Sam Soundar Biweekly Newsletter (SSBN), Index and Explanation

Index of SSBN Materials

• Issue 1, 2014-05-06, Spring Cleaning Edition
• Issue 2, 2014-05-07, Nautical Edition
• Issue 3, 2014-05-28, Bitter Resentment Edition
• Issue 4, 2017-05-26, Candy Coated Edition
• Issue 5, 2017-11-14, Honest Mistake Edition
• Issue 6, 2017-12-01, Social Harmony Edition 
• Issue 7, 2018-03-07, Truly Desperate Effort Edition
• Issue 8, 2018-07-01, Use Scrollwheel To Zoom Edition

Explanation

Explanation, SSBN's Genesis

Many moons ago, Sam Soundar had a cubicle assigned to him in the upstairs hallway that connected building B and building C.  People would often come by, looking for Sam Soundar, and they couldn't see into his cubicle from the hallway, so as they stepped around to get a look, they would frequently say something like, "Hey guys, is Sam here--oh, nope, okay, maybe he's in the lab" as they found out he wasn't there.

He was never there.

Well, sometimes he was, which gave the seekers-of-Sam hope.  The seeking of Sam became routine enough that Sam's cubicle neighbors and I began joking that we need some sort of traffic light or alert system so people would know if Sam was at his cubicle or not.

And then one week, Sam Soundar was out for training for the week, so I sent out an email to that effect on 2014-05-06, but to make it joke-ish, I framed the email as part of a Sam Soundar biweekly newsletter (SSBN).  I enjoyed writing it, and I enjoyed other people's enjoyment of the email, so I wrote a few more issues and emailed them out.

Explanation, SSBN's Essence

SSBN is an attempt at writing some zany things to amuse coworkers.  Sam Soundar is a recurring character, and sometimes things stated in the SSBN will be loosely inspired by real events, but you might as well treat it as all completely made up.  For example, if a SSBN issue talks about Sam Soundar's daring mohawk haircut, maybe that was written because Sam Soundar recently got a haircut. Also, real coworkers have on occasion replied to the SSBN emails, and the resulting discussion is now considered part of the SSBN.

And Now SSBN Lives On This Blog?

I used to send people old issues of the SSBN via email with attached Outlook .msg files.  I think things will work much better if I convert to a blog-based approach and link people to this index-and-explanation page.  So, let's try that out for a while.