Honor74: About

About

This page is for information about this website and me, the 'webmistress'. Sorry, I hate that word. I don't think it fits me. How about 'webnerd' or 'head geek' instead?

Honor74.com has been a dream of mine for a long time. In early 2004 I finally had enough money to purchase this space and the domain name. It was late 2004 before I finally got it all put together, complete with new graphics, etc. It's been a long haul. The site is mainly a showcase for my writings, with other odds and ends thrown in.

There is a section with tools for those on WebTV/MSNTV. That's where I started my journey. On my birthday in November 1998 my then-boyfriend bought me a webtv. Ten minutes in and I was hooked. I don't think anyone on PC can fully comprehend what a webtv is or does. To put it plainly, it is a set-top unit which hooks into a phone line and uses your television as a monitor. You can access the internet, you have email, you even have a very small space provided by webtv in which to build webpages (using their editor, of course). Unlike other ISPs, though, with the webtv you are stuck with the service MSN provides. You can't drop MSN and get AOL or whatever to connect to the internet. It's MSN's webtv service or nothing, since it's a proprietary service and unit.

Webtv uses a cache memory; you have no hard drive. Which means you can't use software or save anything to disk. Webtv also doesn't support Java, so you can't view those cool applets. Also, pages with certain coding are hard or impossible to view, as are pages that are graphics-heavy.

What does all this mean in relation to this website? Well, that's where this all started. My first webpage was called Honor's Eclectic Collection and was built using the Webtv Pagebuilder editor. It's not much of an editor; you can snag pics and stuff from email or on the web, and put them and text, links, lists, etc in whatever order you want with Pagebuilder. Some smarties learned how to edit around the editor, but I was never that patient.

Before I could do anything I had to learn HTML. So, what was the best source for a webtv freak? The most trusted site known to webtv'ers and built for them in mind: Draac.com. I believe the guy used to be on webtv at one point. He has lots of cool online tools and tutorials. I went there, dug in and learned as much as I could. After that, I moved my stuff to Angelfire; expanded it, kept the name Honor's Eclectic Collection.

Following that I had webspace at Worldzone.net and Tripod, before I found the WTV-Zone. A host built specifically for those on webtv, with built-in tools for us that made building webpages so much easier. Since webtv doesn't have a hard drive, that means no FTP software. We rely on something called transloading, which just transfers files from one space on the web to another. WTV-Zone had an excellent one, as well as the ability to zip files, etc. When I moved to the Zone, that's when I first started paying for space. $60 a year, but no domain name. I could've gotten one, but I would've had to buy a bigger package and I wasn't ready for that. Also the name of my site and purpose went from Honor's Eclectic Collection to Honorable Dragon Designs (my collection of anime pics) to finally just plain Honor74.

I finally got a pc, and after doing so moved to Cottonwoods Creations. Katie, one of the owners, is a great lady and friend. She helped me through all of it, got me all set up with my domain name and everything. Honor74.com was born.

I got some ftp software, html editing software and I was all set. It is so much easier on computer, but I also respect what I have done and learned on webtv. It's a huge pain in the butt to build anything on webtv; no editor, no notepad, no ftp. A lot of running back and forth. In addition to my own website, I was also helping to put together an electronic magazine every month, a complete new website every month. I know that thanks to my webtv experience I have a much better grip on html, since I hand-coded for years.

The new Honor74.com features graphics made by my good friend, Heronwing, who excelled in both graphics and writing. Sadly, she passed away in 2005 and I miss her terribly. I can't imagine anyone being there for me like she has, both as a friend and a mentor.

The art work is from Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, whose banner you can find below.

This site is streamlined from earlier versions, as I wanted my writing to speak for itself. As for me, I hate labeling myself with what I supposedly think I am. I can tell you some things, but keep in mind that they are only facets and are subject to change.

My name is Cristie, but my online partners in crime know me as either C or Honor74. Yes, I do have a real life. Out here in the real world *shudder* I am a single mother living in Oklahoma. I have a degree in business administration and have been a preschool teacher since 2000. Now I am assistant director of a childcare center.

Outside of the necessary evils, I enjoy reading (fantasy and sci-fi, preferably, with my favorites being Harry Potter and anything by Tolkien), watching anime, and collecting anime stuff. Mangas, action figures, posters, movies, whatever I can get my grubby hands on and I can afford. This hobby also extends to the more traditional Oriental art.

I also write (duh!), especially poetry and short stories. Since I am a lifelong sufferer of depression, the writing goes up and down. Sometimes I can't seem to come up with anything, or I go through a blue period and get this spurt of creativity to write really dark stuff. Sometimes it just flows. Kinda like life.

My personality: hmmm, well, my friends call me bizarre. I prefer eclectic, but *shrug* whatever. I do odd things; I wear .my ball caps backwards, carry a screwdriver around in my purse, stick new gadgets and stickers on my car (although someone keeps stealing my OU antenna toppers!), collect toys, watch cartoons, like both Tori Amos and Megadeth and talk to myself. Hey, I'm probably the best company I'll ever have! LOL I like to joke around, and generally be a giant pain to all my friends (only in love, guys, only in love). I enjoy people who have a sense of humor, above average intelligence and just enough bite to make them interesting. Luckily, I have been able to become friends with several people of this caliber.

Well, it's not exactly everything about me, but you get the picture. Sorry you asked, aren't you? Hehe *sweatdrop*. Anyway, a good friend of mine, Don, wrote a poem for my birthday, which I think says a lot about my personality. You can view it here. It's a fun poem and mentions some of our netfriends we posted in Usenet with and features comments from Rascal the dawg!

As of 2005, I am a cancer survivor *Thank God!*.

If you want to learn anymore about me, just explore the site, read some poetry or prose and enjoy. Thanks for visting, y'all come back now, ya hear? (Sorry, some of my redneck took over the keyboard!)