Cedar Mill Communications

Tablets like what Steve Jobs and Apple just introduced have long been forecast in science fiction, so you just knew that sooner or later devices like this would become reality. 

Steve Jobs with his new pad.

For example, in Arthur C. Clarke’s 1968 novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke describes something called a “Newspad” that Heywood Floyd, “plugs into the ship’s information circuit and scans the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world’s major electronic papers; he knew the codes of the more important ones by heart, and had no need to consult the list on the back of his pad. Switching to the display unit’s short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him.”

While there will be little need to know codes by heart, Clarke’s vision of getting electronic papers on a pad-like device is finally here.  To be sure the iPad is likely far from perfect, I fully expect that it will inevitably become more refined and in the process move us much further to full electronic delivery of premier content – much of which is currently paper-based. 

Sure you can get content on either a smartphone or a laptop, but neither is ideal. The smartphone is just too small and the laptop is too clumsy. I just don’t find myself sitting at breakfast surfing news on my laptop, or trying to peer into a tiny screen on the BlackBerry. 

Instead I get volumes of newspaper – big piles of it that inevitably end up being recycled.  Speaking of which, the environmental impact of all that paper is not good. Paper consumes large amounts of water and energy, levels forests, and requires many gallons of fuel to get it to my doorstep. Electronic delivery has almost zero impact in comparison.

I can, however, imagine using the iPad as my daily news feed. What’s more there’s economic justification simply on the basis of replacing paid-for printed content I currently consume.  While I expect to still pay for the electronic content, the price will go down significantly.  Note that some of the publications have yet to adopt eReader technology like what the NY Times currently offers, but publishers that expect to survive will offer similar technology. Based on my calculations, I figure I could save $652 per year, easily justifying a $499 iPad.

Beyond lowering costs, the iPad will deliver a much improved experience.  Publishers will be able to blend video and printed words. Instead of a few photos, I will be able to see the entire sequence if I so desire. I’ll also be able to look up related information, or make comments. Basically it’s everything we love about the Web, but in a nice magazine-like format.  When I’m travelling, all I’ll need to pack is my iPad and a cell phone. No longer will I need a few magazines, a couple of books, media player, GPS, or even a laptop. And, of course, there will be countless numbers of cool apps.

Sounds like science fiction? Not anymore.

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It’s funny how fast change happens. I think of that credit card commercial about how fast life comes at you. One minute you’re holding a new life in your hands, the next you’re watching her graduate. Geez, it went by fast.

So now I’m sitting here musing on the state of things since December when I sounded smug about not working for The Man. About how cool it is to get up at a reasonable hour — 8 a.m. is reasonable — have a leisurely breakfast, take the dogs out for their morning constitutional, and then tackle whatever work came rolling into my inbox.

Something happened in January. Something bad. Now I’m almost thinking The Man’s not so bad. Paid vacations, health insurance and a regular paycheck sound ok. But at least for this summer, I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel.

Maybe that’s because summer is special in Oregon — one, maybe two solid months of sun. I’d hate to miss that by being in an office. Plus we’ve found there are some cheap thrills that do more for recreating us than the more expensive variety that we must admit we love. Canoeing is one. On the 4th of July we decided to forgo the war zone for canoe/camping on a quiet lake in the Cascades. It turned out to be our personal lake as no one else camped there, and the one group that fished it when we arrived was a godsend — they had mosquito repellent that we’d forgotten. The next day we swam in a nearby lake that had been similarly overlooked. The time together away from the house, computer, cell phone, etc. was therapeutic in a way I couldn’t have predicted.

In all it was one of the best — and cheapest –vacations we’d ever had. And that’s a good thing because it looks like cheap is going be describing our thrills for some time to come.

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A while back I mentioned a bit about my life as a freelancer. How nice it is not have to commute to an office every day, how Brian and I can — and do — budget time in our mornings to walk our three dogs (a perk that we certainly didn’t have working for somebody else). I have time for piano lessons and Brian can leave early for his weekly soccer matches. Yes, it’s pretty nice for us.

It’s also pretty nice for our clients. They don’t have to provide us desks, vacations or health insurance. We perform the work and absorb the costs of those things as part of “doing business.” They get nearly a half century combined of pr, editing and writing experience for a pretty fair price, if I say so myself.

In Brian, clients get a guy with all that experience who actually loves technology. He likes to read about it in Wired, online, the Wall Street Journal, etc. He loves to keep up the latest social media (he’s got 300+ followers on Twitter). And he makes sure our setup here at the ranch is the envy of the neighborhood (we were the first on our street to have DSL).

I keep up only so, so. I think of it as technology by osmosis. My Facebook page isn’t too bad and I just updated my Plaxo profile, so I’m getting there.

I bring to the table a love of language on par with Brian’s technology obsession. I pour over our local newspaper, The Oregonian, and The Wall Street Journal every day. I’d take The New York Times too, if I could afford it. And because I love books too, I belong to two two book clubs, one formed with an old friend several years ago and the second I put together with my English students — a group of German women who came to Portland with their families for work. I love to read and discuss books and news and ideas.

One of my favorite books brings it all together: “The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way,” written by one of my favorite writers, Bill Bryson. The book blends humor (a must as far as I’m concerned) with fascinating information about English, like how busy and bury came to be pronounced. Why isn’t it bussy and burry? Humm.

So, businesses out there take note. With freelancers — heck with us — you get experienced people who work fast and well and actually love what we do so much, we spend our free time indulging in it. In this economy take on a freelancer. You won’t be sorry and hey, if you come by in the morning, you might even get to walk the dogs with us.

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The Northwest has been hit with the worst snow storm in 40 years. The snow was fun and exciting at first, but now it has degraded to yuck, as you can see in this pic:

Like many things in life, too much of something — even something good — can be too much.  Too much snow leads to yuck. Too much rain lead to floods. Too much sunshine leads to drought (but I wouldn’t mind a little about now).  Some things are bad even in small doses, for example, McDonalds. Other things can be endlessly good such as carrots or broccoli. 

Despite the snow and ice and the economic onslaught, we managed to have a merry Christmas and are looking forward to a fun New Year’s celebration.  In the gifting department, I thought gadgets would be down, but it seems that gadgets are such a part of our lives we give them without even realizing it. Two folks got spiffy digital cameras, we gave one daughter a purple ipod, the other got a pink DVD player and Mary got a high-tech squirrel-flinging bird feeder.  Look for photo/video of the latter. Should provide much entertainment.

Stay warm and dry and Happy New Year.

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If you’re new to the Cedar Mill Communications blog and website, you’re probably wondering what that handsome dog is doing in the upper right-hand corner. And you’re probably wondering why Brian is getting all the airtime. Wonder no longer! The dog is Felicity, our mascot and spiritual guide. A Buddhist priest once told me dogs are gurus, and he couldn’t have been more correct about Felicity. She and our small auxiliary dog Frankie will crop up from time to time because our world includes much more than just words.

About the heretofore (isn’t that a great word?) lack of words from the other half of CMC — me — I’ve been mulling over this whole blog business for some time now. I couldn’t decide if I really wanted to join this public airing of thoughts. It can get you thrown in jail in Egypt or fired or just dissed. But I do have something to say now and then, and a blog is a good place to throw out thoughts and elicit comments. So, I’ll likely add thoughts about my editing, writing and other word-related stuff — both written and spoken.

Among the kinds of editing I do through CMC is localization editing. That means I edit documents that have been translated into English. I try to make sure the copy reads as though it was written by a native English speaker. Editors needn’t speak or read the source language, but I think it helps to be able to do that. Maybe that’s because I’m a perfectionist about meaning. From three years living in Germany, I read and speak German well enough (though I need another class!).  I work with a fine German-to-English translator, Hilary Higgins. The two of us fuss over wording so that the German writer’s core message comes through, but in a way an American reader (or sometimes British) can fully grasp.

After nearly six years of doing this type of editing, I’ve learned some valuable (wertvoll) lessons: 

1. Discerning meaning is hard to do, but when you get it right, the ah-ha moment is wunderbar.

2. Translating describes only half the job; copywriting is the other half because clients often want us to make the translation better than the source.

2b. The source could have been better.

3. Working with a good translator makes the job a pleasure.  

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This blog provides lots of information about Cedar Mill Communications, a general communications service and consultancy.  If you are interested in our services — which are professional and affordable — we would love to talk to you.

 While we have many years of experience at writing, we can always improve. An ongoing journal helps us to stay in top form, and we hope we can impart some tips and insights that you, our dear reader, will find helpful.  

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