Once we got into November the year started to droop. Seattle earns its reputation for bad weather in the eleventh month. It’s not just the rain but the wind storms and darkness. Once Halloween’s over we reset the clocks and… Read More ›
Corporate America
Why September always starts with fog
I have no idea. But it’s much better than pure gray. The blurring adds mystery, makes Japanese watercolors out of the banal. Took a drive last night for an ice cream, first time in six days outside the perimeter of… Read More ›
The World
It was the last of the tarot-reading Saturday morning overnight music programs on our local radio station, the last card in the major arcana, The World. And so I tried to catch it all live by getting up at 3:30… Read More ›
Hot desking
Springtime as a young consultant though not really young, almost 48. An office of about 200 with capacity for 150 and me in the oldest 10%. Young consultants dressed to look older, older consultants headed the other way. Office chit… Read More ›
Cart boy
No one called me cart boy to my face but they probably did behind my back. That was the crux of my job, pushing reports on a Rubbermaid cart, dropping them off for each CSR. The reports were DOS-matrix style,… Read More ›
Shadow bandwidth
So alright, the mid-morning nap. On a workday. I’m not trying to sound boastful about napping while I’m working from home, or being paid to work but napping, which feels actually foreign and not altogether good. But then the meta… Read More ›
Indefinite loop
2023 By the time spring started I hadn’t worked for four months. There’d been a short gig in December but prior to that, nothing since June. The agency I contract with slows down in the summer as their primary client… Read More ›
The Comfort Zone
The instructor drew a circle on the whiteboard, said This is the Comfort Zone. There’s no risk of failure here because you know the job, but there’s no development, either. Then he drew a circle around the first one: This… Read More ›
Starbucks and the plastic valve
The plastic valve is called FlavorLock™. It’s a barely noticeable, plastic disc inside a bag of coffee that lets aromatic gasses out, but prevents oxygen from getting in. I can’t figure out who invented the technology, but it changed everything… Read More ›
Confessions of a Project Manager
I took a bet I’d like this whole project management thing. I liked the idea of bringing order to chaos, helping people think things through, and getting things done. When I studied project management in the classroom it all made… Read More ›
Bill Pearse 