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	<title>Read This Blog!</title>
	<link>http://readthisblog.net</link>
	<description>Because everyone is entitled to my opinion.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 06:10:21 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>Two elections in one month</title>
		<description><![CDATA[In addition to the regular June primary (vote No on 16 and 17!), voters in the 12th State Senate district are being treated to a special election on June 22nd to replace Abel Maldonado. Jeff is interning at the Santa Clara County office of the John Laird campaign; I know how I&#8217;m voting in that [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/05/21/two-elections-in-one-month/</link>
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		<title>IBM bought me lunch again</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The process of retiring from IBM is a long one; I passed another threshold on Tuesday, when I had my official retirement lunch. I picked the Fish Market in San Jose, the same place I&#8217;d had my Quarter Century Club lunch; many of the same people were there, but about half the group, like me, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/05/14/ibm-bought-me-lunch-again/</link>
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		<title>Ten years or 400 milliseconds?  You decide!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Earlier today, a friend asked me how long I&#8217;d been blogging, which got me to look at my earliest blog entries. In the process, I noticed that I&#8217;d left a question unanswered in my May 22, 2000 posting (to be fair, it was only asked implicitly). I was writing about the W3C Advisory Committee dinner [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/05/07/ten-years-or-400-milliseconds-you-decide/</link>
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		<title>Returning to the scene</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Since leaving IBM, I&#8217;ve developed a few new projects; one of the more urgent is to make our home office usable as my primary workplace; doing that requires sorting out the stuff that&#8217;s already in there. And while doing that, I&#8217;ve been finding things that had followed me home over the years; today seemed like [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/04/26/returning-to-the-scene/</link>
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		<title>Mac Migration Diary</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the side effects of leaving IBM was the need to buy my very own laptop computer; naturally, I wanted a Mac. So when the upgraded MacBook Pros came out last week, I was quick to order one (15-inch 2.53GHz i5, 7200rpm drive, matte hi-res display), and I eagerly watched its progress on the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/04/23/mac-migration-diary/</link>
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		<title>Maybe tomorrow</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;d been eagerly awaiting the new line of MacBook Pro laptops from Apple so that I could replace the one I&#8217;d used while at IBM with one of my own. I&#8217;d expected the faster processors, of course, and the automatic swap between the graphics processor wasn&#8217;t a huge shock, but I was surprised to learn [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/04/13/maybe-tomorrow/</link>
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		<title>Pinnacles National Monument</title>
		<description><![CDATA[We made our first trip to Pinnacles National Monument yesterday. It&#8217;s spectacular, and being there during wildflower season didn&#8217;t hurt, either! I&#8217;ve posted pictures to Flickr and Facebook; I also created a track log (which includes the Facebook photos, I think), using Trip Journal on my iPhone. We hiked about 9 miles, with lots of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/04/04/pinnacles-national-monument/</link>
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		<title>Career Bookends</title>
		<description><![CDATA[According to my offer letter, I was supposed to start at IBM sometime in June, 1976 (I&#8217;ve forgotten the exact date) and work on a compiler for the minicomputer that would be released as the IBM Series/1. However, I delayed reporting to work in favor of becoming engaged to Diane, and by the time I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/31/career-bookends/</link>
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		<title>Google is not idempotent</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Today was my last full day at IBM; I decided to spam thank some close soon-to-be-ex-colleagues before I left. Since I wasn&#8217;t sure that those who wanted to respond would do so before my IBM email address expired, I directed replies to an address at a domain that I set up for my family (let&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/30/google-is-not-idempotent/</link>
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		<title>links for 2010-03-24</title>
		<description><![CDATA[How to Master the Art of Mindful Eating]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/24/links-for-2010-03-24/</link>
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		<title>Competencies and Derailment Factors</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When I wrote about derailment last week, I thought I was just punning from my manager&#8217;s question to me. But several people have asked if I could share more information about IBM&#8217;s Leadership Competencies and the Career Derailment Factors. I was hesitant to do so, since the last thing I want to do is leak [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/23/competencies-and-derailment-factors/</link>
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		<title>Lasts</title>
		<description><![CDATA[As my days at IBM grow shorter, I&#8217;m beginning to realize how many &#8220;lasts&#8221; have already happened or are imminent. Some passed unnoticed, because I didn&#8217;t realize they were the last of their kind: I&#8217;ve already changed my intranet and Notes passwords for the last time I&#8217;ve already created my last PBC (Personal Business Commitments) [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/22/lasts/</link>
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		<title>Locality of action</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Back in 1976, I wanted to send Diane some flowers for her birthday. She was still living in Valley Stream, NY, at the time, and I was already in Boca Raton, FL. Most people would have used FTD, but I was worried that the order wouldn&#8217;t get there in time (since it was New Year&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/21/locality-of-action/</link>
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		<title>Date Certain</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The news, once more, came in a phone call. Even though I&#8217;d decided not to look for a new full-time position in IBM, there was one project that had recently heated up where I would be able to make a significant dent in a short time. So I asked my management to investigate extending my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/16/date-certain/</link>
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		<title>Weekend update</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There haven&#8217;t been any significant developments on the job front since I last posted: I&#8217;m still happy with my decision not to pursue a new full-time position inside IBM I&#8217;m willing to take a look if a new full-time position (inside or outside IBM) pursues me I&#8217;m not sure when my last day at IBM [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/15/weekend-update-3/</link>
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		<title>Clarity</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There are times when it would help to have someone else read this blog before I post. Last night was one of those times. I was so intent on using the exact wording of my second-line manager&#8217;s question as an excuse to insert a reference to IBM&#8217;s Career Derailment Factors into the post that I [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/11/clarity/</link>
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		<title>Off the rails</title>
		<description><![CDATA[IBMers who have spent time looking at IBM&#8217;s Leadership Competencies may be familiar with the eight career Derailment Factors that IBM Learning has identified (hint: avoid them!). I found a new one today. After reaching out to my network in the wake of last week&#8217;s surprise, several people had identified one particular opportunity that was [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/10/off-the-rails/</link>
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		<title>Think Time</title>
		<description><![CDATA[After last week&#8217;s surprise, the rest of the week was a whirl of phone calls, meetings, and e-mail exchanges, making and renewing contacts, gathering information, and trying to get to a place where I&#8217;d have enough data to think about considering making plans. I realized that while all that activity was necessary, it wasn&#8217;t sufficient, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/09/think-time/</link>
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		<title>Right</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I had my first session today at Right Management, the outplacement firm that IBM has contracted with. I had a 90-minute one-on-one with a &#8220;Career Management Consultant&#8221;; we talked, unsurprisingly, about me and my options going forward. There was some very concrete advice (have a local phone number and a &#8220;professional&#8221; email address for the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/08/right/</link>
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		<title>Showtime!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been taking classes at ComedySportz San Jose for a little over a year and I&#8217;ve finally reached the pinnacle of the system, Rec League (we even have our own t-shirts!). In Rec League, we intermix classes and shows &#8212; tonight, it was my turn to be in a full-length show along with five of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://readthisblog.net/2010/03/07/showtime/</link>
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