Marlana VanHoose

Marlana has been blind since birth. She wasnt expected to live past one year.
But she is 14 yr old now lives to sing for the Lord and enjoys every moment of it.
Check her out on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdiEyt_3klU&feature=related

Mammogram Policy

Recently the Federal Advisory Board decided to change their recommendation on when women should get routine mammograms. They want women in their 40's to avoid routine mammograms. Insurance companies look to the Federal Advisory Board for guidance on preventive care services. How many insurance companies will start refusing to pay for women's mammograms if they are in this age group? The Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has told women, "Keep doing what you have bee doing for years". At least someone is telling women to continue getting mammograms every year while in their 40's. This hits me personally, my sister at age 40 found out she had breast cancer from her mammogram. The cancer was very small in size and would not have been found any other way. With my mother also having breast cancer it puts me in the most unwanted category of being "high risk". No matter what the board says, I will, along with my mother and sister (both survivors) continue to get our mammograms every year! I suggest all other women do the same!



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Facebook Ads

It was much easier to write an ad for Facebook even with the limit of words you can use than understanding thier billing system. I had Facebook ad credit from my wonderful site host, GoDaddy. I think you have to be straight and to the point with keywords in your ad.

Water on the Moon and 2012

Struck up a conversation with my son at dinner this evening, asked him if he heard they found water on the moon today. He said it didn't surprise him at all. He said there is ice all over in space. He said he has been following all the hype and theories about the coming of 2012. Of course we all know the movie 2012 is mostly "Hollywood", but there is actual scientific proof that things are changing all around us and the earths axis are moving. Fear is setting in, some people are trying to prepare by building shelters underground. He bought up one of the theories was our government was going to set up station on the moon to prepare for 2012. I told him it is strange to me that we are now going back to the moon after all these years. He agreed. Back in the late 90's we went to space camp with his "Young Astronaut's" group. While we were there, NASA's, Marshall Space Flight Center was having an open house. We were told by employees that the USA would never travel to the moon again. I guess none of us know what tomorrow will actually bring.

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Interview with a Tech Writer

My name is Bob Wyen and I am a Technical Writer and Illustrator for Midmark Corporation.

The reason I wanted to get into the technical service and writing field was I found a need to simplify how to test and determine if a control was operating correctly, and if there was a need to replace a part or parts. Most instructions were produced by the engineering department and in many cases written in too complex of a manner for the field technicians to understand or even have the time to read. I wanted to help the people in the field as they were on the front lines and I knew what that was like.

Well as far as my education goes, I graduated from a 2 year Technical College in Minnesota and experience wise been in the service, engineering, and training field for 46 years.

I worked in an Engineering Lab and had to write many technical documents concerning testing, etc. on the products we manufactured. I also worked in Field Engineering, covering 5 states, dealing with users, installation, and service related problems for two companies. During these times I had to develop and hold training sessions for the Technicians. At Midmark, I worked in the Technical Service Department dealing with service and customer problems, traveling quite extensively all over the U.S., Canada, and Japan.

The place I started at prior to having a 2 year stint in the U.S. Army was Chrysler AirTemp. They manufactured commercial, domestic, and automotive heating and air conditioning equipment.

I started out in the Engineering Lab as an Engineering Technician, from there into field engineering, and eventually to manage Customer Relations for the division.

We used various meters, test stands, slide rules, and related hand tools to perform various test for certifications and calculations. Slide projectors, easels, and short instruction booklets were used to instruct technicians during training.

The next job I worked was at Hobart Corporation in Technical Writing. We used a camera for black and white photography, wrote instructions long hand, did drawings on a drafting board, typed up the instructions and then had them placed in a galley format at the print shop. We would then take the photos, and gallery formats paste them into graduated lined papers. These were then brought to the print shop for shooting a negative plate and printing.

Later, as the company grew, we began producing training videos which I did all the graphics using drawings and different colored paper media to produce animation for the video cameras.

I have been at Midmark for 22 years, over 9 years in the Technical Service department and the rest in Technical Publication. I will be retiring in February of 2010.

Now, everything is in electronic form and we rarely tear equipment down but do it electronically in many cases using ProE software.

We use different writing software such as Framemaker, Pagemaker, InDesign, & Microsoft Office Works.

We also use drawing software’s such as Product View, ProE, Freehand, ISO Draw, Illustrator, and Corel Draw. Photoshop may also be required in some instances.

There is quite a bit of difference from today to where it used to be in the early career of my writing. You need to know a variety of various software’s as everything has gone to electronic generated materials. You must be flexible as you may be working on new literature that uses the latest software the department is using one day and the next updating older material that was produced using the older software that was used in earlier productions.

You must also be able to become prolific in the various drawing software’s for producing electrical, hydraulic, and tubing diagrams, various artwork for the manuals including some very sophisticated exploded views for the parts section.

Download Interview - Bwyen '>http://Download Interview - Bwyen

Ohio - Issue 3

Usually I don't get so opinionated with political issues but with the passing of Issue 3 that will allow casinos in Ohio, I was a bit disappointed. I think the promising of so many new jobs is not all it is cracked up to be. First of all I am sure they will bring in their own professional dealers to work the gambling tables. A family member told me, but they will hire Ohioans for cleaning positions, cooks, etc... These types of jobs are not what Ohio needs. We need good paying jobs with good benefits and full time positions. Most of the jobs will most likely be part-time with no insurance.

And then there is the tax issue. The casino will pay a 33 percent tax on gross revenue which is below the average paid by casinos outside of Nevada and Atlantic City. It is also below the rates paid in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The licensing fee to be paid to Ohio for the right to operate a casino is only going to be $50 million per casino. Illinois is going to charge $400 million for one in the planning stages. Two Indiana racetracks paid a one time casino licensing fee of $250 million each.

Come on Ohio, are we really doing so well we don't need to have a higher tax and licensing fee?

And lets not forget the children, yes the children of all the gamblers that will lose everything because they have never had it so easy to gamble their entire savings away. We the Ohio tax payers will be paying for their housing and medical care while their parents struggle to get their lives back in order after losing everything they own.

I think Ohio just got dealt a bad hand.

Technical Writer or Technical Communicator?

Technical Writers - #28 in Top 50 Jobs in America
Technical Writers are not just writers anymore! Most of us illustrate our manuals too, but that is after we learn the product by tearing it down, do testing on it, interview the design Engineers and put it back together. And let’s talk about ALL the software we use. Where I work we use up to 5 CAD applications and 4 publishing applications. Mostly because the software companies keep changing them and who has time to go back and convert all the out of production documentation? Especially when the Engineers keep designing new products. We also have to be web savy because alot of deliverables today are sent out via the internet and or on CD. We also are being recurited for assembly work instructions and interactive training. When will everyone listen to the STC and start giving us our new proper title, Technical Communicators! Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but the title just doesnt say it like it is.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/2009/snapshots/28.html

Unemployment Held Up

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/08/news/economy/extending_unemployment_benefits/index.htm

Blog about Dustin's Comment
I bet Dustin has a job, because he doesn’t seem to understand these people need the unemployment to keep the basics, housing and food. Healthcare is not an option for these people, you cannot afford cobra insurance when you are on unemployment. Most don’t realize that in most states if you own a home you cannot get food stamps or any other type of help. And with the housing market it is today, you can’t sell your house to buy food. People are stuck. One of the reasons people are also out of work is because of lean manufacturing, tons of positions were lost, this was needed for America to contend with competition. But if the government would do away with NAFTA, and actually make other countries trade equally or not at all with us, these people could get back to work. NAFTA is the main root cause of all this mess.

Is Big Brother Watching?

It was just a few weeks ago, a co-worker whose son happens to be in the FBI told me that they caught a bank robber using technology he was not allowed to tell details about. He said, “Dad, you wouldn’t believe what they are using these days. In our country, because of technology, cell phones, computers etc... It makes it so easy to find someone”.

Facebook had, key word is had, an application to allow third –party developers to create polls. I went to cnn.com this morning to get the latest news and found that on Facebook, a poll was being taken to see if Obama should be killed or not. The Secret Service contacted Facebook and asked for the application to be pulled. Of course Facebook had already taken it off.

I don’t want to get into a political debate over issues that none of us really have control over at this point. The issues are the hands of the representative that we have elected. But I do want to warn everyone, you are being watched. Even participating in a polls and signing on-line petitions can come back to haunt you someday. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Internet interactivity and of course your cell phone ARE being watched!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/28/facebook.poll/index.html

Lost Friends, If I could talk to them now….

In the past week I have lost two friends. One to Cancer, she was an old friend who I did not get to see while she was ill. The other I did see but didn’t realize what was to happen a short time later.
She had a mental illness and a quick radical down turn which brought her to suicide. With each one of them I never had the chance to say any last words, so I felt that it would be appropriate to talk to each of them one last time though written words….

Rowina,
if I could talk to you today I would tell you how much you’ll be missed. I would remind you of all the great times we had even though times were tough. Being single parents, loving our kids, working hard at the factory everyday when we were young, and making the best of it on the weekends : ). All of us (You, Shelia, Colette and Me) being in Denise & Tom’s wedding together, from the fun we had picking out our dresses (you know that is the only time I ever seen you in a dress!), to the reception (Party of all Parties!). Even though we hadn’t seen each other in years, you called me when I needed you. You were an encourager, and a friend with a heart of gold! Ro, you will always be in my heart and on my mind.

Diane,
Oh how I wish I would have known your hurt and your pain. For your life to end such as it did is tragic.
I do know many feelings you faced everyday were not of your own but what you were dealt with.
If I only would have known, I would have hugged you so tight the last time I saw you! How often we are buried in our busy lives not to notice the signs of someone’s pain and struggles. I will not let guilt bring me down but have learned to pay more attention. I will miss you my friend!


I'll be seeing you both again someday,
Barb

Facebook

The user base for Face book as grown past 300 million people! Amazing, at least for me it is. I come from the "Pre-computer Age" group. The era that had a black and white TV at home. I remember when most people wouldnt deal with banks or other bussinesses that used computers. Everyone was afraid of what they didnt know. They were scared that mysterious glitches in computers would deplete thier accounts or misuse personal information. It was in the mid 90's when I took my first computer class, AutoCAD. I couldnt use e-mail, internet or even know how to turn one on. I informed my instructor of this and as he showed me how to turn the computer on, I said your going to have fun with me in your class, he said, "No your going to have fun".

I have come a long way since that day, I now make a living, do my banking and communicate with others by the use of a computer. I even run a side bussniess by the use of a web site. Whatever I need information about I just Google it! And just the other day, I joined Facebook. Never dreamed I could connect with people from my past or across the globe so quickly.

Making Marketplaces for Media Makers

When searching the web for "Making Marketplaces for Media Makers", I came across a blog written by Mark Sigal. He makes a good point in his quote, "There's something happening here;What it is ain't exactly clear.” He talks about several different forms of media taking us all into the unknown, ever changing world.


Network Garden blog

Welcome

Welcome to my Blog. My name is Barbara Schwarz. I am working on an Internet Technologies degree at Edison Community College. I am furthering my education for my job as a Technical Illustrator/Writer at Midmark Corporation. My Technical Publications team is also looking for new ways to reach our documentation users with service information for our products. I also run a business which will most likely soar to new heights by the use of social networking.