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Adventures With The CPAP

by Bill Brenner September 12, 2013 Uncategorized

I’ve been using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine for about two weeks now as a remedy for sleep apnea and my initial review is mixed. Mood music: The good news: When I have the mask on, I don’t snore. As a result, I’ve slept in the bed for 14 days straight without getting kicked to the couch for making a racket. The bad news: Keeping the mask on properly for the entire night is proving…  [Read More]

Adventures in Change

by Bill Brenner August 29, 2013 Uncategorized

Yesterday we dropped our kids off at a new school for the first time. In June, I left a job I was at for five years and started a new one. We didn’t begin 2013 with these changes planned, but here we are. Mood music: Going to Akamai was a pretty easy move for me. I joined a team in which I’ve known the boss and several staffers for years. It was also a move…  [Read More]

Learning to Live with Difficult Colleagues

by Bill Brenner August 15, 2013 Uncategorized

You see it in every office: People who become enemies because they can’t reconcile their conflicting agendas. I’ve allowed myself to get sucked into it more than once in the last two decades. But I eventually found another approach. Mood music: I used to let difficult colleagues get to me. If someone criticized my work or blocked my efforts, a spiral into long bouts of rage and depression came on, which usually gave way to…  [Read More]

Annoyed by the Royal Baby Watch? Get Over It

by Bill Brenner July 25, 2013 Uncategorized

People have been glued to their TVs this week watching all the news coverage about the birth of a new British royal. I wasn’t one of them, because frankly I couldn’t care less. I have camping to do, and then a business trip to prepare for. At the same time, I can’t understand why so many people were complaining on the social networks about those who were hooked on the baby watch. Mood music: The…  [Read More]

Worth Your Time

by Bill Brenner March 20, 2013 Mental health

I’ve written about my battles with mental illness at length here, but to fully understand how this beast works you have to see other points of view. Concord Monitor reporter Annmarie Timmins offers some powerful testimony in a piece she wrote as part of a larger series on mental illness.  Read it. All of it. Below: Monitor reporter Annmarie Timmins is reflected in the mirror at her gym in Concord.  (ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Satan’s Tic Tacs

by Bill Brenner March 20, 2013 Uncategorized

I’m Bill Brenner and I approved this message… Why, you ask? Read the following: The Bad Pill Kept Me From The Good Pill The Migraine What’s Crohn’s Disease Got to do With it? A Boy’s Life on Prednisone: A Class Photo History A Link Between Prednisone, Mental Illness    

Putting Up The ‘Away’ Message

by Bill Brenner February 23, 2013 Uncategorized

Due to a business trip this coming week, I’m taking a break from new posts. I’ll be writing up a storm in my Salted Hash security blog on CSOonline, so if you’re interested in the subject matter, drop on by. Have a fantastic week. –Bill

From Beyonce To The Tragic Manipulation Of Milli Vanilli

by Bill Brenner January 23, 2013 Mental health

Revelations that Beyonce Knowles lip-synched “The Star Spangled Banner” at the inauguration this week remind me of how shallow people can be. Shallow in their expectations of others. Shallow in their need to rip others apart instead of putting themselves back together. Mood music: [spotify:track:4xP6YtLiFJpRUrKwqDPXka] I’ve always found it silly how people explode when a performer is caught lip-synching. We have this idealistic picture of how musicians should carry on when they perform in front of…  [Read More]

Screw You, Las Vegas — And Thanks To Good Friends

by Bill Brenner July 30, 2012 Uncategorized

The author travels to Las Vegas on business, his addictive personality is put to the test and some good friends carry him through it mostly unscathed. Mood music: [spotify:track:4xaEeuXlXyc3lzYoLYEsAV] As locations go, Las Vegas is the absolute worst for a guy like me. I have a binge-eating disorder and the place is one massive buffet, which is like laying piles of coke and heroin on the table and inviting me to dig in nose-first. I…  [Read More]

I’m Back, Biatches

by Bill Brenner July 27, 2012 Uncategorized

I’m back from Las Vegas and have stories to tell. But first, a reunion with the family at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. Until Monday…

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