Various surveys and studies show that Americans switch jobs between 10 and 15 times through their career(s). Joe Torre is an exception to this, as the majority of his professional path has been with the highly successful New York Yankees baseball franchise as head coach. In the light of an uncharacteristic season of poor performance, Torre is now in the final steps of finalizing a three year contact with the New York Dodgers. Talk about a sticky situation in terms of flipping sides.

Personally, I like change in professional sports and this move by Torre will be fun to watch when the new baseball season commences. I’m not sure however, that Yankees fans share my point of view. By the way, if you’re an NY local, I’d love to hear your take on this whole situation.

Now, back to that statistic I had mentioned previously. If you’re like me, you’ve switched jobs a few times already and know the pressures that ensue in these types of situations. The circumstances can further be pumped up if the switch is from one company to a competitor. There’s hardly anything wrong with this, but soon-to-be-former coworkers might feel betrayed. Follow these key points to gracefully switch jobs without the drama.

- Do not exalt your new position. Bragging shows disrespect and is just plain sloppy. It’s perfectly acceptable to be excited…on the inside.

- Be thankful for the opportunity to have worked at your soon-to-be former workplace. Gratitude is appreciated by everyone, and employers are no exception. Serve up the proper respect and never burn bridges. This is natural for true professionals.

- Give it 100% through the last day. Excitement about moving on to a new position is not a reason to slack at a current job. Continue on through your last two weeks as you normally would and hold up your responsibilities

- Clean our your work area, thoroughly. Make a clean break by not leaving remnants of your former self. Honestly, as much as people might love you, they won’t love what you leave behind.

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The Nintendo Wii video game console has taken the world by storm since its release last year. Not only is it being played by youngsters, but many older professionals like myself are getting in the action. The highly sought-after, hard-to-find platform comes at an attractive price point and provides some serious fun for both serious and casual gamers alike. This of course, made the Wii a hot-ticket item from the get-go and millions of people snared up the units upon release.

Myself, and personal finance blogger David of MoneyNing, have waited it out for months of debate on whether or not to purchase the highly praised toy. I had bought a couple and flipped them on eBay for profit, but never kept one for my own enjoyment. David recently bought one though, and explains why it’s a good investment. He details many valid points as to why a Nintendo Wii will save money in the long run.

If you’re on the border of dropping 200+ for a Wii, or already have, read this post. Remember folks, it’s important to keep it fun outside the workplace!

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The rumble in my stomach this morning could have been satisfied by some high fiber cereal and fruit at home, but I wanted to arrive early at the office to do some personal organization. The perfect solution appeared to be stopping off for a couple of breakfast tacos from a local shop on my way to work.

Now, keep in mind that I hardly ever even think about eating fast food. You’ll almost always catch me with a banana and green tea in the early hours of the day, as opposed to anything pre-made. That being said, there are times in which I go with perceived convenience because the work I’ll get done in the time saved is worth more to me than the price of paying for someone to make a bite to eat.

After having waited much too long and being overcharged for something I didn’t order, I was on my way from a thoroughly dissatisfying experience. Now, I find myself with a buck less in my pocket than I expected, but correcting their error would further put me in the hole with wanting to get to work extra early.

So, what was I witness to today? I was once again seeing a perfect illustration of the risk one takes when dealing with a lower-quality team of workers in hope of saving time. Sometimes, it makes sense to just do it yourself and be sure of the results. Life can be funny

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Free WiFi is a saving grace for the hard working professional who needs to check e-mail from an airport terminal, download appointments at a lunch meeting, or instant message with a co-worker between Spicy Pumpkin Lattes at Starbucks. Although WiFi spots are fairly easy to come by with the crack of a laptop, the challenge lies in finding a strong signal that’s legit.

Personally, I find that when traveling to an unfamiliar area, I can rely on WiFi411.com beforehand to check out where I can hop on the world wide web. On the site, you can easily select where you’re seeking WiFi connectivity, what type (commercial or free), and call up listings within a few seconds.

Now all that’s left for you to do is get started finding free WiFi hotspots!

Additionally, are there other sites that you use and find to be helpful for finding WiFi? Speak up and let everyone know.

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Adobe, creators of fine software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and the AIR web application development environment…have made a boo-boo that I just couldn’t help but bring about here on the Modern Worker blog.

Let me say that Adobe is one my favorite companies in the design/web industry, which is why I hate to see them slipping in area so easy to control like pay-per-click ads (PPC). These ads are served up across the Internet, mostly through Google AdSense. Advertisers will sign up with such a program, input the text they wish to describe what they’re selling, input a destination link, and pay a little (or a lot) of money each time someone clicks the ad is taken to their website.

Companies all across the globe make use of this great advertising method, and Adobe is no exception. One problem though… their ads are misspelled. Now, for a company with such a high profile to maintain, you’d think proper grammar and such would be locked down tightly. As evidenced by the image below, you’ll notice the lapse in quality control.

Mistakes happen, and unfortunately for Adobe it did for them through this haphazard ad. We should always keep in the forefront of our minds, specifically at work, that mistakes are often remembered more so than maintaining the standard. Make use of spellcheck when appropriate and keep those textual tasks free of ailing errors.

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