Windows IT Pro Is Moving!

For a couple decades, the home of Windows IT Pro has been Loveland, Colorado. That’s not as woodsy or mountainous or lovely as you might imagine. Truth be told, our digs have been lacking. Today is our final day in a building that has always seemed like “MC Escher meets Dilbert”—a poorly designed, bland block of an edifice standing in the middle of a grocery store parking lot, surrounded by a drab strip mall and a McDonald’s.

Today, we’re doing our final packing chores, cleaning out the final detritus from our offices, getting everything ready to move to our fabulous new location in Fort Collins (about 15 minutes north).

I decided to take an impromptu tour of this building with my camera this morning and capture some final moments. My first stop was at the front office, where Donna Ognian awaited, actually a little teary-eyed about the prospect of leaving a building that, after all, launched a thousand fantastic ideas. She even wrote a nice poem for the occasion of our departure.

That board has served as the welcome sign for many a visitor. Heck, I remember when it welcomed me as a prospective job candidate back in 1998. That’s when the magazine was called Windows NT Magazine—well before it was Windows 2000 Magazine or Windows & .NET Magazine or, as it’s known today, Windows IT Pro.

I continued on my way, down the drab, sterile hallways, soaking in the nostalgia. One of the more potent memories is when the building was repainted—a long overdue process that we were all excited about. Surely the new paint would liven up the atmosphere and make the Penton building a dynamic place to work. When all was said and done, the painters ended up just slapping neutral-color paint over the existing 1970s-era wallpaper and calling it a day. And we all returned to work and shrugged.

There are other potent memories.

… As a new employee, glancing apprehensively at the water-stained and discolored ceiling tiles, and wondering if I’d be lucky enough to see any mice (or roaches) sticking their noses (or antennae) out of the holes I saw between the stains …

… The doors from the stairwells slamming open and sending innocent bystanders (at one point, a company VP) sprawling—prompting the creation of urgent “Please Exit Carefully!” signs on all the stairwell doors …

… The stairwells themselves, metal and concrete echo chambers more suited to prison than an industrious publishing company …

… Haphazardly constructed offices with paper-thin walls, and erratic AC units that blow straight down on your head…

… The lovely south-side view of McDonald’s drive-through area …

… The frequent blaring sirens going down 29^th Street …

… The smell of burnt toast and popcorn wafting down the corridor, destroying appetites …

… The feeling that the building’s layout was an elaborate psychological test that employees failed daily ...

… Power outages that left the majority of employees in utter, windowless darkness …

… The brutal clanking of the elevator as it groaned into motion, and the way it literally scared the **** out of you if you were in the adjacent bathroom …

… Strange people running remote toy cars in the parking lots, and—in fact—strangers loitering outside the building most of the day, and trying the doors every once in a while, coming into the offices to try to sell us all manner of trash …

… Diabolical crows taking up residence atop one of the parking-lot light poles and dive-bombing people as they left the building …

But there are good memories too! I realize I’ve worked an eighth of a century in this building and have been part of many of this magazine’s successes. We’ve been through highs and lows in here, and yet the magazine survives, continuing to churn forward in an industry that clearly needs it.

We all have a lot of memories associated with this place, but we’re all jazzed about our new location. Watch this space for pictures of the Fort Collins location, where our work environment promises to be far more energetic, dynamic, and motivating.

On that note, here are some more pics of the final day at the Loveland office. Enjoy!