Technical Writer List Server

Technical writers are a group of professionals who face great demands from the corporate and government sector. They must often create order from chaos, clear words from dense words, and clean visuals from blurry originals.
Oftentimes, they must search through mountains of documents to find the nuggets that help others to understand an item, procedure, tool, concept, theory, graphic, Web contnet, software, hardware, diagram, table, DVD, brochure...whatever medium is asked by superiors...and they must do so under very, very tight deadlines...therefore...it can begin to feel like the rock is about to fall...any day now.
Technical writers understand each other...and the unique demands each faces each day. Thus..the importance of the technical writer list server, where technical writers can gather over the Web, trade war stories, exchange advice and point to where help is to be found. Technical writers are a group of professionals who help the world run...better...faster...easier. I tip my hat to them.
I encourage any tech writers who are wondering about any task they face each day...what software to use to capture photos best, how to convert a PDF back to Word...how to get programmers to share their design document...to visit the Google Groups technical writers list server (bit.listserv.techwr-l) for the "how to."
And I recommend that, if you choose to make your living doing technical writing, you reach out to the other technical writers out there, by joining the national Society for Technical Communication...and a local chapter like STC Washington, D.C. Baltimore and by joining the technical writers list server. I show a random post taken from the technical writers list server, below. It demonstrates the format where this wisdom can be viewed, mined, and used in practical ways to do a better job each day.

I don't know Goober Writer, but his words give the flavor of the individuals who make this profession such a fascinating and interesting craft

Reply to Author Forward Print Individual Message Show original Report Abuse From: gooberwri...@yahoo.com (Goober Writer) - Find messages by this author Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 08:00:06 -0800 (PST) Local: Wed, Oct 29 2003 11:00 am Subject: Re: Re: What is "technical" writing? (Was: RE: What to do?) Reply to Author Forward Print Individual Message Show original Report Abuse

When an engineer learns to write about engineering topics, he or she does not study "engineering." He or she studies "writing." The skills that allow an engineer to write about technical subjects are writing skills.

Technical writing is *taught* in engineering programs (such as Northeastern University), but that doesn't mean that writing is an engineering discipline. In no way should the act of writing enter this equation. This is all about core communication skills.

The "engineering" aspect (IOW, "technical") is required for anything concerning a technical concept. The "writing" aspect (IOW, "communication") is required for anything being conveyed from one person to another.

So what is "technical writing?"

It's the clear communication of technical information and concepts to another person or party.
Whether an engineer learns to write or a writer learns in-depth technical concepts is moot. The fact is that someone needs BOTH to succeed in communicating information about technical "stuff" to ANYONE else (techie and Luddite alike).

You gain NO advantage from ignorance when approaching the task of communicating technical information. The argument of "being on par with your audience" is pure and utter crap. You need to know your stuff.

If you're writing about a UI that traps user input and saves it to a database for later queries, you really should know the ins and outs of how that entire system works. That way you can clearly communicate the facts to the audience at hand.

True, data entry people don't need to know about SSL, encryption, why some things get hashed and others don't, and so on. But, YOU knowing why is important so you can make an intelligent call as to what to communicate, to whom, how, when, and why.

A technical writer doesn't need to be the person who developed the tool being documented, but that writer should know all there is to know about that tool so they have the knowledge and expertise to know what info is important for whom, and how best to communicate it.

THAT is technical writing.
Goober Writer
(because life is too short to be inept)

"As soon as you hear the phrase "studies show",
immediately put a hand on your wallet and cover your groin."
-- Geoff Hart

Bruce Curley Writer Resume

Bruce Curley, Writer

We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing; Others judge us by what we have done. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Senior Technical and Proposal Writer

Seasoned technical writer. Translate technical information into Plain English. Create user manuals, quick start guides, templates, instructions, and other digital and paper products. Collaborate well with subject matter experts. Versatile and deadline-oriented self-starter.

 

Skill Stack
Technical Writer	Word	Cyber
Proposal Writer	Policies	Quick Start Guides
Editing, Style, Formatting	Documentation Creation	Templates
Web Content Creation	Editing	Procedures
Proposal Writing	Instructions	Run Books
SDLC	User Manuals	White Papers

 

Senior Technical Writer, Sealing Technologies Inc., 10/2021 — 01/2023

With cybersecurity, mechanical, software, devops, and electrical engineers, wrote hardware and software user manuals, quick start guides, assembly instructions, and other support documentation for cybersecurity fly away kits used by special forces teams.

Conducted quality control and approved documentation for our Dashboard Solar Winds Service Desk Solutions website for internal and external customers.

Created and maintained the company Style, Formatting, and Writing Guidelines document.

Updated legacy documents to current corporate style and format standards.

With manufacturing manager, created multiple cyber documents for product support, sales, engineering, mission, and manufacturing engineers. 

Senior Technical Writer, Alpha Omega Integration, 02/01/21 — 10/03/21

Write templates and content for Planview Capability Technology Management Knowledge Transfer document, metamodel data dictionary, glossaries, and other artificial intelligence client deliverables.

Senior Technical Writer, STULZ, 4/2018 — Present

With design, software, application, mechanical and electrical engineer contributors, write, edit and rewrite installation, operation, and maintenance and engineering manuals and procedures.
Organize and write sales policies handbook, sales handbook, and the Product support handbook..
Update legacy documents to current corporate style and format standards.
Maintain Document Product Status Matrix as a management tracking tool.
Release final documents as PDFs versions to marketing, product support, sales, engineering mission energy lab, application engineering, and BOM configuration departments.

Senior Technical Writer, Allegis Group, 9/2016 — 11/2017

·    Create format and style templates and write content for security, procedure, policy. server build standards and other enterprise operations documents.

·    Research and write white papers to implement plans for the on European Union (EU) General Data Protection Requirements (GDPR) for May, 2018.

·    Write and update the disaster recovery plan, disaster recovery run book, standards, policies, data sheets and other work products to meet current and future needs.

·    Migrate and change hundreds of legacy documents to current standards, style, formatting and organization rules and regulations and upload to the new SharePoint website.
Created a Governance Document Product Matrix with title, description, status, owner, version and date of hundreds of documents to meet international standards and large international client audit requirements.

Senior Technical Writer, Transamerica (TEKSystems) , 4/2016 —  8/2017

With contributions from Manager, Risk Systems, Global Hedging Services and SMEs, re-write multiple store-of-knowledge artifacts into Plain English, such as:

Created 38 forms and templates for theSDLC to meet corporate and regulatory and financial standards and regulations..

Reviewed over 40 corporate continuity of operations and disaster recovery plans to write a model  business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

Reformat and rewrite Service Level Agreements (SLA's).in Plain English

Edit and provide quality control check on proposals.

 Education

Society for Technical Communication (STC) seminars ( STC 2008 Philadelphia Annual Convention, Shaping the Future of Technical Communication, STC Carolina, 2005, April 2005); Johns Hopkins, School of Advanced International Studies, Graduate level coursework; BA, Cum Laude 3.6 GPA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, International Relations; American University in Paris, France, semester abroad program.

Professional Affiliations/Other Work

Senior Member: Society for Technical Communication (STC); Usability Special InterestGroup (SIG)

Featured in the article, “Bruce V. Curley: Poet” in Intercom, Society for Technical Communication magazine, November 2002, p. 44.

Editor, Opening NATO’s Door, How the Alliance Remade Itself for a New Era, Ronald D. Asmus, Council on Foreign Relations, Columbia University Press, NY, 2002

The American Civil Defense Association (TACDA), “Web 2.0 Tools for First Responders,” Spring Issue, 2009

Vice President, The American Civil Defense Association
Wrote the following articles:
Children and Civil Defense, JCD, Vol. 51, Issue 1, 2018, p. 18
When State Hackers Take Aim at the Power Grid, JCD, Vol. 50, Issue 2, 2017, p. 12
Rolling Up the ISIS Tactical Use of Social Media, JCD, Vol. 49, Issue 1, 2016, p. 17
How to Write a Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Plan, Vol. 49, Issue 2, 2016p. 32
ISIS Use of Social Media as a Force Multiplier, JCD, Vol. 48, Issue 2, 2015, p. 27
CBRNe: Low Probability, High Impact, JCD, Vol. 49, Issue 2, 2015, p. 30
Surviving a House Fire: Lessons Learned, JCD, Vol. 47, Issue 1, 2014, p. 27
Civil Defense Redux, JCD, Vol. 45, Issue 1, 2012, p. 13
The Importance of Private Sector and Local Government MOUs, p. 29; Creating a Church Emergency Plan, p. 38; Vol. 46, Issue 1, 2013
Active Shooter, Bomb Threat, or Just Rumors, Vol 47, Issue 1, 2014, p.3
Web 2.0 Tools for First Responders, Spring Issue, Vol 41, Fall/Winter Issue, 2009, p. 24
Creator of civil defense-themed Poetslife Blog (poetslife.blogspot.com). Sample posts follow.
EF-1 Tornado Lessons from Mt. Airy MD (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/11/ef-1-tornado-lessons-from-mt-airy-md.html)
Church Emergency Evacuation, Shelter-in-Place, and Lock-Down Plan (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2017/05/church-emergency-evacuation-shelter-in.html)
Emergency Exercise – EPLEX (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/Emergency%20Exercise%20-%20EPLEX)
Hawaii Ballistic Missile Alert Fail and Fix (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/01/hawaii-eoc-mega-fail-and-simple-fix.html)
Emergency Management – National Disaster Medical System (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2012/05/emergency-management-medical.html)
Children and Civil Defense (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/10/why-civil-defense-matters-for-children.html)

Have written over 12 speeches for the Mayor of Mt Airy, MD.

As a volunteer, set up the policies, procedure, plans, continuity of operations, and equipment for an emergency operations center (EOC) and wrote continuity of operations plans for the Town of Mt. Airy. Helped write the memorandum of understanding to obtain supplies from local merchants in an emergency.
Member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). See: 

http://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/Tornado%20Emergency%20Exercise; http://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label; Volunteer%20Mobilization%20Center;

http://poetslife.blogspot.com/search/label/Emergency%20Exercise
http://www.medcelt.org/feile-festa/v005/poetry/curley.html

I have been married for 33 years and have two sons.

  

I am listed in the Top 142 Social Marketing Blogs on the Web by re:think your strategy. Click:

http://classicnew.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/top-142-social-marketing-blogs-on-the-web/

In the dozens of proposals, manuals, hundreds of procedures, specifications sheets, on-line content, CDs and DVD I have worked on, I have taken and still dense, confusing, and disorganized text, pictures, diagrams and tables and convert them into a clear, concise, and consistent package in digital and paper form.  As a quick study, I master highly technical material with minimal supervision.

In software documentation, I have created works for the full document cycle, from design to project to user manual. Most manuals I have written include hundreds of graphics, which I have strategically placed to guide the reader's learning. 

On numerous software and hardware teams, I have always added value to the product throughout the product life cycle. Here is one example. At Northrop Grumman, I helped write the Biohazard Detection System (BDS) Operation and Maintenance Handbook (Introduction, Safety, Theory of Operation, Hardware, Software, Operation and Maintenance, Troubleshooting chapters). 

It was a complex with an X, Y, Z robot, a genetic tester, and fluidics. I took hundreds of photos of components and integrated those photos with the text. For accuracy and project requirements, I undertook detailed validation testing of the unit, software, and network against the written procedures and checklists.

The manual and the CD are used to train dozens of technicians who maintain and operate the system, and engineers who use it as a store of knowledge. At one employer, I created a detailed diagram to central text equipment that led to a 20 percent decrease in calls to the help desk. 

Discipline of Writing Resources

Photo Sources: NASA
"I have learned to use the word impossible with the greatest caution." Wernher Von Braun

Like walking on the moon, good writing requires discipline. Here are a few places to go to learn that discipline.

Society for Technical Communication (STC)
STC Washington
One way to learn the skills necessary to communicate effectively is through constant reading and study. A disciplined approach includes joining a professional society. I recommend the Society for Technical Communication. Also, take classes from your local Society for Technical Communication, such as the Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD Chapter.

Why? It is the only way to stay disciplined and current in the field. For example, my local STC chapter, Chapter 2 for the Washington, D.C. area, has seminars, newsletters, meetings, communications tools, jobs, Web resources, search tools, competitions, and special interest groups (SIGs), and other ways and means to make you and keep you an first-rate technical communicator.

50 Writing Tools
For a quick primer on How To Write, see Poynteronline.

Try Mike Markel's Technical Communication manual...it lists for above $80 but you can get one on e-bay used for $20. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312403380/104-6699886-0596706?v=gla...

He also has a website that is useful: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/techcomm/default.asp

Your Local Community College Example
Austin Community College Example
Your nearby community college has first-rate, inexpensive courses on technical writing. It is a good place to get started with the nuts and bolts of how good technical writing is accomplished.

A Certificate from a Graduate School
University of Alabama Huntsville
Huntsville, AL has one of the highest concentrations of high-tech manufacturing in the nation. Redstone is there. So is Space Camp, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, where I took my college student in mechanical engineering when he was six-years old (hmmm...maybe he got the idea to be an ME from the Wernher Von Braun exhibit there) and Redstone. There may be many places to get a graduate school technical writing certificate, but few would seem to be in the shadow of Wernher Von Braun.

A College or University Example

UMBC

If you have the money and the years, there are numerous college and university technical writing programs where you can get an undergraduate or graduate degree.

A Local Writer's Center The Writer's Center Example
Many areas have writer's centers where you can go to hone your craft. Although they do not have the rigor or depth of a college or university writing program, they are excellent places to meet other writers, take courses around your work schedule, and where you can choose from a variety of writing disciplines, from scriptwriting to corporate writing to one-on-one manuscript mentoring. Most of the classes are taught in a workshop format and are a good way to begin to learn the discipline and skills required for good writing.

The Writer's Center in the Washington, D.C. area is one such center. I have taken workshops at The Writer's Center (e.g. HTML and the Web in 200) and can vouch for their quality. As they say on their homepage: Whether you are a seasoned author or are just beginning to write seriously, the workshop experience can nurture your artistic life as few other activities can.

Technical Writing Bookstore's
Reiter's Technical Bookstore Example
Like becoming an astronaut, technical writing is a discipline that requires much self-learning to be able to master the body of knowledge required to be a first-rate technical communcator. It also requires the kind of devotion to the mission astronaut Neil A Armstrong showed when he was so busy carrying out his tasks when he landed on the moon that he did not get around to taking photos of himself there.

But to keep current with the current and past technical communication body of knowledge, read constantly.

Poor Documentation Costs Big Money

Every day, poor documentation costs businesses, customers, and taxpayers millions of dollars.
Usually, evidence of the costly results (financial, injuries, wasted productivity, missed deadlines, frustration, opportunity costs, etc. ) of poor documentation do not make into the media's search light. 

It's so routine. 

And poor documentation is not sexy or sensational enough to attract the attention of a digital or paper journalist or celebrity.
This $6.7 million United States Air Force mistake was so costly it attracted a reporters attention (see below). 

It is worth reading for the lessons it offers, including the positive spin the USAF spokesman puts on this fiasco at the end of the piece. 

He's not alone in this, unfortunately, which is one reason poor documentation continues despite the widespread costs.

Whoops! There goes $6.7 million
At Hill AFB: A 5'' safety pin shoots down an F-22 engine

By Matthew D. LaPlante The Salt Lake Tribune

A piece of metal - 5 inches long and of minimal cost - caused $6.7 million in damage to the engine of an F-22 fighter jet at Hill Air Force Base. Air Force officials say it was the most expensive mishap since the next-generation fighters began being deployed to operational squadrons last year.

The accident occurred Oct. 20, when the Air Force's first Raptor squadron, based in Langley, Va., was at Hill for an inaugural training deployment.

A 22-page investigative summary, released this week, concludes the engine was damaged when a mechanic failed to remove a safety pin from the plane's forward landing gear.

Just after the pilot, Maj. Evan Dertien, had started the Raptor's twin 35,000-pound-thrust engines, Senior Airman Arthur Blosser noticed the pin was still installed. Blosser signaled for Dertien to shut down the left engine so that he could approach and remove it.

As Blosser removed the pin, the streamer attached to it was caught in the jet intake of the Raptor's right engine, ripping the pin from his hand and sucking it into the engine.

Dertien, according to the report, "heard a crunch and a winding down sound" as witnesses outside the aircraft "saw sparks coming from the engine."

"For this particular accident, the dollar amount of the damage to the right engine is approximately $6,754,275," said Air Force spokesman Lt. Daniel Goldberg.

The cost of a landing gear pin, Goldberg said, "is minimal."

Investigators concluded that, while Air Force guides correctly instructed Raptor mechanics to install the landing gear pins before performing maintenance on the airplanes, there were no similar step-by-step instructions to ensure mechanics remember to take the pins out prior to clearing the aircraft for use.

Critics have said the Raptor program - at one time planned to cost $35 million per aircraft but at times since has approached $200 million per unit - is too expensive and largely irrelevant to modern war-fighting needs.

That, however, did not diminish the excitement at Hill in October when the Langley squadron arrived for two weeks of flying. On Oct. 18, the squadron's commander, Lt. Col. Jim Hecker, dropped the first bomb from a Raptor over the Utah Test and Training Range.

Hecker later called the time spent at Hill, where dozens of Raptors will be maintained at the Ogden Air Logistics Center, invaluable.

Good Documentation Saves Money and Increases Profits
Reuters News Service once carried a story* about the International Space Station crew getting a difficult start because the written procedures the crew carried into orbit were not entirely reliable. This is NASA’s careful way of saying the setup procedures were so poorly written that the crew could not do their job.

Space Station Crew Getting a Slow Start the article states:

CAPE CANAVERAL –– The crew of the International Space Station has a toilet, a food warmer and videoconferencing technology, but it is running short on oxygen… The problem is that a few things have fallen through the cracks, Jeff Hanley, lead flight director for the NASA portion of the mission, said Friday. Not literally, of course. Nothing falls in the weightlessness of space, but the written procedures the crew carried into orbit have not been entirely reliable. That led Shepherd to advise his bosses Friday at NASA Mission Control, "We worked really hard yesterday, and we could not keep up with the timeline. We're way behind today, too.

How many can identify with the astronaut’s frustration when trying to set up a critical hardware sub assembly or to use software only to find that the procedures…have not been entirely reliable?

Hopefully…not many… because if the technical writers produce first-rate electronic and paper documents that are in plain English: clear, concise and consistent.

By doing so, technical writers contribute to the profitability of products in these ways:
Electrical, mechanical, design, and software engineers can build the tool more quickly Manufacturing engineers and technicians are able to build tools faster

Installation engineers are able to install the tool faster (avoiding the astronauts problems) Training personnel are able to educates those who use the tool more quickly
Service engineers and maintenance technicians are able to keep the tool operating longer

Along with so many other factors, first-rate documentation assures that better tools are built and sold. In turn, this leads to satisfied customers, more tool sales and higher profits. 

Specifically, how do technical writers contribute to the bottom line?
Although most people know that technical writers produce manuals, technical bulletins, online help, and other paper and electronic documentation, others may not fully understand what else is involved in being a technical writer. 

What follows is an effort to explain briefly what technical writers are and what we do.

• Transforms disorganized data into communication that transfers knowledge from the subject matter expert (SME) to the customer.
• Converts the raw material of ideas into text that transfers knowledge.
• Makes effective use of communication fundamentals to develop better documentation.
• Understands the personal factors that affect communication.
• Stays current about best practices, current tools, shifting technology and data that impact technical communication.
• Knows and uses alternative methods when necessary to reach a variety of customers.
• Writes documentation in plain English for domestic and overseas customers. Makes technical documentation easy-to-read and easy-to-use.
• Remove irrelevant detail from the documentation to make it clear to the customer.
• Makes suggestions that improve…does not demand changes without a good reason
• Writes as a generalist or specialist as the need dictates
• Learns highly technical concepts to better communicate them.
• Keeps current as a technologist in a variety of applications, methodologies, and tools.
• Exercise the skills, experience, and knowledge that add value to any software, hardware and Web projects, such as usability testing.
• A technical writer can only accomplish first-rate documentation with the contributions and cooperation of all the various engineering and technical subject matter experts.

When you design the life cycle of your production schedule, include a few line items for the technical writer. 

He or she must transform your technical knowledge into plain English for internal and external customers. 

For all the experts who help with that job, I say thanks.

*Space Station Crew Getting a Slow Start, Reuters News Service, Sunday, November 5, 2000; Page A08

Quality Software, Process, and CMMI

Go to the penultimate website for creating good and useful software through a disciplined process that documents everything (a senior technical writer's idea of heaven), and for how to relaunch software that has failed.

Creating useful software can save a company large amounts of money in reduced production time and significantly reduced errors. 

The Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon teaches the Capability Maturity Model Intebration (CMMItm) to thousands of companies every day which proves that good management, planning, and a continual improvement process lead to changes in key process areas along the software development cycle. Their CMM tools are to the modern software cathedrals what a plumb and level were to medieval cathedrals.

CMMI Overview PowerPointtm Presentation
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/general/general.html
What is CMMI
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/general/general.html
CMMI Performance Results
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/results.html

As to why you might want to use CMMI as your process system to improve your product and profits, the table below, courtesy of the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute CMMI Performance Results website page, is worth a look.

Results (reported as of December 15, 2005)

You can view examples of CMMI performance results by organization or by performance category. The following table contains a summary of the performance results:

Performance Category	Median	Number of Data Points		Low	High
Cost	20%	21		3%	87%
Schedule	37%	19		2%	90%
Productivity	62%	17		9%	255%
Quality	50%	20		7%	132%
Customer Satisfaction	14%	6		-4%	55%
Return on Investment	4.7 : 1	16		2 : 1	27.7 : 1

This table summarizes quantitative information from 25 organizations that have reported results that can be expressed as performance changes over time.

Merry Christmas Vets: Flowers Can Heal

Christmas Letter to my Fellow Veterans

Colonial Farm Nursery down the road from me at 9008 Tuscarora Pike, Martinsburg, WV 25403, 304 263 5232, owner Carl Ay, has remarkable poinsettias. My wife discovered this hothouse with all these beautiful poinsettias. 

She kept raving about their variety and beauty. She brought me to seem these unusual flowers. Her female capacity to see beauty, as here, stuns me. And seeing the beauty of these flowers led me to write this Christmas letter to my fellow American Veterans.

Flowers can heal. I know this because my wife has taught me this over 38 years of marriage.   

She brought me to this nursery to show me the beauty of the poinsettias. I was not keen to go as I thought all poinsettias were the same: red flowers and green leaves. Boring. Was I ever wrong.

Look at these flowers. Like humans, they are every color, size, weight and variety under the sun. And a human cared enough to cultivate these plants, God's gift to us on this earth, to achieve this beauty.

I did not know that until I was open to my wife's suggestion that we go look at them.

Lessons from Viewing these Poinsettias

1. My wife loves me and has my best interest at heart and I must ALWAYS listen to her as she only wants the best for me and to make me better.

2. God's beauty, as in these flowers, is all around us for our pleasure and to heal us.

3.  Trust those who love you to open your eyes to God's love through their love.

These are all vital healing lessons.

I know the Christmas season can be rough on all Veterans, even rougher than Veteran's Day or Memorial Day.

My plea in this letter is that you open your eyes to those who love you and want you around. I am tired of buying Vets who die from self inflicted wounds, be it alcohol, fentanyl, crack, heroin, or obesity. 

Continue your Tradition of Service

The skills you learned when you were in the service are needed by your family, neighbors, co-workers, bosses, underlings, and your fellow Americans.

Yes, your service when you were in the service was critical, but the service you render the remainder of your time on earth is even more important.

You were just a kid when you were in the service.

Once you leave, having acquired vital skills, you must apply those skills to help your family and others.

For example, when I served in the USAF, I did extra duty in emergency management exercises helping to get patients out of the massive hospital at Eglin AFB once a month for hurricane drills.

This led to a post service job as vice president of an innovative emergency management company inspecting emergency management centers, teaching at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, MD, and writing article for their publication Hazmat Monthly.

That let to me getting involved in emergency management exercises. and creating this civil defense blog to educate my fellow Americans about how to prepare for and overcome natural and manmade disasters for their families.

Eventually, my civil defense blog came to the attention of The American Civil Defense Association and they invited me to join their Board of Directors.

(TACDA has been educating American families about civil defense since 1962.)

I have been writing articles for their Journal of Civil Defense for 16 years, suggesting products such as WaterBricks for the Survival Store, and providing leadership, strategy, and guidance.

With my own money, I have bought thousands of business cards with TACDA's website on it and given it out to thousands over the years to spread the good word. 

To honor my  MIA Uncle Frank J. Curley, on the back of the card I have a photo of him and his B-24 Braesher Crew that was shot down off HaHa Jima on February 10, 1945.

In my experience giving this card to people, 99.9% are happy to get it as everyone wants to be prepared for disasters, and to prepare their families.

Forty years ago when I left the USAF, I could not have imagined I would one day be the volunteer vice president of a civil defense charity, but I am. 

The skills and knowledge I gained in the USAF from an additional duty no less, gave me the ability to keep defending, protecting, and yes, loving, my fellow Americans, and especially American Vets.

The Mystery of Beauty to Relieve Stress

What does this have to do with the beauty of poinsettias?

When I walked into the nursery, I had a mystical, spiritual revelation about the beauty of these flowers and the beauty of my wife's love bring me there.

I realized I never would have survived the past 40 years without the love of my wife and her patience educating me about the beauty of flowers.

I do cyber work. It is hard, and frankly, scary at times knowing the cyber threats this nation faces.

I do an outstanding job according to the C-Suite at my employer, but it is hard.

Normally, I write user manuals, quick start guides, checklists, blog content, and other documents typical of my role as a senior technical writer.

But, lately, I have been writing our Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan. It is hard work as I have to keep many spinning plates in the air while writing the 12 documents that feed into the master plan and they all must relate to each other in  that bigger plan.

Sometimes I get too far into it, live in my head, and disconnect from the outside world. And that is where my wife and her ability to make me see the beauty of flowers comes in.

By taking a break and seeing the beauty of these flowers, and the wonder of the hand-made crafts this nursery also offers, I recover, refresh, and live to fight another day.

I encourage you to do the same.

Enjoy Christmas

Christ came to save us all. Advent is here and we prepare to celebrate His birth.

Keep Christ in your Christmas. Shop, decorate, and give gifts, yes, but mindful that it is Christ's birth and willingness to sacrifice his life for us that creates this beautiful season. Most importantly, take care of your health, mental, physical, and spiritual.

I am tired of early burials of Vets who had so much to give to their families and themselves and this nation still but are no longer with us due to poor decisions. To avoid going early, one tactic you can use to keep yourself young, spry, and intellectually challenged is to do volunteer work. Maybe join me at TACDA. By helping others, you help yourself. It has done wonders for my life. And really look at the flowers.

Merry Christmas 2022 to all American Veterans!

God love you and protect you and your families!