In honor of Programmers' Day, which was yesterday, today we’re celebrating by getting to know two members of Velsoft’s IT department. Ian Taylor Ian is the IT manager at Velsoft, and he’s been working here for the past…

Most of us spend more time during the week with our co-workers than we spend with our families. Is this a good thing? Well, that’s for a future blog. Why am I thinking about this today? It’s because…

In the last installment of Getting to Know Velsoft, we introduced our summer students, who sadly, are spending their last day at the office today. This week we hope you learn something you didn't know before about two…

Novice trainers make many common mistakes. These include teaching too much or too little at one time, telling without demonstrating, a lack of patience, a lack of preparation, failure to build in feedback, and failure to reduce tension.…

A few years ago (quite a few now that I think about it) I was accidently poisoned. As a result, my liver failed, and I found myself on the list for a liver transplant. After three months of…

We are blessed with two left-handers at the Velsoft palatial head office. Since one in 10 people are left-handed, this makes absolute sense (although we think we got two of the best).  We hear loads of things about…

At the Velsoft head office it doesn’t look like we’re experiencing a heatwave here in Nova Scotia. Cindy and Sandra have shawls draped around their shoulders. I’m sitting at my desk with a blanket across my lap, I’m…

I’m trying desperately to put my paddle in the water at the exact same time as Cindy, who is sitting in front of me and setting the pace for our boat. At the same time, I’m trying to…

Back in May, through Getting to Know Velsoft, we introduced summer student Luke Henderson. Recently, two other students joined the Velsoft team, so we thought we’d get acquainted with them as well. Although they’re sitting on the advertising…

Among other things, today is Take Your Webmaster to Lunch Day! Brandon is Velsoft’s webmaster extraordinaire. If you’ve been reading these Weekly Update blogs, you’ll remember that Brandon spent some time as a vegan. This didn’t affect his…

On June 3, Volcan de Fuego erupted in Guatemala, spewing volcanic ash and hot gas over the surrounding area, and creating violent and fast-moving mudflows. About 18 kilometres away where he can see the volcano from his office…

Last year, when I worked as a reporter at the local daily newspaper, I went to the East River in New Glasgow to take photos of dragon boats being unloaded from a truck with a crane and placed…

Recently Dave’s wife went to a seminar on Feng Shui. Initially Dave was skeptical when she changed the drapes, moved furniture and changed the color of rooms but it grew on him. Dave empowered by the Feng or…

Today is Dare Day! No not the cookies! This is a day that we dare each other to do outrageous (but safe and legal) things.  To commemorate the day, I sat down with a few (anonymous) staff at…

Today is National Wine Day in the United States and the eve of English Wine Week (May 26- June 3). I missed February 18th which is Drink Wine Day (putting it in my calendar now!). I thought it…

Today is International Museum Day. I thought it would be fun to ask everyone here at Velsoft what their favorite museums are. I was amazed at the diversity of museums that people have enjoyed. Here are their top…

There has been a great deal of talk in the office over the last two weeks about two subjects: the impending legalization of marijuana in Canada, and Velsoft account representative Marty leaving for ‘greener pastures’. I am able…

In honor of May the 4th Be With You Day, I thought I’d talk a little bit about the politics that informed the Galactic Forces of the Star Wars movies (with help from Luke, our IT Summer Student).…

It's amazing the number of tattoos you see these days. From tiny ones like Ed Westwick and Jessica Serfaty’s matching heart tattoos or Miley Cyrus’s portrait of her puppy Emu and Pablow the blowfish, to larger tattoos like Demi Lovato’s…

When Michael Harding started out to raise funds for children in need, he didn’t know his family had once benefitted from the same spirit of giving. The Chief Happiness Officer at Velsoft Training Materials is one of the…

As an avid fan of The X-Files I've watched most episodes at least twice. Not only are they entertaining and thought provoking, they also teach some very good life lessons. In honor of Friday the 13th, I've compiled…

Today is National Walk to Work Day! I don't walk to work, and I’ve heard and said all the excuses possible:  I live too far away, I need my sleep, I have to pick up groceries on the…

Earlier this year I posted a blog about Velsoft’s MicroLearning HipChat Experiment.  The experiment was to introduce some concepts of leadership and to hopefully lead into a conversation about intrapreneurship to empower everyone in the company to come…

At a tech company like Velsoft you would imagine everyone would be reading CHIP, Computer Power User, WIRED or other top technology magazines. It turns out that this is not the case at Velsoft. The staff here seems…

Planning to wear green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? While that's what most people do (legend has it that wearing green makes a person invisible to leprechauns that will pinch someone if they see them), the patron saint of…

Jim is heading out for a much-needed weeklong vacation in a climate much better than ours. The usual thought is that when the cat's away, the mice will play. Obviously, whoever coined this phrase did not know Velsoft!…

What's in a name? March 4-10 is International Celebrate Your Name Week, established by American onomatology hobbyist Jerry Hill in 1997. He suggested reserving the first week of March for people worldwide to celebrate their names. Each day…

Two weeks ago, I outlined the Olympic sports that the various Velsoft Head Office personnel could compete in at the Winter Games, which will wrap up for 2018 in PyeongChang on Sunday. Well, I received a great deal…

What great moments do you remember from past Winter Olympic Games? Several specific instances stick in my mind, and like me, they’re Canadian as well: Brad Gushue talking to his mother (who wasn’t able to attend the Olympics…

The 2018 Winter Olympics start in South Korea today, and this got me thinking about what it takes to be an elite athlete. These individuals have to be resilient, selfless and patriotic, along with possessing a sense of…