This is going to date me, but what if I told you I’d been blogging since 1998. Then, my site was nothing more than an offshoot of the original framed HTML page I created at Seneca College. At the school, a bit of hosting space was provided to everyone in an active technology course-load. After tinkering with some HTML (and leaving the school), I took the files, added more details, a few blog posts and then released it. I don’t really count what I worked on at the school, or my blogging might go back to 1997 or earlier.

Now, I’ve had to blur out some of this. Back then, sharing too much information was far more common than it is today. I was still learning. Sheesh, on one of the pages there was even a username and password to a site. What you see in these images (from top) is my college I.D. photo, a picture of my Father and Mother in their younger years and (bottom right), a picture of myself and my sister Leigh. The rest will remain anonymous. It was also likely that almost no one saw this page while it was actively being served out at Globalserve, an ISP.

Here it is in all its glory:

Even back in the beginning, I offered freely some basic utilities, such that it was. This was instilled in me early on, do the work, but share the work freely when you can.

Looking back at this from almost 30 years in the future, if I could go back Before the Coffee Gets Cold, I would say a few things to my younger self:

– Stick to the classic white background. Don’t try to be fancy with that faux marble teal texture.
– I love the left-side tree menu. It’s not going to be scaleable for the coming 750+ articles you’re about write, but A for effort.
– Don’t ever blog about your current or former girlfriend. It was perhaps too family heavy too. This was unnecessary as there was a ton to talk about outside of these personal matters.
– Don’t put passwords on public websites. Ever.
– What was with the Pi symbol? I need to ask myself.
– It’s best to leave your email off the site. Ditto for linking the thing.

Can you see any similarities between the site you’re on now and the one I started with?