Putting on My Pajamas to Swing on Trees!

1. How much time do you spend online each day?

Far too much, since much of my work and my hobbies are computer related. Obviously, at least a full workday worth of internet usage.

2. What is your browser homepage set to?

Well, FaithTree.com, of course! <shameless plug>FaithTree.com is a project produced by my company (to revisit the last question) that is a Christian customizable portal. FaithTree.com offers customizable global, national, local, tech and sports news, weather (including local weather you can place on your page), meta search functionality (searches secular and Christian search engines plus the Bible), and more.

In other words, FaithTree.com is sorta like My Yahoo!, My MSN, or My Lycos, but with Christian content. (It also has more a better weather forcast than some sites, ahem). And new just today, I've started to add the ability to put the latest headlines from your favorite blogs on your start page along side the news and weather.

Right now, I've added all the blogs on my blogroll that I could find an XML/RSS (or RDF) feed for; I'll be adding many more Christian blogs. If your interested in using FaithTree.com and would like to see your favorite blogs included (or you want your blog included), please put the addresses for those blogs in the comments. Better yet, put the link to the XML/RSS (or RDF) file in the comment.

I'll end my shameless plug by just inviting you to take a look at FaithTree.com. During every step of development I tried to make it feature everything I liked about other customizable portals — and I hope you find that's the case for you too. If not, let me know, maybe I can add whatever your favorite feature is.</shameless plug>

3. Do you use any instant messaging programs? If so, which one(s)?
Yes. Perhaps I should elaborate — I use them all. No, I'm not some nut that likes to have bunches of applications running, I use Gaim, the universal instant messaging client for GNU/Linux (and now Windows too!). I prefer AIM, but I also have (in the order I signed up for them) ICQ, MSN, Yahoo and Jabber. Click here to get my address in your favorite IM app if you'd like to talk sometime.

4. Where was your first webpage located?
I guess that would be GeoCities. However, I quickly moved over to the free space I had on my AOL account (I got rid of AOL eons ago, don't worry!). My first real site went online August 26, 1996. It was sort of like a personal web page, but I also used it to launch my company. Since then my site morphed several times into a full blown corporate web site first offering Perl scripts, then web design and Perl scripts, and now content management solutions (along with FaithTree.com and OfB.biz: Open for Business). I just figured that the site has gone through eleven major revisions and six web hosts since 1996.

5. How long have you had your current website?
It launched in a minimalist form on April 4, 2001. My grandmother died that day and so I had nervous energy… so I created a personal web site (since my old site was no longer a personal site). It lived at uninetsolutions.com/tbutler/, until I moved to asisaid.com this March. It was originally known as simply “Tim's Site” and featured no graphics (again, minimalist design). A few months later I added a simple logo and a small navigation bar, and then in April 2002, I came up with the current design (although it was still called Tim's Site). It was just various stuff and no blog until late February 2002, however, and the blog was just an afterthought for some time after that.

At any rate, if you want to understand the title of this blog entry and find out what made me laugh a few minutes ago, read on.

Scene: NASA Space Simulator, 1965, mid-afternoon. “Captain Nelson, I want to see you in my office in five minutes,” says Dr. Bellows. Captain Tony Nelson steps out of space simulator and talks to friend Captain Healey. “Rog, you gotta help me distract Dr. Bellows for a few hours.” “How am I going to do that?” “I don't know, talk to him about your horoscopes.” “But he'll think I'm crazy.” “That's the idea.” Captain Nelson pats Roger on the arm, leaves room.

Rest of the day is spent taking Jeannie to Mecca for ancient custom to avoid having her disappear into genie limbo. After successfully saving Jeannie at last minute, she asks where she should blink Captain Nelson to. “To Dr. Bellows' office.”

Scene: Dr. Bellows office, Roger on couch, clearly late at night. Dr. Bellows sitting in chair taking notes. “So, you say you have this repeating dream where you are a camel?”

Roger: “Yeah, sometimes a one hump, sometimes a two hump.”

“And then what?”

“And then I wake up thirsty.”

[Boing] Captain Nelson appears in behind Dr. Bellows.

“Well, Captain Nelson, I didn't see you come in. I'm afraid I'm not going to have time to talk to you tonight.”

Roger: “Well, I guess I'll be going.”

Roger picks up his cap and heads for the door.

Dr. Bellows: “Yes, but I'll see you every night this week.”

“What for?”

“Captain Healey, when a man tells me he has an unstoppable urge to jump out of his window and swing around in trees in his pajamas and has a reoccurring dream of being a thirsty camel, they need psychoanalysis!”

Tony: “Roger! I had no idea!”

Roger: “So, how long?”

Dr. Bellows: “Oh, well, probably three years.”

“Three years, huh?”

“Three years.”

“What I told you I made it all up?”

“Five years.”

“Ah.”

Roger pats Tony on the arm.

Roger mumbles to Tony: “Do a friend a favor, huh?”

Tony: “Where are you going?”

“I'm going to put on my pajamas and swing on some trees!”

From “Get Me to Mecca on Time!,” I Dream of Jeannie, Episode #16.

OK, maybe you had to see it to get the gist of it.