External Links
Search the Archive
By publication…
- Key West Citizen (3)
- KeyNoter (2)
- KONK Life (31)
- KWTN (7)
- Locals Guide (6)
- Solares Hill (5)
- The Blue Paper (21)
By month…
Articles with Tag…
I Need A Job
KONK REACTOR column
[Published in the KONK Life newspaper on May 10, 2012.]
I Need A Job
Two years ago I got the wake-up call:
“Dude, it doesn’t matter that your work garners awards from the CEO, that you have an impressive project resume, that you consistently do high quality work 40% more than you’re being paid for, or that you’ve shown 30 years of loyalty in the face of other opportunities. Our bean counters think we’ll show 0.00001% more profit if we send your project overseas and force you to `retire’ now instead of letting you move over to another needy project.”
Well, the call didn’t use exactly those words, but that was effectively the message.
I documented this (more…)
iPad
Geek Speak column
[Published in the Key West Citizen Locals Guide on May 28, 2010.]
iPad
Years ago I worked on the first IBM ThinkPad, a “tablet” computer with no keyboard. The concept was ahead of its time and the technology was lacking, so tablet computers remained a niche product. Twenty years down the road Apple finally gets it right with the iPad.
Apple has shed much of the baggage associated with previous tablets and concentrated on upsizing their highly successful iPod and iPhone products. Indeed, Apple detractors have called the iPad “a big iPhone that can’t make calls”. That characterization has some truth to it – the iPad’s easy-to-use interface is very similar, and multitudes of users of those other Apple products will instantly find it familiar. But the iPad also shares many of advanced talents of previous tablet computers; it’s much more than a glorified cell phone. (more…)
I’ve-Been-Moved-out
front page article by David Lybrand
[Published in Key West Citizen's Solares Hill on April 11, 2010.]
From I’ve-Been-Moved to I’ve-Been-Moved-out
For years I’ve had a rehearsed quip ready for when a chat takes a suitable twist. “I can list all of my life’s full-time jobs with 9 letters: DAD, SAM (as in Uncle Sam) and IBM.” I’d explain how I had worked full time when not in school at my dad’s bike shop until I went into the Army at 18. Afterward, IBM hired me a year before I graduated from college, where I worked ever since.
I fully expected to continue using that quip into retirement and for the rest of my life. But this last week it all became obsolete. The company once nicknamed “I’ve Been Moved” due to frequent job-related transfers for its loyal employees, has branded me with their new slogan: “I’ve Been Moved-out”. So before long I’ll have to add more letters to “DAD SAM IBM” to reflect whatever else I end up doing until I actually can retire. (more…)