Whenever we meet someone for the first time, one of the very first questions we ask is what do you do? It may be shallow to form our impressions on the basis of a job title, but it’s something we can digest more easily than what really matters about a person. When was the last time someone you just met asked about the sum of your experiences and beliefs that make you the person that you are?

At various times, I had been able to tell people that I was a student, a soldier, a sales executive, a corporate VP, or a small business owner. This information didn’t necessarily tell people anything meaningful about who I was, but it allowed them to form a critical first impression. For the first time in my life, I found myself unable to answer the most basic question about myself. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up isn’t a very good answer when you’re 47 years old.

I began blogging during this period of uncertainty to keep myself occupied, and to put in writing a number of thoughts and ideas that had been bouncing around in my head for years. I found the writing process therapeutic, but I also became fascinated with the underlying mechanics of the website. As I became more proficient at customizing WordPress themes, people began to approach me for advice, and eventually with freelance projects. I discovered quite by accident what I wanted to do for the next phase of my career.

I’ve always had an interest in design & architecture, but the fact that I can’t draw a straight line prevented me from pursuing either of these fields in my youth. I did study graphic design and typography as part of my graduate degree in Printing Technology, but that was in the pre-Mac days when drawing was still an essential skill. For the first time in my life I’ve got tools at my disposal that allow me to turn my visions into reality.

I’ve kept myself fairly busy with freelance assignments lately, and now I’m facing a new identity crisis. As I attempt to turn a part-time business into a full-time career, I’m struggling with how to create a new professional identity that will allow me to promote my work more effectively. While this site is an interesting demonstration of my ability to customize WordPress themes, it’s not necessarily the first thing I want prospective clients to see. It might be the only place on the internet where you can discuss religion, national health care policy and barbequed ribs, but it’s probably not a great idea to throw business into the mix.

Back in the old days, creating an identity for a small business was a relatively simple matter. You came up with a catchy name, created a logo, and printed up some business cards and letterheads. If someone in another part of the country or the world operated a business with the same name, it usually wasn’t a big deal. The internet has changed that, and creating an identity today is a much more difficult process. This is particularly true for businesses that promote themselves on the web.

Coming up with a catchy name is the easy part. I’ve come up with hundreds of them over the past few months. The problem lies in finding a name that is also available as a domain. It doesn’t do you any good to come up with a great name if someone else has already registered yourgreatname.com. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve gotten out of bed in the middle of the night lately to check the availability of a domain name. No matter how great or original my idea may seem at the time, someone else has already thought of it.

For the time being, I’m like the cobbler whose children have no shoes. Until I can come up with a great idea for a name that someone else hasn’t already registered, I can’t turn that name into a concept, or turn that concept into a website. Without those things, my business won’t seem quite real to me, no matter how busy I stay. At least I don’t have to tell people I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up anymore.

On the other hand, their dominance in the web browser market has had a markedly negative impact. Bill Gates freely admits that one of his biggest strategic errors was his failure to foresee the rapid rise of the internet in the early 1990’s. To make up for their relatively late entry into the game, the company used its monopoly position in the operating system market to impose its corporate will on the evolution of the internet. Since there were no universally accepted web standards in the early days, Microsoft created a browser that attempted to force the web to behave like any other Microsoft product. Nearly 15 years later, in spite of the development of widely accepted web standards, Microsoft has still not entirely abandoned this approach. Even today, Internet Explorer is to web standards what Ebonics is to standard English.

By bundling the early versions of Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system, Microsoft was able to gain nearly universal acceptance of their product, in spite of its obvious shortcomings. Depending on whose statistics you believe, between 2002 and 2004, Internet Explorer accounted for between 85% and 95% of all web browsing activity. As a result, web designers had no choice but to adapt their sites to accommodate this Microsoft specific behavior.

Since 1994, the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) has been working to establish a set of universally accepted web standards, and to prevent the further implementation of proprietary systems. According to their website:

“In order for the Web to reach its full potential, the most fundamental Web technologies must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C refers to this goal as “Web interoperability.” By publishing open (non-proprietary) standards for Web languages and protocols, W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation.”

Even though Microsoft is a member of the W3C, they have continued to introduce products that do not fully comply with this fundamental objective.

Thankfully, the domination of Internet Explorer in the browser market has waned considerably in recent years, and standards compliant browsers such as Mozilla Firefox are gaining rapid and widespread acceptance. Again, there is considerable variation in statistics, but according to the W3C Schools data, Firefox now accounts for 46.5% of all web browsing activity, compared to 43.5% combined for IE6, IE7, and the newly released IE8. Savvy web users now have a variety of standards compliant browsers to choose from, and the combination of Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari now account for 56.1% of all web browsing activity. This is a giant step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, roughly 17% of web users still rely on Internet Explorer 6, which was first released all the way back in 2001. How many of us are still wearing the same clothes, or watching the same TV shows that we did eight years ago? That was the year that brought us Grounded for Life and The Bernie Mac Show. Those shows have come and gone, but IE6 is still with us today. In terms of useful life expectancy, software years are even shorter than dog years, but for some reason IE6 refuses to die.

With the exception of web designers and security experts, most folks aren’t aware of the severe shortcomings of IE6, or the more recent IE7. They don’t understand the wasted time and resources that go into making a site that renders perfectly in a standards compliant browser also work in Internet Explorer. Until recently, accommodating the shortcomings of these browsers was considered to be a necessary evil, and few if any designers were willing to publish a site that did not behave properly when viewed with these flawed and outdated browsers.

Given the rapidly growing market share of standards compliant browsers, a few brave designers are beginning to change their practices. It simply no longer makes sense to spend countless hours devising inelegant hacks and clumsy workarounds to accommodate web users who stubbornly cling to antiquated technology. From a business standpoint, it can be hard to stand up to a client who insists that their site be backwards compatible with Stone Age technology, but at the very least they should be made aware of the substantial extra cost associated with their demands.

By some accounts, designers spend as much time forcing a site to render correctly in Internet Explorer as they do on the original design. This is clearly a monumental waste of time and energy, and represents a tremendous cost burden that clients are often unaware of. At the very least they should be told upfront that ensuring backwards compatibility with outdated browsers will cost substantially more than a standards compliant site. As long as clients are unaware that their demands carry a very high price, IE users will remain oblivious to the problems they cause.

As nice as it would be if we could simply refuse to support any non-compliant browser, this is not a practical solution. What we can do is work to make less savvy web users more aware of the nature and extent of the problems they cause. After creating this new theme for my personal site, I have decided not to make any accommodations for Internet Explorer users. If you are viewing this site in a standards compliant browser, it will display exactly as I intended. If you are using Internet Explorer, it won’t. Among other things, IE7 users will notice that the background colors do not match the background images, and that the comments boxes do not line up correctly with the left margin. If you hover over the page numbers at the bottom of the screen in IE, you will probably see them jump out of position by 15 or 20 pixels. If you look at the main page, or any of the archives pages, you will notice extra blank space between each of the post excerpts. These are just a few of the problems I’ve discovered so far with IE7, and I haven’t even bothered to look at the site in IE6. I assume it looks much worse.

If you want to do your part to rid the world of non-standards compliant browsers, you can display the Bring Down IE6 badge on your site. Get yours today at Bring Down IE6.com

There is a more disturbing reason that I haven’t kept up here lately, and it doesn’t have anything to do with dogs or children or greenways. The sad fact is that I am simply too disgusted to write about anything going on in the political world. I can’t remember a time when I’ve felt more discouraged and more powerless about the direction our nation is headed. The corrupt bastards who run the show in Washington seem determined to drive our nation over a cliff, and those of us who’ve always played by the rules are powerless to stop them. While there is no shortage of blog worthy material to expound on, I simply haven’t had the stomach for it lately. Maybe that’s a sign that it’s time to focus on something new for a while.

On a more positive note, I’ve found that my Twitter experiment has turned out to be far more valuable than I would have anticipated. Several of the contacts I’ve made have resulted in freelance projects that have kept me pretty busy lately. Right now I have five different websites in various stages of completion, and several new folks who are interested in my services. It seems that my knowledge of WordPress might actually be worth something after all. I started blogging a year ago to keep myself busy, and I may have accidentally developed a new career skill in the process.

I’ve made it a point to post updates on a regular basis, and I’ve averaged around four per day. Some of the folks I follow never seem to post, while others average at least four per minute. I tend to un-follow those folks pretty quickly, since their incessant spewing of random brain farts makes it impossible to pay attention to whatever anyone else may have to say.

I haven’t made much of an effort to recruit followers, so I guess I’ve failed when it comes to running up the score. I’m sure there is a tried and true method for attracting hundreds or even thousands of followers, but I have not discovered it yet. I’m only up to 18 so far, so I guess I’ll go eat worms.

The biggest question I had going into this is whether there is any valuable information to be found on Twitter. I was pretty doubtful at first, but I’m beginning to think otherwise. It is true that there is way too much shameless self promotion, and there are far too many people who feel the need to share with the world every time a new song comes on the radio. On the other hand, if you take the time to sift through the nonsense, you might find an occasional gem.

Last week I saw an announcement for a lunch gathering of social media users in Roanoke. I read it at 11:20, and the meeting was scheduled to begin at 11:30. Fortunately, I live close enough to downtown that I made it with time to spare. The event was surprisingly well attended, and I ended up meeting several interesting people. One of them contacted me the next day looking for some help customizing a WordPress site, and I ended up with a nice freelance project. On that basis alone, I have to admit that for something that seems pretty silly on the surface, Twitter can be a valuable tool.

Follow me on TWITTER

Blogging makes sense to me, but I’m not sure I really get what Twitter is all about. This blog has always been a personal reflection of my views on a wide range of issues, and when I have something on my mind, it provides me with the perfect platform to unload. Twitter seems more like a way to share what I had for breakfast. If anyone really cares, it was coffee, OJ, and granola bars.

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never really understood the whole social media phenomenon. Maybe it’s an introvert thing, but I don’t feel the need to accumulate pretend friends like points in a video game. I tried to view someone else’s page on Facebook last year, and I realized that I had to create an account of my own to access it. I spent a total of about 3 minutes on the site, and I’ve never been back. Even though I didn’t create a profile, I continue to get occasional random friend requests from people I’ve never met.

I’ve had a LinkedIn account for about a year, and I have a pretty small number of contacts there. These are people that I know and have had real life experience with over the years. It may defeat the purpose of getting “Linked In”, but I routinely turn down connection requests from people I don’t know. I’ve also joined several LinkedIn groups, but it seems like most people are more interested in joining than actually participating.

MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn are all basically variations on the same theme, and it’s a concept that I just don’t find very interesting. I’m one of those people who think ATMs and pay at the pump gas are the greatest developments in history, because they allow me to avoid unnecessary human contact. I really dislike trivial exchanges and idle chit-chat.

Twitter is something completely different from the other forms of social media, and I’ve been trying hard to understand why people find it so addictive. Do I really need a second outlet to share the details of my personal life? Can anyone possibly care about the random brain farts that Twitter seems designed to capture and disseminate? Does anyone ever actually read the tweets of the people they follow, or is the object simply to run up the score by accumulating followers of your own?

The thing I wonder about most is whether it is possible to say anything truly worthwhile in 140 characters or less? I always try to use words as efficiently as possible, but this limit seems like it would challenge even the greatest wordsmiths in history. If Abe Lincoln and Bill Shakespeare couldn’t do it, it’s a pretty safe bet that I can’t either.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. (178 characters)

“O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” (156 characters)

In a way, Twitter reminds me of the 6 word life story meme that made the rounds on the interwebs a while back. It was an amusing challenge, but it didn’t really serve any purpose. I did come up with a few good responses, and they all fit within the 140 character limit. These were some of my best efforts, but it’s pretty clear I’m no Bill Shakespeare.

Tried hard to be good father. (29 characters)

Spent too much money on golf. (29 characters)

Ass on couch watching South Park. (33 characters)

As skeptical as I sound, I’ve decided to see for myself what all the fuss is about. There’s a chance that I’m wrong, and Twitter may turn out to be right up there with ATMs and pay at the pump gas among my favorite things in life. I’m going to give it a try for 30 days and see what happens. I already spend way too much time on the computer, so if I’m not completely addicted at the end of 30 days I’ll probably give it up. You can Follow Me to see how it works out. I promise not to tweet about my breakfast.

I’m not sure if it is boredom, curiosity, or obsessive compulsive disorder that drives me, but I just can’t seem to make myself stop changing things around. When I started this blog, I had virtually no knowledge of html, css, or php, but it has been a great learning experience to continually dissect this site and put it back together again. If nothing else, I may just gain a few new marketable skills in the process.

Like all of my previous redesigns, this one is based on the original Blueprint Theme I started with when I launched the site. I began by making minor tweaks early on, and eventually modified it beyond recognition. Each of the designs has been a quirky reflection of my slightly offbeat sense of humor and style. There are several design elements that have carried over from previous designs, and several new ones as well. My favorite is the new footer menu that uses css image replacement for the links.

My objective with the current iteration is to present a cleaner appearance that does not distract from the content like some of my previous efforts. Let me know what you think, but don’t get too comfortable with the new theme. I will probably start working on number 8 tomorrow.

While reviewing the complete list, I wasn’t able to discern any patterns, or to make any predictions about what might be popular in the future. I’ve always written about whatever happened to be on my mind, and the most popular posts represent a mixed bag of subjects with little or nothing in common. For the coming year, I plan to continue offering my thoughts and opinions on whatever interests me at the moment.

A couple of these posts produced an immediate surge of readers as soon as they were published, mostly as a result of links from other blogs or from bookmarking sites like Technorati or StumbleUpon. Once the surge passed, they received very little attention. The majority of these have continued to produce a steady stream of readers since they were published, mostly from search traffic. Although I’ve never made any effort to optimize my search results, several of these posts do achieve front page rankings on Google. It’s possible that a few of them might still appear on the Top 10 for 2009.

1. Is Introversion An Inherited Trait
2. If I Had It To Do All Over Again
3. Choose A Career That Fits
4. Education Is A Lifelong Process, Not A Birthright
5. Revisiting The Oregon Plan-The Future Of Healthcare In America
6. Coming Out Of The God Closet
7. Help, I’m Becoming A Liberal
8. Jesus Hates Beer
9. Healthcare Is Not A Right
10. A Study Of Letters To The Roanoke Times

In 2004, I decided to turn my love of food into a business. Foodies started out as a cooking school, and over time we expanded our offerings to include special events, prepared foods and meal assembly. I enjoyed certain aspects of the work, but I realized early on that there is a world of difference between cooking for pleasure and preparing industrial quantities of food on a daily basis.

When I left Foodies after 4 years, I pretty much left my passion for cooking behind. For the first several months I barely set foot in the kitchen, and when I did it was to create something as quick and easy as possible. The fact that my son was still a toddler and my wife was on a severely restricted cardiac diet didn’t help, and it usually meant that we each ended up eating something completely different for every meal.

I don’t recall exactly when it happened, but sometime in the past few months I started to enjoy cooking again. I think the cooler weather has something to do with it. It also helps that Robert will turn 4 in March, and he is getting to the point where he will eat many of the same things that we enjoy. I actually look forward to preparing meals now, and Robert is an eager assistant. Teaching classes was the thing I enjoyed most at Foodies, and I look forward to teaching him.

One of the biggest challenges I face is that I grew accustomed to working in an amazing kitchen that’s bigger than my entire house, and to having people clean up after me whenever I made a mess. I also had access to a wide range of ingredients that aren’t available to the general public. Now I have to make do with what I can find in the grocery store, and work in a tiny kitchen that hasn’t been remodeled since 1971. It’s not easy, but I am having fun again.

I’m not sure if fun is the word I would use to describe the pleasure that I get from blogging, but this is definitely something that I do for my own satisfaction. Most of what I’ve written here lately has been political in nature, but I never really intended for this to become a political blog. It is simply a reflection of my personal interests at the moment. Now that I’m back in the kitchen, I’m probably going to begin writing about food and sharing some of my favorite recipes. I won’t stop writing about politics, or introversion, or any of the other subjects that interest me, but I will be adding to the mix. It might be a strange mix, but it’s mine.

Bloggers played a larger role than ever before in the election of 2008. Unfortunately, we did not contribute nearly as much to the spread of worthwhile information as we did to the breakdown of rational discourse. One of the problems is that blogging permits anyone to make themselves heard, even when they have nothing worthwhile to say. Unfortunately, the loudest voices are often the most venomous and least informed. If your only contribution is an endless loop of regurgitated partisan talking points, then you have made no contribution at all. The only thing you accomplish by flooding the blogosphere with mindless diatribes and incessant repetition is to drown out the voices of reasonable people, making it harder for those engaged in thought provoking discussions to actually make a difference.

The words we use to vilify our political opponents tend to make us lazy. It is far easier to apply a derogatory label than it is to explain why we support a specific candidate or cause. If we ever hope to engage our opponents in a civil fashion, we must stop relying on negative labels and choose words that force us to actually think about our positions. Let’s banish words like socialist and neo-con from our vocabularies. Let’s quit calling our opponents fascists, radicals and extremists, and concentrate instead on defeating them with the power of our ideas. If we can learn to behave ourselves like adults, our politicians may one day follow our example.

I also added an upcoming articles feature to give you an idea of the topics I’m working on. Some of these are fairly far along and others are very much in the idea stage. I have been doing some writing, and my newest article appears today at the Star City Harbinger. I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think. Now that the holiday weekend is over, I’m hoping to settle back into a more predictable routine. If I don’t, the guilt will eventually get the best of me.