Scared yet? Heh, you should be, because I'm back again. Hey y'all, it's Chris the Webmaster again, filling in for Drew. He's running errands in Gotham, hopefully he'll remember to drop off my phone number to Catwoman (meeeeow). It'd be a shame if he couldn't and something, um..."unexpected" happened to his website. But I digress...

   So anyway, I'm sitting here in the darkened computer room that I share with my wife (it's late and she's asleep, hence the darkened part), trying to figure out what on earth I can blog about. I could go off on a rant   about the current lockout in hockey and how it derails the awesome progress the Lightning have made. (Cute lit'l animated GIF ain't it? I love the part where he jumps up and down) But, nah, y'all aren't interested.

   And then a thought occurred to me...I make enough cameo appearances here (much like Steven King and Quentin Tarentino in their movies, though the comparison stops there) that maybe, just maybe, I should talk a smidge about myself. I usually hate doing that (aside from telling funny stories that happened to me...such as looking a Tennessee State Trooper dead in the eyes at 11pm on the side of I-75 and saying "Why no officer, you can't search my car...that whole probable cause thing." after he asks to search my car for weapons, drugs or any other illegal "kuh-ontra-bayund")

   (That by the way is for a later guest blog if demand is high enough.)

   So, just how exactly does one get a gig as a Web Designer? Well, if one were me, you'd have to first start off as a delivery driver for the printing company your brother works for. (He isn't my actual biological sibling, we've adopted each other) Then when a Graphic Designer gets fired for incompetence, one would then have to have their brother tell the boss of the company basically. "Look, can the next person I train not be a complete idiot? Chris has got brain in his head, let me train him." They agreed and upstairs I went.

   He was right, I did have a brain in my head and I was very trainable. I worked up there for a little over a year (9 months of it after my brother left..much to their surprise, they thought I'd leave with him.) But alas, all good things come to an end and when business slowed down, I was last on the list in seniority and first out the door when the lay offs came. Other Graphic Design companies wouldn't touch me because I only had a year in the field and no degree in Design. So, there I am, bitten by the artistic bug, smitten with the technical aspect of printing (Photoshop rules, as does Quark), and having no place to go.

   That's when the old standby comes into play. "School cures all ills." Went to my local community college, (it's a very good community college, don't let the stereotypes fool you), and got my certification as a Webmaster. I get all the satisfaction of graphic design without being tied down to a Mac and an elaborate printing process. I can grab my wife's laptop, our digital camera and Web Design on site at any business or buddy's house. (That's a ton of fun to do it as you're working with the client.) Quite a bit of freedom.

   Web Design hasn't made me rich, or even well off, but it has made me happy...and that's nothing to sneeze at.

   Moral of the story? Even if things look bad, keep your head up and keep going forward..there is no telling how the sequence of events will pan out and where you'll end up. Who knows, more often than not, you'll end up enjoying the journey. (Of course that doesn't mean Murphy's principle of "It's always darkest right before it goes totally black." is wrong....just kidding.)

   That's it for me this evening, thanks for stopping by and Drew will be back with the goods next week. Stay tuned.