One thing that has surprised me about myself is how I enjoy the challenge of figuring out technology. But first, the main key message of this blog: I am thrilled to offer signed copies of each of my five books as 2026 comes to an end. I figured it was a good time to give it a try, selling my leftover inventory directly from my website. Each book is discounted one dollar from its retail price. (Hint: find the option to buy at the top of each of my book pages.) I will sign the selected book(s), but if you send me an email or message I’m also happy to write a special inscription for you or someone you love. If you’d rather buy your books from other sources, especially independent bookstores, I say go for it! But I thought this might be a fun opportunity. If you live close to me and don’t want to pay the $5 postage, just reach out to me the old-fashioned way or email.

Now, back to that technology bit. I will not use AI for my writing; period and exclamation mark. I support human authors and the traditional book industry that shuns the use of AI to tell stories that people could and should be creating themselves. I also don’t use AI for images, preferring to use photos I have taken – even if they don’t exactly fit my needs.

That being said, I have to admit to using AI in helping me do my own tech work on my website. I am grateful that my prior job at OHSU included me to be a person responsible for many tasks. Not only did I support the technical aspects of my industrial hygiene and safety profession, but I too took on many related tasks, such as initiating and managing a new outward facing blog for OHSU via WordPress. I initially set up social media for our Institute, ironically because our colleague Max at NIOSH encouraged us to when in 2010 uncovering formaldehyde in the Brazilian Blowout hair product. (Oh yes, lots to read on this including this still active NIOSH post.) When the pandemic hit, I learned how to put on events using Teams and Zoom and how to put content on YouTube. I have to admit, I enjoyed all of that. I learned that variety suited my brain! And so, when I made the decision to offer signed copies from this website, including credit card payment and postage included, I thought it might be kind of fun. I think it’s fair to say, though, that if I didn’t have bits of assistance from AI, I might have given up on the process. One of my fears about AI is the jobs that are lost in the process of all of us being able to use it. In this case, I can promise you I would not have hired someone to do this for me. I might’ve bugged one of my techie friends to give me some hints, but I had no plans to pay for it. As I went through this process, I had to tease things out, even with the help of AI, and found the challenge fun and believe it was good for my (aging) brain. (Yes, I turn 65 this week!)

Buy Signed Books

Back to those books. At this moment, you can go to any of my five book pages (not including my one e-book) and look for the button “Buy Signed Book” to order directly from that page. Of course there could be a kink so if you have a problem, please let me know. Yes, you will get a response from me, not an AI chat box! You should be able to order more than one book and pay the single postage fee of $5. And even if I sell very few books this way, it was fun to set up. If you prefer to order them from a bookstore or online, please continue to do that. I appreciate your support in whatever way you share it, including reading this blog and subscribing to it.

And for those who don’t know, these five books were traditionally published by Bedazzled Inc. Each day I’m grateful to be one of their authors. Check out Bedazzled Ink for more about them. You can also buy any of my ebooks directly from their website.

Upcoming Events

Most of my events have concluded for 2026 with two exceptions. Actually, four if you count the two events related to my profession (join me as I speak at the Columbia Willamette Chapter of ASSP on December 11! But I won’t be talking about books.)

• Mittleman Jewish Community Center Book Club Discusses A Map of Her Own
  Tuesday, November 10 at 1 pm. Open to all. Learn more.
  
• Virtual Author End of Year Open House via Zoom
  Thursday, Nov. 12 at 5:00 PM Pacific Time/8:00 PM Eastern Time.
  Share a question or comment. I’ll even give away a couple books. I’d love to see you on Thursday, November 12 at 5:00 pm Pacific Time/8 pm Eastern Time. Pre-register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/5q_yXmHZSzu2nX3wBIu4uw
  

P.S. Coming Soon

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen that Russ and I just returned from a ten-day road trip visiting five national parks. Stay tuned for an upcoming blog! But I’ll leave you with a photo.