Giving Criticism That Will Be Heeded, An Engineer’s Guidelines
When I started Opinionbypen, I had long discussions with myself wondering if I was tough enough for all the criticism I would get. I knew my writing needed help. I knew I my paragraph separation was accomplished by feel rather than doctrine. And, if we’re doing...
Married To An Engineer, A Matter of Convention
My wife always groans when we’re watching a movie and the climatic point is the hero trying to defuse a bomb. She knows that in about 2.3 microseconds I’m going to make some derogatory comment about bombers always using the same wiring convention. As I always explain...
Married To An Engineer, Sometimes You Have To Call The Professionals
Sometimes you have to call the professionals. In a story, you have time to develop all your characters. You let the reader discover how they look, how they react and their motivations. Good writers do it seamlessly. Too bad I’m not that good (yet), so, I’m taking the...
Spam Avoidance And An Idea For A Great Mother’s Day Present
The idea was a inspired one. The more I use it, the more I appreciate what Scrivener, from Literature and Latte, does for writers. When I was offered a chance to buy a copy at half price, having already bought my own copy, I immediately thought buying it as a gift for...
The UP! Mini 3D Printer, A Review
I bought the UP! Mini 3D printer from Amazon for $599. I found the sale price too good to pass up. Having had it for almost 48 hours, I don’t have buyer’s remorse but I might do more looking if I had it to do over. While this post is a review of the UP! Mini 3D...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 Puppy With No NameIn almost every culture there is a belief that one’s name has magical properties. There’s no question that I respond much quicker when I hear my name. I can hear my name being used in situations where it’s impossible to understand the other words being said. When my wife says …
Bounce Rate, What It Means To Your Favorite SiteIn America we’re taught to tell someone something nice before we criticize them. I’ve never understood if this is supposed to soften the blow or if it’s a tool to boost their ego before it gets completely crushed. I’ve also been told by a few other cultures I work with …
Where Have All The Mentors Gone?It’s easy to forget there was a time before the Internet, before YouTube and before Facebook. Nowadays if you want to know how to change the power window motor on your 1994 Ford pickup, you pull up Google and do a search. Odds are good that someone has made a …
The Solar Powered Chicken Coop Fan Project RevisitedBetween Google, Pinterest and the renewed interest in keeping chickens, my solar powered chicken coop fan project has become a very popular post. Although low maintenance, I was replacing the battery every year. The Texas heat and the way I hooked it up both conspired to shorten the life of …
An Engineer’s PerspectiveI admit it, I went into engineering because I enjoy solving problems. When I look at something I think about the design techniques employed and the ways to use it in practice. I think about possible improvements, design trade-offs and always enjoy seeing new technology. If you see me staring …