About TheGoodNamesWereGone.com

Who is TheGoodNamesWereGone.com?

TheGoodNamesWereGone.com isn't a person. It's a website. Technically, it's actually a domain name. A domain name I snapped up around '98 because I thought it was awesome* and did absolutely nothing with for ten years**.

Who is Chris Webb?

Chris Webb is a British ex-pat living in Sydney, Australia*** who runs TheGoodNamesWereGone.com and a number of other web properties.

I develop software solutions on the Microsoft .net platform, working mainly in Enterpise Web Development (ASP.Net), Desktop Development and SQL Server Development. I originally came from a Web Design background so I still take a keen interest in client-side technologies, such as Flash**** and AJAX. I specialise in developing connected applications, whether utilising Web Services, Web API's or other protocols / layers. I love learning new technologies & techniques, but always feel I should probably learn more design patterns and do much, much more TDD.

I believe in the benefits of Agile methodologies, but don't feel they surpass traditional waterfall methods which I've had plenty of success with. Whatever route you choose, it always comes down to:

1. Whether there are good people involved in the project (especially the sponsor) and...
2. People having the balls to call bullshit from the very start of the project.

Hate the player, not the game.

I've worked extensively on projects around Document Management, Knowledge & Information Management and Content Management. I am a huge Usability advocate***** and will always try to sex up the User Interface at the IT production support team's expense.

I've been fascinated with the Web since the first time I used it in 1994, and have been more interested in Online Marketing, and good 'old fashioned sales skills****** and copywriting for the last few years.

I am a nerd in denial, I never really considered myself a computer geek but cannot really maintain that given the majority of my adult life has now been spent in front of a monitor as opposed to not. Unlike some of my colleagues, I seem to be unaffected by staring at a computer screen for inhumane periods, with casual disregard to Occupational Health & Safety recommendations. I expect to lose full sight at 45.

I work around 14 hours a day (usually coding) in front of a PC, iPhone or laptop******* but before you think that sounds like hard work, bear in mind I love it. I find cutting code strangely relaxing and theraputic. Yes, I code to chill.

I've dabbled in management, but returned to the technical world relatively quickly as I find it much more rewarding and motivational (and usually lacking the kind of soul-crushing corporate bullshit that comes with low-level management positions, IMHO).

I have an Oprah-esque metabolism, bouncing from "Fat bastard" to "Orange on a cocktail stick" from year-to-year, though I am painfully aware this is directly aligned to -

1. Whether I stop going to the gym completely
2. Confusing beer with water.

I am unhealthily addicted to Diet Coke, and somewhat religiously drink 2 600ml bottles of the stuff every day, despite knowing it's completely full of toxic crap (addiction's great isn't it?) If you know of any shock-statistics as to the health implications of long term exposure to it, please feel free to send them through to me, this occasionally happens and helps to ween me off the stuff for anywhere between a few days to a few weeks (Diet Coke detoxing is murder).

My iPhone is 99% full with MP3s, comprising largely House / Electro mixes and Prince, who is obviously the greatest live performer on the planet********. I've seen Prince over 40 times in concert since 1992, including numerous 

aftershows including the Basement in Sydney '03, where after claiming the distinguished title of "first person in the door", Prince proceeded to almost hit me in the face with the stock of his guitar, as the stage is so low and close to the audience. I could (and did) literally extend my arm and pick his mic stand up. Unforgettable. If you attended the subsequent Arena show in Brisbane (I flew to the Melbourne gigs as well), you may remember me as one of the on-stage ticket holders, a regrettable impulse purchase since the other Aussie fans onstage had a somewhat psychopathic reaction to being onstage with Prince (he hadn't played there in 11 years), a scenario that led to Prince issuing an unmistakeable "back the fuck off" look when one low-quality individual decided he needed to "touch" Prince during Raspberry Beret. I feel the reputation of the whole group's standing in the fanbase suffered at the hands of this one irresponsible miscreant.

I've always loved the idea of being a DJ, but having tried it couldn't get close to comprehending mixing with vinyl. Finally, in 2007 technology advances afforded the world the fantastic M-Audio Torq Xponent, which I now use to perform numerous live sets as resident bedroom-DJ of er, where I live. If only I hadn't developed stage fright when I fell of stage with a Violin as a kid, I might have had the confidence to pursue my fanciful dream. Sigh.

I play the Piano and Guitar, and have amassed an impressive collection of recording equipment and synths that hardly ever get used.

When not using a PC, I subject my hands to further repetitive strain injury at the hands of one wireless XBox 360 controller, which remotely operates such fantastic titles such as GTA IV, Call of Duty 4, Force Unleashed and Halo 3. I would happily recommend you do not purchase Prey, Condemned or Perfect Dark, which are all generic first person shooters developed with an assembly-line mentality, based on the premise that pretty graphics and an over-saturated marketing campaign can excuse a shite product. You can run, but you can't hide.

I love the movies. I'll see pretty much anything without Angelina Jolie in it. Actually, that's not true, there's plenty I won't see, usually based on a cursory evaluation on Rotten Tomatoes. Whilst I'd like to believe I filter any movie under a 70% score, the following conditions will also affect what I see:

1. Press hysteria fueled by mass-marketed hyperbole
2. Scarlet Johannson
3. The promise of A-list celebrity nudity, preferably female.

Despite my aforementioned affinity to Prince, I do not believe Graffiti Bridge was a good film in any way shape or form. I believe Under the Cherry Moon is misunderstood and will become a cult classic for future generations studying black and white movies filmed on the French Riviera by 5ft Funk/Rock singers masquerading as film directors.

Due to the abysmal quality of Australian Television programming, I watch very little TV but am fanatically obsessed with Battlestar Galatica, House, Entourage and anything with Gordon Ramsay in it. Coincidentally, my life role-models are Gaius Baltar, Dr Gregory House, Ari Gold, Gordon Ramsay and the hot blond Cylon.

You can connect with me around the Web at numerous places where I loiter very infrequently:

• FaceBook (Feed free to friend me, I'll put you in a limited profile so you won't see all the dodgy pr0n pictures I share with others)
  
• Twitter
• Delicious
• Contact Form

* - And proceeded to tell everyone was "the best domain name ever," yet no one seemed as excited as me..
** - I subsequently purchased AllTheGoodNamesWereGone.com and the abbreviated TGNWG.com and sat on those as well. But that's not very interesting, which is why it's in a footnote. Why are you still reading this?
*** - And has zero intention of ever setting foot on the British Isles ever again (we'll see how that pans out). The winters are just too damn miserable in the UK.
**** - I am yet to be convinced on SilverLight, and am increasingly less interested in Flash
***** - Which is not to say I'm by any means perfect at practicing what I preach, a philosophy that permeates many areas of my life.
****** - You know, how in the old days companies used to sell you things by actually having a real person talk to you rather than telling you to go to their Website.
******* - Probably more like 2 hours once browsing is cut out
******** - Not that that excuses the fact that Prince fundamentally, is a prick to his fans. Suing your fans for posting pictures of him in forums is as self-obsessed as it gets.