Interview: Michael Doornbos, Maker and Documentation User

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Bart Leahy

I meet a lot of interesting people in the space business. One of them, Michael Doornbos, is a veteran, engineer, and pilot who now works on software and websites of various sorts who builds things in his spare time like old Commodore 64 computers and airplanes. He’s been building a kit aircraft for several years, and the documentation that such a project would require inspired me to reach out to him. Continue reading →

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Guest Speaking: Senior Practicum

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Bart Leahy

I again had the pleasure of speaking to a group of Marika Siegel‘s senior-level technical writing students at Michigan Tech University. They sent me a list of excellent questions in advance related to tech writing in general, job hunting, and my curious career in particular, and I did my rambling best to answer. I’m really glad I took the time to write down my answers before I spoke to the class. That provided a little structure to my Q&A session. I wish the students well. They had some interesting backgrounds and plans.

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Posted in advocacy, audience, blogging, book writing, careers, education, engineering, guest speaking, management, personal, science, technical writing | Leave a comment

Customer Service Success–Finally!

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Bart Leahy

For two months I’ve been in a cold war with Spectrum, my internet and phone provider, due to a variety of technical issues related to moving to my new home (see here, here, here, here, and here). I was going to just let things rest with incomplete service for a while until I got frustrated enough to fix the problem or, in the case of yesterday morning, I got to the point where I couldn’t pay a bill. I pride myself on being a prompt payer of my debts, so this would not stand. I broke down and called Spectrum once more to address my ongoing technical issues, which were now preventing me from paying my bill. Much to my surprise, a Spectrum customer service rep finally got the issue resolved my issues after over two months of back and forth! Continue reading →

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Evony and Thinking About the Workplace

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Bart Leahy

My mobile game playing continues. I’ve had my ups and downs with the online Dungeons & Dragons-type game, Evony, but have made steady progress in building my city from level 1 up to level 18 (out of a possible 35, so far). Occasionally I’ve had my city attacked and electronically sacked by some more powerful and hostile players. Different players have different reactions to this practice. I, of course, had a philosophical insight. Continue reading →

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Prioritizing When Catching Up

Posted on October 4, 2021 by Bart Leahy

Some of you might have noticed that I haven’t been posting at my usual, prompt hour or that I’ve even skipped a post or two. I noticed, anyhow, and it’s bothered me a bit. However, I am trying to follow my own advice and focusing on my key priorities first. Are you? Continue reading →

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