Today was my 20th Anniversary at Work!

I used to say, jokingly, that before taking this job I had never used-up a box of staples at any of my previous jobs. Well, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but with the record tenure at a position prior to my time at DCC – JDS – CJDS – Big Flower – Encoda – Harris being just three years (at WFTS in Tampa) my fifth anniversary was, to me at least, impressive.

(The picture at the right is of me and the Traffic Department of WFTS-TV taken in 1986.)

On September 18, 1989 I walked into the office at Crossover Lane in Memphis, Tennessee for the second time; the first time having been about a month earlier when I showed-up for my interview. The job, at the time was a bit of a lark for me. I wanted to travel, I wanted a job where I could feel challenged, I wanted to be doing something I enjoyed. So six weeks earlier when a colleague of mine named Bridget, had shown me the ad in a trade magazine, I called Memphis and finagled my way into an interview.

So, twenty years ago, I walked into the lobby of the building at Crossover Lane for the second time and very rarely have I given it a second thought. In my tenure at (what is now) Harris Corporation, I have visited every state except Alaska on business, spending significant time in each with only a few exceptions. Likewise, I have spent lots of time in Canada, visiting and spending significant time in over half of the provinces. And most memorable of all is the time I lived in the UK recently.

Yes, with all the travel I have done, I certainly did get to travel like I wanted to! I've made good friends everywhere and still keep in touch with many of the good people I have met all over the world.

And I have certainly gotten to work on something I enjoy doing! I've been a consultant, a trouble-shooter, an installer, and a plethora of other things over the years. Now I am working with a great team designing a new system that I think will be really big when it is ready to go out the door! Every day is something new!

(The picture of me at left is one taken when I was working in Thames Ditton, England, United Kingdom in 2007.)

So, what of the future? If it is half as cool as the last twenty years have been, I hope that I am here for as much of it as I can be! Twenty-years-on and everything is still new and exciting.

Well… Perhaps not everything, but enough of it is at least to keep life interesting.

Wherever you are today, I hope that you're doing something you love!

Don Bergquist – September 18, 2009 – Lakewood, Colorado, USA