Yes, I’m alive. And I know I apologize every time I fail to post after a few months, but I mean it this time. And hopefully - let’s not kid ourselves by saying ‘definitely’ - I’ll be able to keep it up this time.

Work is busy, busy, busy as we near the end of our third quarter. I’ve become project manager for the integration process of Salesforce.com and Eloqua, a role which means I’m working closely with our Director of Sales Operations, a really nice young guy who recently quit smoking and therefore chews about 384 pieces of nicotine gum per day, and the company Webmaster - her actual title eludes me right now, but that’s basically what it is - who is a charming young woman who’s from Pakistan. This being one of my objectives, I’m pleased to say that the process was completed on Monday, leaving us with only basic testing to do.

My other objective involved applying ’search engine optimization’ techniques to our two web sites. I’m pleased to note that the initial phases of this project, ie adding the correct keywords, description, and so forth, to each of the many pages, is complete and is merely awaiting approval - the story of my life here. Seems like there’s always something that needs to be approved before further action may be taken. That’s the bureaucratic process for you!

With regard to home life, generally I’m happy at the way things are working out. We’re hoping to take a weekend away next month or in November, just the two of us, no phones, no nothing. We haven’t had a weekend away in … well, a long time. And we need it - rekindling the romance, and all that. We had a rather large problem arise this week, which exhausted both of us emotionally and physically, and hopefully we can move past that.

We will also be going to London in December to visit our newly-out friend. I’m so proud of her!

In the meantime, I’m at work and should probably cease this to do something more work-related. ‘Til next time.

I miss designing web sites. Back in the summer of 1996, I found a book on HTML in the discount bin at my local bookstore and took it upon myself to learn the ins and outs of the art of web design. My first site, Pure Fun (can you tell I started this one at thirteen?), was a mess of everything from wallpapers to icons to random commentary to advice columns. Let’s face it: it was ugly and amateurish. Luckily I moved on quickly, learning some Java and CGI along the way, and came up with a prototype for what would be one of my biggest web accomplishments. HoMM3 Unleashed, dedicated to the 1999 3DO PC game Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia, was a side hobby of mine that I started at the beginning of my junior year of high school. I took it upon myself to outclass and outperform the already established web sites dedicated to the game, and found myself rapidly amassing an international fan base. Once all the kinks had been worked out, the 100+ page site received multiple awards, including one from the game company itself, and was even featured in the now-defunct PC Games magazine, which, in its heyday, rivalled ubermag PC Gamer. Ultimately, though, with over three million visitors, and needing to update the site multiple times daily, it proved too time-consuming for a high school student to handle, and I handed it over to one of the most frequent visitors, who merged with a fellow gamer to create the Might and Magic haven known as Celestial Heavens.

My other site, developed from my love for European pop music, was a fan site dedicated to Swedish pop sensations the A*Teens, formerly Abba*Teens. In the summer of 1999, my sister and I traveled to Sweden to visit relatives, and I was introduced to the Abba tribute band, whose singles “Mamma Mia,” “Gimme Gimme Gimme,” and “Super Trouper” were catchy and upbeat. I figured there would be a small market for such music, as I really enjoyed it. My site, Somewhere in the Crowd, quickly grew to be one of the most popular A*Teens sites on the web, so much so that even the maintainers of the official site noticed and would periodically send me autographed CDs and pictures to use as prizes in site contests. Once again, though, updating became a nuisance, and I dropped it in senior year due to a load of AP courses and tae kwon do training. The A*Teens have since split to allow its members to pursue individual projects - both Dhani Lennevald and Marie Serneholt (who was voted the sexiest woman in Sweden a year or so ago - quite a change from when A*Teens first began in 1998!) have released albums in Sweden since then - but on occasion I do listen to their songs and remember the days when they were my main musical focus.

I never received any compensation for my sites, though in hindsight, HoMM3 Unleashed could have done well with some advertising. I was never in it for the money, however. I made sites because I enjoyed a) the product I was marketing, and b) creating the sites themselves. And I miss it! I miss the enjoyment of putting together a professional-looking site just from typing a bit of text into Notepad, I miss scouring the ‘net for means of attracting visitors, and most of all I miss creating a product that was both useful and enjoyable for people I might never meet, from all around the globe.

I’d like to get back into web design. This would entail, however, re-teaching myself the tricks of HTML as well as learning the languages and technologies that have emerged since my departure from the web scene, including DHTML, Flash, RSS feeds, and so forth. That, and I require a good idea for a site. Obviously this is a long way off, but it’s fun to think about.

I’m officially 23 years old. How crazy is that! I still feel nineteen at heart.

Five years ago today, I wrote: “Well, I’m 18 now. I can’t say I feel any different, nor do I really feel very special. I mean, honestly, I couldn’t even (legally) have a ‘fun’ party! What is that? Maybe I should have gone to Mexico for my birthday. That would have been cool.” Haha. Well, I certainly made up for the lack of ‘fun’ partying in high school when I made it to college. Today was pretty low-key for me, but lovely, just the way I wanted it. Maybe I’ll have a night out to celebrate in the next few weeks, or maybe not. I think I’m kind of over the party scene. Yeah, I say this now.

On this day in history:

• Carl Linnaeus, creator of the modern scientific taxonomy system, was born in 1707
• the Army of the Potomac marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, to celebrate the end of the Civil War in 1865
• the North-West Mouted Police (otherwise known as the ‘Mounties’) was established as Canada’s national police force in 1873
• famous actor Douglas Fairbanks was born on this day in 1883
• Bonnie and Clyde were shot to death in 1934

Party on, Wayne.

During my breaks here at work (and there are a few - one cannot take multiple practice exams in a row without a little breather in between), I’m either messing about with this thing, or I’m reading random blogs. For the most part, I’ll spend a couple of seconds or so skimming one, realize the information provided is too personal for me to take an interest, and move on to the next one via the said person’s blogroll. Those types of writings can only really be appreciated by the person writing them, or the people who know that person, erm, personally. I have, however, decided that I’m a huge fan of those blogs written by people in the service industry. My top three right now are WaiterRant, The Insane Waiter, and New York Hack.

The first two are, obviously, written by waiters, one in NYC and one in the Midwest, both very capable in their own right and both amused/horrified/infuriated by the caliber of customers who enter each’s respective restaurant territory. If you’ve got a spare moment, I definitely recommend checking through some of their posts. They’re hysterical, yet poignant, and I’ve already found myself acting differently at restaurants because of them.

When I worked at The Seafood Restaurant in St Andrews, for the most part the customers were tame: little old ladies enjoying a leisurely lunch, European tourists, American golfers, and, on special occasions, students from the university. We very rarely had parties with small children (thank god), and had very few complaints, the biggest one that I can recall being that the oysters weren’t cold enough (which is ridiculous, really, because those oysters were like a party in the mouth). That’s not to say that working at the restaurant was boring; it was just pretty uneventful where customers were concerned. The kitchen, however, was kept up with sexual innuendos and bad jokes, which made up for everything, even when one mini Scotsman decided to serenade me with an Elvis song and then proclaimed himself to be “devastated and heartbroken” - and was serious about it, I found out later from a friend - when I turned him down for a date. Ah well. Working as a waitress/bartender was hard work, and tips in Britain suck, but then, we weren’t getting the $2.90 or whatever it is that waiters get in this country, but rather amassed five quid an hour, or almost ten bucks. Hey, every little bit helped when it came to funding my social life.