Here’s a list of website changes as well as creative life events during that time. Because this page originated to record blog changes and expanded to self-promotion during my campaigns for STC office, the listed events start in 2009 and were weighted towards STC until the society’s demise in January 2025 🥲.
In real life, I have more going on (don’t we all?), but I have to admit that it’s unremarkable.
June 2026
Reoriented the site toward my writing and creative activities.
February 2026
Westford Chorus performed my arrangement of Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman.“
December 2025
Completed the first draft of a novel, “The Long Beliefs.”
September 2025
My short story “The Third Driver” appeared in the September 2025 issue of After Dinner Conversations.
January 2025
STC ceased operations and declared bankruptcy. (So much for that.)
December 2024
Westford Chorus performed my arrangement of Vince Guaraldi’s “Skating” (my lyrics).
March 2024
Completed the first draft of a novel, “Decline and Fall.”
December 2022
Retired from Hitachi Vantara. (Yes, it’s possible to win the rat race!)
November 2022
Presented “What’s the Big Deal About Big Data?” at the STC New England monthly program.
October 2022
Conference manager for InterChange 2022, the regional conference of the STC New England Chapter, held virtually. I also presented a session: “What’s the Big Deal About Big Data?”
December 2020
Became a full-time employee of Hitachi Vantara in Waltham, Massachusetts, documenting object storage and Big Data applications.
November 2020
My third term as STC New England president ended. Also, I restarted my website as a WordPress blog.
September 2020
Presented “Structuring Information Before DITA” to the Boston DITA Users Group.
April 2020
Conference manager for InterChange 2020, the regional conference of the STC New England Chapter. We shifted the conference on the fly to a virtual format because of the covid pandemic.
December 2019
“A Framework for Thinking about Documentation Quality” (the lead article for the issue) published in STC’s Intercom magazine.
September 2019
Started a third term as STC New England president (a first for the chapter).
May 2019
Created a video tribute to Jim Barkovic, Westford Chorus music director.
April 2019
Presented “Writing and Working Across the Generations” at CONDUIT 2019, the regional conference of the STC Philadelphia Metro chapter.
December 2018
Began work as a contract technical writer at Hitachi Vantara in Waltham, Massachusetts.
September 2018
Started a second term as STC New England president.
January 2018
Named an STC Fellow. This was a lifetime honor; unfortunately, it didn’t specify whose lifetime.
December 2016
Petitioned to appear on the ballot for Director at Large in the upcoming STC election. I’m grateful to those who signed my petition, though ultimately it wasn’t enough to get me on the ballot.
September 2016
Updated website links.
March 2016
Presented “Embedded User Assistance: Third Rail or Third Way?” at the 2016 STC New England InterChange conference.
January 2016
Joined the STC Community Affairs Committee, managing leadership webinars
July 2015
Updated website links.
June 2015
After retooling, the STC certification program restarted. The CPTC credential expanded from two to three levels—Foundation, Practitioner, and Expert. Existing CPTCs became CPTC-Experts.
March 2015
Made two presentations at the 2015 STC New England InterChange conference: “Four Ways Mentoring Strengthens Our Profession” and “To Illustrate or Not to Illustrate.”
February 2015
My reminiscences of the BossTunes musical group appeared in the “After Hours” column of STC’s Intercom magazine.
January 2015
Joined the STC New England administrative council to fill the remaining term of a departing council member. I also became associate editor of the chapter news website.
September 2014
As a result of my proposal, the STC New England Chapter started a mentoring program. I was the first administrator.
May 2014
Anna Pratt and I presented “Surviving—and Thriving—in an XML World” at the monthly STC New England meeting.
March 2014
Presented “Communicating With the Audiences of the Future” at the 2014 STC New England InterChange conference.
July 2013
My employer, Tekelec, began doing business as part of Oracle.
May 2013
My term on the Certification Commission ended.
March 2013
My article “Certification After Dark” appeared in the “After Hours” column of STC’s Intercom magazine.
October 18, 2012
Updated links.
May 2012
Received the STC President’s Award for my work on certification.
July 2011
Became the first chairman of the STC Certification Commission, serving a two-year term.
May 2011
The STC Certification program opened for business
May 2010
My term on the STC Board ended, and I was appointed chairman of the Certification Committee.
May 2010
My employer, Camiant, began doing business as part of Tekelec.
April 2010
The members spoke! Congratulations to Rachel Houghton, the new STC Secretary.
March 2010
Going to my old blog now redirects to my new one.
January 2010
Announced my candidacy for STC Secretary.
January 17, 2009
I had to restart my blog.
