Damn Ralph!

For those that don't know me my name is Ralph Whitbeck and I finally decided to give blogging another go at it.  I decided instead of trying to add a virtual directory to one of my existing sites I would create a whole new site dedicated to my inappropriate comments and thoughts.

You might be thinking to yourself what's with the "Damn Ralph" domain name?  Well the name comes from the phrase uttered by coworkers and friends alike when I spout out one of my infamous and inappropiate comments to someone which leaves them with no words to say other then "Damn Ralph".  That seemed like the phrase that defined me the best that I figured I would take that phrase global.

Well your here now so what should you expect to find here if you came on a daily basis.  Well let me tell you a bit about myself as I plan to make that the basis for this little corner of the web for myself.

At the time of this entry I am a 29 year old married male (sorry ladies...don't take that too hard) with three boys (11, 7 and 2).  I am a web programmer employed by BrandLogic Corporation (http://www.brandlogic.com) in Rochester, NY.  I also do some freelance web work.  I have built a simple CMS system that I have deployed on two web sites at the moment.  Center for Social and Emotional Education (http://www.csee.net ) was the first to buy the CMS and is the client I first built the system for.  I have since repurposed that CMS system for my church site (http://www.pinnaclelutheran.org) which is in the process of launching as soon as the content is completed.

I'll probably talk alot about the CMS later as I work at adding features and fixing bugs and get it ready to sell as a stand alone product on a future site I am going to develop.

In case you are wondering I am using dasBlog for my blog engine and so far I am happy with the functionality of the site.  I could not believe to find out that the system does not use a SQL Server back-end instead saves all posts and comments in XML files.  This was very cool as I have a more limited number of SQL Server databases I can use compared to number of web sites I am allowed on my web hosting plan.

Well to continue on with the about me....I am an avid Hockey fan.  From playing to watching as a fan I really enjoy the sport and am happy that the NHL is back after the lockout.  My favorite team is the Buffalo Sabres and I am very excited about the way they are playing this season going for wins in 17 out of their last 20 games.  I think the Salary Cap has benefited the Sabres more then any other team as it has made the other teams with super salaries have to come down to earth a little.

As I mentioned before I have other sites that I run.  MediaGab (http://www.mediagab.com) -  this is my baby so to speak.  It's a hobby site but it's a hobby site that pays for itself and this site.  MediaGab is an entertainment site with the idea of building a community of forum members that want to shoot the shit and talk movies, music actresses and actors (this seems to be the more popular).  We go on our tangents and post just silly stuff.  The community is slowly growing and is starting to take off a little but still a small site in terms of members and participation.

The other site I run is my attempt at creating a niche site.  World of XBox (http://www.worldofxbox.com) - just started this last month as a forum to discuss xbox related topics...currently the site is suffering from not being able to bring in any members or traffic.  I think I might just try and sell the domain off to someone...anyone interested?

Well that's me in a nutshell (ha just got a flash from Austin Powers).  Anyways hope you subscribe to the feed (http://www.damnralph.com/SyndicationService.asmx/GetRss) and hope to see you around in my logs checking out the site everyday.