I spent 10 years as the big fish in a little pond at Did-it.Com. I remember Internet World 1998 in the Javits Center, I had a great title on my badge 'Chief Cook and Bottle Washer'. I stayed there too long, I lost my sharpness to complacency. The curiosity and fascination of the new media that challenged me to drop everything and surf the phenomenon that is the Internet in the mid 90s was all but a memory to by the middle of this decade. Watching from the window of 55 Maple Ave and seeing the smoke of Towers falling in Manhattan, Refineries explode on Staten Island, and a plane crash in Queens, may have helped squelch my enthusiasm.

The last year at Netscape and Blogsmith under the AOL umbrella I certainly was the little fish in the very BIG pond, I learned so much about motivation of myself and others. I have been re-exposed to the constantly re-invented Internet. I've matured as a developer while regaining juvenile exuberance for the new social media.

I refuse to stay at AOL too long. My last day is this Friday, July 27th. I don't want to be the small fish, and working towards being a big fish within AOL would take me away from my family friendly home office. So how do I propose to be the top predator in the Ocean ? Start at the top and build beneath -- join a start-up as a partner -- more to come. Thanks AOL you were very good to me. To my fellow developers and for your enduring spirit, thank you Alex, Gavin, Christoph (*), Tom, Trey and Michael. For making my code look good thanks Mike, Matt, and Andy. For reminding me that there was the Internet and innovation didn't stop when the bubble burst Thank you Jason and most of all Brian.