Author: Derek Schuurman

Would you leave your child in the care of a robot nanny? Would you feel comfortable leaving your aging parent with a robot care giver? Should you find yourself in a hospital bed, would you feel cared for by a robot nurse? These scenarios may sound like fanciful fiction but “socially assistive robots” are an active area of ongoing development. In fact, these kinds of robots are already being designed and built.

Congratulations on your first job as an IT (Information Technology) worker! May your skills be put to good use as you seek to the serve the organization you are joining. Unlike the more visible roles in an organization, IT work usually goes unnoticed. Many people are unaware that your hours will frequently spill into early mornings and weekends as you diligently apply security patches and update servers while users are blissfully sleeping.

I was just a toddler at the time, but many older people vividly remember huddling expectantly around a flickering black-and-white television as Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon 50 years ago.

While I really enjoyed my time in Christian college, I am finding that working in the “real world” can be challenging. I sit in a large cubicle farm as part of a team that designs a part for a small sub-assembly that is used in larger products. Like the parts I design, I feel like a small cog in a giant machine. I am left feeling like the comic character “Dilbert.”

As a Canadian who has lived his entire life in southern Ontario (except a yearlong sojourn in northwest Iowa), living in GR has left many new impressions.