This is my latest Ice Breaker speech that I delivered to the Early Bird Ocala Toastmasters group on November 3, 2018. Toastmasters is a great way to develop your public speaking and leadership skills and there’s probably at least one group in your local area. Check out ToastMasters.org for more information on the club and…
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The Accidental Teacher
The following is the text from my speech to the Ocala Early Bird Toastmasters on May 19, 2018. My name is Andrew Comeau and I am … a public school teacher? I say it that way because It’s been a study in irony for me. If you told me just a couple years ago that…
Site Changes
Looking over my web presence earlier this year, I decided to do some consolidation. I had three sites – Drewslair.com, which has been in operation for 15 years, my business site, ComeauSoftware.com, which hasn’t changed much for quite awhile and the site for my networking group, OcalaITProfessionals.com, which needs a lot more attention and content.…
Unplugging to Reconnect – The Technology Sabbath
It Started With a Game … By now, you’re probably familiar with Pokemon Go, the game where people search for Pokemon characters around town with their smartphones. In 2015, I played a forerunner of this game called Ingress. The basic idea was the same – run around town accessing game spots, collect digital items, compete with…
The World Without Us
I’ve been fascinated by the idea of an earth after humans ever since I read some of Alan Weisman’s book The World Without Us. The idea of humans “destroying the planet” has always been a necessary bit of hyperbole; we are far more likely to destroy ourselves as a species by making the planet uninhabitable. After…
My Latest Coffee Hacks
I have a dim memory of not making very good coffee with my coffee maker. Fortunately, that’s no longer the case and I can honestly say that I make some of the best coffee I’ve ever tasted – far better than anything I can get at most restaurants or coffee houses. I’m partial to Seattle’s…
New Twitter Feed – One Thousand Choices
I keep trying to come up with new projects that have less to do with technology and more to do with just improving myself or coming up with great content. It’s not easy given how long I’ve been immersed in the tech world but I decided to start another one. Every decision is made of…
On unpaid overtime …
From TheCodist.com …. Why I Don’t Do Unpaid Overtime and Neither Should You From the article … “In many countries working overtime is unusual and unpaid overtime is rare or may even be illegal. People value having a life outside of work and the thought of slaving away for their employer for nothing is unimaginably…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous year ahead! There are a number of things I need to work on this year but most of my specific resolutions have to do with daily steps to keep myself on track to do the things I need to do. I have a way of getting distracted by various…
Back to basics … my first TracFone
A couple of years ago, I was dazzled by the new HTC EVO 4G smartphone that a supervisor had gotten himself. I was about ready to change out phones, anyway and when I saw all the things the Android phone could do that my old phone couldn’t, I was sold. I was taken aback slightly…