Off The Walt

Yeah, it’s something else, I know, but I just put together a new blog called Job Well DumB.com. You can check it out at http://www.JobWellDumB.com. You’ll find interesting and funny stuff there to make you giggle and think.

I’ve been working on the largest website I’ve ever done… DDO Source.com. DDO is an abbreviation for Dungeons & Dragons Online. I’ve been a D&D player for more than 20 years and eventually found my way in to DDO. It’s a pretty good game, but there’s not a lot of documentation for it and the tutorial is lacking in a lot of parts. There are various community resources in different places, but there’s no single centralized resource. New players are expected to feel their way around and depend on the community and many just leave.

My goal was to create a website that brought all the resources available to new & existing players to a single source. I’ve been working at it for more than a month and have found lots of these other resources to have out-of-date information or things to be completely erroneous, let alone with decent grammar. I’m getting permission from the folk that have the existing focused (on one part of the game) resources and bringing them to this single source. I have a feeling that this’ll take me a couple more months, but it’ll be one of my best contributions to the internets!

DDO Source.com

Not that I update this, my personal blog, on a daily or even weekly basis, but I’ve been especially quiet on it for the last two or so months.

I created a new blog called Geekdar.com and hope to bring concise news stories to other geeks’ attention without wasting their time.

Geekdar.com will feature humor, movies, toys, video, pics, retro and damn near everything else geeks like.

Give it a shot, but only if you’re a true geek!

www.Geekdar.com

My friend Steve Shurmatz (who I met when I designed a website for his company) told me some time ago about his long-time girlfriend Tracy and that she had some difficulties that didn’t let her work. He seemed upset by it so I changed the subject and we moved on to something else.

A couple months ago, Steve asked me for a quote for a website to raise awareness for Tracy and her condition. After giving me some details on what she was going through, chroic headaches and consistent pain, I quickly understood why Steve was upset years earlier. It was hard for me to hear let alone him speak about. After hearing the first 5 minutes about Tracy’s Story I told him I was on board and didn’t need any further convincing. Despite his repeated demands, I told him I was doing the website design and hosting for free.

I asked them to type up what Tracy had been through, the treatments she’d dealt with and medications she’s endured. I read it as I built the website and I’ve got to admit, I was in tears thinking that someone had to go through this for a few minutes, let alone years.

The site needed to be completed by December 7, because that was the date of a benefit concert a local pub, Cheers, arranged a half-dozen bands to play and raise money for a very special lady. The website was referenced on flyers and throughout the benefit, driving people to learn more about Tracy’s yet-undiagnosed suffering.

Steve invited me to come participate and I was glad I did, I got to meet his mom, greeted the members of the band he plays drums with, Wrecktifier and sat at a table with his best friend since school, Chris. The music played throughout the night was top notch and a just tribute to Tracy.

I was very impressed that all the bands traded instruments and stage with each other. In the past, I’d only come to see Steve play but a few other groups got a new fan that night. Their generosity amongst each other was brotherly and inspiring which set the mood for the night.

I was further impressed that people who’ve never met Steve or Tracy sent money to help. People from out of state. Wow.

My grandfather was not a prophetic man, but when I was little, he once told me something to the effect of, "In the absence of light, hope still shines." I am glad to have been able to help Tracy. She’s a delightful girl and despite what she’s going through, is still keeping her spirits up.

Sadly, the guest of honor that night wasn’t able to come. She was at home, trying to deal with the pain.

Please, go read about Tracy’s Story at her website and tell a doctor about her. She’s not asking for a handout, she’s asking for a diagnosis for what’s plagueing her. In the absence of medical attention, I am putting a PayPal donation button on the site with 100% of the proceeds to help Tracy Goldbach. This was my idea, not theirs. I know folks will want to do something. Please help.

Here’s the concept I put together for orange hed. I’m going to use the site as a playground for me to learn databases. The ultimate product will be a podcast directory. I’m not intending this to be for the entire world, just for me to test and break and learn to fix, but hey, if it works out, why not!?!

I won’t be working on this any time REAL soon, but hey, it’s there.

I finished a website, magazine ads and product packaging for the folks at Killer Rings!

Killer Rings are specially-formulated rings you place on the face of your drums to get rid of over ring (the slight ding/bell you hear after a drum’s skin is struck) and are literally night and day from using nothing.

I did a website located at www.KillerRings.com , business cards, packaging materials and magazine ads.

A South Florida management professional needed a resume website. She favored a Native American theme.

www.RuthCostina.com