Originally published at Durosia.com. You can comment here or there.

Last night's Refresh-DC meeting featured local educator Jeffrey Brown talked a bit about the web design program he runs at Damascus High School and Montgomery County Community College.

One of the big points the talk drove home was that the educational institutions aren't quite sure what to do with all this web stuff. For those of us who've been neck deep in it since there was a Web to be seen, the idea of not knowing can be a bit foreign.

After all, we use it for everything, right?

But how do you teach that? Most of my compatriots have amazingly diverse backgrounds. I come from a liberal arts background with a heavy helping of science and technology. Others were philosophy or art or theater majors. We're all self taught, for the most part... flying by the seat of our pants half the time and getting lucky the other half. When we got our degrees, the Web was only a few years old (if even), not taught about anywhere and yet, we all function quite well in this still wild-west-like industry that's redefining the entire world.

Education is a slow to change industry--like any large beast, it takes time to nudge it into new directions. The Web, by its very nature, changes much more quickly. Bringing the two into sync is no small job. That's what people like Jeffery are doing. Specifically, he's part of Web Standards Project Education Taskforce. They've put together a bit of a curriculum for educators and institutions looking to teach websuff in a more proper way.

Since I'm still flying more by the seat of my pants than most I know--one of the ever-fun bits of being a very non-specific type of "idea" person and nothing easily definable like a programmer or a designer--I'm not fully sure how I can help out.

But I'm sure as hell going to put some thought (and, eventually, action) into it.

Those of you out there with an eye toward the future probably should, too.

This is kind of disturbing news.

Apparently, there's a few tens of thousands of sites out there that rank high in Google (and other, I'd assume) search results that can dump quite the payload of malware on your machine.

That, in turn, helps spread more worms, viruses, trojans and spam stuff and makes the originators of the malware packages a pretty penny through complex click-fraud.

While this is particularly scary for those of us with at least a vague clue of how this all works, it is absolutely horrible for those who don't know anything other than "Google it and click!" (And, for those keeping score, most of the users of the Internet fall into that latter category.)

Stuff like this, plus the wide-spread StormWorm spread that's been going on, strikes me as some sort of wild and twisted cyberpunk dark future. Except without the fancy stuff that was supposed to come with it.

Where are my super-powered cybernetics, direct to head connection to the Internet and fancy power armor.

Oh, wait... there's the power armor.

So I've been so busy (again) that I forgot to give the usual shout out to an old buddy of mine who's been around LJ longer than I have.

judomc is yet another one of the fine people I met back in college through CSCH. I've been horrible about keeping in touch with him (and bunches of other people), but like so many others from that group, he's one of the ones I miss on a semi-regular basis. He's still up there in the Great White North of Rochester... and that's yet another reason I really should get back up there to visit at some point.

Anyway, it's good to have him around again.

Welcome to my corner of LJ Land, man... hope it keeps you entertained and lifts your spirits a bit every now and then. :)

So we all know I'm a bit of a dork and involved in role playing games.

Well, I'm involved in a new one now all about super heroes. Of course, it's not the "cape and tights" super heroes. At least not quite yet (I'm sure there's a good bunch of them that'll come in to play). So far, a good bunch of the characters seem to be a bit snarky and cynical.

I guess that's the new favorite style.

Heck, it was what I was going to play. :)

But in order to not have everyone be dark and brooding, I'm exercising that creative urge and expanding that original idea I had.

Of course, there hasn't been much playing yet on my part... I've been plotting and re-plotting with multiple characters, just to get a feel for the world we're living in.

I also spent most of tonight fiddling with Sims 2 and Photoshop making a couple of character portraits.

Since the game is being played online through blogs, e-mail and chat, I figured I could set up individual blogs for each character I had in mind. Thing is, I've discovered a wee quirk in the Google suite of stuff. Seems I can't stay logged in to G-Mail as myself if I log in to Blogger as an alternate identity. :\ Frustratingly annoying.

Anyway, super props to ambientshell for getting this whole batch of creativity going. It's just what I needed.

(And if anyone really cares, you can see what's going on in the game at the Project Hestia game blog. And my first character can be found at this blog.)

Maybe I'll get a few more running soon... and maybe I'll just host my character blogs myself... I have no shortage of webspace, that's for sure!

I'm still kind of coasting along on the euphoria from the weekend.

Though today looks like the kind of day that would best be spent lying under a shady tree next to a nice pond or stream. Preferably with a nice breeze to keep the mosquitoes and gnats and whatnot away.

Yesterday was relatively productive. There was laundry and apartment cleaning done. Bunches of reading and TV watching, too. I'm just getting around to clearing off shows that have been sitting on the ReplayTV for more than a month.

The creative juices were flowing so I decided it was a good a time as any to jump in and soft-launch some projects over this week. Decided to use The Searcher Journal as a test case on a new hosting platform. So far, so good. All the blogs I have that feed in to here will be live with their own domains in a couple of days. There may even be another surprise or two for anyone who cares.

Today has been a relatively slow day here at the office. Taking the time to bone up on the different CMS and application platforms we have clients using. WordPress, Democracy in Action and Dot Net Nuke seem to be the big ones I have to deal with. Even with their individual quirks and annoyances, they are still infinitely better than having to do dozens and dozens of page updates by hand. Templates are my friend. Databases, too.

Tonight, more creativity and stuff.

mmm... going to be one of those odd-ish weeks.

I finally got around to adding rudelad737. I must have met him a year or two ago while out and about. Since I started going to blindtillnow's game nights, I know we've had more than a few decent conversations.

Never before have I met someone with quite the spread of seemingly contradictory interests that rudelad737 has. I mean, how many people do you know that enjoy Hello Kitty and guns and frequently have a mowhawk? Ok, now how many of them are just completely nuts? Well, he's one of the ones that's not completely nuts (just crazy enough to be interesting while still being a productive member of society... just like so many other of my friends). :)

Anyway, glad to have you along, man. Here's hoping I keep things interesting enough for you.

And, as usual, everyone wave and say hi.

I used to be a lot more on top of this... must have something to do with being busy out in the real world or something. ;)

eyewrist is yet another one of those people I met in college the year after I graduated. She's one of the last hunk of the CSCH crew that I really had a chance to know. She reminds me a lot of my sister, what with her love of horses and artistic talent and all. We never got to hang out a whole lot, but when we did it was always a good time... just like so much else from that long-gone era of easy friendships and no care more important than getting to know people and passing those finals (in that order). It's good to have her back around. I should probably plan a CSCH reunion or something.

salemsmom kind of appeared out of nowhere. She's one of those handful of you that saw something I wrote in another friend's journal (in this case, laurieannhaus's) and bounced on over here. From what I can tell she's got some nice furry family members, a couple of teenagers running around and a creative streak that's bound to make life interesting. Can't wait to see what else she's up to.

So, even though I'm a little late in welcoming them on board, feel free to give them a shout and tell them both how awesome they are and how much you'd love to meet them. Or, y'know, something like that. :)

So, over the weekend I met bunches of people. A few of them I spent a good bunch of time totally geeking out with.

eevilyounggirl and darknes know their Star Trek. They also know their video games. And... they also know how to have a good time, even if they've been traveling all day. From what I've been told, they also kinda rock when you put them up on stage. (They are Gothsicles, after all.)

Glad to have them on board... can never too many cool and quirky people around, right?

Also, bluvampr finally got around to becoming a regular here. You may remember her from Chiaroscuro, Doll House, Ecumenica or any number of other things lots of us got together at (like game nights). Those of you who are more active than I may want to try to keep up with her on her new bike at some point. Me? I'll just look at the pictures and read the stories. :)

Glad to (finally) have you along for the ride. ;)

Well, my sites are still down. And today's Metaphysical Monday post is trapped with the rest of the data there.

So, now would be a good time to re-read last week's entry, just to have it fresh in your mind. :)

According to some anonymous information fairy, CIHost's Dallas data center has been down for quite a while due to a power outage. Why they have no backup generators or other contingency in place to keep my websites up, I don't know.

But I do know that they don't usually have big-deal problems like this. At least not that I've noticed over the almost ten years I've hosted my sites with them. I'm hoping this does not become some sort of regularly occurring thing (I don't know how it could... but I'm a wee bit ticked off right now and, therefore, paranoid about such micro-possibilities).

Have I mentioned lately that I hate Mondays?

So I was just about to let today's Metaphysical Monday post go live--it's been finished since last week--and it seems I can't get to Durosia.com. Also seems I can't get to Dragon-Pen.com or CIHost.com (my generally very good and stable web host).

My question to all of you is this: Is it just me? Or are my sites actually not accessible?

grrr...

Stupid Monday...

Three of the 11 domain names I own were about to run out. Not wanting to lose them, I have, of course, renewed them. Now all of my domain names are definitely mine until at least 2010 (some until 2013). I would have renewed for longer, but the money just isn't there.

Granted, it doesn't help that I go through Network Solutions, perhaps the most expensive registrar out there. But also the original one. Aside from the ever-increasing per year rate, they've never done anything screwy to me. I've registered all of my domains through them except for Durosia.com that I registered through my web host (CIHost.com, who has also treated me quite well with the two domains that I host there).

So, I've got these 11 domain names.

americanarcane.com
crushtheory.com
dragon-pen.com
durosia.com
durosiandreams.com
emporiumarcanum.com
occultism.info
occultknowledge.info
seracherjournal.com
toobtalk.com
withoutbeingcrushed.com

I am currently using two of them. I have rough plans for most of the rest. Plans are even moving ahead (slowly) for SearcherJournal.com, ToobTalk.com and the two crush-related domains (CrushTheory.com and WithoutBeingCrushed.com). Others are kind of languishing.

"Well, that's nice," you say. "But what's the point you're getting at?"

I'm not sure I have much of a point right now. I just thought I'd throw this info out there and see if it sparks any ideas from the utterly creative and active people that browse through here. I know for a fact I really can't make any of my ideas really work by myself--and my ideas may not even be the best available.

So, if you've ideas and want to try and make something work with one of those domains I've got floating around, let me know. We'll talk and plot and, uh, take over the world (wide web) or something. :)

And if only work hadn't gotten in the way, I would be done.

That whole having to go to sleep just when I really get going is killing me. I should so move to Australia.

There's still some tweaking (and without a doubt some re-writing) that needs to be done, but I've got two sites almost ready to go.

Arcane Consulting is the whole tarot reading and spiritual consultant thing. I still need to config an e-mail account for it (and decide how I actually want to handle the e-mail). I may be biting off more than I can chew if anyone actually takes me up on a group thing... but, hey, that's half the fun, right?

Dragon-Pen.com has been re-written to enlarge the focus a bit. All the writing feels clunky to me. But that could just be because it's mine and I can't seem to get it right in my head to begin with.

So, in the interest of not screwing this up more than I already have, ads will be placed tomorrow to "officially" launch these for public consumption.

Until then, have at 'em. I know they can be better, what do you think?

Again, in the interest of planning for the future (and, perhaps, starting on online empire of some sort), my Toob Talk posts (you know, those ones about TV shows and stuff that most of you apparently don't watch) are going to get treated like the Hump Day Crush stuff and have their own home over at their own site. They will, of course, also pop up here. (At least for now.)

Once I get back to them (which will happen this coming Monday), I think my Metaphysical Mondays will get the same treatment.

Then, as time goes on, I'll pretty up those satellite sites. I'm probably going to need logos or something. But that's something for the future. Right now I'm just running with the default (read "very plain") Wordpress layout. Neat little program, Wordpress. Much less robust than Drupal, but I really don't need robust (yet) for those small sites. Heck, I don't even need anything quite that robust for my main Durosia.com site.

In other news...

Discovered another job title that probably fits what I do anyway: "Business Process Development". We'll keep that around with "Project Manager" as titles I probably should have already had (and would have if I worked in places that understood what I did for them). This may make it easier to find something. That would be a very good thing. A very good thing, indeed.

Made a deposit the other day at one of the spiffy new Bank of America ATMs. Now, I'd deposited a check or two before, not long after they put the new ones in that don't use deposit envelopes. That first time I was impressed because the thing now automatically and immediately scans the check. Well, this time around it was a cash deposit (because that's really what I wanted for Christmas). The new machines automagically count the cash! No more accidentally entering the wrong deposit amount. Keen.

It occurred to me the other day that I've had a web site for a good long time now. In fact, I've had it so long that I'm not even fully sure what my hosting package entails anymore. There's been so much growth and so many changes to what the company offers in it's most basic packages that my once special offer purchase (which, at the the time was way ahead of other deals) may or may not be some mix of the basic and more advanced packages. I should probably drop them a line and figure it out. Not that I'm even coming close to touching the full potential of my webspace. But we'll see what we can do about that.

It looks like a friend of mine from back up in NY has jumped into LJ Land. getyourown just dropped by my corner of the Kingdom the other day. Granted, she hasn't posted much or sent me any messages (so I'm only 98-percent sure who it is)... ;)

But either way, it's been way too long since I've seen most people up that way. There was no chance of making that hour and a half trip when I was up visiting (heck, had enough trouble trying to get across town to see people, let alone to different counties).

Anyway, once she starts posting regularly, I'm sure you'll see some good stuff there. Also, I'm expecting her to chime in when I start talking about new episodes of some shows (once the seasons start up again).

Welcome aboard! I'm sure there'll be lots of fun this year.

Even though the amusement park trip kind of fell through for me (which, really, shouldn't surprise me--I probably shouldn't have bought the ticket to begin with, let alone do so without making a local copy of contact information), it wasn't a total loss.

Last night's party was good. Small, but fun. One new person was met (the only new person there, actually).

So let's all wave at flex691. She's fun and spunky. Not that you'd be able to tell that by looking at her LiveJournal page. She's more of a MySpace person. But we can forgive her for that. :)

Welcome along for the wild ride. :)

And also: Pictures...

You bet your life that the secret word is "Rockstar!"

Amid the avalanche of work and the whirlwind of having a friend in from out of town, I don't want to forget a hearty howdy to the newest person to come through here and decide it was interesting enough to keep an eye (or two) on.

soror isn't someone I know, but from what I've read over in her corner of LJ Land, she's an interesting and thoughtful person. We seem to have more than enough in common to get along, and enough difference of opinion to keep things interesting.

Welcome aboard... great to have you along for the ride.

(Which, I swear, will get more interesting again next week.)

I can only imagine how crowded it would get in here if I ever actually made an effort to bring ore people in.

europasings is another one of the wonderful Rude Mechanicals I spent time with over the weekend. She, of course, put on a wonderful performance and partook of the fun at the cast party. It was, I believe, the first time we met so I don't know all that much about her just yet. But, I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time before I discover just how cool she is. I mean, jeeze, look at the crew she's hanging out with! Nothing will surprise me. :)

Welcome aboard! I look forward to having you here... and hope I can give something worthwhile back.

I just need to say "Howdy!" to the newest pair of eyes to wander through here.

tazira is one of those people I'm going to have a little bit of difficulty welcoming in here without sounding like some gushing fanboy. Why? Mainly because I've mostly just seen her on stage and she amazes me (not at all unlike those that share the stage with her, as I mentioned yesterday). We've only had a few interactions, and only really solidly met the other night after the show (the previous times were just in passing, amid the chaos of other post-show goings on). She's got passion and creativity that will keep me just that much more on my toes, just knowing I've got to keep up.

And, really, that's why I gravitate toward the people I do (that includes all of you that come through here)--because I've got lots to learn and many steps to learn so I can stay in sync.

So, welcome aboard, I hope you like what you see here... I predict some very interesting interactions as time goes on.

(Oh, and having a bit of a crush on her is required, right? ... Isn't that what the memo said? ... What? ... There was no memo? ... It's just me, then? ... Oh...It's not? Good.) :)

(Yeah, I know what you're all thinking... "Oh, great, another crush." Well, it's what I do... at least I'm honest about it. And I do remain totally functional. We all know it'll pass into a good solid friendship with time.)

A few days ago, I noticed yet another new name on my LJ Friends List. As happens every now and then, it wasn't one I recognized, so I bounced through the link to check out who may be intrigued enough to add me.

leonidy appears to be from Russia. He's got some interesting pictures on his journal and some keen user icons.

And that's about all I can tell you about him.

Just about everything else is in Cyrillic and, I'm guessing, Russian. Since I can't read either of those, I'm not going to be adding him to my friend's list (which, really, isn't a problem because I really don't post anything at all as filtered).

So, leonidy, I hope you enjoy what you see here--your multi-lingual talents are obviously much greater than my own (further proof that I'm an American, I guess). Glad to have you around, even if I can't delve into your journal. :)