February 21

1. Oatmeal with mini chocolate chips and marshmallows
2. Old school internet publishers
3. Refrigerators

I started messing around with HTML roughly around 1996. I was in college and a friend from high school had started a website. I was amazed. I asked, “HOW DID YOU DO THAT???” She replied, “Dude, just view source, copy it as an HTML file, and change it to what you want.” Mind. Blown.

Kids, this was back when URLs looked like this: http://falcon.jmu.edu/~coltonwk
(RIP falcon server)

Since then, I have been playing in and working with HTML, almost daily. I was amazed at the speed and independence possible with creating something. The joy of taking thoughts that exist in solely your own mind and putting them where anyone with internet access (almost 50% of the planet now; over 3.5 billion people!) can read/see it…so much joy!

In the early 00’s (pronounced “aughts” on this site) there were a number of sites that were doing new and interesting things. One of those sites was Flickr. And one of the most lovely, hard-working, and talented individuals working there was Heather Champ, Community Manager.

Lots of things have happened since 2004 and I lose touch of sites and people that inspired me and pushed me to try new things. I do this semi-on purpose. I believe in serendipity. And the right things showing up at the right times.

This morning I re-found Derek Powazek. There are many wonderful things he has contributed to the digital world (and physical world!). One of my favorites, is fray.com. This site was ahead of its time in many ways and continues to show how things can (should?) be done on the internet.

As with all great stories, Derek and Heather found each other and have created a life together. And so serendipity brought Heather Champ back into my life. Catching up on the things she has posted to Instagram light a spark just as her photos and wrangling did on Flick years ago.

I mean, look:

View this post on Instagram

I had so much fun at @joann_stores sorting out the colour scale for my 2019 temperature embroidery project. It took me over half an hour to find just the right @dmc_embroidery floss to represent each of the 16 sections that will represent the high for each day. The are so many more options than the yarn I used two years ago for my crocheted 2017 temperature scarf! With four years of color theory at art school, I have opinions! The DMC floss numbers are listed on the right side of the colour key if anyone wants to join me. #dmcembroidery #dmcthreads #embroidery #temperatureembroidery #2019temperatureembroidery

A post shared by heather champ (@haitchchamp) on Jan 5, 2019 at 5:23pm PST

This. This is the internet I want for myself and all humanity. I’m so grateful to both of these pioneers of connecting humans to other humans, expressing creativity, and making tools and sites for others to express themselves.