10 Questions to the Future Version of My Self

Today is Saturday, 12/6/2015. Last night, at the Big Ten Championship game in Indy, the MSU Spartans defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes 16-13 in a devastating loss. The 2015 season was the one during which Iowa was 12-0 going into that game and now, today, they play MSU at Kinnick Stadium. I have zero doubt that last night's game has been hyped as either when Iowa began a magical period of dominance or when they began a slide into mediocrity. All I know is that when 2017 rolls around, the players that played quarterback for MSU and Iowa will not be playing. MSU's quarterback was a 5th year senior and, unless there's been an injury to Iowa's quarterback, C.J. Bertherd graduated in May 2017 and is not playing a 5th year. Sure, the running back that scored the winning touchdown last night is, in 2015, a freshman which probably means he is a junior at MSU today in 2017. I'm sure the fans in Kinnick Stadium will not forget last night's loss and they will make the stadium as difficult to play in as they possibly can today.

The 10 questions the 12/6/2015 version of me wants the 9/30/2017 version of me to answer are:

1. Are you going to the game today and whether the answer is yes or no, I want to know if  Kinnick Stadium is still located where it is in 2015, which is directly across the street from UIHC? Bonus question: is there any talk of relocating Kinnick Stadium or building a larger capacity stadium?
• Me in 2017 says:
• No, I am not going to a game at Kinnick Stadium today. The game today is at MSU in East Lansing. Kinnick Stadium is still located where it is in 2015, directly across from UIHC and no, there is no talk of relocating Kinnick Stadium or building a larger capacity stadium. There is a brand-new football facility building that is located near the existing Kinnick Stadium and there are multiple projects to enhance Kinnick Stadium that were done during summer 2017 with more planned after the season. Additionally, the Children's Hospital was built overlooking Kinnick Stadium and at the first game of the season, a new tradition began where the fans turn and wave at the kids in the hospital who are watching the game. Kinnick Stadium is likely going nowhere in my lifetime.
2. I work at Pearson on North Dodge Street in Iowa City. The discussion about my future plans are up in the air, unfortunately. It is unknown if I will be a part of the restructuring, about which I know no details about today. Where did I go to work yesterday (Friday, 9/29/2015) and is that the same employer I will go to work at on Monday, 10/2/2017? My hope is that on this day in 2017, the next line says "Pearson. Duh."
• Me in 2017 says:
• Well, no. I was laid off from Pearson on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. I am now a Senior Technical Writer at HCIS.
3. I expect that Karen and I will have been married for 24 years with only 311 days (or 10 months, 1 week, 1 day) until our 25th wedding anniversary. What are you purchasing for her 25th anniversary present?
• Me in 2017 says:
• For many years, Karen and I talked about going to Hawaii for our 25th wedding anniversary. The reality is that we have both kids in college at UNI, which means college tuition is a focus point for us when it comes to finances. At this point, the joke is that we may make it to Riverside Casino if we do not make it to Hawaii. I have no current plans to go to Hawaii in 2018.
4. The discussion about our plans for the Tuesday of this week are chaotic. Our agenda includes things like having Lowe's look at our new washer because of a clunking sound we hear when it is running (the washer we have today in our house is the one we purchased at Lowe's in November 2015), getting Karen to Alex's ortho appointment at 4 to ask the orthodontist about what happens if a bracket is damaged during his scheduled oral surgery on 12/23/2015 (17 days away), me teaching Zach Burkle a drum lesson at 5, Alex working at Fareway at 6 PM and Holy Day Mass for the Immaculate Conception also at 6 PM. What are the plans for Tuesday, October 3, 2017?
• Me in 2017 says:
• First of all, I don't know why I thought the Holy Day Mass for the Immaculate Conception would be on a Tuesday in October - I must have wrote these questions across a period of time because 17 days from September 30 is never going to be 12/23/2015! Secondly, Alex doesn't have braces anymore. I don't teach drum lessons to Zach Burkle. C, Karen and I have an empty nest so we pretty much go by what we want to do. There is a UNI football game on Saturday so I imagine we will be preparing in some way to head north to Cedar Falls.
5. Alex is a freshman in college. On 12/6/2015, the discussion about his future plans revolved around beginning either a 2 year IT degree at Kirkwood in fall 2017, followed by 2 years of online classes to complete his B.A. degree at UNI or beginning 2 years at UNI to be followed by a 2 year IT degree at Kirkwood. What is he studying in college and which college does he attend?
• Me in 2017 says:
• The 2 + 2 program that Kirkwood offers was not a good option for him. Alex is a freshman at UNI with a Management Information Systems (MIS) major.
6. Megan is a junior in college. On 12/6/2015, the discussion about her future plans revolved around completing her degree in elementary education at UNI - tentatively graduating in May 2019. What is she studying in college and which college does she attend?
• Me in 2017 says:
• Megan is an Elementary Education major with a Mathematics minor. She is a junior. It is still undecided exactly when she will do her student teaching.
7. Mom passed away on 12/29/2014 so it is now 1006 days (2 years, 9 months, 1 day) since she was breathing in her room at Mercy Hospice in Cedar Rapids. How do I honor her as my mom over 1000 days after her death?
   
   • Me in 2017 says:
   • I honor Mom by trying to be a good person, which I think she tried to be. I also honor Mom by supporting Megan in her pursuit of being a teacher.
8. When was the last day and time that you saw Dad and Mark? In 2015, I am not using the word "alive" in this question on purpose.
• Me in 2017 says:
• Dad: MM/DD/YYYY
• Mark: MM/DD/YYYY
9. My 5 favorite bands are:
1. Bayside - saw them in October 2015 with Chris Motter in Des Moines
2. Metallica - currently recording an album
3. Count the Stars - broken up for several years but still adore "Never Be Taken Alive"
4. Five Finger Death Punch - saw them in October 2015 with Alex in Cedar Rapids
5. Shinedown - saw them in August 2015 with Alex in Davenport
• Me in 2017 says:
• There's really not a band that has overtaken the above 5 bands since 2015. 
1. Bayside - touring in support of the 10th anniversary of "The Walking Wounded" as well as released a CD, Vacancy in August 2016.
2. Metallica - saw them in concert on Friday, June 10th, 2016, in Newton, IA, with Volbeat & Avenged Sevenfold.
3. Count the Stars - fairly regularly, listen to them.
4. Five Finger Death Punch - fairly regularly, listen to them.
5. Shinedown - fairly regularly, listen to them.
10. I spent some time on 12/6/2015 organizing my 1000ish cassettes into groups for a pending conversion project to MP3. I have not scheduled any dates for this project - when to begin, milestones/goals, or when I hope to be complete. Have I started this project and, if so, when did I begin, what are the milestones/goals I established for it, and when is the target completion date? While the idea of having a page on this blog that is dedicated to this cassette to MP3 project it has not yet been created. If it exists in 2017, this is the link to that page. Otherwise, my answer is:
• Me in 2017 says:
• Unfortunately, the cassette to MP3 conversion project has been pushed off indefinitely. I am currently converting my 50 spindles x 100 CDs to MP3 because of an April 2016 EHD crash.

Some Wrestling Vids

'This Fake Stuff Hurts Like Hell,' Pro Wrestling's Painful Toll on the Body
Roman Reigns beats John Cena at WWE No Mercy 2017

Bobby the brain says goodbye to Gorilla Monsoon

Moves that made me say holy sh!t!

John Cena Shoots on Roman Reigns and Their Promos

Metal Never Unites

Under this story - Ex-MEGADETH Drummer SHAWN DROVER Recalls 'Excitement In The Air' Before First 'Big Four' Show - is this comment:

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People who write shit like "... goddam if his drumming doesn't suck shit through a straw" comments are, as Chris Jericho would say, nothing more than a "stupid idiot" in my book. What does that comment add to the discussion? Every single song that Glenn Drover played in concert is worthy of the 'sucked shit through a straw" description? Every recorded song that Glenn Drover recorded with Megadeth is worthy of the 'sucked shit through a straw" description? How many recordings with Jeff Lagasse on drums exist?

Editor's Note: Added comment on the page that is not shown in the capture above.

Taste of Havok / Crowbar / Overkill

Last night, I went with Kevin H up to see Havok / Crowbar / Overkill at Spicolli's in Waterloo. There were supposed to be two other bands on the bill - Invidia & Black Fast - but they didn't play.

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This is a taste of what the band sounded like a long time ago... and what they sounded like last night.

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Editor's Note: More pictures available on the Havok / Crowbar / Overkill concert page (under construction)

True

What is Going On

You're kidding me, right? MadCap software is the company that sells Flare so why is MadCap listed as if it was a tool in the list of the other tools, which are RoboHelp" and "Flare." Beyond that, the ad lists "Experience with MadCap or RoboHelp software preferred" in one line and in the very next line, specifies "Experience with Flare is a must."

Nope Nope Nope NOPE!

All the experience and all the tools that are listed below and you're only valuing the work at $19 an hour as a low range and $20 as a high range? What happens - do you start at $19.50 / hour and then get rewarded for being a 'rockstar candidate' by getting a 50 cent raise up to $20 / hour?!? What a BOGUS (!!!!!!) situation!!

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HTML eMarketing Associate
Aureon Staffing - Des Moines, IA

$19 - $20 an hour - Full-time, Contract

Are you someone who excels at coordinating and executing mail marketing initiatives? If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you!
Job Summary: This is a 3-6 month contract for full-time work. Hours are Monday-Friday 8a-5p. Pay rate is $19-$20/hour, based on experience. Position could become permanent for a rockstar candidate. Primary positional responsibilities include:

1. Create eMarketing Campaigns for clients
1. Oversee implementation and customer support for email products, coordinating with writers and designers to produce finished products.
2. Maintain records and work flow according to standard operating procedures.
3. Troubleshoot technical issues related to HTML templates, list segmentation and other aspects of email execution, as required.
2. Email Deliverability
1. Prep email lists and schedule email sends for a variety of mailings: quarterly, A/B testing, surveys, and campaigns.
2. Utilize deliverability tools (ReturnPath) to research deliverability issues. Accountability and ownership of email delivery.
3. Follow all established SOPs; works within all established guidelines and deadlines.
3.  Marketing Cloud Support
1. Takes initiative on learning about the capabilities offered in the Marketing Cloud suite and how they may be applied to the company.
2. Able to write queries to pull email data and reports.
3. Collaborate with Salesforce Marketing Cloud (ExactTarget) to resolve issues on system functionality, list management, tracking of email sends and other miscellaneous items.

Qualifications:
Thorough understanding of email marketing concepts and the execution of electronic marketing campaigns

1. STRONG BACKGROUND IN HTML AND ABILITY TO CODE EMAIL FROM SCRATCH
2. Proficient on PC/Macintosh: Microsoft Office (emphasis in Excel), Dreamweaver or related program, HTML design specifically for email preferred, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks, CSS
3. CSS and JavaScript helpful
4. Familiarity with relational database structures
5. Salesforce Marketing Cloud experience or similarly applicable background; knowledge of AMPScript
6. Familiarity with InDesign
7. Strong oral and written communication skills
8. Nonprofit industry awareness helpful
9. Strong visual skills and comfort with basic design principles
10. Must work effectively with all internal staff, be a team player, professional, be able to take constructive criticism and direction

Company Overview:

1. Here at Aureon, we believe in integrity, compassion, values, teamwork, accountability and a great customer experience for both our clients and candidates alike. Our direct hire placement division prides itself on finding you just the right opportunity where you will learn, prosper, and grow in your career. We want to talk to you confidentially about your goals, aspirations and what you are looking for in your next opportunity. We place the top twenty percent of talent with top organizations.
2. Partner with us, and let us help you to put your best foot forward.

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I hope no one I know would accept working for a customer that believes "deliverability" is a real word... these work conditions would suck...

The Good Ol' Days

Technical writer-focused conferences came up yesterday in my meeting with my manager yesterday. We were talking about a previous company we both had worked at and I mentioned that the CEO of that company had sent me to two conferences - 2004 in Boston, MA; 2007 in Long Beach, CA. It made me wonder how many conferences, since those two have I not attended. I was only really thinking about this subject because it has been over 5 and a half years since I attended a technical writer-focused conference - 2012 in Memphis, TN.

While I am not going to Las Vegas and I am not going to Portland, OR, I like thinking about what I would learn at these conferences.

DevLearn 2017

When: October 25-27, 2017
Where: The Mirage, Las Vegas
DevLearn is the place where the future of learning comes alive, putting you at the forefront of what’s happening in the learning industry. Discover the latest in cutting-edge technologies and approaches of today, and prepare yourself for what’s coming. You’ll have the opportunity to join your community in the conversations that are shaping what’s next for learning. The future is here, and at DevLearn 2017 you’ll gain the tools and knowledge you need to put the evolving landscape of learning technologies into the context of your own organization, for today and tomorrow.
Review the full program here: https://www.elearningguild.com/devlearn/content/4945/devlearn-2017-conference--expo--keynotes/

The LavaCon Content Strategy Conference

When: November 5-8, 2017
Where: Portland, OR
The LavaCon Content Strategy Conference gives content strategists, documentation managers, and other content professionals an opportunity to get away from the office and tend to their professional development.
Conference mission:

• To help organizations decrease costs and increase revenue by solving content-related business problems
• To give content professionals the skills they need to better enable customer success
• To create a community in which content professionals can collaborate and advance the field as a whole

New in 2017: Tuition for the LavaCon Content Strategy Conference includes pre- and post-conference workshops at no additional charge.
Review the full program here: https://lavacon.org/2017/portland/program/

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This conference is not one I would be interested in attending: informationdevelopmentworld.com/schedule/

I'm Clueless

Someone on the HATT list asked for guidance regarding documenting APIs. Catherine responded with this link, which I think is going to helpful someday: Documenting APIs: A guide for technical writers

Old Tactic

This article - http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2735300-wwe-deftly-using-dislike-for-enzo-amore-to-boost-205-live - argues that Enzo Amore is being used like The Honky-Tonk Man was used in the 80s, where the champion is someone who is disliked and because of that, the rest of the wrestlers unite to damage the champion whenever they can. Case in point, the entire cruiserweight division took turns demolishing Amore at the end of WWE Raw on Monday night until Braun Strowman came out and demolished him further. I have no insight into whether the author is correct or incorrect in comparing Amore to The HTM as I don't think I was watching pro wrestling during his heyday or, if I did, I don't remember him. It seems as though the Creative staff at WWE are counting on most of its audience not remembering or not watching back then either.

Progress

Progress has been steady on the CD to MP3 conversion. I completed Spindle #31 last night so I've converted 3100 CDs. I updated http://prhmusic.blogspot.com/p/cds-to-mp3-documentation_20.html with some additional thoughts.

Behind the Scenes of Metallica's Stage

I'm Glad He's Skipping Iowa

This is the new tune from the legendary Robert Plant, followed by upcoming tour dates. I usually bitch about bands skipping Iowa on their tour, as the dates below seem to indicate, but damn, this tune sucks. Please, when the 'future dates' are announced, skip Iowa!

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ROBERT PLANT & THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS

CARRY FIRE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2018

FEBRUARY

9 - Raleigh, NC - Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

11 - Charlotte, NC - Ovens Auditorium

12 - Norfolk, VA - Chrysler Hall

14 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre

16 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre

17 - Toronto, ON - Massey Hall

20 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre

22 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre

24 - Denver, CO - Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre

26 - Phoenix, AZ - Symphony Hall

28 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater

MARCH

2 - Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre

ADDITIONAL DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED

Someone's Being a Jerk

Over the last year, maybe even back two years, I've wrote about how ex-bandmates need to shut up when asked about their ex-bandmates. Specifically, I remember how Dave Mustaine (ex-Metallica) is always asked what his opinion of Metallica is and Kirk Hammett was asked what his opinion of Megadeth is. Instead of saying, "they are a great band" and ending it, Hammett had some weird / odd opinion that ignited a conflict that was carried forward through the press. I remember writing that there needed to be a canned response so that all these things ex-bandmates say in interviews are not blown up. It's not just Metallica & Megadeth that have fallen into this trap. Off the top of my head, current & former members of Dream Theater, Slayer, Black Sabbath, and Sepultura have fallen into this rut.

Add White Lion to the list as Blabbermouth posted this article just under a week ago - 9/20/17 - about how the former lead singer would not play with the band's guitarist for anything in the world. Vocalist Mike Tramp comes across as a guy who desperately WANTS to play with Vito Bratta, despite his words. Why would I say that? It seems as though he's trying to distance himself from the material he created with Bratta in White Lion as a means to heal himself. I think the best way to heal himself would be to play with Vito Bratta.

As I wrote about the other aforementioned bands, Mike Tramp needs to be quiet and say that he hasn't spoken to Vito Bratta in a long time and doesn't know where his head is at as far as playing together, which would be a much nicer way of respecting the past. Read the article here: Ex-WHITE LION Singer MIKE TRAMP: 'I Would Not Wanna Play With VITO BRATTA For Anything In The World'.

While I'm on this subject of bands that flirt with the idea of reuniting, I have this to say. There will come a day when a band's "classic" lineup cannot reunite. I'm thinking about

1. Slayer, due to Jeff Hanneman's death
2. Pantera, due to Dimebag's death
3. Audioslave / Soundgarden, due to Chris Cornell's death*
4. Alice in Chains, due to Layne Staley's death
5. Linkin Park, due to Chester Bennington's death
6. Quiet Riot, due to Kevin DuBrow's death
7. Stone Temple Pilots, due to Scott Weiland's death
8. Led Zeppelin, due to John Bonham's death
9. The Who, due to Keith Moon's death
10. Ratt, due to Robin Crosby's death

Right there are 10 bands that I like who cannot reunite, due to death. Then I think about these 10 bands:

1. Black Sabbath
2. Sepultura
3. White Lion
4. Dream Theater
5. Queensryche

who COULD reunite, but have not or will not, for various reasons which all can be boiled down to being human. The members are alive, today, unlike the first list of 10 bands. What I wish would happen is for the members of the second list of bands to realize that they are unlike the first 10 and that someday, they will join that list. Thus, wouldn't it be great to reconcile whatever issues separate them now, before they have to do it at a grave?

* After publishing this post, came across this article: http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/tom-morello-reveals-abandoned-audioslave-reunion-plans/

Relevant tp EVERY THING I Do at Work

While this article is focused on testing products that people use in a variety of environments (link below), there is plenty of relevancy to the work I do on a daily basis when it comes to my disaster recovery documentation that I generate through RoboHelp for consumption by my co-workers. When people - my co-workers - use my documentation, it is because they have to use it.

As I've wrote before, the premise is that there's been a disaster and 16 critical systems are down and need to be restored. My documentation explains how to bring those systems back online. It has been identified that, in such a situation, there will be three different ways to obtain my documentation. The first is through browser so, one of the outputs I generate is called WebHelp. The second is by using a laptop that does not have Internet access. So for that scenario, I generate old-school HTML-Help output with a .CHM file extension. The third is through a printed version of the documentation in a PDF. This is the version I like the least and have devoted a small percentage of my time towards developing and making it look nice. The reason for this is that a lot of the content I include in the documentation are links to the following file types:

1. BAK
2. CSV
3. JPG
4. PDF
5. PNG
6. PPT
7. TXT
8. XLS
9. ZIP

It's pretty much impossible to transform the content in those files to a single PDF that looks good. Thus, I've been focusing much more of my time into developing a way to access the content in those file types through the browser-based output.

From my perspective, as a technical writer, there is a sincere advantage for using a tool like RoboHelp for my work. Essentially, it's this: my old-school HAT (Help Authoring Tool) is awesome when it comes down to generating an output in different formats. I can tag content to be distributed in a PDF and have it excluded in the browser-based output and the old-school HTML-Help output with a .CHM file extension. Even back before I was hired, I was thinking about what to use for my work. After I was hired and during the early days of when I actually began working here on a daily basis, I remember debating whether I should use a tool that was comfortable to me - leveraging my 12 years of using RoboHelp at QDS - or if I should use a tool that I had used the previous (nearly) 5 years at Pearson, which was a wiki called Confluence. Ultimately, I chose RoboHelp. I've been working with RoboHelp on a daily basis for the last 1 year, 5 months, 4 weeks, 1 day (547 days total) since starting here on Monday, March 28, 2016.

But what do the above paragraphs have to do with testing a product that is used in a variety of environments?

Honestly, I started this post with an idea to go east, but this post has gone so far northwest, I can't reign it back to my original idea. Thus, read the article below.

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Testing Products People Will Use in a Variety of Environments

Is that Program an 86 or Not

What’s the Difference Between the “Program Files (x86)” and “Program Files” Folders in Windows? by Chris Hoffman

Lower Numbers

I was looking at the number of posts I have had in September and was rather disappointed with my output. With 6 days (actually 5 because I will be in Elkader on Saturday, September 30th and offline), in order to reach the number of posts from last month, I would have to write, after this post, 40 posts by Friday. I may be wordy and have a lot to say but I'm resisting the urge to post 8 times a day just to reach a number. I looked back at the last 21 months (1year, 9 months), to get some historical perspective. Right now, were I to not post this post or any other post in the remaining days of September 2017, I'd be at the 20th value in a list of month / posts, arranged from 'most' to 'fewest', as illustrated in this table:

1.   October 2016	188
2.   June 2016	179
3.   April 2017	163
4.   June 2017	162
5.   December 2016	152
6.   November 2016	134
7.   July 2016	131
8.   March 2017	124
9.   January 2017	116
10.        May 2017	114
11.        August 2017	109
12.        July 2017	108
13.        February 2017	104
14.        August 2016	104
15.        May 2016	102
16.        September 2016	90
17.        April 2016	85
18.        January 2016	78
19.        March 2016	66
20.       September 2017	63
21.        February 2016	55

 
 See September 2017? Ranked #20. However, I realized I've also a numbered list of 54 items that are political in some way on this page - http://prhmusic.blogspot.com/p/get-your-political-opinions-here-30.html. If I would have posted each of those as a separate post, instead of a single page, I would be at 117 posts, which would put me at #9 (below March 2017 and above January 2017. I would consider that pretty good!

Had This In My Head This AM

Tunes

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Knock Knock!

Filth

Stumbled upon this band that I had never heard of and liked it.

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Batch Template Changes Macro

This macro - Batch Template Changes Macro - changes the template assigned to a Word document - which I link to through RoboHelp in my disaster recovery project at work. I think this will be helpful to be able to quickly locate in the future.

Heartbreaker!

Game-Winner as Time Expires!

Ahead

Need Family-Sized Data Storage and a Place to Organize It All? Western Digital’s My Cloud Home Makes It Easy

We'll See What Happens After It Happens

A LOT has been made of the Iowa Hawkeyes welcoming the Penn State Nittany Lions to Kinnick Stadium on Saturday (tomorrow) night. This article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette - Hlas: At Kinnick, light creates electricity Home night games burn brightly in Iowa memories Sep 22, 2017 at 9:01 am - paints a great picture as to what viewers will likely expect. I will not be one of those viewers as I will be at my oldest niece's wedding in Rock Island - Karen has already declared that she hopes there are no TVs at the reception hall. Thus, I will just have to hope to catch the late night news or that my cell phone battery is holding out during the reception to glance just long enough to get a final score.

Last year, "the Nittany Lions humbled the Hawkeyes, 41-14."

This year? We'll see what happens and, for me, it will be after it has happened.

Go Read This

Linking Word documents - pros/cons/gotchas

Twitter is Killing Decent Writing

I long for the day when Twitter requires a mandatory artificial intelligence proofreader to approve a tweet. 

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Maybe I ought to tweet that back to Carl Reiner! <grin>
Editor's Note: This post is about writing, not politics.

Reaching for the Moon

In the email from my friend, I was asked this question:

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Is your work going well?

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I never miss an opportunity to write an essay so I did:

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Yes, work is going very well.

When I was meeting with a team on Tuesday and talking about the work I do, I (finally!) articulated why I like it here so much. After 20ish years of writing software documentation and debating the topics the 5 of us would have about “the best way’ to do our work – do we put a screenshot in a drop-down, do we include screenshots at all, do we draw on the screenshots, do we write about multiple ‘things’ on a single page or do we split them each into a separate page, (and everything else), that is really not my role here. Each team has a set of documents that they would use in a disaster recovery situation and my primary role is to accumulate each team’s documents / files into the same directory structure on the network so that I can then generate and then publish the department’s comprehensive disaster recovery documentation. As I told a team I met with on Tuesday, if I see a procedure in your document and you have it as a bulleted list when it really is a procedure that should be numbered steps, I’m going to change it to numbered steps. If I see a Word document that is “Normal” style with manual formatting, I’m going to apply styles to it so that RoboHelp will know how it is to translate the Word styles to CSS styles. But as far as what actual content needs to be in the Word file(s), that’s up to the individual teams. They can decide whether they need a screenshot or not, whether they need to include a warning or a note or a caution or an Important piece of text – the content is totally up to them. If I am reviewing a document and something doesn’t make sense, of course, yes, I’ll ask but more for my own understanding than anything else. In fact, one of the first managers I worked with sent an inquiry she received about disaster recovery documentation to me. She ‘gets’ my role and what I am trying to do.

And, slowly, I’m establishing my credibility to others I don’t directly work with. To summarize, there is a central internal website where ‘knowledge’ is to be stored for the department. I heard about how there are now going to be ‘tips’ sent out in a daily email so I talked to the co-worker who is coordinating all of that. I said, ‘if the website is to be where we are accumulating ‘knowledge’ about ‘things’, it doesn’t really make sense to include that ‘knowledge’ as a tip in an email. If I want to go back and look at one of these tips, in the future, I will have to look through emails to find it. If those tips were created as part of the website, whose purpose it is to accumulate ‘knowledge’, I think it would be easier to find that information in the future.” The co-worker was receptive to my idea and it’s too early to say whether it will be actually done that way. I also mentioned this conversation to my manager and he seemed impressed that I was looking at the big picture (providing a central place to go to for ‘knowledge’) instead of the small picture (‘we need to send out a daily tip in the daily email’). I look forward to seeing what ends up happening with it.

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Thus, when I see a job ad like the one below, I can definitely say, "Nope, I'm not going anywhere!"

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Great Sales Pitch But ...I Don't have a DeLorean

Note the Sent line below:

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Sent: Friday, September 22, 2017 4:03 AM
Subject: What's common between Seinfeld and VBA + Limited Time Offer

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Today is Friday, September 22, 2017. Now, keep that date in mind because, below, it will be important. This is the rest of the email:

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I am sure you have heard of Seinfeld.
It was (and still is) a popular sitcom that aired during the 1990s.
The protagonist and creator Jerry Seinfeld quickly became a household name and one of the highest paid actors.
And as all good things come to an end, Seinfeld show ended in 1998.
But what's interesting is what happened after the show ended.
Once a TV show ends, every time there is a re-run, the creators get paid.
This has resulted in an income of more than USD 3.1 billion for the show so far (just by reruns).
Jerry Seinfeld, who is the co-creator of the show, has pocketed more than USD 400 million till date. Apart from this, he gets a cut whenever DVDs of the show are sold.
The paychecks keep coming in even after 19 years since the show ended.
Now, what has it got to do with VBA?
While Seinfeld created the show, he saw immediate gains in popularity and income. But the benefits didn't stop when the show ended. It continued to bring him work and paychecks.
Now, what if you can do something that will continue to reap benefits in the future?
While I can't talk about other parts of your life, but when it comes to Excel, VBA can enable you to do this.
Using VBA, you can easily automate tasks. All you need to do is invest the time to learn it and then create a useful macro. Once created, it can be reused over and over again.
And every time you use it, it saves you time.
To give you an example, if you create something that saves you 5 minutes every day, that will result in more than 30 hours of time saved every year.
Imagine how much time you can save if you create multiple such macros.
With VBA:
• You can save tons of time by automating tasks and data analysis.
• You can create your own functions and add-ins. This allows you to get those things done that may not be possible with Excel's inbuilt functions and features.
• You look smart (who doesn't want that?). It's a skill that is in high-demand by the employers, and makes you stand out from the crowd.
If you would like to learn VBA, I recommend you check out my Excel VBA course.

>> Click here to join the Excel VBA Course << The course closes for enrollment on September 19, 2017 (11:59 Pacific time)

With this VBA course, you get: • 10+ hours of VBA learning • Downloadable videos that you can download and watch from any device (without internet). • Downloadable example files used during the recording of the course. • Bonus: Access to Useful VBA Code Library • Bonus: VBA Toolkit for Dashboards This course is meant for VBA beginners. So even if you a complete newbie and have no idea what VBA is, you will be able to reap benefits from this course. I offer this course only a couple of times in a year. Once closed it will not be offered in 2017 again (no exceptions). It is a self-paced course so you can enroll and learn whenever you have time. I am also offering this course at a 20% OFF the regular fee. I can't guarantee that the price wouldn't go up the next time (as I continue to add more bonuses and videos to the course). >> Click here to join the Excel VBA Course <<
In case you have any queries, just reply to this email.
Look forward to seeing you in the course section.
Cheers
Sumit

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Did you catch that? The email was sent on September 22, 2017, for a class that closes for enrollment on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017! Fire up the DeLorean cause going back in time is the only way I can sign up for the course!

Lack the Experience in Translating Languages

I took Spanish from 8th grade through my senior year of high school. Aside from some good friends I made from being in that Spanish V class in my senior year, I can't honestly say I have been called upon to use that part of my education. Had it not been over 29 years since I was immersed in the Spanish language on a Monday through Friday basis, I might be more interested in this technical writer position, which is both part-time and remote. Alas, I don't know how to spin not speaking Spanish for over 29 years.

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Technical Writer
Pairaphrase - Birmingham, MI
$30 an hour - Part-time, Contract

Seeking Technical Writer with Translation Industry Experience and Software Product Knowledge

Overview

Pairaphrase seeks a part-time technical writer with experience in the language translation space. The ideal candidate will have software product knowledge.

We will also consider applicants who have previously worked in a customer support role within the translation software space or as a technical translator.

About Pairaphrase

Pairaphrase is a web-based productivity tool that makes the human translation process fast and easy. We use the power of machine translation and professional translation technology to reduce users’ translation production time by more than 50%.

Our core users are busy executives and teams that need to produce quality translations on behalf of their organizations in a secure manner. Pairaphrase has high standards for security and encrypts all user data.

Job Responsibilities

You will transform complex ideas into simple language that our end users can understand. This is for the purposes of education and marketing.

Here are a few examples of your responsibilities:

Writing and editing our help center content in a way that makes sense technically and educates users in our platform functionality
Proofreading our blog posts to ensure they make technical sense in the way they describe our SaaS translation product
Proofreading other content types that need to be technically validated

If you can concisely communicate concepts such as Gisting, Neural Machine Translation, .TMX files and WinAlign in ways that our end users will understand, we’d like to hear from you!

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
Translation industry experience
Technical software product knowledge
Expansive knowledge of translation industry jargon
Excellent written and verbal skills in English
Excellent spelling, proofreading, grammar, and editing skills
Self-driven, self-directed, and independent
Detail-oriented, deadline-driven, and organized
Works well with others

It’s a bonus if you have experience working with Intercom, Slack and Trello and have technical API knowledge.

This is a part-time remote position (or onsite in Birmingham, Michigan).

Job Type: Contract

Salary: $30.00 /hour

Required education:

Bachelor's

Required experience:

Technical Writing: 1 year
Language translation industry: 1 year


1 day ago - save job

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Nope, not for me.

Over Time

I'm pretty sure that if I scoured this blog, I would find at least one other job posting from the company Geonetric, which has its headquarters in Cedar Rapids. I am also pretty sure that I have applied for a job at the company, but my resume has never made it to the point where I was asked to come in for an interview. Thus, I am, apparently, not a good fit for the company. I know of one technical writer, who lives in North Liberty, who used to work at Geonetric. I'm not making a judgment about any of the following:

1. the company is a good place to work or not
2. the company valued his role in the company or not

The fact is simply that he left the company and now works at the U of I, as a writer. I talked to him through LinkedIn after he joined the U of I.

All that said, whenever I read a job description for a position at Geonetric, I read pretty much the same text:

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• Self-organized. There are no managers at Geonetric. You’ll be a part of a self-organizing team, with no one “supervising” you. You should naturally get a lot of high quality work done to completion without outside pressure.
• A doer. You need to be capable of identifying and resolving obstacles, using strong reasoning skills and creative thinking to get things done. You need to have a strong attention to detail, a drive for quality, and a willingness to see things through to completion.
• Flexible. You need to be able to work in an environment in which there is substantial ambiguity; things change rapidly and often, and you need to adapt to new ways of thinking.
• Self-aware. You need to be able to see yourself and your own behaviors from the perspective of others – and understand how your behaviors affect those of your peers on your self-organizing team.
• Driven to improve. You need to have a strong desire to be better tomorrow than you are today. You are constantly seeking ways to improve your own work. You’re passionate about your discipline.
• A solid communicator. You need to be able to take input from many sources, think through that information, and present concise, clear recommendations to technical and non-technical people.

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As I said, I have no insight about what working at Geonetric is like on a daily basis because I've never worked there. I can say I do like those bullet points and, if the job description is accurate and the culture is as described above, I think it would be an awesome place to work.

That said, I am not applying for the job as I am VERY happy where I am working.

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Proposal Writer
Geonetric - Cedar Rapids, IA 52401

Summary

As a Proposal Writer your product is the proposal. You’ll manage all aspects of proposal management from maintaining proposal software to writing proposals to evaluating results. You’ll work across Geonetric teams to stay on top of all Geonetric products and services. You’ll translate technical into marketable and by understanding your audience and key competitors. You’ll tell the Geonetric story through compelling executive summaries. And, you’ll do this all on time and flawlessly. As a Proposal Writer, you are an integral piece of the sales process, making sure the proposal is consistent with other sales documents.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

While you might get to work on just about anything at Geonetric, you’ll primarily:

• Manage the overall proposal product and process with the goal of moving the product forward and responding to RFPs in a comprehensive and urgent manner
• Collaborate with multiple teams, including engineering, digital marketing, sales and implementation in order to create a custom proposal for prospective clients
• Create, update, and maintain templates for proposals, ensuring accuracy, persuasiveness, quality, readability, consistency, and proper tone and voice
• Stay on top of current Geonetric products and services and incorporate changes and enhancements into proposal language ensuring current specifications are reflected
• Ensure all proposal content aligns with marketing guidelines and brand specifications
• Review other sales materials to ensure consistency with all touchpoints in the sales process
• Customize proposals for the target audience by altering language and tone and tailoring the executive summary
• Meet proposal deadlines by establishing priorities and target dates for information gathering, writing, review, and approval
• Measure the success of the proposal process by establishing metrics, monitoring results and recommending improvements
• Continually reassess proposal and process by understanding market trends, positioning against competitor’s offerings, and monitoring feedback from prospects and clients. Maintain, optimize and leverage proposal software
• Collaborate with sales and marketing to create other sales and marketing materials, as needed

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, Finance, English or related field required
• 5+ years of previous related experience required

Professional Skills

• Strong storytelling skills required
• Ability to synthesize large volumes of information and express them clearly in writing required
• Excellent proofreading and grammatical skills required
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills required
• Strong analytical skills required
• Knowledge of healthcare and software industries preferred
• Ability to understand technical language preferred

Other Skills and Abilities

In addition to being an amazing Proposal Writer, you’ll need to fit into our unique culture and be:
Editor's Note: The bullets listed in this section in the job ad are the same as the bullets quoted above - do you need to read them twice?

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