WilliamDayton.com

Well, I’m saddened, yet happy to announce that Wednesday, October 15th was my last day at the Town of Castle Rock.  It’s been a great place to work, but we definately struggled over the course of 3 years with some very challenging situations.  I will miss everyone as the employees at the Town were some of the best people I’ve ever worked with.

I start at Jefferson County on October 27th. Can’t wait to start!  Looking forward to a great, new opportunity.

Bill

News for some of you who may not know yet, but I have recently accepted a position with Jefferson County, Colorado as 1 of their IT Project Managers.  I am very excited about this new opportunity and can’t wait to start - October 27th.  I gave my resignation to the Town of Castle Rock, and my last day will be on October 15th. 

Castle Rock has some of the nicest, outstanding employees working for it and I will miss everyone I worked with very much!  But I think it’s time to move up North.  With Darrin Clock’s passing away, my having gotten divorced in Castle Rock and a few other issues, it’s time to start fresh somewhere else where there are more opportunities and new experiences.

Without a doubt, Darrin’s struggle with cancer taught me more than anything else to “Never give up, hang in there and continue living your life and achieving your dreams as best as possible, no matter what.”  Darrin also taught us to never accept “2nd best” as life it too short.  He taught us to expect and demand 1st rate treatment in your job, your health, and your life at all times and that the relationships you build and the friends and family you can help through life are most important.

I may be moving on, but I will never forget my time at Castle Rock.

I am proud to report that the IT team at The Town of Castle Rock has been awarded 2007’s Best IT Team of the Year in Colorado by the Colorado Information Management Association (CIMA). Awards from CIMA are given annually for a number of categories, and Castle Rock garnerd the award for the team that consistently goes above and beyond.

And I completely agree, our team has gone through hell and back, sticking together, maintaining our systems and still finding time to learn and advance our knowledge during quite a few difficult times during our careers here. This job has been one of my most challenging positions, both professionally and emotionally while working with my manager Darrin Clock who still continues to battle terminal cancer, along with his daughter Katee who is suffering from but responding well to treatment for colon cancer.

Other categories for which CIMA gives awards include…..

My friends Mike, Debbie and their kids came out to visit last week until today. We all had a great time and I traveled around with them quite a bit seeing more Colorado Front Range attractions. In the end, we went to the Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, Pikes Peak Cog Railroad, Florissant Fossil Beds, REI in Downtown Denver (a must stop!), Estes Park and the Stanley Hotel, Rocky Mountain Park, Grand Lake, Winter Park, Vail Pass, Copper Mountain and Mt. Herman Road in Pike National Forest. They also got to see the Dinosaur musuem in Woodland Park, and said that was very cool for the kids. Debbie spotted a bear and 2 cubs in RMNP (I can’t believe I missed them), and we all saw elk and deer, trout and other wildlife throughout the state.

In the meantime, work has been keeping me busy - but even more - my coworkers and I are working on a new website called Darrinsday.com. This website is about my boss Darrin Clock who is dying of cancer. We are trying to raise some money for him - and worse - his daughter was just diagnosed with Colon cancer! This horrible turn of events is unbelievable and has us all speechless and numb.

So, we’re accepting donations for Darrin and you can contact me about donating immediately. Also, soon we will have the website up and running fully with a link to paypal for credit card donations and a mailing address for checks.

What did I want to be when I grew up? When I grew up, I wanted to be a commercial pilot. I lived right in the final-approach path of St. Louis Lambert Field and would watch the aircraft fly in day after day after day from my pool in our backyard. At the age of 20 in 1989, I took my first flight in a Cessna 172 (first flight in a non-commercial aircraft where I was at the controls.)