It comes to this...

A number of years ago a (relatively) young kid started working in our group as a tech writer. He was a good writer, but he also had a knack for understanding the value of emerging technologies and learned all he could about how we could take advantage of them. 

The guy had an enormous amount of curiosity and cleverness, and managed to drag us, kicking and screaming, into the modern world.

A month or so ago he was snatched up by a different group in the company, which left a massive hole in our group. Amazing as it sounds, there were some in our group that felt like I could step in and handle some of the things he was doing. 

So I am giving it a shot, although I have no hope of filling those shoes. They are like clown shoes and I've got little girl feet.

To help me learn about one of the acronym-intensive areas he had mastered, I am now reading my first "For Dummies" book. I've always been curious about this series of books, and maybe Mush can tell us how well they actually sell, but I've also been curious about how I would feel openly reading a book that assumes I'm a moron.

I feel OK. 

Only a few work mates have mildly jabbed me about it, but since they don't want to get stuck having to learn this stuff, they tend to smile and quickly wander off.

I went to the Dummies.com website to see what other offerings they had, and it was amazing. For example, Chihuahuas for Dummies. I think the mere fact that you thought having a yappy little dog for a pet was a good idea automatically brands you with the "dummy" tag. But if the book at least gives you strategies for learning how to spell "chihuahua" it's probably worth it.

And then there was Grieving for Dummies. I mean, just, really? (I wonder if this covers fans of bad baseball teams? If so, this could be a big seller here in the SF Bay area.) 

OK - enough time wasting. 

I need to get back to learning to spell XSLT.

That's it - move along...