I've had the same web site for a long time now. I've been hughesd since working for Mastercare (hughesd was my computer login username).

It has to be said I've got a bit bored of it. I thought it would be an easy website or email address to tell people, but over the last few years I've got fed up of having to spell it out to people or explain that it's "last name plus first initial".co.uk.

So I'm thinking of rebranding. That will mean a change of web address, web site name, email address and everything. Fasthosts are offering me an upgrade to a similar account to the one I have now, but with more features and (apparently) more reliability thanks to a different server.

I'm thinking about moving it all over to a dedicated PHP server now too and dropping Windows/IIS/ASP hosting. That has meant trying to move away from the ASP based bits of my site. Let's face it, that only really means the Battlebarge webcomic.

I've spent the last few days converting the site over to PHP. Yes, I have finally started learning PHP. Today, through lunchtime, I finished writing it and it's live! Awesome stuff.

So now I'm ready to drop ODBC and MS Access databases and move from Microsoft tech to fully open source web hosting.

Is the world ready? ;-)

Years ago (before I worked at mastercare) my web space and domain were drakenet. Short for Drake Media Network. I wanted to brand my webspace like a commercial space and "market" it as such. I had big plans for starting little website businesses and getting into online "trading". I had no idea what sort of thing though.

Now, though, the hughesd website is home to many projects. I have my webcomic. I have the MadCap store. I have other ideas that I haven't made public yet. Loads of things on boilers all over the website.

The MadCap thing. MadCap Models is a small card and paper model designing and selling business that me and a mate set up. Sadly, since I left the NHS where I met him, our contact with each other has been sporadic and I haven't heard from him in over a year (maybe closer to two, actually) and we haven't talked about MadCap for much longer than that. In fact, every time I try and talk to him about what he wants to do with MadCap I never get a reply. So what do I do? Do I move on with it on my own and take it in the direction I want to go in? He was supposed to be concentrating on the modelling part of the business and doing test builds of the models I designed, but he hasn't done any.

More recently, a friend that used to work at Mastercare with me offered to make one of the MadCap games I designed into an iPhone app. Again, it's been over a year since I heard anything about it from him.

So every time I liaise with someone to get these ideas of mine off the ground, everybody stops talking to me. Obviously the common denominator here is me, so the natural thing to think is that it's my fault. No-one's said anything about it, so I'm not sure.

Trouble is, I seem to be living in a city/region where personal relationships are very apathetic. I've noticed a lot of tendencies to "talk behind your back" if someone doesn't agree with something or just plain don't like you instead of saying it to your face. It's not my way. If I don't like someone I say it to their face. If I don't agree with something I say it there and then. Life's too short to hide behind two faces.

Maybe that's the problem. I piss people off. Ah well, they need to man up and grow a pair.

Anyway. MadCap. I want to press forward with stuff that I can do under the banner of paper craft and so on. I associate MadCap's name with broken promises now and there's a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. So I want to revamp the idea. Maybe I'll send a mail off to Malcolm and tell him what I plan to do, but the fact is that I want to use the ideas I'm having for good rather than evil.

So now I need to work out what to do with the website and what to name it. Simple and catchy. 

Watch this space.