This blog, I’m affectionately calling “Me 4.0,” is 20 years old.

Seriously. If you were born after 1990 ask your parents what blogging used to be like. That’s what this blog was when it was born on January 9, 2003.

I took the last 10 years or so off from blogging because my primary subject matter had the good sense to employ me. It became difficult to blog personally and not risk appearing to speak on behalf of the company. And besides, there were so many others sharing and collaborating by that point it wasn’t necessary for me to be another voice.

Unfortunately, even though I made it to a senior technology role managing a team of 14 spread across 4 countries and 5 time zones, I couldn’t survive the Great Technology Layoff of 2022/2023. I was notified my job was ending on January 4, 2023.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that. 

”Me 4.0” aims to express my journey though what may turn out to be the last quarter of my professional and public life (in a custom fiscal year kind of ‘quarter’ where every unit is not equal in length). You can get a sense of the first 3 phases on my LinkedIn profile. I’m in the “be open” stage of unemployment so feel free to reach out if we’re not already connected.

Even though I’ve pivoted my career focus going on four times now, some things remain consistent.

• I crave and am fed by community. Crowds exhaust me. Community fuels me. I’m attracted to any technology that has people talking to people about how to use technology and make it better for each other. Platforms and tools that don’t have billionaires are even better.
• Except for when I was in college, I’ve always lived in the northeast USA. Now in New Jersey since 2005.
• I’ve been married to Mr. Watchlist since 1993.
• Together, we have 2 young adult children, both living at home at the moment.
• I love to tinker with technology and explore new ways to keep it organized.
• I knit things.

Besides this work-in-re-progress blog, here’s where you can find me and connect. While I may have profiles in other places, I’m not actively participating except for:

• LinkedIn
• Mastodon – I joined in October 2022 and it’s now my go-to social network. I’m sure I’ll compose many a post as to why and then I’ll link them there.
• Github – I’m not a developer. But I do spend a lot of time on Github with others who are. Maybe one day I’ll have something public to share..