I was with the Symantec Corporation a few years back when they were thinking of launching a whole new product line. I came in while they were in the middle of this project, and my role was rather minor. And they ended up scrapping the whole thing anyway, so I suppose this story is not worth telling. But I feel compelled to get this down in writing, if only for my own benefit. They put me in a department called "Pathway Development" and moved us all into a remote corner of their Mountain View headquarters. Symantec spends most of... read full review »

I worked at Element Digital Media Group on a special project that ultimate failed. There was a local newspaper that was struggling, and we were trying to help them go online. The paper was based out of Fremont, and was called The Fremont Flair. We considered to be an altruistic project, and did the work more or less for free. They even wrote up a story about us in the Mercury News. Of course nobody was there to write the story when the whole thing died. I'd been at the company for a little over a year at the time, and they assigned... read full review »

I rented a room in Goleta near the airport, bought cheap liquor at a store down the road, and fully expected to die within the year. But then Keating drops by out of the blue and offers me work at a place called AudienceScience, which has a branch office in downtown Santa Barbara. Keating sat on the floor beside the mattress I had bought second-hand and dragged into the place when I first moved in. I had no other furniture. This was in the winter of 2009, when I was at my lowest. "How long have you been out here?" I asked Keating... read full review »

I worked at Loopt for a while after spending a little over a year wandering from place to place in the Bay Area. I had abandoned all my friends from my previous life in San Francisco and thought for a while of just wandering into the woods and vanishing forever. I'd have tried to live however I could, building a makeshift shelter and hoping the mountain lions wouldn't find me. I still think about carrying out such a plan from time to time, though now I feel quite certain that I won't carry it out. Back in the old days, though... read full review »

When I moved to the Kansas City area to take a job with a company called Ascend Integrated Media I rented an apartment in Independence near the interstate. People told me later that I could have found a much nicer area to live in for the rent I was paying. But you never know about stuff like that when you're coming from a long way away. I remember once being woken up by the sound of gunfire. I went down to the lobby to check out what was going on, and I figured the place would be packed with curious folks like me. But there was only... read full review »

I worked at Viewsonic for a couple of years. I took a writing assignment on contract, and then they hired me on for a few more contracts. After that I left. One of the problems was the commute. Viewsonic is all the way out in Walnut, and I was living in Northridge at the time. The commute was terrible, even by L.A. standards. But I wasn't about to move. I couldn't afford to move, and I seriously doubted that I could find any decent landlord that would take me, given me credit history. I spent a lot of time out of the office. The... read full review »

I worked for Spyglass Creative for a while, back when I was able to work full-time. These days I mostly take on contract work when I can, and sleep through entire days when I'm feeling down. I manage finish my assignments on time, however, even if it means staying up for long stretches later on to make a deadline. I just have an issue with keeping regular hours. Plus I take long breaks when I'm just too tired to do anything. I lived in a small apartment in the north side of the city, and kept my expenses to a minimum. I kept in... read full review »

I lived in Santa Fe back when I was working for a firm called Strategic Analytics. At the time they were going through this messy patent lawsuit and everyone in upper management was in a bad mood. It seems as if one of their former fellow executives had left the company, joined a competitor, and initiated the lawsuit. It was a bad time to start working at the place, but they had made me the job offer before all this happened, and they weren't about to try and rescind it. Not that I would have bothered to take legal action of my own, mind... read full review »

I was born in Mesa, Arizona, but I had been living for years in Columbus, far from my old home. Times were getting tough, though, and I had to take a job in Surprise with a company called Fields Consulting Group. I wasn't looking forward to going back to Arizona. There were events in my life that transpired there that I did not care to think much about. There were people that I did not care to meet again. But I had to find something to do, and Columbus had nothing else to offer me. Moving was easy, as I packed up only what would fit... read full review »