The first few weeks on any job can be trying. There’s so much to learn about the company, the product and your role/team. For an introverted agoraphobe like me, there’s all the stress of meeting new people and orienting myself to the culture of the place. It can be overwhelming, no doubt. At this moment
There is just the hint of autumn on the air this week. It is different here in California from the autumns I remember as a kid. Back then, this time of year brought the smell of dry leaves and apple cider, the cool temperatures that kissed the grass with frost in the early mornings and
There is something to be said about the ways a round of interviews during job hunting can help narrow your focus on what it is you do and why. Sure, I get tired of talking about myself all the time (I’m not really all that interesting to be honest), but as you answer the same
There is something fitting about starting a new job on my birthday. It feels like new beginnings. Today I start as a technical writer with a company called Quantcast. Which means I also start my new job with learning new things. A lot of new things. I already have 52 emails, most of which are
Anniversaries can be hard. A twentieth anniversary after nearly two years of worldwide sorrow and loss is going to be hard. Some of us can not look away from the images and footage. Some of us can’t bear to see it again. Some of us fall somewhere in the middle of that. Please be kind
Some days, when I sit down to write, my mind goes blank. Other days my fingers can’t type fast enough to get everything in my head down on paper/screen. Some days words flow freely and they express things beautifully. Other days it’s more like slogging through mud. This last week or so there has been
As a new writer, one of the hang ups I had was tending to slip between past tense and present, particularly when I was writing action. There’s just something more intense about action in the present tense. It was an accident that I would sometimes catch, and sometimes not. I still do one thorough reading
As I’ve been job hunting these last few weeks, I’ve made a point to look into companies that are doing the kind of work that benefits humanity. Being a tech writer with the ability to explore many different kinds of tech is a wonderful way to learn about new and innovative ways that people are
I know I’m in a minority when I say that I love the number thirteen and even more so when it falls on a Friday. We might say it stems from the fact that I was born on a Friday the 13th. It was September, 1968. My parents were in Florida while my father was
On Thursday, I got on a plane for the first time in almost 2 years. I flew from Oakland to Austin on Southwest. To accomplish this, I had to walk a half mile to the BART station, take two BART trains to get to the airport, check in, get through security, get on a plane,
