About Mook and TheMook.Net Website

I am Mook. This is my website.

I don't always look like this, but I like the picture because I look really happy. Usually, I don't have a beard, and about three years ago I finally cut my hair down to a buzzcut... after more than 15 years without a haircut.

I love to write, but I don't do it enough. I often write about wanting to write more.

I love to play all kinds of games - video games, board games, card games, but especially tabletop role-playing games (RPGs). I started playing Dungeons & Dragons in 1983, then played every RPG I could get my hands on (a few favorites: Top Secret, Villains & Vigilantes, Star Frontiers, Paranoia). In 1993, I started running games with GURPS and haven't run anything else since then (though as a player I'll try anything).

I also love movies, television, comics, books, and basically anything with characters and a story. My tastes are omnivorous. I can actually tell the good from the bad, I just don't usually care.

The unprecedented explosion of technology in my lifetime, especially the rise of computers and the internet, makes me squeal with delight every waking hour of my life.

This website, TheMook.Net, has been online without interruption since at least September, 1998. It is my own personal slice of the world wide web, a place to create whatever I want, whenever I feel like it. I like having a tiny virtual space all my own.

When I first started this site I taught myself HTML. A few years later, I did the same with PHP - at least enough to know what to copy and paste, and how to tweak things to my liking. I still code most things by hand, in Notepad++.

For the past bunch of years, TheMook.Net has been hosted by EsoSoft - they have been an absolute pleasure to work with, and their customer service is phenomenal. I cannot recommend them enough if you are looking for site hosting. My blog runs on WordPress, one of the best blogging platforms I've ever used.

I am incredibly easy to find online -- should you want to get in touch, just check the Contact page for all the info.

As a final note, my favorite part of the site is the quotes I have assembled from far and wide to cycle randomly with every page load (along the bottom on the main site pages, in the right-hand sidebar on the blog pages). Each one is a pearl of wisdom or bon mot I try to keep in mind as I careen through this crazy life. Please enjoy them.

Thanks for stopping by!