blog.richoid.com

Currently:
Rich Webster, Information Architect
Technical Writing & Web Design

Summary:
I’m currently working under retainer for Leadstreams doing design for websites and web marketing ads, and also under retainer for D3 LED, doing technical documentation for LED sign software and hardware. I also have done several WordPress, Concrete5 and Drupal projects, and am looking forward to more. Most of my freelance work is for small local businesses, because they need it, and I like helping… which means I don’t charge enough.

I do a bit of PHP and Ajax, a lot of visual and UI work, and configuration up the wazoo. I’ve played with Rails, and want to revisit it. I host sites for clients as well (generally following the LAMP stack… I avoid Microsoftiness whenever possible).

I’m currently “El Semi Hemi Demi Presidente” of the Sierra Mousetrap Mac User Group which meets in Nevada City. at the Madelyn Helling Room. first Mondays… Mainly because I stayed around too long and got stuck with the job (not that I don’t love you guys!)

About Richoid:
There was a time in my distant history (late ’80s) when my gig was Desktop Publishing and Digital Prepress (the web swept me off my feet in ’94). I was working at a nice little desktop publishing service bureau called The Electric Page in Sacramento, CA. In my spare time, among other things, I played a lot of video games, and did freelance prepress work that was beyond the scope of what Electric Page offered (trapping, scanning, design, etc.). A little video game came out called “oids”. The first time I typed ‘Richoid’ was when I got my first high score in ‘oids’.

Coincidental to that, the bookkeeper for Electric Page, a quirky and cute girl who’s name I’ve forgotten (sorry), had decided that she would insert “val-speak” into everything she did. It was all, like, the rage. I mean totally.

I had done some freelance design work, which I’d printed to film on the imagesetters at Electric Page, so she invoiced me for the film… instead of simply billing “Rich Webster”, she billed “Rich, like, Webster”. This, by itself, would’ve passed my notice with barely a twinkle, but it happened that very evening I decided to look up ‘oid’ in the dictionary (paraphrased):

-oid (suffix)
From latin and greek.
Resembling or having the form or appearance of: like.

In other words, something that is sphere-like is spheroid, something that’s fish-like might be piscoid… something that’s Rich-like, might be, ahem…

wait for it…

Richoid!

OK, that might’ve been an anticlimax.

I innocently continued to use richoid for game score lists, and when the internet came along, for usernames, and email addresses. Of course, once we all saw each other’s email addresses for the first time — richoid@compuserve.com was obviously better than RichWebster789@compuserve.com — people asked me about it…

Ultimately it became my online identity for most things. I now type it more than my own name. That’s the story. I’m stickin’ with it.

Signed: Richoid…