The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel


I grew up less then a 1/2 hour from the hermits camp and I am quite familiar with the woods. The book is a good read about the hermit and details his story very well. It is well written and kept my interest.
The book also details how he was able to get the story by writing to Knight in prison and going to visit him in jail. Also Finkel went to the campsite and surrounding woods and gives a good description of what it was like while he was there for over 25 years.
Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

Knight did not have a pet in the woods but the closest to it was a mushroom..


The Hermit grew up very close to where it did around the same time. This description of riding around seemed very farmiliar to kids in semi-rural Maine.


Lastly this info about isolation and how it effects on people really shocked me.

AUG Conference – 10th year presenting

will be giving my 10th presentation at this years AUG (Air Operators Users Group)conference in New Orleans on Jan 17-19. I have been part of this conference since 2000. A great conference focused on users with great knowledge exchange!
Below is a info-graphic I created using Canva that lists all of them over the years including the topics.

Books of 2017

I read 14 books this year for a total of 5005 pages(meeting my 5K goal for the 4th year in a row!). Below is the list:


I really enjoyed all of them but my favorite this year I think I would choose “Thank You for Being Late” by Thomas L. Friedman. It kept my interest very well as he explained the complex world and where we are headed. Of course “The Everything Store” was a close second.
On the next tier of my books that really helped me understand what happened in the election of 2016 was Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. he wrote this great book about growing up in southern Ohio / Northern Kentucky area and how his family and friends outlook on education. Here is my favorite quote from his book:

Western Canada Trip – 2017

Just got back from a week in Western Canada where I traveled all over. It was a serious travel schedule where I was flying every night to another city. It ended in Fort McMurray at the Oil Sands. I gave presentations at a pulp and paper mill, oil refinery, and oil extraction. Very interesting and learned so much about emissions in the great white north.

packing School – November 2017

This week I taught the level 1 packing class again. I have been teaching this class since the fall of 2000! All of our specialists for almost the last 20 years has learned packing from me. I am quite proud of that fact since our overall packing business has grown over that time and our sales force uses that knowledge to solve customer problems.

This class had 3 people from Canada and 3 from Chesterton Groveland.

The Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin

A few years ago I saw Mr. Rifkin on a podcast and I was so excited by what he was saying I went out and bought this book. Not only is he someone who really is a visionary about where the world is headed, he has been proven right from his earlier writings.
As the name of the books suggests ( the sub title of the book is The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism) he sees a future where the world will be built off of the work of collective commons and shared economy. he also realizes that free is coming to everything. A quote from the book:
“But what if I were to say to you that 25 years from now, the bulk of the energy you use to heat your home and run your appliances, power your business, drive your vehicle, and operate every part of the global economy will likewise be nearly free? That’s already the case for several million early adopters”

He drives this home also with a subject I am very familiar with of electric power distribution. For example, Germany has focused on having homeowners are one of the main players of creating power through solar. He has been consulting with the German Government for years on his vision the the 3rd industrial revolution.
“In Germany, a gas- or coal-fired power plant that might cost $1 billion to build, but that will no longer run at full capacity because of the onslaught of renewable energies into the grid, can only pay for itself on days when there is no wind or heavy cloud cover.”

He also discusses the IoT well. Here he talks about how it is hitting so fast with the other major movements:
“The coming together of the Communications Internet, the Energy Internet, and the Logistics Internet in an Internet of Things provides the cognitive nervous system and physical means to integrate all of humanity in an interconnected global Commons that extends across the entirety of society.”

Vice Media just made a film about Jeremy Rifkin that was at the Tribeca film festival that I am excited to see but can’t find it anywhere. Below is a good sample of Jermey’s works on Youtube:

Manchester United Game – May 6, 2016

In the spring of 2016, I did a English / Dutch trip for the company and one day after doing some distributor training in Liverpool, we were asked if we would want to go to the last game of the season to see Manchester United in their home stadium Old Trafford. I was really excited to go since it is the most famous football/soccer team in the world! We had an amazing time and I really am gratful how lucky I was to go. Elarlier today I watched an ESPN 30 for 30 on George Best from Man U and it got me thinking about my visit.


This is the famous old Trafford the night I went. As you can see, it is an amazing holy place where giants of the sport world play!


We were in the Execitive club and this is a photo of George Best playing for Manchester united back in the 70’s that was on the wall when you come into the main entrance.


This is a selfie in front of the “captain’s” wall art. Such an amazing day!


Another of me looking into the stadium.


We had dinner as part of the ticket and it was a real swanky affair including the Manchester United logo on the butter!

I also took a video of the famous crowd singing a song during the game here.