My professional life revolves around quality assurance with websites, in case you were ever wondering. As I say to laypeople who don't understand what that means, "I do what I can to break a website, but not like a hacker would."

I've only ever had one Bloody Mary in my life. That was in October 2001 on one of the four flights to and from our honeymoon. I don't recall which flight. I do recall that I hated it. 

Today, three of us in the office "got the memo," as it were. We all wore red shirts. Two in t-shirts and one in a polo.

I went it to lunch with some coworkers today. Five guys and the girlfriend of one met us there. So five guys and a girl. 

Last night, we had a late site deployment at work. I could’ve worked from home but everyone else was sticking around the office so I did, too. 

Today, I presented an instructional video I made to a Leadership Seminar held internally in my company. 

Remember how I said that this week would be a return to normalcy regarding work and my schedule?

As in "Work From Home," something I am able and allowed to do via my employer but that I only do once a week due to necessity.

Yesterday, a coworker scheduled a 9 a.m. meeting. For many, that’s no big deal, but our workday starts at 8:30 and she’s offset by an hour living in the Mountain time zone like she does. So I was joking that we might not be able to make that happen. 

When you have a job you love, putting in a little extra time at night and on weekends is not so big a deal. You love your company, you want it to succeed, you know that you play a role in that success. And my company gives me the freedom and technology to do just that. I can even work from home during normal working hours should the need arise.

It’s unreal just how much of a difference there is between slow days at work...

Recently, I picked up a habit from a coworker. That being that I will keep my laptop open and serving as a second screen to my large monitor. On that second screen, I’ll run videos from MoviesAnywhere, Apple’s TV app, or Netflix. 

At least I think these are from 1995. Maybe 1994. Perhaps 1996. But no earlier, nor any later.

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of my employment at my new job. As stated on Twitter...

I know I mentioned this on Instagram, but it bears repeating — over and over again, apparently — until people start to take notice... good proofreaders are essential, period. It doesn’t matter the reason or the time, use them. 

I found this on Instagram. It was taken by the owner of my company who was working from our downtown Chicago satellite office. 

A coworker sent this to me today. I burst out laughing. It’s freaking hilarious. 

Damn near perfection.

I like clever resolutions to stupid problems. Case in point, the other day at work, we were engaging in the timeless argument about the proper pronunciation of the file extension .gif. 

I started work an hour early this morning. 

As much as I used to dominate in step challenges in the past, this has not been the case so much lately. Despite rolling back my daily step goal by 2,000 steps, I'm not even making that regularly.

Another turning point;
A fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist
Directs you where to go.

This Throwback Thursday is of my ID badge at work. The photo was taken on my first day just shy of 11 years ago.

Have you ever woken up tired and then had two cups of dark roast coffee only to wind up more tired afterwards than you were when you started? Yeah, that's me right now.

Many moons ago, I fell into a subscription to a professional magazine called Government Technology all about emerging tech for local and state governments.

I've had to do some work from home the last couple of days. This is a concept that has never been easy for me. Why? I'm easily distracted. If I'm at home, I may have TV, DVDs, Netflix, reading books or comics, napping, chores or, the biggest (and best) distraction of all, Nathan!

I get annoyed when people don't know when to stop talking to you. Admittedly, I'm certain I've been guilty of it, too, but I at least try.

Can someone help me understand something? Oh, if you're not a techie, just skip this post entirely. I wouldn't blame you one iota.

A couple weeks ago, I was expressing my envy to Marty that he gets to wear shorts to work. That has never happened for me, that I can recall, at any time in my professional life at either of my two jobs since grad school.

I've been listening to the Millennial podcast a lot lately. Although it's targeted at 20-somethings, I find many of the lessons applicable to almost any generation of person currently engaged in the daily work grind.

Are work friends real friends?

No better way to start an otherwise so-so Friday morning than to get a phone call and have the caller ID show the name of some guy you've never heard of... from the HR office!

I've heard of crashes after excessive drug, alcohol, or caffeine intake. Heck, I personally endured a monster caffeine crash when working at Starbucks one summer as a barista. But can you have a crash after a big project is done?

The source of all my stress these last few months -- and what I blame for my constant headaches, occasional stomach cramps, random other flu-like symptoms, and my inability to make my step goal pretty much at all this past month -- may actually be done.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!