Beginning with I Comments

When I began working for Adaptec in 1995 (as a result of their acquisition of Incat Systems, the company which created Easy CD), I was already a remote worker. Fabrizio Caffarelli, who had founded Incat in Milan, had moved himself and the engineering staff to California in late 1993 with the goal of selling the company. In the meantime, though still living in Milan, I needed to work closely with engineering staff to document, test, and help to improve our software products. I began travelling to California regularly, but most of the time I worked from home, keeping in touch by phone and email. [more]

What qualities do you look for in an employer?

My page of Italian Idiom and Sayings is here - please let me know what’s missing!

“When we hear about horror anywhere in the world, the natural human instinct is to want to make sure our own loved ones are safe. But we also nurture a sneaky desire, hidden even from ourselves, to have some connection to the news, to somehow feel we are participants, not just audience, in a great world drama.” [more]

…Cultures and countries often suffer from a form of groupthink in which “our way is best” or “we’ve always done it this way, why should we change?” And people resent criticism of their culture, however well-intended, from outsiders… [more]

Four years ago, I wrote about the difficulties of making friends with Italians. I already had online (and offline) friends in Italy, but most of them were expats. … Turns out I was looking in the wrong places: I should have been seeking Italian friends in my other country beginning with I, the Internet. [more]

“There are no more middle seasons” is the Italian equivalent of “Things ain’t what they used to be” - more than a truism, it’s a cliché of people complaining about the modern world, and resistance to change in general. [more]

A week or so ago I ran across this on the blog of one of my new colleagues at Sun:

To A Daughter Leaving Home

When I taught you
at eight to ride
a bicycle, loping along
beside you
as you wobbled away
on two round wheels,
my own mouth rounding
in surprise when you pulled
ahead down the curved
path of the park,
I kept waiting
for the thud
of your crash as I
sprinted to catch up,
while you grew
smaller, more breakable
with distance,
pumping, pumping
for your life, screaming
with laughter,
the hair flapping
behind you like a
handkerchief waving
goodbye.

Linda Pastan

…in other words: Ross will be attending Woodstock School in India next year.

I’m so happy I’m in shock. And, at the same time… I will miss her to the marrow of my bones. Wish us all luck.

best regards,
Deirdré Straughan
beginningwithi.com

Some years ago Silvia, who had been one of our tech support team (of two) at Incat, paid me the enormous compliment of saying that she considered me a role model. [more]