Category Archives: General Stuff

2010-01-03 · 00:28

How I got into the writing business, part 2

In part 1, I started talking about how I got into the writing business. Part 1 ended with me having written a couple of non-Windows-related books (including this) and contributing to several Windows-oriented books (like this). I began to wonder if it made sense for me to get an agent, so I started talking to David Rogelberg, the owner of StudioB. He offered me the tempting possibility of being able to write for O’Reilly, something I had always wanted to do. I signed on as a StudioB client and, true to his word, David got me in touch with O’Reilly about writing a book on programming for the Palm Pilot.

Of course, I didn’t know anything about programming for the Pilot, but I wasn’t about to let a minor technicality stop me.

What did stop me was a communications mixup between Robert Denn, my editor at O’Reilly, and another ORA editor who shall remain nameless. This other editor had signed Rhodes and McKeehan– the experts who had written a book on Newton development too– to write a Palm programming book. That left them in the position of having two PalmOS books under contract, only one of which would be written by, y’know, people who knew what they were doing.

Robert offered to let me write a book on another topic. In fact, he even gave me my pick of topics. I wish I could say that I jumped at the chance to write about Exchange, but I didn’t. I had to be more-or-less bullied into it my my agent, who realized the long-term potential of working in the Exchange market. I didn’t know anything about Exchange either, but I was quickly determined to learn, given that I had just signed a contract to write about it. I started joining every Exchange-related mailing list in sight, printed out all the product documentation, and set up Exchange using Virtual PC on my Powerbook. (Yes, that’s right; my O’Reilly Exchange book was written on a Mac– a trend which continues to this day).

I learned sooooo much from the folks on the swynk Exchange list. Not only were there rock stars like Andy Webb, Missy Koslosky, and Ed Crowley there; there were also a ton of Exchange developers. Just to cite one example, one of the primary perpetrators of the Exchange 5.5 MTA was on the list, as was Laurion Burchall, one of the key ESE developers. Everyone on the list was super generous with their time and knowledge, and it didn’t take me long to get up to speed. (My first “live” exposure to the community, though, was attending the 1998 MEC. I was there when Tony Redmond made his famous “I’ll pass on the clap” remark, and I heard Pierre Bijaoui explain that the average human has one breast and one testicle!)

Coincidentally, at about the same time I got a call from O’Reilly: Windows NT Pro magazine was looking for someone to write a regular Exchange column. Was I interested? You bet I was! I started writing it in September of 1998 and it’s been in print ever since, although it’s morphed into a few different forms.

All this time I was still holding down a real job at LJL Enterprises, writing crypto code on the Mac. Eventually my agent brought me an offer that was too good to refuse: Ford Motor Company wanted someone to write a book about their CAD system. I gave my two weeks’ notice, set up my home office, and got ready to hang out my own shingle as a full-time author. That’s when the real adventures started…

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2009-12-30 · 21:56

End-of-the-year randomness

Wow, how did it get to be the end of the year already? I’ve fallen down on my blogging bigtime, but I have ambitious plans for 2010– mostly consisting of posting a batch of articles at once and letting MovableType publish them on a schedule. That way when I’m in the blogging mood I can write up a bunch of stuff and post it.

A few end-of-the-year notes:

  • Christmas was wonderful, even though (or perhaps because) we were here by ourselves. We gave Mom and our boys a Disney cruise, which means I’ll miss the MVP summit this year. I think it’s a reasonable tradeoff, though.
  • Julie and Paul gave me Cruise Ship Confidential, which was a real hoot. The author struck me as someone I’d love to sit down with over lunch. If you like true-confessions-style books, this one’s excellent.
  • Lego Rock Band is a ton of fun, especially with the boys. We also gave them Lips: #1 Hits, which is way more fun than I expected it would be. No surprise that the Lips wireless mic works with the Rock Band family, and having a wireless mic makes those games more fun (and easier for us to stage).
  • I bought a USMC license plate frame from the Stars and Stripes Shop. It was cheaper than any place else I found, I got it in two days, and they sent me a 10% off code to share: sssfrienddec09. Share and enjoy!
  • This year’s Aviation Week & Space Technology photo contest winners are even more awesome than usual. The little tiny online versions don’t really do the pictures justice; if you can find the print magazine, you’ll see what I mean.
  • One of my coworkers is an Iowa fan– the first one I’ve ever met in the flesh. Too bad his team is going down when they play the mighty Yellow Jackets.
  • Speaking of work, I’m really excited about some of the stuff we’re going to be doing. I can’t share any details yet but there are some exciting things coming up.

I probably won’t be posting again this year, so until next time, have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and get ready for a great 2010!

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2009-10-27 · 14:10

How I got into the writing business, part 1

Over the years, lots of people have asked me about how I got into the writing business. I got one such mail yesterday, and it dawned on me: I’d never told the whole story here on my blog! It’s long past time to remedy that oversight.

The short answer: naked greed.

Yes, it’s true. I really, really wanted to buy a debugging tool called QC. However, it was $100, which at the time was a ridiculous amount of money for me to spend. While racking my brain to think of ways to get it, I decided “hey, maybe I could write a review of it!” A few e-mails later, I’d gotten the QC folks to agree to provide a review copy, and MacTech to agree to publish it. I wrote the review, sent it in, and a few months later saw my name in Genuine Print.

At the same time, I was working with a group of folks at Intergraph on setting up what would become their first public web site (note that the really old version from late 1994 isn’t online, for which you should probably be thankful.) One of my teammates, Brady Merkel, had just gotten a gig to coauthor a book on writing Internet applications with Visual C++. After hearing me mention the article, he asked if I’d like to contribute a chapter or three, so I did.

The acquisitions editor on that book was Jenny Watson, who (miracle of miracles) still works for Wiley, the acquirer of a number of other publishers. Anyway, Jenny was kind enough to refer more chapter work to me, so I wrote chapters for several other books.

When she left Que, she went to Prima Publishing, at the time a publisher primarily of cookbooks and other “lifestyle” books. She signed me to write a book on Windows NT 4.0; I returned the favor and got Bo Williams, Jim Kanya, and a number of other friends and coworkers to contribute chapters. When the book came out, it did well enough for Prima to sign me for a couple of other books. None of them made any money, but they were fun, and they did a great job of building experience.

Thanks in large measure to the remarkable, and sadly now-dispersed, community of experts on StudioB‘s computer book publishing list (including rock stars like Sharon Crawford, Bob Thompson, Laura Lemay, and too many more to list), I learned enough to know I needed an agent, and thus began the next chapter of my writing career.

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2009-07-20 · 10:05

Respite care for Alzheimer’s sufferers in Toledo

Jeri Wendt, a friend of mine from Perrysburg Rotary, sent me this note, and I wanted to share it. If you have a loved one with Alzheimer’s in metro Toledo, please look into Paul’s Peers and support them in any way you can.

When you come across something that you care about and think others may benefit from you just HAVE to pass on the good word… so, please take a minute and read about something that makes my life so much better.

For those who don’t know, my mom has Alzheimer’s. My older brother and I share in her care and luckily for us, about three years ago, we discovered Paul’s Peers Respite Care in Maumee where we take her four days a week. (See attached article featuring me and Mom!). Paul’s Peers is a senior day-care center whose main purpose is caring for elderly people who need assistance. This includes people with Alzheimer’s. It is a place to drop off your loved one knowing they will be cared for by the kindest people you would ever hope to meet. For $35 a day you have up to eight hours of free time for yourself and in our case, Mom gets a day away from us. (A win-win situation!)

I am sending this to you in case you know of someone who would be interested in this program. Due to the economy, many people aren’t working now and are staying at home with their loved ones eliminating the need for elder care during the day. Much to our dismay, Paul’s Peers has had to temporarily stop care on Tuesdays due to lack of enrollment. So… if you have a spouse, parent, grandparent or know of someone who could use this service please let them know. It is a program offered as much for the care giver as it is the recipient.

We would not be able to have my Mom stay at home were it not for this “gem”. We drop her off at 9:00 in the morning and her day begins with a continental breakfast, (donated by Panera Bread), and David, the assistant director, reading the newspaper and discussing current events. The rest of the day the incredible staff keeps things interesting by mild exercises, playing games and cards, watching old movies and listening to music with weekly entertainment such as an accordion player or a story teller. Other events are bi-weekly manicures, trips to the movie theater, crafts, tea parties, church every Wednesday and visits from the children’s day-care. The staff patiently learns the likes and dislikes of each participant and gently works with them accordingly. It didn’t take them long to find out my mom is an avid gin-rummy player who is tough to beat!

There you have it… now you know. If you don’t have the need right now maybe sometime in the future you will have a friend who is at wits end and needs a break. You can offer them a solution.

Paul’s Peers Respite Care

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

310 Elizabeth Street

Maumee

(419) 893-3381

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2009-04-26 · 09:05

American Standard warranty followup

Last month I wrote about my experience with American Standard’s warranty process. I praised them a little too soon.

Friday, I installed the new “Champion 4 Accelerator” flush unit. Rather than the old-style flush tower, the Accelerator is a short, wide cylinder with a domed lid an an L-shaped overflow tube. When you push the handle, the lid lifts, and the accumulated water dumps into the trapway. Installation was easy, and the kit American Standard sent me included all the hardware I needed, including new tank bolts. Unfortunately, the new valve’s performance was actually worse than the flush tower.

It turns out that the design of the Accelerator leaves about 4″ of water in the tank. In other words, it doesn’t deliver enough water through the trapway to empty the bowl. Ooops. Its height isn’t adjustable, either. I set the water level to about 1/4″ below the overflow tube, and that didn’t do it. Thus it was with great irritation that I put the old, broken flush tower back into the hall bathroom yesterday. To compound the problem, American Standard doesn’t take phone calls on Saturday, so I’ll have to call them and find out what the suggested fix is.

Now I see why there’s a class-action lawsuit against them over these toilets.

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2009-04-16 · 00:08

Comments are working again

I finally found the comment problem: an obsolete version of the Javascript site template. Somehow I missed it during one of the (multiple) MT upgrades. Comments appear to be working properly now, which will no doubt thrill the two or three people who regularly visit here (hi, Mom!)

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2009-03-03 · 13:12

New York Times surrenders to Marines

Well, not really. They did, however, overturn their longstanding style rule that says that “Marines” shouldn’t be capitalized. The Marine Corps Times has the whole story, drawn from the Times’ Philip Corbett’s blog entry here. Semper fi, Old Gray Lady!

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2009-01-30 · 09:43

Saturday Morning Science at the University of Toledo

UT is doing a series of “Saturday Morning Science” presentations on topics ranging from wind farming to inflammation to aluminum. I’ll definitely be hitting these with the boys. Here’s the link (hat tip: Mark Chandler)

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2009-01-14 · 21:41

Firsthand lessons from the Seattle flooding

From a friend in the Seattle area who wanted to stay anonymous:

  • Most of my disasters preparations; food, water, generator, water filters, supplies, etc… are for the days after things go bad. Getting through the first 24 hours in the best possible condition is much more important. How you get through and what you do in the first 24 hours will set the tone for everything that follows.
  • Do you know where your community rally point is? Where emergency services will be available? Where to get sandbags? Closest chopper pad?
  • Disasters are a come as you are event. I spent the first three hours of the flood in slip on moccasins and sweat pants. No gun, no multi-tool, just my Spyderco knife and a Sharpie. If it isn’t on-hand in three minutes or if you don’t remember that you have it or exactly where it is, it might as well be on the moon.
  • Don’t overfill sandbags. 90% full is about optimum. That way, there’s room in the bag for the sand to shift, conform to the space to fill in the gaps.
  • A wheelbarrow. Its not just for farmers. You can move twice as much material for less effort in a wheelbarrow than by carrying it. I recommend the dual-wheeled models as they’re more stable and less likely to get stuck in the mud.
  • Energy drinks. Legalized “speed” that will carry you through with extra energy when you need it.
  • An American flag, pole and holder. Hanging the flag outside your residence is a good way to signal to aid/rescue that your house is occupied.
  • Pre-packed disaster equipment. Hoses with your pumps, extension cords with your generator. Saves time and effort as everything is in the box ready to go so you don’t have to gather it up or remember where it is under pressure.
  • Physical skills. Do you know how to build a sandbag wall quickly and efficiently? (I never thought about it before now.) Do you know how to drive your SUV through deep water? How deep can you safely go?
  • You might be prepared and know what you’re doing, but there’s lots of idiots out there. Law enforcement and officials are going to assume you’re the latter until they see otherwise.
  • Hand sanitizer.
  • Your most useful tool is the one between your ears.

There’s some very thought-provoking advice in the above, especially knowing your community and convincing the local law that you’re not an idiot. I know I’ll be applying this list to our family’s disaster planning.

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2009-01-01 · 19:11

Christmas Fish update

So the boys and I took care of the Christmas Fish on Christmas Eve. First we called Bassett’s Market. Nope, they don’t process fish, but they suggested calling Churchill’s. Nope, they share a sink between the seafood and deli department and didn’t have time to sanitize it– but they told me to call Rohr’s. I did, and they handled the fish with no muss and no fuss. (Turns out it was a snapper from Costa Rica, not a rock cod). As a bonus, the boys and I had lunch at the Chinese buffet across the street from Rohr’s.

As a second bonus, the smoked salmon arrived Tuesday as planned. Good eatin’!

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2009-01-01 · 19:03

How I joined the Marine Corps

@ihenpecked on Twitter just said he wasn’t sure if the Marines would have been right for him. I didn’t think they were right for me, either.

Flashback: it’s 1986. The Cold War is happening, big time. I wanted nothing more than to fly jets, pretty much for whoever would have me, but I certainly didn’t work hard for it. I made a desultory effort to be nominated to the Air Force Academy or Annapolis, but my heart wasn’t in it (and neither were my grades, sadly). More or less as a lark, I took the ASVAB and did pretty well on it. That resulted in a flood of calls from recruiters. All the Air Force guys could talk about was missile maintenance, and the Navy recruiters kept talking about subs and nuclear power, neither one of which I wanted any part of; I was firm on going to college and couldn’t see putting that aside for active-duty service.

I had no interest in the Army or Marines, and told their recruiters that. The Army guy took me at my word, but the Marine recruiter, bless his heart, was made of sterner stuff. He kept calling me every few weeks, and it seemed like he always knew when we were sitting down to dinner. I finally agreed to go to his office to talk to him, and that was my downfall: he totally sold me. He convinced me of the benefits of serving in the Marine Corps Reserve, and that it was better to “test-drive” military service before making the commitment to get a commission and the obligations that come with it. (Advice that I took, having heard it from my grandfather, a WW II vet and retired USAF pilot.)

I left for boot camp about four months later, two days after graduating from high school. Then the real fun started 🙂

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2008-12-05 · 10:58

Helicopter ground resonance

This one’s for you, Jim. Air & Space has a great article on ground resonance in helicopters. Basically, if you get the blade system to vibrate at just the right frequency, the helicopter tears itself apart. A couple of related videos: here’s one of a US Army Chinook from the rear, and another from the side.

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2008-12-03 · 09:38

Amazon: $5 of free MP3 when you buy $25

Amazon just e-mailed me an announcement: if you buy a minimum of $25 worth of stuff from their Music CD, Audio/Video, Camera, Photo & Video, Office Products, PC or Wireless stores in a single order, you get an instant $5 credit at AmazonMP3. This is particularly cool because AmazonMP3 has a long list of albums priced at $5 and under.

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2008-11-26 · 12:40

Free Christmas music from Oprah

I’m normally not a huge Oprah fan, but she’s giving away 8 MP3-format Christmas songs by different artists, including Faith Hill and Aretha Franklin. Visit http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081118_tows_holiday/2 to download them.

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2008-11-24 · 16:59

Gift ideas for system administrators

Every year, I write an Exchange UPDATE column with gift suggestions for your Exchange administrator (here are the 2007 and 2006 editions). This year I decided to try something different; I hit up HelpAReporterOut to put my query in front of about 35,000 people. The responses started to arrive almost immediately.

First responder: the folks at PCWeenies sent me a blurb about custom-drawn comics featuring your favorite admin. Neat idea, and very timely response. This is definitely a contender: it’s unique, and it would make a nice keepsake.

Best comment: “The best gift you can give a SysAdmin is a Faraday Cage that blocks cell phones, pagers, and WiFi: it cuts off all connection to the outside world. It’s _very_ popular with their wives, too!” I bet it would be popular! Sadly this respondent didn’t give me a source to actually buy them. Time to break out the power tools!

Least likely to actually be given as a gift by anyone I’ll ever work for: plasma TVs from a very large consumer electronics company who shall remain nameless. Great idea, but probably violates whatever office-Christmas-gift price policy your company has. If your company thinks it’s OK to give its Exchange admins such expensive gifts, please contact me for a resume.

Least likely to actually be given, runner-up: a one-question “stocking stuffer” e-mail exchange with a Hollywood psychic.

Coolest suggestion I never would have expected: handmade stamped-metal keychains. Check them out.

Claim most in need of testing: “[IgnaFire chocolate] morsels are SO strong in flavor and texture, that a very small amount satisfies. No one can eat this chocolate by the handful.” We’ll just see about that; I ordered some for Arlene, whose expertise in the world of chocolate is known throughout the world.

Apart from these, I’ve gotten some very cool leads for potential gift ideas, and I’ll be going through them for the remainder of the week to come up with the best list for next week’s column.

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