IT Insights Blog — Employment

It's been a good long while since the age of imperial Rome, and even longer since the halcyon years when the empire bestrode the ancient western world and the decrees of its rulers were law. The best known of the ancient Romans were figures of enormous historical consequence. Even great world powers only last so long, of course, and the rulers of the late empire were often forgettable in their own time, and have been almost entirely forgotten in ours.

There's a contest of sorts currently underway in which cities large and small, scattered across the United States from sea to shining sea, are desperately seeking to outdo each other in courting the favor of one of America's most dynamic companies. Everything e-tailer Amazon, which has numerous other ventures under its corporate umbrella, will soon choose from among its many suitors a city or county to serve as the site of its second U.S. headquarters.

They say that it's not polite to ask people pointed questions about how much money they earn, or what they do to earn it. So for a couple of weeks every autumn, the team at Certification Magazine might as well be running around yelling in people's face, tipping over potted flowers, throwing raw eggs at the walls, and generally doing just about everything you can think of that uncouth rascals with no upbringing or manners like to get up to.

Everyone — or at least the subset of everyone who is some level of employee in some organization somewhere — wants to work at a great job. If you have to get up in the morning, take a shower, put on clothes, eat some breakfast, and be at your desk before 8:30, then that desk might as well be somewhere that you generally feel good about going to and being at. It's just better for your overall well being.

Goblin Valley State Park at the edge of the San Rafael Swell in central Utah has a spooky, otherworldly atmosphere. The extraterrestrial vibe is so strong, in fact, that the makers of the Star Trek-spoofing comedy movie Galaxy Quest went to Goblin Valley to film the scene where Tim Allen's blithely inexperienced "crew" visits a strange planet to locate and recover a "beryllium sphere" to fuel the Thermian exploration vessel where they have become honored guests.