Just had to brag for a moment… I took Little Guy to visit my parents in Maine a week or two ago and when I came home, Big Guy had cleaned the house. Seriously cleaned. Vacuumed and mopped and picked up all of my piles of clutter. Isn’t that wonderful? I knew I married him for a reason!

Massachusetts is known for using the word “wicked” to mean “really” or “very.” I haven’t used it much since the ’80s when “Wicked Awesome” was in vogue, but it still lingers around in some circles. It seemed appropos to use it to describe Wikipedia (you can search the Wikipedia for “Wicked” and see what I mean).

The Wikipedia is basically a living online encyclopedia. You can contribute to it, edit it, or just browse the massive amounts of information included within. It is a community written, edited, and maintained reference source. I wouldn’t recommended it as a definitive source of information, but it’s a great place to learn more about a particular topic, particularly in the technology world. You’ll see that I often include a Wikipedia as a reference for information I share. It’s not necessarily where I learned whatever I’m talking about, but it frequently is the most comprehensive and clear resource available.
If you want to visit the Wikipedia, but don’t have something specific to search for, here are some ideas:

• the year you were born – it will list people who were born or died that year, as well as a whole calendar of globally noteworthy events
• your hometown – more than you ever wanted to know!
• your favorite band, movie, or book

If you can’t find what you’re looking for you can simply add it yourself!

Have fun!

I love learning new things. I love seeing new places. Starting a new business, or several as the case may be, is a phenomenal challenge with a high learning curve. Right now, I’m ramping up my technical skills and that’s kicking my butt. It’s my own fault for letting my skills lapse in the first place.

Here’s the thing… I’m a techie at heart. I began using a computer in 1981 or so and haven’t stopped ever since! [I even met my hubby online!] I was online in 1989 in the earliest days of the internet (before the “web” existed – can you imagine an internet without web pages and html?). Back then, the intenet was primarily used by government employees and college students. My first school, Stevens Institute of Technology, had all of our dorms networked and we all communicated via email, chat, and BBSes.

The story of my academic career is a long one, kind of boring, and destined for another day, but the short version is that I ended up with a minor in Computer Science (from UMass Amherst!). And ever since then, other than some minor dabbling with websites, blogs, and such, I haven’t used a computer for much more than word processing, email, surfing the web, and playing video games.

That brings me to today where I haven’t a clue about PHP and CSS. The blog itself is a breeze, but now there are RSS feeds, trackbacks, pings, and random other new technologies that I’ve got to brush up on. I haven’t even got a bit of patience for (or interest in) podcasting. I’m hoping that’s a trend that stays marginalized! Anyway, I’m figuring it all out, but it’s taking me a lot longer than I’d like.

The funny thing about all of this is that Little Guy will grow up immersed in a world so full of technology, he won’t be able to comprehend life before it all. I was born in 1971, not THAT long ago. All the same, there were no CDs, DVDs, or even video tapes! We didn’t have cable until I was in middle school and no one had computers at home. The internet had just been launched a year or two before I was born. No cell or cordless phones. Heck, we still had rotary dialing. Ah, the good old days. Hah! =}

Ok, I hope you’ll bear with me on this journey… and if you have any advice, please feel free to share!