It all began with a desire to write long form articles about tech & gadgets.

At the time, I was writing short and medium-length help and how-to topics about consumer apps for Windows Mobile, Microsoft’s operating system for mobile devices. There wasn’t an opportunity to write feature-length pieces about technology as part of my day job so, I sought a way to do it as a part-time hobby. Fortuitously, I landed at the online news site, Examiner.com, as their Microsoft Innovation columnist, based in Seattle. My desire for a substantial creative project I could share with the world while at the same time, building my journalistic chops, finally became a reality. The column I founded became a way to engage with readers in an informal way about new and existing Microsoft technology using friendly, non-intimidating language.

Examiner shuddered a number of its technology columns in early 2011, and eventually, permanently closed its doors in 2014.