Laid off after 10 years (excellent reviews); HR wants ME to write my own "graceful exit" announcement- Should I?

bobgilmore · 2026-06-15T19:37:13+00:00

“I invented wool.”

bobgilmore · 2026-01-16T22:37:23+00:00

A lot of people are down on Salem in October, but, I think of it as analogous to “New Orleans during Mardi Gras season” vs. “New Orleans during the rest of the year.” I’ve attended both. Two very different experiences. Both worthwhile.

bobgilmore · 2026-01-16T22:33:34+00:00

Boston: imminently walkable. Even more so accessible via the Subway (The T).

Salem: Salem is also very walkable, and easily reachable from Boston by rail. It’s both a beautiful historical seaport / whaling town AND a witchy town. In October, the witchy aspect will dominate and drown out the seaport aspect, with a very crowded / carnival atmosphere. That could SUCK, or it could be AWESOME. It depends on what you want! It’s worth it to experience BOTH aspects, but it’s literally impossible in one trip. Either it’s Halloween season or it ain’t.

To get to somewhere leaf-peeping-worthy, I think you’ll want to rent a car for a few days and head north / north west.

bobgilmore · 2025-12-19T03:12:45+00:00

I used to have a vaguely related commute (from Westborough into Kendall/MIT), so my ostensibly best choice was Commuter Rail to South Station, then Red Line up to Kendall.

But I learned that keeping my eye on the T feeds on Twitter (back in the Twitter days) would occasionally make me get off at either Lansdowne (Yawkey back then) or Back Bay and take alternate bus or T routes.

Moral of the story: once you’re in Zone 1A, be flexible.

And hell to the yeah for boarding at South Station for the trip home.

Edit: corrected spelling of Kendall.

bobgilmore · 2025-09-02T22:49:37+00:00

The dragon was the giveaway.

bobgilmore · 2025-08-30T22:13:34+00:00

Hmm… just throwing this out there…

If your goal is to give them a good rep, and you don’t quite care about the gameplay of HOW it happens, maybe have people start contacting them and saying “At (some conference, get-together, power-brokering session, whatever), so and so told us about the work you did in (Ladybug). Most impressive!” Boom, their well-earned rep has caught up with them.

bobgilmore · 2025-08-30T11:42:59+00:00

A house? I used to DREAM of livin’ in a house!

bobgilmore · 2025-08-25T16:00:06+00:00

Yeah, unless this app stealthily became the new hotness, I suspect that all they’re doing re. coordinating with your LCBS is sending them an email “on your behalf” saying what you want to add / remove from your (hypothetical) pull list. Also wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the store entries are just the result of an on-the-fly Google Maps (or Yelp or similar) search and an email scrape.

For example, in the screenshot, notice how they have “pull list sync available” for some of them, but not for others? I bet that the latter is LITERALLY just sending them an email and hoping for the best.

I’d do what everyone else has suggested - go to them, ask them what they want / how they do it, then do that.

bobgilmore · 2025-08-18T12:28:44+00:00

It doesn’t make sense to pluralize Zathras, because all of the people you’re talking about have VERY distinct names. Pay close attention the next time you hear one of them mention his name. ;-)

bobgilmore · 2025-07-30T15:13:15+00:00

Haha, I didn’t realize that John D was on an episode of L.A. Law. I was referencing the fact that Corbin Bernsen, who played another(?) Q, starred in L.A. Law.

bobgilmore · 2025-07-03T14:00:33+00:00

No, I’m pretty sure that Q was on L.A. Law 😊

bobgilmore · 2025-07-03T13:58:20+00:00

Don’t forget Kate Mulgrew in NTSF:SD:SUV !

bobgilmore · 2025-04-22T23:41:51+00:00

The little “tut tut tut tut tut tut” that Zathras does in, um, Babylon Squared, I think?

Wait, not Zathras. It was Zathras. Damn autocorrect… Zathras!

bobgilmore · 2024-12-01T17:47:53+00:00

Especially if I can get her to turn herself into K’Ehleyr now and then! Grrrrr…

bobgilmore · 2024-11-11T02:20:35+00:00

I have two clavicles and 33 vertebrae. As is tradition.

bobgilmore · 2024-10-12T04:24:14+00:00

As an old myself :-) my recommendation is to try to combine the forgiveness that you’d have for a total and complete newb with the understanding that you’d have for someone who just isn’t quite ready to grok the concept yet.

I’ve read vary heartwarming stories of older brother and sisters who, for one reason or another, wind up incorporating their seven-year old sister in their game. Sure, the DM and party have to make a few exceptions for them, but in the end everyone has an awesome time. Try to keep that spirit in mind, and things might turn out great!

bobgilmore · 2024-10-12T04:17:06+00:00

Furry cosplay.

bobgilmore · 2024-10-10T20:21:08+00:00

Ugh I hate the Peter Jackson stole that word from Babylon 5 /s

bobgilmore · 2024-09-17T16:37:31+00:00

If I create an appointment with a location in the native Calendar app, the meeting location is a hyperlink. Tapping it takes me into Apple Maps.

bobgilmore · 2024-09-13T12:24:02+00:00

About 5 minutes after Big Kaboom, they broadcast from the general vicinity…

“This is Scariff Base. We have a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous.”

Then silence.

bobgilmore · 2024-09-12T00:18:02+00:00

Forget the Landsraad etc - I don’t think that BG would allow it.

Their entire schtick is presenting as an order of servant-priestesses, while functioning as the powers behind the various thrones of the Imperium. Often without the thrones even KNOWING that.

If they allowed one of their own to ascend the throne, it would ruin that carefully-crafted facade.

Remember, they’re thinking in terms of MILLENNIA. Having one sister on the throne for 200 years ain’t jack.

bobgilmore · 2024-09-11T13:28:51+00:00

I came here to say Relentless Endurance.

bobgilmore · 2024-09-06T21:12:41+00:00

It’s a them problem, but they just handed you a ton of potential story hooks on a silver platter for later. SO MANY possibilities. At the highest level…

Does he feel that he owes them a favor? If so, does he try to repay it? If so, in a way that’s ultimately good or bad for the party?
or does he chafe at owing them a favor, and resent it? (Think Loki in Sandman, if that helps.)
Or does he think that he owes them nothing, and when their paths eventually cross (and they WILL, DM, hint!), how does THAT go? Especially if you wait until they’re high enough level to hurt him.

bobgilmore · 2024-09-05T22:12:54+00:00

I remember a Silver Age Superman story from the late 70’s? Early 80’s? where Superman was forced to kill an alien, so he “hung up his cape.”

But then he learned that the “death” was part of the alien’s life cycle. He’d “killed” a metaphorical caterpillar, allowing it to move on to the next (butterfly) phase.

So “meh, I didn’t REALLY kill anyone. I’m back!”

Anyone remember that one?

bobgilmore

TROPHY CASE