[caption id="attachment_126" align="alignright" width="267" caption="It was not better back then."] [/caption]

10 years ago I switched to Linux full time. Having tried and failed at Debian first, I later found a SuSE 6 box at a local retailer and have been running Linux ever since. I switched to Debian a short year or two later.

10 years ago I was screaming at the TV while watching CSU beat CU. That was a good omen for the decade.

10.8 years ago I'd argued why Linux would never amount to anything and how awesome Windows was.

10 years ago my external DVD drive was pretty cool.

10 years ago I thought being able to write a Javascript image swap would get me a job.

9.6 years ago it kinda did.

10 years ago I was hoping the power would go out due to y2k and spare me from staying at an awkward party.

10 years ago IE was a decent browser. Netscape 4 seemed to make everything difficult.

10 years ago I used a Yahoo email account because it had 4 megs of free storage. Hotmail was porting to Windows.

10 years ago I was learning PHP3. I didn't like it. I was also creating my first website for a local newspaper, which was an ugly, table-based embarrassment of bad color choices and marquee text. None of it was saved in the wayback machine so it's thankfully ceased to exist.

10 years ago I wrote an awful tech advice column. The first article was how to backup files between two computers using modems. I hadn't learned a lot of networking at that point.

10 years ago I hadn't yet used Visual Basic .

10 years ago Fat Tire was a cool local beer that few outside of Fort Collins, CO had ever heard of. Now it seems every corner store carries seasonal brews and every bar has Fat Tire on tap.

Happy New Year!