Today is the day that the paychecks end. Today is the day that they reach in electronically and wipe the work apps off my phone (go ahead, but make sure you get them all, please!). Today is the day that I swam laps for twice as long as usual because I didn’t feel the need to rush off to answer some emails or worry about something else at work. Today is the day that when I have a couple beers at happy hour I will actually have something to celebrate, unlike those others days when I made up a reason to celebrate.
This might only matter to me, but I decided to capture a timeline of my life with Desire2Learn/D2L.
- April 2003: Met John Baker and Jeremy Auger for the first time when they came to St. Cloud State University to sell their upstart LMS to the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. They were successful.
- January 2004: Slowly started replacing 5 different LMS’s in the state system with Desire2learn.
- March 2006: I started Desire2Blog (https://desire2blog.blogspot.com/2006/03/) which got the attention of some Desire2Learn employees (see for example, these posts from July 2006, including “Not a Hater”)
- August 2006: I start posting heavily about the Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn patent lawsuit, starting with the post titled “Desire2Monopolize.”
- August 13, 2006: Desire2Pod (my first and only podcast series) was born with episode 1: An Interview with John Baker (mostly about the lawsuit).
- Fall 2006: Desire2Learn approached me about being the host of their 4th annual Users Conference. I was surprised since I had never attended any of the first three.
- July 2007: Fusion (this was the year that the Fusion name was born) was held in Duluth, Minnesota. It was awesome.
- July 2009: During a long coversation with John Baker outside a bar in St. Paul, he dropped the following line, “If you ever need a job, you let me know.” He repeated that line another time or two during the time that I didn’t need a job.
- Spring 2012: I say “Hey John, remember when you told me…if you ever need a job? Well, that time has come.”
- May 2012: I begin work at Desire2Learn as the Senior Community Manager (the jokes wrote themselves…”Señor Communty Manager” and “It’s not easy managing a community for seniors.”
- July 2013: The Spotlight on Community Colleagues main stage show was born at Fusion in Boston.
- 2013-2024: Pretty much a blur…lots of travel, lots of presentations, lots of webinars, 35-ish trips to D2L headquarters in Kitchener, Ontario (loved it there).
- October 2024: I started phased retirement at 60% salary and pay (more on that later).
- July 2025: My 18th and final Fusion. Had a fun retirement party with a bunch of friends, and was pleased the D2L Barry Moose (wearing a Hawaiian shirt) was a hit.
- August 1, 2025: My last day on the payroll at D2L. It’s been a wild ride.
Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Cheers! BD
Filed under: Desire2Learn, Personal | Tagged: blog, life, travel, writing | 3 Comments »
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