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When I was young we would typically get a Christmas Package from my grandmother. It would usually arrive in early December, to coincide with St. Nicholas Day — Sinterklaas — (December 6th), when the Dutch traditionally did their gift exchanges. In the package would be a variety of things, much of which didn’t really interest […]

You might notice along my little path of gratitude that I’ve not mentioned many things, focusing as much as possible on people, opportunities, and situations. This one’s different. It’s a thing. Specifically, it’s a blender. But it’s not just any blender… It’s a Vitamix.

I’ve been fortunate when it comes to most of my customer service experiences, and I was fortunate again today. I had a question about my mobile data plan — the type of question that’s really best dealt with in person. Essentially I was looking for connectivity options for my cousin’s upcoming trip from Europe. She’ll […]

Yes, I’m grateful for World of Warcraft. Actually I’m grateful not just for the class of entertainment and diversion it provides, but also for reasons which will become very clear.

… we thank thee most of all for warmth of friends who come to call… That’s a portion of a prayer that I memorized as a child. Not because I had to, but because it was printed on a decorative cutting board that was always in our kitchen or dining room. I was always looking […]

In 1983 I was working for a small company making microprocessor-based data entry terminals. I’ve often referred to it as being on a “reverse growth” trajectory. When I started they were 25 employees strong. When I left there were 5. When I started I was the latest addition to the three person software department. When […]

Today is the 14th anniversary of the very first Ask Leo! article. I’d left Microsoft a year and a half earlier, at which point I’d joined a mastermind group of internet entrepreneurs. At the end of April in 2003 we had our first face-to-face conference, and it was within that conference that the germ of […]

To quote Ask Leo! on Business, “The internet is connecting us – across the street or across the planet. Mankind is more connected today in more ways than ever before.“ And yes, that has both upsides and downsides. Today I’m grateful for one of the undervalued upsides: online philanthropy.

It’s something I’ve said on many occasions: it’s good to be a geek. It’s good to be comfortable with and somewhat knowledgeable about technology. It opens doors, makes classes of problems not problems at all, and just generally makes my life more interesting and fun. It’s also what allows me to help others; from Ask […]

I chose good parents. While there are a lot of things we can, and often should, do to keep ourselves healthy and long-lived, there are two that are major influences that are completely out of our control: genetics and random chance. I keep seeing reports that some are starting to believe that it’s chance — […]