Category Archives: Uncategorized

As I think back on 2020, I recall how I felt when I first heard about COVID-19. At the time, I was in Death Valley on vacation with my sweetheart, celebrating my birthday. The news on TV told us about a deadly virus in Wuhan, China. I remember thinking how awful it sounded, but IContinue reading “Reflections on 2020”

She ruled my household for nineteen years. From the start, she was imperious and dominating. She bullied Sula, my other cat, constantly. No matter how many times I told her in no uncertain terms that I was the alpha, there was a part of her that knew that she ruled the roost. She demanded herContinue reading “Goodbye Meeka”

I’m a Scrooge when it comes to the holidays, I admit it. I hate the added pressure of: having to buy gifts for people who really do not need any more material ‘things’  attending work sponsored parties – I already spend enough time with these people – spare me, please! the crowded streets and storesContinue reading “Bah, Humbug”

Charles Darwin said “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” I think of these words as I walk through my neighborhood thinking about the very serious drought we’re having here, and I look at frontContinue reading “Accomplishing Change”

Like Joni Mitchell tells us, the circle game is a fact of life. Five years ago, I was a victim of a layoff at the high-tech company I had been at for over four years. After job-hunting for eight weeks, I finally got an interview with a company that I wasn’t really interested in, andContinue reading “Life’s a Circle”

Is Your Job YOU? Posted on April 28, 2018by sillyvalleygal How much does your job define who you are, or what your value as a person is? I’ve spent my life making my job a priority over most everything else. My parents were like that, so maybe that’s where I got it. For them, itContinue reading “Is Your Job YOU?”

How about this fiasco at a startup that shall remain nameless: A systems engineer installs new SW at a beta site on Friday, and only a small portion of the design/support team is aware of it. On Monday, someone on the team asks the rest of the team to “release” what was already installed, andContinue reading “Silly Biz Practices”

I’ve been here long enough to know two things: 1. I’m incredibly lucky in that I’ve been steadily employed for my entire time here (except for 2 weeks many years ago after being laid off from a failing family owned biz). 2. All the hype you’ve read about the valley is true. All the craziness,Continue reading “Dispatches From Silly Valley”