It was 10 years ago today that superunknown.com was purchased and born. To celebrate I’ll offer the history of his domain as my foggy memory remembers it.
In the beginning… I had just finished my 2nd yr at Pitt (may 1996-ish) and decided I needed to make some cash if I was going to go back. I worked odd jobs around Erie until the fall of 96. I ran an indoor carousel. I was an usher at the brand new Tinseltown movie complex and I also did ummm yeah, I think those 2 were it. I was making web pages but mostly for myself or helping others get started. In October of 96 I started as a Business Machines Associate at Staples. In other words I sold computers and anything else you’d plug in. It was through this job that I was able to talk web/internet/computers and get paid for it.
One of my favorite customers was a real estate agent who would come to me for tips on how to establish an online presence. In 96-97 it was unheard of for a realtor to have websites with pictures and tours of units unlike today. After awhile I got thinking, why don’t I have a web domain? On June 4th 1997 I went through Erie Net (pricks) who were my original hosts and paid a cool $100 to own the domain for 2 years. Now I pay about ohhhh $10 a year. I wanted my own place to direct people that didn’t involve a ~ in the url and said something about me.
the name… if you don’t know it already you’re gonna slap yourself after reading this and go “oh yeahhhhhh”. Coming up with a name was actually quite easy because back then just about everything was available. So to put to rest any questions here you go. Superunknown is the name of an album/cd from the group Soundgarden. Track 8 on the cd is Spoonman. I’ll give you a few to make the connection. I was given the nickname spoon from Griff in college when “spoonman” came on and I wailed out the drum beat on his desk.
Now more people call me spoon than my real name which I still get a kick out of.
Enter the mayhem… One thing I didn’t expect was that this site would become an online journal. Call it what you want but I was blogging in 1997. It was the addition of a webcam in late 97 that people started to get sucked in. For some reason people would tune in to watch me chat and hang out with friends. Why? It was new! Now everyone has a cam and unless you’re getting laid online or having someone strip no one really cares to watch.
In December of 1998 I finally packed up the U-haul and headed to Pittsburgh to work as an web intern for a networking company. There was no schooling or anything back home that could prepare me for what was about to happen.
Know what. I’m stopping right there. The rest of the details about my life in Pittsburgh should wait for my 10yr of living here. I will finish up how superunknown evolved though.
As a web intern I was exposed to MANY different styles of design. I learned the do’s and dont’s of good design. Superunknown Creations was born. SC became a playing ground for me to test new code, designs and ideas along with input from friends. Eventually it turned into “What can Griff and I design before we finish a box of wine?” Different sections faded in/out from poetry, message boards, forums, drunken stories, pictures, webcams, and a tribute to the UPT Swim Team. It wasn’t until 2004 when I started using WordPress as a publishing tool that everything seemed to click into what you see now.
Here and now… I’ve thought about selling this domain. I never use the email accounts since they’re swamped with spam so I stick with my gmail account. Honestly, podcasting has consumed so much of my time I rarely get a break to write on here but this place is where it all started for me. A lot has happened in the last 10 years. I was 21, living every night at the Shaggy Dog while hanging with friends, drinking cheap beer and living paycheck to paycheck. Now I’m 31, married, a responsible (yeah go head and laugh) adult with a good career, great friends, I’m back in school and ummm oh yeah, and an appreciation for craft beer and love to cook. I’ve grow up right along with this site for the last 10 years.
I do have plans for this site and a few others I’m developing. SC won’t be going away anytime soon but I do plan on a facelift. Ok, after I finish revamping the podcast first. I found a ton of pics from when I first moved to Oakland that I may put up so we’ll see. Oh and that SCAN thing is going away. It may come back but for right now I’ve got other things to work on. If anyone has old pics from the last 10 years they want to send me leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
Until then kiddies, it’s been a blast and thanks for 10 great years!
If you’d like to see screenshots of how Superunknown has progressed then check out http://web.archive.org and enter superunknown.com