I call myself an "iteration" writer, meaning that through a process of repeated passes, or "iterations," I continue to fine-tune my writing until I achieve the results I desire.  While some writers can produce amazing results on their initial effort, I am not one of them.  Though my first draft is generally good, it is not good enough.

When writing for publication, I perform multiply writing iterations in one sitting and then let my work ruminate.  A day or two later I make a final read, accompanied by the appropriate tweaks.  I may repeat that process again the next day before pronouncing it "good."  Unfortunately, once I see my writing in print, there is invariably something that I would like to reword.

When blogging, I do my iterations in one sitting, without the luxury of being able to cogitate on it for a day or two.  It is posted sans a next-day, final edit.  As a result, nearly every blog receives a minor edit at some point.  This may occur when someone notifies me of typo, when I back up the month's work, or if I later stumble onto something.  (It is admittedly narcissistic, but I do enjoy re-reading my work.)

This brings me to Twitter, where words must be precise and concise, without the benefit of subsequent editing.  As such, I gave my most recent tweet some thought, reworking it over several hours, albeit in 60-second blocks.  Consider the iterations:

Learn from the past, live for the present, plan for the future.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, plan for tomorrow.
Don’t live in the past or the future; learn from yesterday, live for today, plan for tomorrow.
Don’t live in the past or live for the future; learn from yesterday, live for today, plan for tomorrow.
Don’t reside in the past or dwell on the future; learn from yesterday, live for today, plan for tomorrow.
Don’t reside in the past or dwell on the future, but learn from yesterday, live for today, and plan for tomorrow.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, and plan for tomorrow; don’t reside in the past or dwell on the future.

Which one did I use?  Check out Peter DeHaan on Twitter for the answer.

Last week I prepared my house to be painted.  One of the tasks was to remove the street numbers from the house, allowing for both home and numbers to be easily painted.

The street numbers are above the garage door and easily viewable from the street.  They weren't always there, however.  Initially they were above the front door, but as the trees in the yard grew, the numbers became increasingly obscured.  So one day I moved them from front door to garage door.

When my daughter came home, she inquired, "Didn't the numbers used to be over the front door?"

When my son came home, he plainly asked, "When do you move the numbers?"

My bride made no such query and when the topic arose, she seriously asked, "We have numbers on our house?"

On a recent mailed statement, there was a notice that "for every 13 people who go paperless, one tree can be saved."  Really?  What does that mean?

• 13 people go paperless with this company for one month and one tree will be saved, or
• 13 people go paperless with this company for one year and one tree will be saved, or
• 13 people go paperless with this company for as long as they're a customer and one tree will be saved, or 
• 13 people go paperless with all companies for the rest of their lives and one tree will be saved...

None of these explanations makes sense.  The first two would not save much paper, while the last two contain too much variability to be accurately quantified.  What does make sense is going paperless when it is sensible to do so.  Going paperless and then printing out the paperless statement gains nothing, so if a hard copy is needed, don't go paperless.  However, many statements can be received electronically, stored electronically, and later on, destroyed electronically.

I enjoy receiving invoices as email attachments.  I don't like the alternative of receiving a notice that a statement is available for me to download.  Although a desirable precaution for banking and investment records, it is a hassle.  You need to log into a secure site, enter your login and password, navigate to the right page, and download the statement.  To make matters worse, it is inadvisable to click on email links, as they can direct you to a bogus site.  It is also inadvisable to use the same login and password for each site, which adds another level of complexity and confusion.

I'm all for saving trees and doing whenever it is practical.  However, when saving a tree is time-consuming and frustration-laden, I'll pass.  After all, a tree can be planted to replace the one I used, but the time lost in trying to save the tree is gone forever.

A few weeks ago, I mentioned another oil spill , this one in my home state.

Although smaller than the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this one is still estimated to be 1 million gallons — which to me is a huge amount of petroleum.

Today it was reported that the company responsible for the spill estimated that the cleanup would end up costing them $400 million.  That's about $400 for each gallon spilled!

Though I've not heard news recently about the status of the clean up — since the media enjoys broadcasting bad news, I assume that no news is good news — it seems that the focus has already shifted beyond cleanup to the cost.

For PB it is a much different story.  They will be in the news for a long, long time — and I suspect that their effective cost per gallon spilled will likewise be much, much more than $400 a gallon.

With the monsoons continuing to deluge Pakistan, producing flooding, causing a lack of shelter, food, and clean drinking water, and resulting in death, I wonder, "Can't something be done to prevent this?"

It is silly, of course, to think that the weather can be controlled — or is it?  Could a monsoon, hurricane, typhoon, or tornado be redirected to a less populated area or safely dissipated before damage is done?  Though it may seem laughable or even arrogant to propose, consider "the butterfly effect" which suggests otherwise.

The Butterfly Effect, based on chaos theory, postulates that a small event, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, could have a much larger effect someplace else, such as altering, causing, or averting a tornado.  (Check out the Wikipedia entry for the Butterfly Effect for more information than you likely care to know). 

Although the location of the altered weather is random and cannot be predetermined, it seems that something could somehow be done to mitigate the damage of a developing storm.  Yes, it would take more than a butterfly or two, but caught early enough, it would seem that a reasonably small event could be introduced to calm a storm's fury.

It would be akin to the idea of altering the path of an approaching asteroid.  If done when it was far enough away, the trajectory need only be changed a fraction of a degree to cause it to completely miss the earth.  Again, it would be a minor event, producing a huge change.  Why not?

(While we're on the subject, I recommend that you not watch the 2004 movie, The Butterfly Effect.)

Yesterday I received a 17-page booklet from my credit card provider covering their revised "customer agreement."  They mailed it under the guise of good customer service, but I'm sure that buried somewhere inside is a policy change that will effect me.  However, I don't have the time or interest to read all 17 pages to figure out what it is.  Even if they highlighted the section, there is often so much double talk, qualifying statements, and caveats, that I would likely not fully grasp what they are changing.  I just hope that the change is not too onerous or detrimental to me.  One thing I can be quite sure of is that with the current credit situation, depressed economy, and increased oversight, that the changes will not be in my favor.

A few months ago, my local credit union sent me a notice of new fees.  This seemingly happens every few months, so I gave it little thought, especially since I do not incur fees on my account — well I didn't use to incur fees.  They changed one number; however, that was the "gotcha."  They doubled the minimum balance required to have free checking.  Although I have many times that amount in CDs, they dinged me for a monthly service fee anyway.  To make matters worse they managed to bill it twice on the same statement, one for the current month and one for the prior month.

They did eventually refund the charges "this one time."  I don't plan on there being a second time.  When my CD comes due this fall, I'll close my account, moving it to my other credit union that doesn't play those types of games.

I hoped I won't be forced into doing the same thing with my credit card.

Mohandas Gandhi considered these to be society's seven deadly social sins:

• Wealth without Work
• Pleasure without Conscience
• Science without Humanity
• Knowledge without Character
• Politics without Principle
• Commerce without Morality
• Worship without Sacrifice

It sure gives one something to think about.

This blog, the "Musings of Peter DeHaan," is about nothing, but covers everything.  It is essentially a sharing of my stream of conscience.  While this blog will continue unabated, I have started another blog, one with a stated purpose and goal.

It is a business blog, called "From the Publishers Desk," and shares my tips and commentary about advertising and marketing.  If this topic is of interest, I encourage you to check it out.  Just like this blog, you can sign up to be notified via email of new posts or subscribe to a list feed.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the primary election in Michigan.  I'll be glad when it is over, with the mailings and robo calls escalating to the point of being ridiculous.  We've been receiving multiple items from the same candidate on the same day.  Even the door-to-door campaigning is ridiculous — one day last week, three people stopped by! 

I've given up answering the phone (wait I don't do too much of that anyway), so my bride and the answering machine have been bearing the brunt of the political deluge.  She, too, has been complaining about all the calls. 

So what's she doing tonight?  Making "get out the vote" calls for a local candidate!  So instead of being on the receiving end of the irritation, now she's dishing it out.  She insists that she's one of the "nice" ones, but frankly if she were to call me, I wouldn't be on the line long enough to find out.

Regardless, after the voting tomorrow, we will enjoy a bit of reprieve before the fall elections.

As for tomorrow — or whenever your primary is — don't forget to vote, because if you don't vote, you have no right to complain.

The attention of North America and possibly the world is on the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but southwest Michigan is dealing with its own oil spill.  Although at an estimated one million gallons, it is relatively small in comparison, it has been receiving much attention locally and was deemed newsy enough to garner some national coverage over the weekend. 

Michigan's oil spill is on the Kalamazoo River (albeit not the part that goes through Kalamazoo).  Although the water will disperse it just like on the gulf, there are some key differences. 

One is that on a river, the oil is relatively contained.  There is no question as to where it will go; it will go downstream, whereas the oil in the gulf is at the mercy of changing weather, water patterns, and numerous other variables that make its path hard to predict.  Another difference is that recovery and repair crews can reach our spill much quicker and address it more effectively.  A third issue is that the source of the leak is a pipeline on the surface, as opposed to being thousands of feet under water in a challenging work environment — and not insignificantly, our leak was quickly stopped.

Oh, one more key difference is that the company responsible seems to be responding properly and admirably, possibly having learned a lesson from BP's slow and oft-criticized response. 

Workers have been mobilized and are out skimming the oil off the river and groups are rescuing oil-covered wildlife (which so far as been minimal).  While some people have had to temporarily leave their homes (toxic fumes) and others are advised to drink bottled water, the impact is not looking too severe.  Even though a million gallons of oil seems like a formidable amount, there is confidence that this spill can be quickly dealt with and contained before it causes greater havoc or reaches Lake Michigan (some 70 miles away).

I got up early this morning, and in the pre-dawn began pulling in cool 60-degree air into our warm abode.  In short order the temperature dropped 7 degrees to an agreeable 70, where it stayed most of the morning.  Attired only in T-shirt and shorts, I was quite comfortable.

What is perplexing is that six months ago, in the midst of winter's fury, with the thermostat set at 72, I would layer on the clothes and still be cold.

This is a strange personal phenomenon that occurs with predicted regularity each year as we cycle from summer to winter and back again.

I've never known why.  One possibility is that since I like summer and dislike winter, it is a psychological response to my frame of mind — meaning that it is all in my head.  I don't care for that theory.

Alternately, claiming a physiological explanation is more palatable, but on what might I blame it?

The answer, I do not know.  What I do know is that I like summer and am quite comfortable — and happy! 

I wish the same for you.

I'm a casual follower of the professional sports teams in my home state of Michigan.  While it is unlikely that I ever watch a complete game, I do check out a play or two if I'm channel surfing and periodically go online to see how these various teams are fairing.

Realizing that the WNBA season is underway, I went to the Detroit Shock's website to see how their year was shaping up.  Boy was I in for a shock — during the off-season they were sold and moved to Tulsa!

I scanned the roster for familiar names; only one of last year's players remained.  Now called the Tulsa Shock, with a new coach and new jerseys, the only other thing they retained is Detroit's history of winning three WNBA championships.

There was, however, another familiar name listed.  Familiar not from the sport of basketball, but from track and field.  Her name?  Marion Jones.  Yes, that Marion Jones.  At age 34, she is the league's oldest rookie — and her team's eldest player.  Retiring from her original sport in disgrace, she is seemingly seeking a comeback in another. 

Although this is an interesting development, her team needs more; they are currently 4 and 19, with the worst record in the WNBA.

I recently made a new friend.  She is pursuing her PhD in Mathematics.  Her course work is finished and she is focusing on her dissertation.  Interestingly, at one point in my life, I too wanted a PhD in mathematics, but she is the first person I've met who was actually doing it!

Aside from the math part, another intriguing aspect is what she's researching.  At the risk of over simplification, she is studying the teaching techniques used by the people who teach the math teachers. 

Consider, depending on the circumstances, that during a career, the average teacher will directly influence 500 to 5,000 students.

And, again depending on the circumstances, during a career, the average teacher of teachers will directly influence 500 to 5,000 teachers — and thereby indirectly influencing 250,000 to 25,000,000 students.

Now, if she can help these teachers of the teachers be more effective, say 500 to 5,000 of them during the course of her career, the span of her influence will be vast and pervasive, beyond what is reasonable to calculate.  That is a profound amount of influence that one person can make.  There is the very real possibility that she could improve and even change the way math is taught to the next generation.

And if you're one who struggled with math in school, that should be some welcome news!

In a move that surprised many, the USPS (United States Postal Service) requested that it be allowed to increase postage rates an average of 5% on January 2, 2011.

This flies in the face having annual increases each May that track with the CPI (Consumer Price Index).

What does this mean to you?  For starters, a first class stamp will cost an extra two cents.  (This is a good reminder to buy the "forever stamps" at today's price and use them next year in lieu of 46 cent stamps.)

Additionally, expect a bigger push to move mail online.  More statements and invoices will be sent via email.  Worse will be the email notifications that you need to download your statements, that cumbersome process of logging-in to a website, navigating security protocols, and downloading them — a safe, yet timely and hassle-filled procedure.

Also, more periodicals will cease mail delivery, requiring them to be downloaded as well.  Still, most people (myself included) do not like reading magazines on their computers, but Apple's iPad may offer an acceptable alternative.  (Although e-readers, like the Kindle, are embraced by many for books, they do not work well with magazines, as they are text-only.)

The final consideration is one of those good-news bad-news situations.  You can expect the amount of direct mail you receive to decrease — it will instead move to the inbox of your email.  In essence, less junk mail, more spam.  Thank you USPS.

When we lost power last weekend , there were high winds at the time.  Very high.  To my dismay, the next morning I spotted three birds' nests that had been ripped from my trees by the gusty gale.  Although saddened by the loss of home for my animal friends, I was encouraged that most of the nests were apparently empty, as I found only one poor creature who didn't make it.

There was, however, one nest that smartly survived the bluster.  It was snugly secured above a crook in my downspout, safely beneath the protective overhang of my home's eave.  A good thing too, has it was home to three baby robins.  I noticed them that morning during my inspection of the storm's damage.  By the time I took a picture later that day, one had already left the nest.

Upon checking later in the day, I spooked another.  With instinct overcoming him, and a mighty squawk and sputter, he took to flight.  I was witness to the first flattering, yet successful, flaps of his wings.  His parents were aghast, making quite a fuss in the process.  One flew near to where he landed and another served as an irritating distraction, with a cacophony of sound and sight.

By the next day, the youngest sibling had likewise "flown the coop."

The nest is still there, empty, but ready.  Robins often have two broods a year, so mom and dad may be back for a repeat performance later this summer.

Last weekend we decided to watch a DVD.  The only problem was that we were in the midst of a power outage.  Undaunted, we gathered around a laptop and popped in the DVD.  It would not play; something about a missing plug-in.

Although frustrating, we moved to a second laptop.  The DVD played fine — until the battery died with only a couple of scenes remaining.

I pulled a third laptop out of the closet, but the battery was dead.  Fortunately, the battery from the first laptop was interchangeable; unfortunately, that computer had issues as well: one program had an audio problem and the other one, video.

However, a small UPS in my office still had some life left in it, so we migrated there with laptop #2 — and watched another 30 seconds before the UPS ran out of juice.

The movie would need to wait for tomorrow.

As I lay in bed, wondering how it ended, I recalled the power inverter in my car.  We could have retreated there to power the laptop and conclude the movie.  While I considered the merits of sitting in a car that was parked in a garage to watch a movie on a laptop, I drifted off to sleep — and to the sound of my neighbor's generator.

In Steve Martin's 1979 movie, "The Jerk," one scene shows protagonist Navin (Martin) gleefully proclaiming "The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here!"

For some reason, I recall that line each year when the phone book is delivered.  Back in the day when I ran Yellow Page ads, I would, with an equal amount of excitement, quickly turn to see my ads.

Later, my focus became checking the listing for my residence in the white pages.  But it wasn't the same.  Even that practice has waned in recent years.  Now, half the phone books I receive are immediately discarded without their contents even being considered.

This year, however, that urge to review my listing re-emerged.  To my surprise, this year's installment contains no residential section, just a business listing section and the yellow pages.  On the cover, there's an unobtrusive instruction to go to their Web site for residential listings.

That seems strange.  They need people to use their book to give value to the advertisements that appear in it, yet they give people one more reason to not use it.  True, the residential white pages generate very little revenue and are an expense, so for the short-term, it seems like a no-brainer to eliminate them.  But for the long term, they are doing themselves harm.

By the way, their book ended up in the trash.

Sometimes after a day at work, my bride comes home and remarks, "it's been a long day!"

Being the supportive and understanding spouse that I am, I quickly concur with appropriate empathy.  Unfortunately, I am seldom content to merely agree, so I sarcastically add, "Yes, I heard on the news that today was 35 minutes longer then yesterday.  Today, was, truly a long day."  That rarely wins me any points, but does garner an irritated glare.

What she may mean is that work lasted — or seemed to last — for a long time.  Alternately, it could convey that work was very frustrating. I know what she means, but she doesn't say what she means.  Instead, she insists that the day was somehow longer than normal.

It like fashion, some people quip that yesterday was the longest day of the year.  But that is not correct either.  It was the same length as all the others; it merely contained more daylight minutes — and correspondingly less nighttime minutes — than any other day of the year.  That is, for those of us north of the equator.

For those in the southern hemisphere, theirs was the shortest day of the year.  Not really.  It just had the least amount of daylight and the maximum amount of darkness. 

What about those on the equator?  I understand that they enjoyed an even 12 - 12 split of light and dark, just like every other day.

So whether your day was long — or short — or the same length as all others, I hope that it was a good one.  Mine was.

There was a time when I traveled quite a bit.  Nowadays, it is infrequent.  As such when I do travel, I am always treated to something new, to a different way of doing things.

On my last flight, instead of the usual admonition of providing correct change for our various in-flight purchases, the new rule was no cash — credit cards only.  The flight attendants were equipped with some nifty hand-held credit card terminals, complete with a self-contained mini printer.  While this didn't seem to quicken the speed of the transaction (if anything, it slowed it down), there are several benefits to a cashless process.

Most importantly, it is more sanitary.  No longer must the flight attendants alternate between touching germ-laden cash and preparing our food.

Next, it is more convenient for passengers.  I suspect that nary a passenger would be flying sans credit card, whereas some might be cash strapped.  (I've been there a time or two).  Having the correct amount is no longer an issue, plus for those on an expense account, a credit card makes it easier to track of purchases.

It is also more convenient for flight attendants.  They no longer need to handle money and are no longer challenged in finding change for those who only have larger bills (I've been there as well).

Lastly, I suspect that people spend more when they use plastic.  A case in point was my seatmate, who flashed her card four times during our three hour flight: twice for adult beverages, once for earphones, and a final time to eat (she actually bought two meals.)

Traveling still isn't fun — but at least it's interesting.

I'm not sure if this was covered in the national news, but President Obama paid a visit to Kalamazoo yesterday.  Of course, it was a huge deal here.  The reason for his visit was to deliver a high school commencement address to the graduating class of Kalamazoo Central High School.  It was, indeed, quite an honor.  I heard sound bites of his speech on the news; what I heard was stirring, inspirational, and wise. 

Even so, there is a clip of a napping member of the choir — pictured in the background, with the president in the foreground speaking at the podium.  A classmate gives the snoozing student a wary look; he jerks to reality just in time to applaud the command-in-chief.  Even if it is a hoax, it is sure to go viral.

News reports of the event indicate the Mr. Obama avoided politics and focused on the graduates and the opportunities before them.  I was also treated to some reports and cell phone pics, courtesy of my Facebook friends.

While some people were rightly enthused about the president's visit, many were also critical.  This was in part because they feared he would use the event for political expediency, a few because they lack respect for him or his position, but most due to all the commotion and hassles that it caused — not to mention the incredible cost for security.

Interestingly, the news reported that President Obama flew into the Grand Rapids airport and not the much closer Kalamazoo airport.  A fleet of helicopters transported him and his team the 45 miles between the two cities.  The reporter did not mention what was found lacking with our local airport.

Notably, President Obama reportedly shook hands with each graduate as they received their diploma, likely creating a lasting and significant impression on each one.  Thank you President Obama.