pugetive.com . code

Web Development Projects

Hopville

2008

Ruby, Ruby on Rails, XHTML, CSS, Web Standards, Ajax, MySQL, Linux, Social Networking

Amateur Solo Project

The long-overdue social networking site for homebrewers. Not really ready for prime time, but I decided to launch half a product early instead of a half-assed product late.
Beer Calculus

1995 - Present

Ruby, Ruby on Rails, XHTML, CSS, Web Standards, Ajax, MySQL, Linux

Amateur Solo Project

Evolution of the online brewer's calculator I built while at the Cellar Homebrew. The original, the first brewer's calculator on the web, ran for a decade as a crappy CGI script before I finally rewrote it in Rails and upgraded the interface, now on version 4.0 (if I actually did versioning, that is). I have many other plans for the site when I make time for the next big revision.
pugetive.com

2002 - Present

Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, XHTML, CSS, Web Standards, DNS

Amateur solo project

Gone meta! The domain name comes from the handle I coined when creating my first online account in 1994. I merged "Puget Sound" and "fugitive", nodding to my recent escape from the East Coast and arrival in Seattle. In the years since, the only non-me-related Google result I've discovered used the word in reference to the herbal remedy Senna Leaves:
Effective pugetive, even for chronic constipation.
So it goes.
Major White

2007

Ruby, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, SVN, XHTML, DNS, Web Services

Amateur solo project

If I was going to go through the trouble of building my own photography portfolio site, I decided I might as well generalize it and offer it up to my photography friends for their use too, so I turned it into a free public site. It runs on top of Flickr's API.
National Solo Album Month

2006 - Present

Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, MySQL, XHTML, CSS, Web Standards, Javascript

Amateur solo project

I participated in 2005 and took over organizing the NaSoAlMo challenge the following year.
Should Do This

2007 - Present

Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, Javascript, XHTML, CSS, Ajax, MySQL

Web Developer
Lists of Bests

2006 - Present

Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, Javascript, XHTML, CSS, Ajax, MySQL

Web Developer

We bought Bill Turner's list-making site and absorbed it into our network of social networking sites.
All Consuming

2006 - Present

Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, Javascript, XHTML, Ajax, MySQL

Web Developer

We absorbed Erik Benson's cataloguing site into the suite of Robot Co-op sites, rewriting it in the process.
43 People

2006 - Present

Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, Javascript, XHTML, Ajax, MySQL

Web Developer

The socializing analogue to 43 Things/Places, plus digital lifestyle aggregator.
43 Places

2005 - Present

Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, Javascript, XHTML, Ajax, MySQL

Web Developer

The travel and urban exploration analogue to 43 Things.
43 Things

2004 - Present

Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, Ajax, FreeBSD

Web Developer

Flagship site for the Robot Co-op, where I started working in 1994. We gambled on Ruby on Rails, building the whole site before the application framework was even at its 1.0 release. It's some crusty old code by now. But we all prefer Ruby to Perl, and Rails to Mason.
amp ))) a music project

1999, 2005

OO Perl, mod_perl, MySQL, FreeBSD, HTML, CSS, Web Standards, XHTML 1.0 Strict, Javascript, MVC

Amateur solo project

My pet project at home. We had a joke at Amazon that a standard interview question for web development candidates should be "describe how your mp3 server works". Mine started as a mammoth procedural CGI script in Perl and ended as a cleanly organized MVC app running via mod_perl. After iTunes came around I even converted their design to CSS and wrapped my site in it. Making it pixel-pefect, valid strict XHTML and cross-browser compliant all at the same time was what they call in technical jargon, "a bitch".
Amazon.com

1998 - 2004

Unix, Linux, Perl, Catsubst (Amazon's proprietary scriptiong "language"), CVS, Mason, Object-Oriented Programming, XHTML, JavaScript, Java, MySQL, Windows

Senior Web Developer for Digital Technologies, Web Develpment Manager for Personalization and Automation, Web Developer

I heard they were launching a music store and got pretty fired up about being a hotshot record reviewer, but they threw me into the web develoment team. The most substantial contributions I made while there were helping to build the Personalization team, one of Amazon's first experiments with decentralized project management, and the features that flowed from it as it grew from a four people into several sub-teams. I continue to work with my Personalization peers today, because they are the bee's knees.
Cellar Homebrew

1995 - 1998

HTML, HTTP, FTP, C, CGI, HomeSite, Photoshop, Windows, Unix

Webmaster (sole developer, designer, and sysadmin).
Working as self-appointed webmaster for this retail store purveying home brewing and winemaking supplies, I first duplicated the entire mail-order catalog as flat text files in monospaced font, including a "contact us" form that allowed people to request an order. That pride and joy can be perused online, including a still-functioning <blink> tag! As charmingly naive as it was, that first version was actually stolen hook, line, and sinker by a competing store, much to the flattery and bewilderment of the boss and I. I was allowed to write my first ever cease and desist letter.

A self-taught developer without prior Unix experience, I recall believing that each internet application created an exclusive tunnel to the internet, leading to a development regimen something like this:
1. Open HomeSite
2. Edit HTML page on local Windows machine
3. Open FTP client
4. Transfer HTML file
5. Close FTP client
6. Open browser
7. Refresh page
8. Close browser
Eventually I'd automated the creation of catalog pages and built a shopping cart system using CGI scripts written in C. Suspecting that I could upgrade to a skilled labor salary, I applied at Amazon.com, where I landed my first white-collar job.