Poltrack Blog

 I retired on March 15, 2017 after working in the computer industry for over 40 years. It was actually my second retirement. I had taken an early retirement from Hewlett-Packard in 2012 for a payout  package and to avoid the inevitable layoff. Almost immediately I started working with some great folks at Sea Street Technologies, a start-up software company located in Wakefield, MA. and stayed with them until I reached the magical age of 70 1/2 when I had to make IRA withdrawals. Retirement suits me, but surprisingly I find I don't have enough time for all the projects I would like to do. My official retirement date was the 15th but I returned the next day for a great luncheon and to bid farewell. Farewell Luncheon Sea Street Technologies had the best food I did go back for seconds. Some of the food came home with me. It was difficult to take a proper nap with all the clicking of laptop keys.

I worked in the computer industry for over 40 years. In that time I've been to many trade shows, seminars, product release parties and anniversary events. Each of these events included handing out mementos, usually t-shirts or ball caps. I'm sure this common for any industry. The term for this booty is SWAG which stands for "Stuff We All Get". Here are a few of my favorite items. I have many work coffee mugs but my favorite is the one from Digital's PDP 11/60 Engineering team. It the only one which features a cartoon of the product The DEC Suicide Kit - We had a company dinner after they closed manufacturing in Westminster, MA. Many of us weren't sure whether we could find another job. They handed out this item which included a pen, notepad and knife. It didn't take long to realize it was meant as a hint to end it all.  When DEC was making the big $$ they took us on a cruise of Boston Harbor, with a salmon dinner and a DJ. We also got a gre...