Yesterday was a crappy day. Problems by someone else at work consumed my time to rectify it, which took away from the things I needed to do and am still catching up on. Then on top of it I offered to help a friend after work who had some trees get knocked down by storms a week ago.

Interestingly, it was helping with the trees, something I wouldn’t normally do or think I would enjoy otherwise, that brought back the spark that was snuffed out during the day.

Godzilla vs. The Mighty Oak

If any of you reading know me, you are probably already laughing at the fact of me helping someone with fallen trees. Even my own kid said that I am not known as a nature person. As I responded to my friend this thought came to mind, but I offered as it would certainly be a case of strength in numbers, plus my friend and others helping knew of my, well, affinity to nature as well.

Getting to his house meant passing downed trees for literally a mile. When I pulled into his place, a couple of other friends were helping him split the last of a few logs off the driveway. Though I was a little late, I was just in time, as the next task was to tackle a giant oak – 30 feet if it was not 100 – that was in his backyard. If you are unfamiliar with oak, it’s heavy, and as it was a recently fallen tree, it was still “alive” and full of moisture, which when it dries out will make it a little lighter.

After helping to wheel the log splitter down the slope of the backyard – no small feat in itself – it was time to start splitting the tree. It was cut into segments with chainsaws, and then the arm of the log splitter, named Godzilla, would scoop up the roughly 2-foot segments to be split. Splitting the logs, which were anywhere from 6 inches to almost 2 feet in diameter, required multiple passes through the splitter, which is a hydraulic press that forces the log into a sharp wedge. Splitting a large, heavy segment into 2 made for 2 slightly smaller and slightly less heavy pieces, which needed to be further split, hauled and stacked. All of this for one segment, only to repeat for each one. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I was assigned the task of operating the splitter, as the other guys used chainsaws to cut up the tree, and then were doing the stacking of the cut pieces. Where I never used a splitter before, I certainly didn’t use a chainsaw either. As the splitter was stationary and straightforward to operate, I guided Godzilla in the splitting of this fallen tree for winter firewood.

Where I certainly would have failed a log splitting efficiency test, after several pieces I was getting the hang of it, and frankly found it to be fun! I was nowhere near as agile \ as my friend whose backyard and tree this was, but as he said he was splitting wood since childhood, I wasn’t worried about speed. Plus I wanted to make sure I kept all of my fingers on each hand.

As the last flickers of light from the sun shone on us, we wrapped up the last piece of this mighty oak. What started out as a Herculean task without a solid plan turned into an achievement of firewood and, for me at least a great sense of accomplishment… not only in completing the task, but in completely forgetting about the crappy day I had earlier.

Changes in Latitude

Afterwards talking about task we wrapped up, over beers and brats, I commented on how much fun this was for me. Much of my time is spent within my comfort zone. I don’t necessarily plan or go out of my way to ensure I am in that comfort zone, but it’s where I end up spending my time. Getting out of it, in a heavily wooded area that looked nothing like where I live but a mere few miles slightly north of me, is what the doctor ordered for this day.

Where I may not be adding log splitting to my LinkedIn profile anytime soon, I am certainly up for the task in the future.

Deconstructing Getting Out

In the past I have written about how we all have our place and to play to your strengths and in many cases that approach to things still pertains. The scenario I was in was not in my mind a great risk. Granted if I was goofing around I could have easily chopped off a digit or 2. But going in with a base level expectation, doing something I had never done before and doing it well, adjusted me not just for that day, but a little on what lies in the days ahead. And perhaps it can for you as well.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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Shouldn’t things just work?

While on vacation last summer, we rented a car and got upgraded to a large SUV, a model I never drove before. When I got in I took a quick look around, pushed the start button and drove off. It got dark and foggy as we drove to the distant destination and the windshield started fogging up. So I looked and felt around the steering column and dashboard for the wipers and defogger, unfortunately without any luck. Having no other option, I pulled to the side of the road that really had no shoulder – much to the dismay of traffic behind me – and found a lever directly behind another lever on the steering column, and after a few twists activated the wipers and defogger and was able to see the rest of the way.

Has something like this happened to you? Have you tried to use something you think should just work, or find something on an item where you’d least expect it? This time it was a car, other times it’s a lamp, or even computer software. This thinking and frustration is the premise of the book The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman, an expert on usability.

Going thru some books I already read and still held onto, I decided to reread this classic book, and it brought back memories of the first time I read it; good memories from the material I learned in the book and bad ones because there’s still a lot of design issues out there that cause for poor user experiences. Those memories are structured into the following takeaways.

It’s not just us – When we have a poor user experience or trouble doing something, we tend to beat on ourselves. I have seen this a lot with computers, as some people are expecting a computer to just “do” something, and they often need more information, like a manual or someone to show them how, in order to complete a task. This happens to myself with software, Web sites or apps as well; I, someone who builds these, am expecting something or a certain outcome, and am not finding it that way. I chalk these up to bad design, where the one who created it never took into consideration how people would use it, or got feedback from observing people using it.

Internal vs. External Knowledge – This concept refers to internal knowledge as “in the head” as compared to external as “in the world” knowledge. Examples include knowing how to do something vs. having a manual or instructions on how to do it, to remembering a birthday to getting a calendar alert to remind you it is someone’s birthday. We bring internal knowledge into every situation, but sometimes need external knowledge to reinforce or remind or simply tell us how to do whatever it is.

There is good design out there – Where the book highlights a lot of bad design, it does talk about good design. I often reflect on an experience – e.g. driving a different car or going to a new place – and think of the user experience. I will smile if it was a good experience and complain if it wasn’t.

Bad design is an ongoing concern –The edition of The Design of Everyday Things I read was republished in 2002, and its original version came out in 1988 (note a later version was revised and expanded in 2013). Now 17 years after the republish, where a reader may get a chuckle when seeing some of the “dated” examples of items with poor design (for example, the telephone pictured), the principles written by Norman years ago are still very relevant today.

The Design of Everyday Things is not solely about computers or technology. I say this as perhaps my examples or even my background may imply this, plus the fact Donald Norman is a co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group - a firm that works in design and user experience, a lot of it centered on technology but not exclusively. I recommend this to any psychologist or student of the mind to anyone who gets easily frustrated when things don’t just work for them, or both. As I pass along all books, I am finally offloading this one, giving it to someone whom I met at a networking event a while back and to whom I offered the book… whether she has the internal knowledge of this, or needs this post as external knowledge, I will soon find out.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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It’s been almost 2 years since my family and I moved to Appleton, Wisconsin. It has been a good move, though I haven’t written about it much, save the local obsession with roundabouts.

What makes it a good move is that I like to embrace where I am, and have enjoyed the process here. I learned to do this many years ago when I was frequently traveling for work, spending long periods of time away from home in exotic locales like Louisville, Kentucky and Phoenix, Arizona. A large part of that embrace was doing things that people local to the area would do… well at least the positive things!

Looking back on this near biennium, 3 things come to mind that I am doing differently since relocating to Appleton from Chicago, all which have been a good thing.

Eating and Drinking Locally-Produced Products – As my license plate says and I see all around me, Wisconsin is America’s Dairyland. When I found Lamers, a local dairy that sells milk from local cows in glass bottles in a store in front of where they bottle it, I was all over it. We now get all of our milk from there, and their milk makes great soft-serve ice cream which is sold in their dairy store. In addition to milk, I try to buy other dairy products – namely cheese – made as close to home as possible.

On the protein front, locally hatched eggs as well as meats from my new favorite local butcher shop Jacob’s Meat Market, are often on our dinner plates. It not only makes sense to buy bacon cured from local pigs about 20 feet from where it is sold, but additionally with all of the recalls on mass-produced meat products, knowing the source is very important.

Where one cannot live on meat and dairy alone, the Fox River Valley of Northeast Wisconsin is also home to great breweries like Stone Arch and the Appleton Beer Factory. There’s much, much more than Miller Lite in Wisconsin!

Reading Local Newspapers and Listening to Local Radio – Coming from such a large city as Chicago, most news stories there were on a grander, city-wide scale. It was hard to find coverage of stories specific to a neighborhood, which drives the term “hyper-local” news. As someone who is now on a decade of being without Cable TV, when I moved here I sought out local media outlets online on Twitter to help me understand the happenings of my new surroundings.

In the process of finding these, I dove deeper into their coverage. We have a subscription to the Appleton Post-Crescent, the local newspaper which, like most other mid-sized papers in the state, is owned by USA Today’s parent Gannett. Our subscription is only a digital one, which is fine since the local printing plant closed and the papers are printed over an hour away, guaranteeing most late sports games and other events will not make the print edition. The coverage by the small (and increasingly smaller) staff of reporters helps keep me informed of happenings I otherwise wouldn’t otherwise know of.

I have also re-embraced a medium I haven’t engaged with in a long time, local radio. For someone whose college experience was tied to the campus radio station this has been welcome. As outside of my car I don’t own a radio, fortunately I can stream radio shows and coverage by computer and mobile app, and listen to them as podcasts. In addition to the ease of the medium, the depth of coverage has been tremendous. One show specifically, Fresh Take with Josh Dukelow on WHBY, not only covers a wide breadth of topics from politics to culture, but also goes into great depth on them as well. I have been exposed to a lot of nuances of the area I would not have otherwise known about if it wasn’t for Fresh Take.

Using Ride-Sharing Services – Though certainly not something unique to this area, prior to moving to Appleton I never used services like Lyft and Uber. Coming from Chicago, where I lived steps from subway stations, major bus routes and plentiful taxis, I had no need for them. I must also admit I knew many cab drivers in Chicago who were being negatively impacted by these services as they started, and those were a deterrent to me using them. Though there are taxi services here, they are not as plentiful or to the demand-level that I am used to. This has made using Lyft in particular a great addition to my routine.

Where these are some great additions to my routine, I hope in the future I can add more to this. If you have any suggestions of other things I can do in the Appleton area, please share them in the comments to this post. And be nice!

Deconstructing Embracing What is Local

As I have traveled across the country and around the world, I have always sought out what is unique or local to the area, and tried to go beyond what is simply touristy. I have taken the same approach here in Appleton, Wisconsin and have been pleased with the results. Embracing the best of what is around you can enhance your life.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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If you are one of the proud readers of The Hot Iron who reads my posts in your email inbox, please note I am changing how those emails are delivered. To ensure you continue to receive them, you will need to “whitelist” the email address new posts will be coming from.

That email address is: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Why and How?

In this pervasive world of spam email, you can “whitelist” email addresses to indicate you want to receive mail from it, whether it’s a person, business or – in this case – a blog.

As there are a variety of email services people use, there are a variety of ways to do so. If you are not familiar with this process, look to see how you can do the following with the email address above:

• Add it to your Contacts
• Add it as a Trusted Sender
• Add it to a Whitelist
• Check your marketing, promotions or spam folder and mark the email address as Not Spam

Switch Email Delivery Now

If you would like to switch to the new email delivery now, simply click this link to subscribe by email and enter your information. You will receive a confirmation email once you have been added to the list. Eventually I will move all email addresses to the new service and discontinue the old one.

Check into RSS and Check Back

As it’s always good to have a Plan B, there are a couple of ways to check if you are missing any posts from this blog. One way is to subscribe to the RSS Feed within your Web browser or email app. There are also mobile apps for subscribing to feeds. However if this is something you can’t or don’t want to do, please check back at the Web site at thehotiron.com and see if there are posts you have missed. If so, please contact me and I will help you get it resolved.

Please let me know if you have any questions on any of this in the comments to this post, and thanks for reading!

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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The success the New England Patriots has had over just under the last 2 decades is rare in modern sports. Not only 6 Super Bowls, but 9 overall appearances in the big game and being a perennial contender in an age of free agency with only a few variables common. It is an accomplishment that has won them both praise and scorn, with both sometimes coming from the same people.

So how did it happen? If you have been a reader here at The Hot Iron for a while, you will know I am a Patriots fan, going back decades, and once co-owned one of the Patriots’ first fan Web sites. It wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows for this football franchise. The fact that Monday Night Football wouldn’t hold games at their former stadium for years because of gunfire in the parking lot is one glaring example. But things changed – namely a new owner, coach and quarterback – and there’s the success we have today.

It didn’t happen overnight, and with the new owner it all didn’t fall into place right away either. This is the topic of The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower by Christopher Price. It gives a surprisingly detailed account of what led to their first Super Bowl and the next several seasons which followed it. Even for a true blue (and silver) fan as myself, I had some takeaways from this book.

I forgot a lot of details – Price goes into great detail in this book, and there were many facts and events that even I, someone who lived in the Boston area at the time of their first Super Bowl, didn’t remember. One glaring example was that at the end of the 2000 season, the season before their first Super Bowl win, they cut both Bruce Armstrong and Troy Brown. This was part of Bill Belichick’s “blueprint” for not paying players too much. Both were eventually resigned, albeit for lower salaries, and earned rings the following season.

Keep moving forward – If you don’t succeed, try, try again. This cliché phrase is really the mantra of the team. When new owner Bob Kraft hired Bill Parcells he had player personnel managed by someone else, Bobby Grier, which led to Parcells leaving after losing in Super Bowl XXXI. Kraft learned from this when he hired Belichick as coach, and Grier was fired. Belichick is famous for saying “On to (insert next opponent here)” meaning the last game is in the past, and they have to focus on winning the next one.

More than just a blueprint – If the success of the Patriots could truly be in blueprint form, then why haven’t other teams followed it? In order to execute on the blueprint, a team has to have the mindset and people to follow it. This is in itself a challenge, as it goes against how most teams in the league are managed. For example, having a head coach with full authority is not common, as most teams have a general manager or other role that is the true leader of what happens on the field. Many teams – and their owner’s egos – would have a hard time with this, no matter the sport.

Early on I mentioned The Blueprint only covered a few seasons after the Patriots’ first championship, and that’s because it came out in 2007, and now 12 years later I am reading and writing about it. Where I don’t exactly recall where I got it, I imagine it was sent to me by a publisher back in the day when I used to read more and write about those books more. Despite the dozen years that have passed since its words first hit paper, Price’s book is still a great read, especially for those who love deep details on sports. This book is now in the hands of a friend who sat next to me at many Patriots games.

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This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.

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