Evolution
In August of 1999, I created my first web site. Yes, I started out with a real site, not a mere page, but a site. Anyway, I'd looked at AOL's free member pages (because it would still be a couple years before I sold my parents on broadband), decided they sucked, and opted to try out Angelfire. I picked up some HTML basics and posted some of my writing. Only two other people saw this first attempt, which was quickly abandoned.
I traveled the free web site circuit for a couple years, eventually deciding it was time to buy a domain. ibscrewed.com was bought, and empire was started.
I learned a lot working on this site, now in its sixth incarnation. In April of 2001 I bought a second domain, badpoetry.net, which is where I call home. I joined the weblogging community, developed a small audience, and neglected ibscrewed for a year.
In 2003, fed up with my cranky host who wouldn't respond to my very nice emails requesting help, I bought ibscrewed.net and moved operations over here.
Since then, I've been mostly hands-off with the site.
Me
I'm an IB graduate from the class of 2002. I went to an excellent IB school, and had a pretty good experience there. However, I'm not the best at handling stress, so my angst over school work drove me to create a website for my fellow students to bitch about our plight.
I love the web. It's great for my ego to have this site. The skills I learned while building this site turned into a career. In May 2006, I graduated from the University of Kansas with degrees in journalism and political science. That summer, I hired on at The Wichita Eagle as a web programmer.
If you want to know me better, check out my weblog.
This Site
As of June 2003, we are hosted by LunarPages.com. I don't love them, but I hate them less than most other hosts I've used.
The graphics were made with Photoshop, the code was handwritten in Notepad, and unless otherwise noted, it's all under my copyright.
Right now, it's just you and me building this site. Thanks for visiting, because it's people like you who make this site a community.
Credits
Thanks to everyone who has emailed me with feedback and links. I need your help and I'm grateful to have it. Thanks to my college fund for financing it for so long. Thanks to my moderators on the forum--you make having such a large community possible.