Check out my general site background information for basic information about how I started this web site, the tools I use to create it, what some of my older versions looked like, etc. Q: Why did you start this site and did you set out to make a huge site? A: I became fascinated with HTML and web page building back in 1995. I started creating a web site for the Powhatan Renape Nation, using an editor on a VMS VAX 4000/300 server at Rowan College, and then I started seeing lots of people with personal sites. I thought it was kind of cool, so I started my own. It was small and basically said nothing, except "HI, here is my homepage, use Netscape to view this, check out these cool bands and send me email!" I never planned on having a massive, politically charged personal site. But then, I decided to add an essay I had written in college to the site, which generated encouraging feedback. Then the election started heating up (1996) and I started posting some election graphics. And of course, I started working at InterStat in 1996 which boosted my web design skills as well as giving me access to all sorts of cool toys. I had never used Photoshop - now I had my own copy. My own scanner. A T-1 LINE!!! A faster computer. Access to the cgi-bin. Access to computer Gods who could teach me things. So I played more... and the more feedback I got on my web site, the more it grew. Then I had some woman send me a really nasty (and very very WEIRD) email about how ugly my site was so I redesigned it. (Sini... if you are reading this...think way back... you'll remember this person!) I wasn't used to hate mail yet ;) And it just went on from there. Also, some little tiny sections, which I never planned to expand into large sections, would oddly start getting oodles of hits, so I would want to make that section look better, expand it, etc. My Diana, Princess of Wales page is a PERFECT example of this. The day after she died, I was very saddened, so I quickly made a little ribbon graphic and web page, and slapped it up on my site. Registered the page with a few search engines. Suddenly - BAM!! Hundreds... literally HUNDREDS of emails started flowing in. I have no idea how my little page because so popular, but it was verging on the point of being ridiculous. Suddenly, reporters were calling, asking me about it. I had to set up a separate e-mail account to handle the e-mail! In the midst of all that, I met my friend Lyle, who will remember all this well. So the page received over 100,000 hits in a very short period of time (and I have a screen shot of that somewhere because Lyle got onto the site just as it hit 100,000 and grabbed a screen capture!) and I slowly went crazy. My Al Gore page is the most recent example of this. Back in 1998, I posted a tiny page with some of his funny quotes, to show that yes, politicians besides Dan Quayle can make mistakes. Well, I had no idea that in 2000, "Al Gore Quote" pages would be the popular thing to have on your site (as well as Bush Quote pages ;) ) and since mine had been one of the first ones around....BAM! Hits like I never imagined (we're talking over 25,000 in one month on that page! That's a lot to me, so all of you who get hits like that in one day or something, go away!) Plus I had a Not Gore Quotes page posted in 1999 when the brains on the Internet were passing around a set of Quayle quotes and attributing them to Gore. I then added to the page as more bogus quotes cropped up. Little did I know that debunking bogus Gore quotes would also be a "thing" to do on the Internet, so the next thing I knew, I had people all over that page too! Q: So you're BRAGGING about how you get billions of hits? NO! Many pages on my site (usually the ones I WANT to get tons of hits) get hardly anything! The main page on my site doesn't get very many hits -- most people find my site through a sub page and get into my site from there. I have had the same domain since 1996, and I do think that keeping pages in the same spot for many years helps a great deal. For instance, I would like to organize my site a little better and move some pages into sub directories, etc. I have done that to a point, but some of the pages which are linked many places and which have been in the same "spot" for over 3 years, I leave where they are. This helps eliminate people having dead links to my site, or making it necessary for me to re-register all my pages in search engines. Q: What page on your site gets the most amount of hits consistently? A: That's easy. While some pages, such as the ones mentioned above, got oodles of hits for a while, it isn't/wasn't a consistent flow of hits. My Marvin the Martian page has consistently received approximately 4,000 - 6,000 hits a month for quite a while now. Yes, of all pages, my Marvin page! Q: Why have your site updates been rather pitiful lately? (year 2000) A: Many reasons. Work got busier. That may seem impossible to those who have known me for a while and know my odd schedule, but yes, it did become busier, but in a good way. It's a little hard to explain, because I have always been very happy with my job at InterStat, but I became involved in a wider variety of activities, such as more database work, server administration, and assisting in some of the everyday business activities. (accounting, etc.) My focus, even on my own time, has been more on such responsibilities as opposed to personal web page items. I moved to my own place. ("What?! You still lived at home!?" Yes I did, for many reasons which I won't detail here. Time, money, cool parents, etc.) The move itself did not take long, as I set everything up very quickly (thank you Joe, Anthony, Mike, Lisa, Mom, and Dad!) but taking care of a townhouse added extra responsibility. I got into "I need a change" mode where I just wanted to do something different. Part of the change was the move (see above) but I also became....I don't know...tired, weary of web work for a while? "Stuff." That's the best way to describe it -- just "stuff" happened in 2000. Not horrible stuff, just "stuff" which had me preoccupied. I know many of you (the people who actually read stuff like this on my site ;) noticed. So does the recent site updates (as small as they may be) mean I no longer "need a change", am not focused on work and am no longer wading around in "stuff"? Well, there isn't a lot of "stuff" now, but I'm still focusing on work and I am still not out of "change" mode BUT, I am more inspired to work on my web site again. Q: Why do you have such a big site? Have you no life? A: No, I don't have a life. I started my site in 1995, which means I've been plugging away at it for a while. Q: Why did you feel it necessary to post your grade point averages on the web? A: I have received this question a few times, as well as a few "you are so conceited to have your resume on the web, blah blah blah." So why is my resume on my web site, and why does it include my GPA? The answer is rather simple. My resume is on my web site because, while I am happy with my present job, I always keep my options open, and potential employers often search the web for candidates. Many of the computer professionals I know post their resumes and I have received multiple job offers due to my on-line resume. The GPA is listed because it's common to put a GPA on your resume if the GPA is okay. Q: Why do you post your pictures on your web site? Are you some kind of egomaniac? A: Yes, I have a massive ego. I have already reserved iamanegomanic.com. This is a personal web site, and people often like to see the person who created the site. I had just one picture posted when I first started this web site, and then I posted some pictures of my friends for fun. (and to bug my friends >:) ) The picture section kind of grew from there, as people requested more pictures. Q: I read your hate mail. Does this type of mail bother you? A: Depends on my mood. Q: You have a typo on your personal info page. You said you graduated from high school in 1989, but then state that you graduated from college in 1992. A: I graduated from college a year early.