Webward Ho

I'm back in Atlanta (from Huntsville) as of yesterday. Against my parents better judgment, I drove right through "Hurricane" Dennis. More like intermediate wipers, no traffic, and zero risk of radar guns. I just don't get the paranoid preoccupation Americans have with "inclimate" weather. Unless there's a bonified tornado warning, an active volcano about to boil over, or an avalanche covering my house, I see no reason to drop everything, run to the TV, and pour over ever color change on the local newscast's Doppler radar map. If ya'll don't mind, I'll just continue living life, even if it means getting a few drops of water on my shoes in the parking lot.

I've kind of holed myself up for the week, working on various PIC projects that have been more or less baking in the summer sun thus far. Mostly boring coding things that end up taking way more time than they should. Like this new and improved "email a page" feature for all the articles (oooo, ahhh). I guess I just get a little anal about layout and design sometimes too. There's also some fresh changes coming for the PIC E-zine (which hasn't been emailed in a while, I know), another quote contest coming up, an integrated look for all our blogs (Nate, Beech, others soon?), and a new columnist search for the fall.

Speaking of internet stuff, I walked into my friend Lamar's apartment today (relatively unannounced) and there's this girl I'm casual acquaintances with standing there on a cell phone (I'm still getting to the internet part). She turns around and with a look like I'd just saved 30 kittens from euthanasia, she yells "COOOOURT!!!! JUST THE PERSON I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!!" Bear in mind, casual acquaintances means I hadn't planned on seeing her for at least another 2 months. Apparently she's trying to start a website devoted to the "social butterflies" of Atlanta (the see-and-be-seen club types and what have you) and she was dying to talk to me about how to make money on the internet. Right then.

I agreed to what turned out to be more like an interview, but only under the premise that I would be gorging on my first meal of the day at the same time: hot wings and fries with bleu cheese from the ORIGINAL J.R. Crickets of Atlanta. Eating hot wings is one of my favorite things to do, but for the uninitiated, it can be an overwhelmingly physical experience watching me do it. I start sweating, my eyes water, my nose runs, my heart beats faster, my breathing shortens, and I am overcome with a mild giddiness. This, apparently, is my definition of satisfaction.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, making money on the internet isn't as easy as it looks. But here are few key pieces of advice: build a website about something you are truly interested in; update your website often with original material; garner an audience before you even think of squeezing a dime out of it (this usually takes about a year). I'm fascinated with the opportunities for creativity, technology, and profit on the internet, but I'm usually not very good at explaining how they all fit together. If you're interested, I'd recommend checking out a blog called WebKEW, by the author of HowStuffWorks.com.

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