Once upon a time I was a Web Master. As with most things in my life, I got into Web Mastery by chance. It was 2003, and the local Green Party suddenly needed someone to look after their website. I was the only person to volunteer and got the job, even though my coding experience was limited to playing with GW-BASIC in the early 1990s. I had never written a single line of HTML and didn't even own a computer. All I really had was a reputation of being "good with computers", which was mainly because I was the proud owner of a European Computer Driving License. But that's a story for another day.

Back in 2003, learning HTML was as easy learning GW-BASIC. It was the type of simple coding work I enjoyed, and being able to self-publish content online was both exciting and liberating. And so, once I got the hang of HTML, I next made a website for my then girlfriend (now wife), which was quickly followed by a website for a project that would occupy me for the next decade or so: my anti-junk mail website. Next up were a handful of family members interested in having a website, and before I knew it I was part-time part-time self-employed. I initially traded as "Easy Openings", which was the name of a chess book I was reading at the time. A few years later, after I got into Linux, I renamed the business "Beep Mode". That's a largely forgotten term related to the Vim editor — I should come back to that in a future diary entry as well.

My career as a Web Master and anti-junk mail campaigner ended in 2016, after I got a job at a web hosting company. I still make the odd website but nowadays I'm primarily a Sys Admin. Or at least, I was until recently. I quit my job late last year and I have been rethinking life, the universe and everything. That's still ongoing and explains the illustration of Diogenes on the home page of this here website.

In short, it seems a good time to start a new blog. I'm planning to mainly write about the good 'ol days and projects I'm currently working on. I hope to avoid writing about politics and the state of the world, as there is already plenty of that about.