I did some contract work with McAfee back when I was still living in the Bay Area. After I moved to Fresno, however, I promised myself that I would do whatever I could to kick the writing habit. This meant refusing any work that involved technical writing of any sort, so now I work at a coffee shop on Shields Avenue and live in a rooming house down the street. I didn't throw out any of my old work, however. You know, you hear stories all the time of failed writers ceremoniously tossing all their unwanted material out into the ocean... read full review »

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I was working at Symantec at the same time as Cardinal, who was sort of a legendary figure among Symantec employees. So when he came up to me in the cafeteria one morning and asked me if I wanted to work on one of his projects, gossip about our interaction passed from person to person like we were all in high school again. Of course for some people working at Symantec was like being in high school all over again, and that's how they liked it. I was doing consultancy work for the company at the time, which normally meant that I had to... read full review »

I worked at Verint Systems' office in Santa Clara for a few years back before the economy turned. I was hired to design what the company called "scenarios". These were little stories used by the sales team when they were out in the field pushing our products. When one of the sales agents met with a client, he or she could pull out one of these scenarios and read it. A friend of mine helped me get the job. He was on good terms with Chase, the manager in charge of the scenarios group. "We hear that you're a good... read full review »

I went to work at Covient shortly after I moved to Southern California. I managed to get myself an apartment in Covina before I arrived, though it turned out that the pictures the landlord posted online were not actually taken in the place I rented. Still, the rent was cheap, and that was all that I was looking for. I had been moving around for years and was planning on settling down for a while. The quality of the place that I actually settled down wasn't much of an issue for me. I just wanted to hold still. Of course Covient'... read full review »

I worked at Red Hat's office in Mountain View up until about a year ago. I remember once when I was at the San Jose airport a stranger struck up a conversation with me and asked me where I worked. When I told him he said, "They're still around?" That's what it's like working for Red Hat. Mind you, things were pretty good for me in those days. I had moved in with Linda and it looked like we had an endless future ahead of us. Linda still calls me now and then because she's still trying to figure out why I... read full review »

I didn't stay in Buffalo for very long. It's just as depressing a place as people say. Upstate New York is full of towns and cities that are long past their prime, but there's a certain rundown charm to, say, Watertown. Even Syracuse has its merits. But Buffalo was too big to decay gracefully. Keating set me up with a job at a place called Paragon Advertising. I'd known Keating ever since we'd both published our first novels back in Portland. We did the tour of local bookstores together, shilling our lousy storie... read full review »

I moved out of St. Louis to Bridgton when I lost my job at Leinco Technologies. The rents were cheaper out there, as everyone was abandoning the place. Apparently the airport had expanded not that long ago, even though the town tried to fight against it. Ever since then, people have been getting out of there. I took an apartment in the basement of a house near the 270, so I could hear the rush of traffic in my bedroom. I would often lie awake at night, not knowing what I was doing to do with my life, and I would listen for subtle change... read full review »

I met Claire in the restaurant in the lobby of a hotel in Marina Del Rey. I had been staying there for nearly two months. The people that ran the place were kind enough to give me a good rate. They could see that I was in bad shape, and that I was desperate for a decent place to stay. My only complaint was that they gave me a room that overlooked the swimming pool. During the day, then, when I was desperate to shut myself off from the rest of the world, I could hear the tourists splashing around outside and engaging in dreary discussions about... read full review »