Well, now that all my web sites are on a new server, I guess it’s time for me to chain myself to my desk and get them all redesigned.  The new server has some nice blog software that I plan to put to use, so at some point, SYNS will be moving in-house.

In the mean time, my folk’s site, LaddsDarkHorses.com needs a serious face lift.  It was written long before I learned about standards compliance and CSS layouts (ala CSSZenGarden). It also needs a good deal of programming and database work since new features were added with duct-tape programming.

Also, Light-Spark needs to be converted into a more professional looking site for contract work, etc., especially since all the branding marks on sites I’ve done point to what is now my personal site. Not very attractive to folks who might actually want to pay me to do a site.

So *sigh* I guess I have to give up some gaming time and get some real work done.

BAH!

I have returned from the Microsoft Brain Washing… I mean… Training. Actually, the class was great. Dave (my boss) and I learned a lot and are excited for Microsoft to release the next version of the .NET development environment. (The current version produces nasty, non-complient, HTML code. Version 2005 promises to be better.) But for now, we’re back to plain old ASP.

It’s nice to be back in the office. I really do like this job.

I’m in Microsoft training all this week. I’m learning why Bill Gates is my friend and why I should buy all his stuff. Most importantly I’m learning that anyone who says Microsoft isn’t the best stuff ever, or worse tries to compete with Microsoft, must be the Anti-Christ.

You remember those slaves in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that walked around chanting? Yeah, I’m one of those guys.

I’ll be back in the real world next week. Until then, buy Microsoft or die.

<Game Geek Post Advisory>
If you’re not familiar with Ultima Online or other, similar MMP RP games, this won’t make any sense to you.
</Game Geek Post Advisory>
*Names changed to protect the guilty*
My guild on Montis Draconis has been the sole Order guild for months now. There are several Chaos guilds that have had a heyday beating up on the [GoodGuys], since we are only just learning to do PvP. All our characters have been designed for PvM and are really good at it, but when the Chaos guys started playing rough, we had to adapt. The other Order guilds changed to Neutral and ran off to Trammel (where PvP is a no-no).

It’s taken many weeks to tweak our characters for PvP and to train up new characters, but we are finally seeing some fruit. Last night, after drafting in yet another experienced, former PvM player into the guild, we had our first fairly successful raid and killed two of the “big boys” on the Chaos side.

[ToughtBadGuy1] (a.k.a. McButtHead) is one of those annoying, mouthy characters constantly sending messages about how everyone is a sissy and he “pwns” the Order guilds. Last night, McButtHead was beheaded and, just as we all predicted, he instantly logged off and spent the rest of the night pouting off-line. We know this because his cohort, [ToughtBadGuy2] , who is much cooler and a nice role-player, is his roommate and he laughed at [ToughtBadGuy1] right along with the rest of us. [ToughtBadGuy2] was also taken down, but was much more gracious about it. We’ll have lots of fun reminding [ToughtBadGuy1] that he’s not the king-of-the-world he thinks he is.

Yaaay [GoodGuys]!

I’ve been asked before where the name Light-Spark came from. I spent a great deal of time thinking about the perfect domain name and finding out that all the perfect ones are already taken.

Since my site would cover web development, graphic art, and photography, I wanted something that could apply to all three. My logic was as follows. All computer graphics and programming are, in the end, nothing more than tiny electric charges bouncing between different pieces of silicon and copper that eventually produce light in a cathode ray tube (that’s what your monitor is). Photography is capturing light to film. (Photo – light, graphy – writing.) So I ran the gamut of domain names that related to light and electricity. Light-Spark was the winner. (In fact, lightspark.com was already taken too, so I had to hyphenate.)