Can you use these online? B&N's website offers a lot more types
of things than you can find in their brick-and-mortar stores.

Gene Kim-Eng

----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Allison" verizon.net>
To: lists.techwr-l.com>
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 12:02 PM
Subject: RE: Friday Question

Do be careful not to give books next year to people who gave you B&N
certificates this year!

I would probably spend the entire amount on frivolous magazine subscriptions
(will B&N still process those?) -- especially the ones I can write off as
"research" when I sell them an article. How-to zines, TMEN, Horticulture,
Fine Gardening, Countryside & Small Stock Journal...

And maybe one or two "For Dummies" books on some of the new-to-me tools I've
been looking at

If you are going to go it alone hire an accountant and a lawyer. Have them
advise you on the form of your company. My lawyer recommended LLC (easier)
my accountant s-corp (saves money). Accountant won. :-) I pay my accountant
considerably more now, but save multiples of that in taxes.

The ideal answer for you depends on your situation, get professionals to
advise you (kind of like telling the client to get a tech writer to develop
documentation rather than the co-op).

I am lucky on benefits front (wife's benefits). She has a new type of plan
with a huge deductible ($4k) but low premiums. You contribute to an account
pre-tax for the 4k, and get to roll funds over year-to-year unlike the
medical savings account. Obviously, again, talk to a professional. I would
think that would have advantages for the sole proprietor as well (lower
premiums).

Good Luck!

Bryan

PS: for the record I am cheap, and have tended to go it alone (TurboTax over
accountant) but have found paying people who know what they are doing is
cheaper in the long run... again a tech writing tie-in... :-)

On 1/26/07, beth.tripp@verizon.net verizon.net> wrote:

Looking to Freelance? "The Well-Fed Writer" and "The Well-Fed Writer: Back
for Seconds" by John Bowerman. Update your Technical Writing library with
good, hardbound, and the most recent revisions of reference materials, like
style guides (Chicago), a thesaurus, an unabridged dictionary, technology
reference books for whatever you happen to work with, and gifts for other
people.

Lauren

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus.edu@lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus.edu@lists.techwr-l.com] On Behalf Of
Nancy Allison
Sent: Friday, January 26, 2007 9:20 AM
To: techwr-l@lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Friday Question

For Christmas, I was given a total of $150.00 in gift cards for Barnes and
Noble. Tell me what you would buy with it! No holds barred!

Optional -- If you're interested in the considerations I would have, they
are:

1. Can I find it more cheaply on Half.com? If so, that's where I'll buy it.

I would use it as a down payment for the 3 volume edition of the Oxford
English Dictionary. Once at home, I will try to read it without the
magnifying glass until I actually have need of the company's vision
plan.

I would take the magnifying glass, put it on eBay, and trade up for a
500-acre parcel in Montana and a warehouse full of unmailed aluminum
cases of America Online 5.0. I would then eschew all technology, save
for a Pitney Bowes mailing system and a Royal typewriter, and begin
mailing Steve Case one copy of AOL 5.0 once a day.

But seriously, I'd use the 150.00 as a downpayment for the OED or the
Calvin and Hobbes Compendium (which is more expensive than the OED).

Russell Brasel
Technical Writer
Dent-A-Med, Inc. d/b/a The HELPCard
russell.brasel@hccredit.com

Excellent ideas, all! I particularly like the Death-By-Chocolate option, to
which I would add caffeine. But I'm really trying to arrest the middle-aged
spread (also known as Programmer's Heinie) that is afflicting me. . .

All other suggestions welcome!

--Nancy

Hi,

IÂ’m new to the list and have searched for information on health
insurance while doing contract work and didnÂ’t find anything in the
archives.

I currently work through a recruiter so I can have health
insurance. (I took a pay cut to ensure that I was covered.) What
do other writers do that are self employed? Those in Canada need
not reply. :o)

Can I become an LLC to get around the self-employed? Does anyone
know a great insurance broker that can beat the system?

Insurance companies are very picky about who they will insure. Out
here on the left coast IÂ’ve tried to roll-over a health plan from
group to a single account but didnÂ’t qualify because I have had
prescriptions filled. I feel another migraine coming on.

The last quote I received for coverage was between 1000.00 and
1500.00 a month just for me, and that was through the state (only
for 18 months). After the 18 months, the state expects you to be
able to get insurance. And no that wasnÂ’t COBRA that was after
COBRA runs out.

My robohelp context-sensitive help window displays with a "Show" link. The user clicks "Show" to
view the TOC. How can I (a) change the name of the link to "Show TOC"; (b) display the TOC
automatically.

T. Charter
Tech Writer
Physicians Mutual
402 930 2658

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My choice is completely frivolous, but I would get "The Complete Far
Side 1980-1994" (2 vol set in hardcover). It's something I want, but it
is too much to spend "my" money on. = )

~Kelly

Nancy Allison wrote:

Barnes and

Hmm. If B&N will order it, I think I would go for the new edition of
"Audubon's Birds of America: The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio."

$122.10 at Amazon.

*Product Details*

Hello, I've checked the techwr-l archives and surfed the web, and I've found
some info regarding setting up a documentation department, but I'm wondering
if some of you can point me to some additional helpful material in this
area.

In about a week, I will be starting as lead tech writer at a company with a
product that has customers but no user documentation. My group will be small
(myself and maybe two other tech writers), and we will be tasked with
creating user manuals, online help (Robohelp), and eventually, Camtasia- or
Captivate-based tutorials for remote users of the product. Obviously, this
won't all happen overnight.

I am being tasked with taking the lead in getting the department on its
feet. I will be talking to management to determine the priorities, as far as
media, which pieces of the product are most in need of immediate
documentation, and so on.

As I've been a tech writer before, but not tasked with starting a department
from scratch, I am looking for things I don't have in my toolkit, such as:

1) Formulas, or practical guidelines, for determining how much time to
allocate to learning about the product; coming up with manual, online, and
other templates; coming up with a style guide; and so on.