Hamburg, Content Management, and more!

I don't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post but I got a job in a company that produces life-science products for laboratories, universities, and the like. I write operating manuals for the end user whom I don't know and imagine wears a white lab coat and handles beakers, test tubes, centrifuges, and other CSI type stuff.

It's a great job so far if not overwhelming for a budding technical writer as myself. I'm not experienced enough to feel comfortable using an XML content management system to make it easier for my company to reuse and translate technical documents. It's a really tough and confusing job but I think I'll manage.

My company is based in Hamburg and sent me to Germany to learn this software called TCToolbox. During my trip I noticed that nobody completely understands this program. When I think of it, I think of that smoke monster from the TV show "Lost". It's mysterious and invokes anxiety attacks when you see it.

OK. It's not that bad.

Mario Sounds

Nothing to do with tech-writing.

Enjoy!

Just a little something I made to practice HTML. I actually did make this recipe! I'm waiting to see how it turns out. Should be ready in a year.

Pete and Paul's Patented Holiday Mead Recipe

This recipe was created by Peter Johansen and Paul Mouzas. It is based on the Orange Clove Mead recipe from www.stormthecastle.com It was our first attempt at mead and is still aging. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Ingredients

• 1518 lbs honey
• 5 gallons water
• Handful of raisins
• 3 Cinnamon sticks
• 5 Pinches of allspice
• 5 Whole oranges sliced

Instructions

1. Pour honey into a large pot and heat. Add 1-2 gallons of water and bring to a boil.
2. Once water and honey mixture are boiling, add the rest of the ingredients in no particular order.
3. Boil must for 20-30 minutes and skim off any of the white stuff that floats to the top. These are coagulated proteins and are going to be very sticky.
4. Place pot in ice water to cool. Once must is cooled, add to fermentation bucket.
5. Top off with water until must reaches 5 gallons
6. Place lid and fermentation lock on bucket and let ferment for 2 weeks
7. After primary fermentation is over, transfer mead to a 5 gallon carboy and let sit for at least 6 months! This is a high alcohol mead which tastes much better the longer it ages.

If you have any questions email me at paul.mouzas@gmail.com

Man, I'm learning lots of stuff!

At the moment I'm working on writing an instruction manual for my old espresso machine. They say "write what you know" and I know this thing. I'm using Adobe Framemaker to write it and it's going along quite nicely. Framemaker can be an extremely frustrating program to use because if its seemingly infinite features. It can sometimes take me a half hour just to figure out how to draw a straight line across the page. All of those tools are hidden inside a collage of a million other tools. This program is definitely extensive!

My HTML lessons are going quite well too. I'm comfortable enough to even use it on this blog! I didn't realize I would ever compose things in HTML without it taking up every single one of my brain cells.

I'm getting more and more confident about my abilities as a tech writer and a writer in general. Progress does seem infinitely slow sometimes but every once in a while I surprise myself by what I've done. Just working on something for a few minutes a day really does help develop skills. You'd be surprised at how fast those mini learning sessions add up. 

Update Time

Still getting up early everyday and still loving it.

Doing work early in the morning is so much easier because my mind is still sharp. Once 2pm hits, I get a little bit foggy and I can't concentrate that well. Also, it's very therapeutic to be up so early. It's so peaceful and quiet. Not hearing a fussy baby every time I try to do something productive is nice. I enjoy these moments of solitude.

I ordered an XHTML/CSS book about a week ago but it still hasn't arrived. Amazon is usually so good with getting packages delivered quickly but they're slacking this time. I flipped through it at Barnes and Noble and it seemed way better than the outdated version I have right now. I can't wait to use it and start building some websites that are easier on the eyes than what I'm making now.

Time Management

Time management was never my strong suit but I'm working on it. I have a Filofax and I use it consistently.

I also get up at 5:30 am to get a few things done before the fiance and baby wake. I enjoy these moments of quiet solitude immensely and I am very productive in the morning. Sometime after lunch time my brain gets a bit foggy and I can't get as much done. Early morning work is definitely working for me so I'm going to keep it up.


One of my problems is that I want to do everything at once. I find it difficult to break up large projects into bite-size manageable tasks. However, I'm getting much better and it's satisfying to make these little mini-goals and acheive them within a reasonable time.

Photoshop!

In addition to dabbling in web design and grant writing, I'm also creating logos. Here's one I made just now.



 This is my second attempt at logo design and I think it's pretty good. Even though I don't think tech writers really need to be all that skilled illustrations and such, I think it's a good idea to develop a broad skill base.

Here's my first attempt to show my improvement.

Not too shabby, eh?

Anyway, up next is designing a new menu and writing some content for the restaurant website.

Websites and Grant Writing

So.

I'm learning html/css at the moment. I figure that knowing some basics in web design might give me an edge in trying to get a job. After all, pretty much everything is done on the web these days. I may as well follow suit and join the rest of the crowd.

It's actually very enjoyable and I can't believe I'm having fun doing it. I created a very simple home page for my dad's restaurant. It doesn't look too bad considering I just started learning HTML a few days ago when I checked a book out of the library.

After I'm finished with the restaurant web page I'm going to work on my fiance's photography page. She has aspirations in doing wedding photography but without a website I don't think she'll get very far.

Other than my foray into web design, I have been dabbling in grant writing. Well, not really. I haven't started yet but I am going to get the chance write for a grant for Second Company Horse Guard in Newtown, CT. This is a great chance for me to get some real experience under my belt.

Finally!

Anyway, I will post that website up as soon as I get it on the internet.

Peace.

Using your iPhone

Lesson 1:

Turning on, calling, and adding contacts with your iPhone

To turn on your iPhone you need to locate the button on the top right of your phone.

Press and hold the button until you see the apple logo appear on the screen. The apple logo indicates that your phone is loading. It may take a minute or two for the operating system to load.

Once your phone is on, you will see the iPhone interface as shown in the previous photo. There are many applications already downloaded onto your iPhone but for now all we want to do is add contacts and make a call.

To make a call, locate the green icon with the white phone. It is located on the bottom of your screen.

 Touch the icon to open the application. You will see this screen with the keypad open up.

Before you place any calls, you may want to add some contacts to your phone so you don't have to keep dialing the same numbers over and over again. To add a contact press the icon that says 'Contacts'. It is located at the bottom of the screen directly in the middle.

You will now see a screen that looks like this.

Now, press the plus sign at the top-right corner of the screen to begin adding contacts.

To add the first name of your contact press the text-box next to the word 'First'.

 A keyboard will appear at the bottom of the screen. When finished typing the first name press 'return' on the keyboard to move on to the next text-box.

When you are finished typing in contact info hit cancel at the top left of the screen (don't worry, your information will be saved) and you will now see your new contact. Press the new contact name you have just created to see all of the info you just typed in. To call your new contact, simply touch the phone number and the phone will begin dialing.

If you wish to call a new number that is not in your contacts, use the 'Keypad'. The keypad icon is located right next to the contact icon at the bottom of your screen. To call, dial a number and hit the green call button.

Excuse me for seriously neglecting my infant blog here but I've been quite busy lately planning and getting ready for a three-week trip this August. My family and I are going to Greece and it has been quite hectic around here.

I have not been working on anything at all lately and am starting to feel very guilty for it. It's time to get back in the game and put as much energy as I can into getting a technical writing career started.

I started re-writing a vacuum cleaner manual a few weeks ago that came with my new vacuum. The original manual that came with the vacuum wasn't poorly written and had pretty much everything the average consumer needed to know within its pages but I had to give a shot at writing a better version. I didn't complete it so I will continue working on it as soon as I can.

Update

There isn't much going on right now. I've been pretty busy with working and spending time with my family so I haven't got much time to practice tech writing or resume building. I'm going to be going to Greece in August so I figure I'll have plenty of time to be doing the sorts of things I should be doing. My fiance is going to take the time while in Greece to build herself professionally as well. Overall, I think it will be a great thing for the two of us. Also, I'll finally get to see my family over there after 5 years.

I still haven't finished doing this vacuum cleaner manual because the file on my laptop got deleted randomly (probably a virus). So, I had to start from scratch. I will do the writing for it and I will also format and edit it with pictures and all. I should be a nice little addition to my portfolio.

I'm also looking into proposal writing because it looks interesting to me. For my next project, I'll write a proposal for something. I don't know what yet but I'll look for some ideas online.

My discipline has been lacking so far. I was doing pretty well there for a while but I ran out of steam. This happens to me sometimes but once I get the ball rolling again I should be fine. I have time to write but getting started is the hardest part for me because of the myriad of distractions around me. It doesn't help that the tool I use to write is also my single biggest vehicle for entertainment. It's hard not to browse the internet instead of write.

Hello

Time for a new career!

After a failed attempt at teaching high school English I've decided the technical writing route is right for me. I want to gain experience in this field and hopefully a job somewhere down the line. I don't have much experience with technical writing but I'm willing to practice and do some free work if at all possible.

The purpose of this blog is to document my progress (or lack thereof) and give me some self-reflection. Sometimes it helps to write out your thoughts when you don't know what to do.

If this blog does gain a readership it will also be a vehicle to start some professional relationships with more experienced technical writers to mentor me.

Currently, I am working on a couple of things. I want to build some sort of portfolio to show employers that I won't waste their time and money training me (or at least too much of it). The trouble is I don't have any real work to show for myself so I'm spending time creating a spec portfolio.

Right know I'm working on a vacuum cleaner manual. I figure it will show somebody at the very least I can create a manual for a consumer product that is somewhat readable and I'm not an incompetent writer.

Besides the vacuum cleaner manual, I have also written the rules of a made up board game my friend and I created a couple of years ago. It was great practice and actually kind of fun.

I have also downloaded a free trial of Adobe Framemaker and bought a book to teach me how to use it. I think that many companies and technical writers use this program for their documents. I figure it couldn't hurt and is just another thing to put on a resume.

I doubt any working tech writers are reading this right now but if you are; can you give me any advice on what else to do? I don't want to waste my time creating a spec portfolio if it won't be useful to a job hunt. Also, should I aim to specialize in a particular niche? It seems that many technical writers do write for a specific field.