people who are overweight may be so because the live a sedentary life and make poor food choices. The lack of exercise and poor nutrition perhaps more than the weight itself produces life shortening conditions. Those with an ideal body weight who don’t exercise or eat right can be at greater risk than those who may be overweight but exercise and make good food choices. Of course, the combination of a healthy weight, diet, and lifestyle are the ideal.

I use a nutrition app on my smartphone to keep track of my calories and nutrition goals. In addition to tracking calories, I also track sugar and carbs because they can stimulate fat storage in the body — causing more weight gain than other foods of equal calories. If certain foods stimulate fat storage and slow down metabolism, then the net impact of those foods is similar to them having more calories. Also, foods that result in an eventual energy crash down (like sweets or caffein) can result in a desire to eat more to gain energy. So, the end result in more consumption. I tend to eat when I’m tired so I try to avoid foods that make me tired. My daily diet is usually a salad and veggie protein patties for breakfast and dinner, with a variable lunch meal — trying to keep everything around 1,500 to 2,000 calories per day. The lower the better, but it’s easy to have an off day.

I’m very committed to regular exercise — not to burn calories, but to give me more energy during the day, reduce my appetite, build strength, increase stamina, avoid injuries, and give me better sleep. During the month of August I lifted about 196,000 pounds. That’s a 30,000 pound increase over my July strength training total. I also have a cardio exercise routine that includes walking, elliptical, and bike riding.

The small number of calories burned during exercise are inconsequential. A single bagel without cream cheese can wipe out the caloric benefit of a 3.5mph 1-hour walk. (source) There are some indulgences and restaurant meals that would require you to run a marathon to burn the calories off. In other words, skipping some food excesses has an equivalent caloric benefit as running a marathon every day.

If I lift about 200,000 pounds per month, get a cardio workout every day, watch what I eat, practice intermittent fasting, and consistently get the quality and quantity of sleep I need, I can lose about 1-2 pounds per week as long as I don’t slip up. So, the program takes discipline, self control, and consistency. It’s easy to get side tracked by other things that in the moment seem pressing.

TOPICS AND WRITINGS

In August I shared and wrote about a few topics of interest including:

MUSIC VIDEO

I created a music video in August using a song with permission from the artist and some stock video footage. I thought the song and the visuals went together well. I hope you enjoy it.

 

THANKS

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

__________

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 18 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 – Monthly Update 201807

 

Personal Update 201807 | 31 Jul 2018 | Tuesday

Greetings,

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

PHOTOGRAPHY

I’ve been using a new camera lately and it seems to be performing well. I’ve posted some photos from a recent hike on the Squire Point trail. I hope to get more photos uploaded soon.

LAKE TAHOE

During the 4th of July week, we were able to visit Lake Tahoe. At the top of this page is a sunset photo from July 5. I hope to upload more Lake Tahoe photos soon. This month I created two Lake Tahoe websites: TahoeSupport.com offers remote tech support to people visiting the area, and BestLakeTahoe.com offers information about local attractions.

DOGS

This month I had a customer wanting help with creating a website for selling a specific breed of versatile hunting dog. Something I do when creating a website for someone is to create companion magnet sites (typically at no cost to them) that help draw in and direct additional traffic for their site. So, I created VersatileHuntingDog.com as an online guide to hunting dogs and other dog breeds. One of the nice features of the site is that as dog breeds are featured, high quality identification photos are included on the information page for each breed.

MUNICIPAL WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT

Periodically, cities are pressured by residents to address deer and other wildlife populations that find their way into residential and urban settings. Deer tend to eat flowers and other landscaping which upsets people. When people are upset, they want to grab high powered rifles and start shooting deer. Yet, more effective non-lethal long-term solutions exist. Because Iowa City is currently considering paying sharpshooters to kill deer, I’ve written an article to address the topic: “Effective and Economical Municipal Wildlife Management.”

THANKS

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

__________

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 18 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 – Monthly Update 201806

 

Personal Update 201806 | 29 Jun 2018 | Friday

Greetings,

I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for taking a moment to read my latest update. This month’s newsletter will be shorter than usual.

PHOTOGRAPHY

I mentioned last month that I had finished a deep dive examining DSLR cameras. I’ve shared a few photos through social media, but plan to share more here on my website in July. The header photo is of a sunrise here in Iowa City.  I’m looking forward to using more photography with websites and print media.

WELLNESS

This month I lifted over 257,000 pounds. That’s a higher total than previous months because I’ve increased some weight and reps. For those perplexed by such a high number (a quarter of a million pounds) I’ll explain that the way this is calculated is to take the weight being lifted multiplied by the number of times it is lifted. So, a tricep exercise with 30 pounds, when lifted 96 times becomes 2,880. Finding the right balance between weight and reps is key. If I keep going at this rate, I’ll lift over 3 million pounds in a year. I plan to write more about this topic and produce some videos soon.

THANKS

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

20120224fr-greg-signature

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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 18 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.