Web Development Projects

  • Hopville screenshot
    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 screenshot
    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
    pugetive.com screenshot
    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.
  • 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.
  • NaSoAlMo screenshot
    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 screenshot
    2007 - Present
    Social Networking, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, SVN, Javascript, XHTML, CSS, Ajax, MySQL
    Web Developer
  • Lists of Bests screenshot
    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 screenshit
    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 screenshot
    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 screenshot
    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 screenshot
    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.
  • a music project screenshot
    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 screenshot
    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 screenshot
    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
    9. ...and so on...

    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.