A Very Personal Look At The Engineering Decision Making Process
I’ve written a number of posts about how engineers think and make decisions, so I was stunned when my Wife questioned my decision making process and demanded details. My first response was to deny any malfeasance on my part but when I recovered my composure I...
Risk Reward Analysis And How to Influence Your Engineer’s Decision
Every decision an engineer makes goes through a risk reward analysis, each and every one. It’s not a complicated process, it doesn’t involve calculus but it’s not always obvious. Let me give you an example. Recently my two year old Samsung dryer...
Without Net Neutrality Expect Cable Television Content And Service
Net neutrality is one of the things that keeps the Internet from becoming an echo of the vast cable television nothingness. If you were to take a survey of the most hated companies in the US, I’m willing to bet that the cable companies would top the list. Nobody likes...
Thinking About Giving A 3D Printer For Christmas? Read this First.
With Christmas just around the corner, you’ve already started trying to match gifts to the people in your life. This post is simply to make it easier for you to successfully give a 3D printer for Christmas. No matter how intrigued people are by technology, a 3D...
Are The Engineers In Your Life Ignoring You? What You Can Do About It
If there’s an engineer in your life, I’m certain you often feel ignored by them. Don’t take it personally, it happens to everyone. My goal is to explain why they seem to be ignoring you and how to improve your situation. Notice I did not say gain full attention....From the Doghouse -It’s all about them
A look at dogs having fun!
Short Stories
With posts like these, ever wonder what kind of fiction I would write?
Random Posts
The Sundae Style of Management, Please Don’t Try This At WorkIt’s been fairly busy at work this month and nobody wanted to help me out by writing a guest blog. In a moment of desperation, I agreed to let Sundae share her views on management. To be fair, I have worked for managers who seemed to share many of her …
What To Do With An Abandoned Website, FromtheDoghouse.comThe Internet is littered with dead and abandoned websites. You know the signs, most of the links no longer work, the last post was over a year ago and nothing is up to date. For every website that succeeds, there’s a hundred that don’t. The reasons are varied, not enough …
If You Want To Become A Better Writer, First Become A Better ListenerSix years ago, when I started Opinionbypen, I had a goal to become a better writer. Somehow I assumed that the constant practice provided by weekly posts would miraculously improve my writing. That’s certainly not the first thing I’ve ever been wrong about. Think about it this way. Suppose I …
Toolbars, Software Trojans or Actual Benefit?Every year people spend millions of dollars on software that prevents other people from installing undesired programs on their computer. We’re constantly reminded that’s it far better to pay for software rather than download a pirated copy and risk installing a whole bunch of surprises. When the software is free, …
Email Scams, How Many Do you Get?It’s discouraging to find out that one of the characters I use in online gaming has a more active social life than I do. Based on the email he gets, he’s active on Facebook, Whatsapp, Google+, Battlenet, Instagram and even has a bank account with Chase. His photos have taken …