19 December 2005.

   I have never been very skilled at writing about pages but have always felt inclined to add them to my websites. I have recently started keeping a log of the about pages that I have wrote. Perhaps over enough time it will provide something to look back at when I am feeling a bit nostalgic. You may view my previous about page here. I took a very long survey at E-Harmony who then provided me with this personality profile. I must admit that it is pretty accurate.

   This website is something of a personal playground for me to try out new ideas, coding concepts, database designs, and what not. I also keep a personal journal here for all to see. Sometimes I work on some public project or write a scrap of code useful to others and that kind of stuff gets put here too. This is all probably more useful for me than for you. I go into these phases where I take a lot of photographs. The target varies but frequently it is of other people. I am trying to make all of these available here for both my reference and so that others might see them. Hopefully I will accomplish that soon.

    The current website design was finished up in the middle of April 2005. This design has actually lasted far longer than they normally do. Generally I get tired of any design in about six months or so and draw up something new. There is something about this one that has kept it around and I suspect it will stay for much longer. I think part of that draws from never having completed it. There are so many features that I have in my mind and I just have not had the time to implement them. Parts of almost all the designs I have used or ideas that developed them have come from other places. I am not quite the creative genius many other people are. I would like to thank those people.

    So what is Squirrel-Like Stuff anyhow? A while back I had a roommate who was a big K-State fan. We headed up there one weekend for a football game. While I was there I joined the Goat House unfraternity; I was "Godfathered" in. Over the 60 some odd hours of total drunken mayhem I was nicked "The Squirrel" because I was wild, crazy, ran all over the place, seemed to have tourettes, and had a squirrel-like attention span. So the Goat House Godfather said "Squirrel is a good squirrel. He's my friend! You should respect him!"... Then all of the new frat boys had to get me beers. And so, it has kind of stuck with me and become a name for my website along with many other things in my life.

    This website was developed entirely using Photoshop and VI iMproved. It is a pure CSS controlled design utilizing no tables and is also XHTML strict. The site is hosted on a native 64bit Gentoo Linux server. The website scripting is handled by PHP. All of the pages are parsed using a custom template class to separate design from code. The journal entries, articles, and other dynamic content are stored in a MySQL database. This may or may not impress you as much as it pleases me. The design is intended to be a simple, clean, and a functional layout that is also esthetically pleasing. Hopefully I have accomplished that.

    If you are reading this prior to March 2006 than I am 25 years old; otherwise I am older. I am about 5'7" short and seem to float around 160lbs. I work at a fence manufacturing company where I administer their network during the normal business hours. I attend school every week night. A couple days out of the week I study for my college degree of Electrical Engineering and Computer Technology. The rest of my week nights I spend training Tae Kwon Do and Hap Ki Do. During my off hours I find myself researching new concepts, studying for class, or just enjoying some extra sleep.

    Sometimes I actually get out on the weekends. When I do I try to go camping, backpacking, or even blues concerts. During all of these events I like to take photos. I used to try and keep a journal so I might remember all the stuff I did in life. That never worked but pictures seem to be pretty effective.

    I am totally lost about life - really. I have no idea where I am going or what I will be doing in 20 years. I am depressed that 1/4 - 1/3 of my life is already over because I feel like I have not even got started yet. I really want to get out and see the whole world and meet all the unique types of people out there. I hear this is typical of 25 year olds - so I guess that means I am just a normal guy. That, I am okay with.

    ps. I can not help you with your disturbing dreams. You should consult a therapist.