Nearly all of us — at least in the U.S. — know who Santa Claus is.

He’s the fat guy in the red and white suit who takes the credit for all of the expensive Christmas gifts that moms and dads buy for their kids every year.

Many of us remember sitting on Santa’s lap when we were little, so that we could tell him what we wanted for Christmas.

And — for inexplicable reasons — my parents always [more...]

It seems logical that my background would have caused me to be suspicious of — and distant from — other people.

A socially awkward geek.

But, instead, ever since my mid-teens, I’ve been a socially aware, popular person.

Who’s always been [more...]

Apple’s iPhone 4S has created quite a marketing stir — especially its “Siri” voice-controlled interface.

Ask Siri a question, and Siri tells you the answer.

Tell Siri what you want, and Siri does it.

Like, a few days ago, when one of my coworkers said to Siri “I’m looking for somewhere to hide a dead body.”

Siri happily replied [more...]

They say that a lot of humor comes from pain.

And that some of the best comedians developed their senses of humor to help them deal with their pain.

But sometimes, the pain is just too recent to try to laugh about it.

So, if you’re currently out of work, you should probably skip this Journal post.

And if you’ve been out of work long enough to lose your home, [more...]

When she was a teenager, my wife worked as a waitress for a couple of summers.

So she is very sensitive to the needs of waitresses — and whenever we go out to eat, we always overtip.

Starting the summer of my twelfth year, I had several different labor-intensive jobs, including installing and removing huge circus-sized tents, caddying, doing lawn care, bagging groceries and [more...]

I’ve always known and taught that the biggest security threat to any organization’s network is the organization’s own employees.

Not because they intentionally sabotage the network’s security.

But because they have easy access to the network — and many of them are ignorant of even the most simple safe-computing practices.

So they unintentionally do unsafe things that end up [more...]

Over the years, I’ve helped many people strengthen their resumes.

People trust me, because I’m very knowlegeable and meticulous.

And they appreciate the fact that I’m very honest about what needs to be done.

Sometimes, all it takes is some careful editing, organizing and clarifying.

Other times, the final result [more...]

Every day at work, I do things that improve other people’s lives.

So I get a lot of satisfaction from my job.

One of the other things that I really appreciate about it is the fact that I have a short commute.

In sharp contrast, back in the days when I was a [more...]