Mark Collier

About a year and half ago I decided it was time to be true to the game before my geek pass was revoked, Ice Cube Style (NSFW) by diving into the deep end, not just by starting a blog (at Ian Rogers‘ insistence) but by creating a server out of an old Dell PC (500MHz!), learning to install and configure the whole LAMP stack (on Ubuntu) and setting up Wordpress.

I’d only had minimal experience with Linux but I was always comfortable at the command line from my DOS days so I managed to muddle through trial and error style. Thanks to my boy Jeff Maxwell I was able to host it for free in his fiber connected office in Austin and it has been chugging along ever since. I mostly used it to learn about widgets, music blogging, affiliate programs and the occassional social media/yahoo related post.

After the latest round of lightning storms hit Central Texas, though, the old Dell finally bit the dust. So, I decided to go to a real web host, settling on Dreamhost (recommended by Matt & Toni at WP) for a mere $7/month (be sure to use this link for the special WP deal). They have been incredibly helpful and speedy in responding to my questions.

Now I’m back up and live with a new design, a full blown “about” page and even an explanation of where my oft-used handle “sparky collier” comes from. I also trimmed the widgets much like Fred (my blogging hero), though I still have the awesome hack on the left side that is a playable list of my latest songs. More on that soon!

Welcome! I’m going to be doing more frequent blogging, including quite a bit of music blogging, so feel free to add me to your RSS reader.

I often hear people call me “sparky”, usually around the Yahoo! office, and always with a smirk. This is because I use the handle “sparkycollier” on my Yahoo! IM and on a lot of other services, like twitter.

My Austin peeps know that the real Sparky was my beloved, goofy, scotch loving Great Dane who died a couple of years ago. Sob.

Oddly enough, the reason I use this handle is due entirely to Yahoo! (where I now work) and the ridiculous number of people who use it. Back in 2000, when I was working for a dotcom in Austin, I needed a Y! ID because several of my colleagues used it for IM and I was also testing out Y! photos since I was in charge of our digital imaging strategy. Naturally markcollier mcollier, markwcollier — all taken. When I tried sparkycollier and it worked, I started using this all over the internet and have had good success. Apparently it’s not too common.

Here’s to you, OG Sparky. I miss you man.

A few recent tracks:

Ben Kweller

Death Cab for Cutie

My Morning Jacket

Getting the kinks worked out on the new blog, hosted at dreamhost, after the demise of my ubuntu server due to a surge at maxwell’s data center (a.k.a. his office on 6th street).