I actually used to run a couple different sites where I would post a blog. Back then they weren't called blogs though. Just a way to write a few notes to myself and keep family and friends updated on the never-ending-action of having a house full of boys. My first experience was also with an ISP that I used to work at where we would post the latest happenings on the network for all our customers to read.
I got started by learning some basics on HTML and began to make my own pages. I still pretty much write pages the same way now. Just using plain ould NotePad. Of course, I do add some neat stuff by tossing an occasional Javascript, or borrowing a cgi script from whatever server I may have things posted on.
For a while I had a bunch of technical items posted, but I took it off the web since it was all becoming too out of date. I began to collect jokes and inspirational stories and posted them. I still have a collection of them but haven't added to the mix in a while. I might take up the jokes again, but I think I'll lay off the inspirational stuff, unless I write it myself. I'd just feel better telling those kind of stories if I can relate them on a first hand basis.
For a couple years, about 3 to be exact, I didn't have much of a web presence. We had moved around so much and changed ISP's a few times, I never had much time to keep up on all the email lists, discussion boards and web sites that I had created or was involved with. I still don't have the amount of free time that I used to, but I felt it was time to make a comeback.
I found a floppy disk that had much of my old web site still on it. I revamped the main page just a little and started making sure the links still worked. Changed some email links, and began looking for a place to upload things. I found a really neat place called FreeServers.com and was planning to take advantage of their free web space. When I discovered how inexpensive it was to get more space, more web tools, and to register a domain name, I just had to jump in at a higher level. And so... Heltsley.net was born.
I had considered using the .com extention for my domain, but it has been taken. And, as it turns out, the company who is sitting on it is willing to let it go for the low, low, price of $200. (yeah right) They can keep sitting on it.
In the future, I would like to expand the domain to be a meeting place for family members, both near and distant to get together and express themselves. Maybe on a discussion board or just to offer a place for those interested to post their own family page. I'm interested in geneology only as far as knowing where I came from and in the history aspect of what my ancestors might have accomplished in history. If anything. In other words, if I have to dig too deep in all those old court house records, I get bored. I do enjoy and respect the work that some of my distant cousins have done in mapping out family trees and the like. In fact, I'll be adding some links soon that lead to some of the pages where they have information posted on their own sites. That way anyone who is interested can figure out which branch of the tree we come from and where my twigs and leaves are blooming out.
Comments? Questions? Let me know what you think, send me an email.