My name is Zach Heise. I’m 6’1″, wiry, and roguishly handsome.
I am an Information Technology specialist, liberal Christian, and bicyclist who lives in the small city of Madison, the state capitol of Wisconsin. Between the summers of 2017 and 2018, I resided in the bustling capitol of the Central American nation of Panama…Panama City. My lovely partner Christine and I were there working to improve English language learning in ways both large (her: creating new English teaching curriculum for the UDELAS university system spread across the nation) and small (me: volunteering as a basic-education English language teacher for children in the intercity neighborhood of Chorillo.) We enjoyed our time in Latin America (and adopted a sassy little Panamanian street kitten, Arriba, who now lives with her grandparents), but it’s good to be back in the Midwest.
Until late 2010, I worked in Amman, Jordan with the organization Entity Green, a start-up group that focuses on providing sustainable vocational training for local Jordanians, and refugees from the Occupation of Iraq that had fled to Amman. I handled Computer Hardware training/support, and also did basic support and teaching for several other small education programs. I’m happy to say that as of 2018, I believe as many as 90-95% of my former students have been successfully relocated around the world to Australia, Germany, Canada, and the USA (to name a few). I hope they think back fondly of our time together in our vocational training center in Ein al Basha, whenever they look at a computer!
I originally come from the small town of Brodhead, WI, and I graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a degree in Legal Studies, and a minor (or as we call them, a “certificate”) in Technical Communications. While in school, I dabbled in majoring in Theatre (Acting Program) and Psychology for a couple years each before deciding on my LS degree.
I built this site (originally just static HTML pages) in early 2007, and occasionally do other simple website jobs for the organization I’m part of, as well as friends who want to start up their own websites, or websites for their own organizations. I think in this day and age, everyone who can afford the $6 $10 $15 a year for a domain name should have their own spot on the web.
Thanks for visiting. As time goes on, I hope to expand this to beyond a simple blog into a place where people can see projects I’m currently working on and comment on them, too. Please feel free to leave comments on my entries, positive or negative – constructive criticism is always appreciated.
Zach, In light of your Daily Kos link, we probably disagree on practically everything, EXCEPT, the Thermos E5 Mug. In case they do not notify you that I made a comment on your E5 review, I am pasting in my absolute, dead bang permanent 20-30 minute fix for the handle issue. Once done you can return to those carefree days when you could hook that handle anywhere from pocket to pack strap to free up your hands with nary a concern of either handle slippage [or offage]! Bold words, I know; but, having had stewardship of two, yes two, of these babies I speak with confidence. So, buena suerte,sip in peace. Ps. didn’t mention it in the comment, but I used methanol to clean mine, but I don’t know about your tape residue. Wooden cotton swab handles, doctor’s office unless you have access to lab supplies elsewhere.
D Q. 13 minutes agoEdit | Delete
Agreed, the handle loosening up in use is a weakness in the design, the absolute fix is to clean the prongs and holes and use a wood cotton tip swab stick to push 5-minute epoxy [or other] into the hole till it comes out the almost invisible ‘bleed’ holes near the inside bottom, replace the rubber handle [wipe excess while wet, or tape and pierce matching bleed holes in the tape as I did], let cure, and never again have a concern about slipping or coming off. I did this on my first extremely well-used E5 mug and its replacement [did this one right outa the box]. Thermos should also have included [or made easily purchasable] replacement gaskets, these are a consumable on such a durable design and should have been treated as such; either include three or four of each, or make them a spare part item. <<>>
Ha, I actually haven’t read World o’ Crap or Daily Kos in years – the site’s 11 years old now and I don’t update the bottom of the sidebar very much. These days for “political” I’d just link to r/news and be done with it.
Thank you very much for the fix ideas. It’s going to be tough to dig out the mangled and probably disgusting chunks of masking tape out of the inside of the rubber handle.
Hi I was wondering if you’re the Zach Heise that helped the blind and visually impaired school 4-H. Program in Janesville Wisconsin? If you’re I would love to say hi and catch up. My name is Kereana Chlopek I’m on Facebook Hope to hear from you again.