Life…

I has now been about 14 months since I started this blog and I’ve covered a lot of different subjects. I try to make the content as automation-related as possible but it is getting more and more difficult to cover subjects that I haven’t already discussed.

Being an engineer I tend to be very rigid in my thought processes, call it analytical, or anal or whatever. So for instance, even when I am on vacation I have tried to make sure I post at least one blog every week, even if it is just about whatever automation related things I see on my trip. As I’ve mentioned before, I really have no idea how many people read this blog regularly, but I doubt anyone is eagerly awaiting my next post or even notices that I post every week. I do get comments fairly regularly but the overwhelming majority is from evil spammers who are just trying to get more people to buy their Ugg boots or Viagra. I am pretty sure most of these are just automated posts. They must work on some level though since they keep appearing from many different locations… the WordPress spam filters do a pretty good job of keeping them out though.

This week I had thought about covering something like PID control or extremely low voltage relay and pushbutton contacts but then I decided to create a new category which I am calling “Life”. I had already created a category called travel that I posted some kind of non automation-related things in, but I am going to use this new category to talk about…. whatever.

So this week is the sixth week since I started my new consulting company. I have bid a few jobs, worked more on the Automation Primer, done a small PLC commenting job and generally done a lot of networking and advertising. I knew when I started back into working for myself again that I was going to have to do a bunch of contracting and other non-consulting jobs at first. Next week I start contracting through Automation nth, a local controls company, to Automation Tool, a local machine builder. I will be doing startup and debug of some automotive related machinery. This is the enjoyable part of my job, I get to play with the big toys that I usually have spent many months designing. In this case someone else has done the boring tedious part and I get to have all the fun!

I will also be spending at least four weeks straight out of my new office. This creates some logistical issues which will hopefully be tempered by the administrative staff at my office complex and my fancy call forwarding, IPad and IPhone. I am determined to not grow this company beyond myself as the only technical person.

Now that there is a pretty large quantity of technical subject material on this site I feel a little better about posting other kinds of subject matter here and not necessarily posting every week even. If anyone does have any other subjects they want to cover (except for Ugg boots and Viagra) just leave a comment or send me a message. Even if it’s just about Life!

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About

Electrical Engineer and business owner from the Nashville, Tennessee area. I also play music, Chess and Go.

1 Comment on “Life…

  1. A certain level of personal/Life stuff is good; it’s your personal blog, after all, not a company PR blog.

    Some of my experiences/feelings:
    — It’s good to let your personality show through a bit; people are interested in other people, not just content. Besides, it’s fun and enlivens the blog, and who knows, you might get a few more people interested in automation.
    — I follow the wardroom rule: never talk about religion or politics. Even people who claim they don’t care, do care, and in the best case, you’ll alienate a significant number of readers (I’ve dropped reading some technical blogs because of snide political remarks).
    — Automation is a super-small niche segment. Some of my most popular posts are about furniture (stand up desk) and pens…and my more general niche posts (MCAD, PCB EDA) tend to be more popular than the posts more focused on automation. So it takes dedication to keep on writing, but I still think it’s worth it, and I do appreciate your efforts.
    — I do think regular or at least semi-regular posting helps you keep regular readers, but I know how hard that is.