Wilding on a Hard Day’s Night
The air was crisp when I walked across the empty lot towards Lincoln’s store. The 11th grade. Boy, was I glad today was over. Friday trig was a ball-buster. My trig teacher, hawk-faced Sully, got…
Bingo Disaster
Most of my years at St. Jerome grammar school were a pleasure, but Bingo Day in the 8th grade was an exception. I never talk about it, yet it pops into my head at the…
Too Old to Learn
I’m a technical manager of programmers. The job fits me fine. I was brought up in a house where only work was encouraged. At home enjoyment was tolerated, but only if it didn’t interfere with…
Happy Path
One Happy Path Blake Abbott was my temporary manager back in 2005, when MegaTel went bonkers. I flew down to Tampa to learn how Blake's team created interfaces from legacy provisioning systems for the incoming…
Phil Never Loses
The other day, talking to Mark Gorkin who specializes in burn-out recovery and teamwork, I realized I too have a few stories that deal with work. Here's one with a boss's trait worth knowing about.…
This Pen for Hire
It's a good living, even during this Great Recession. It will remain so as long as politicians want to appear as benefactors when they're actually predators. That's where I come in. I sugarcoat politician's desires…