History of the Jones
Beach Bums WEBSITE
This is how I initially
visualized JonesBeachBums.com
A far cry from the final design, is it not?
I actually went through 30 versions before I stopped saving
them "for posterity".
I saved them because one day I hoped that this website would
not only survive for many years, but would grow and grow
and become popular enough that one day some of us might
actually be curious about it's inception and metamorphosis.
And I believe that time
has come!
We now have 142 members on the Directory page;
(not including the scores of people I had to turn away
because it wasn't appropriate)
over one thousand pictures in our archives;
EIGHT "Then and Now" pages;
and over 200 messages on the Message Board!
(One from as far away as South
Africa! <---click here to read)
In addition, we have been written about in NY Newsday THREE
times.
So, I thought that perhaps now some of you may be interested
in
"the history of the Jones Beach Bums website".
This is how it all began... and continues to this day...
November 2000
A stay-at-home mom since 1984, both my kids were now teens,
and it was time to start thinking about what would I do
when my kids finished growing up. Now it was time to think
about my second career (after motherhood).
But what? My college degree was in psychology, and I had
never worked in that field.
So I was not sure where to turn.
During Thanksgiving 2000 my dilemma was discussed, and after
hearing that computers had always fascinated me and that
I loved graphics, a guest brought to our family celebration
exclaimed that I should learn HTML.
HTML? I didn't even know what that was!
But when I heard it was the "language of websites",
I believed she was right.
So in early 2001 I began trekking over to Wake Technology
College
(Raleigh NC's local community college) and taking basic
HTML and web-design courses.
Two years went by... two
years of course after course (some online) and a lot of
struggling and volunteering for community organizations.
But I discovered that I loved making websites! So
after garnering praise for a couple I had done for community
groups, I felt ready to get a job. I then called the company
that hosted one of my volunteer sites, a company I had chosen
solely because they were local. I knew nothing about them
other than they were friendly and very reliable.
It turned out they were a "startup", a company
in it's very early stages, with only a few employees. Which
is I'm sure the only reason I scored an interview.
Then, despite almost 2 decades of being out of the work
force, I was thrilled to be offered an entry level position.
This company is called "Atlantic
Business Technologies", aka AtlanticBT.
Have you ever noticed that their link is on the bottom of
every JBB web page?
Read on to find out why...
Although I was excited
to be embarking on my first job since my childrearing began,
I turned down the starting salary, asking instead to be
a "student intern". It occurred to me that between
my lack of experience and my lack of youth (it was obviously
an extremely young company - the president himself was only
25 years old at the time), if I was being paid I might not
last very long. I realized that this opportunity was going
to provide invaluable "on-the-job training" and
not only did I want to expand my basic web skills but I
hungered to work in an office and be in a challenging atmosphere
every day.
I'm very glad I made that
decision (and that they accepted) because from day one
it was obvious that being at least 20 years older than
every other coworker often made for an awkward atmosphere.
But I decided to stay there as long as possible, use the
time wisely, and learn as much as possible. And learn I
did - during the 9 months I was there, while I helped the
new company grow (AtlanticBT
has become quite successful and is thriving, even in this
economy. CLICK
HERE to see their very cool staff page!) my coworkers
and I decided that the best way for me to learn website
skills was to create a personal website.
I always remembered a promise I had made to Perry Hendricks
at the small 2001 JBB reunion. I had been telling Perry
about my HTML classes, and he said,
"Why don't you create a website for the Jones Beach
Bums?"
It was a great idea, and
of course I promised I would... but over the next two years
I had only made a few feeble attempts; every time I tried
I was immediately overwhelmed by the enormity of the task,
since I continued to lack some of the necessary skills to
do it justice.
However, on Nov. 4 of 2003 I suddenly knew I was finally
going to fulfill my promise - not only had I learned quite
a bit in the short time I had been at ABT,
but I was now surrounded by experts willing to help me see
it to the end. So that day I made a vow I would make it
happen.
My coworkers and I came to an agreement - I would work on
my "project" at night, and during the last 20
minutes of each work day they would gather around me at
my computer and critique my progress.
While creative, I have never been very artistic, so I knew
a good design
would be the biggest challenge — and indeed it was!
This was the first one I came up with on the evening of
11/4/03:
(click on thumbnail to enlarge)
The next day, however, this design got the kibosh from my
coworkers.
Not clean enough looking, if I recall. (Perhaps the faces/hair
seemed strange to them?)
BTW, the center picture was taken by Bobby Beechel.
I am sitting on the shoulders of Jeff, taking video of us
looking at my JBB scrapbook during the 2002 reunion (see
"videos"
on Photos page if you are interested in the actual footage).
All the side pictures were gleaned from that scrapbook.
Of course I trusted their expertise, reversed course, and
then came up with the one below:
(click on thumbnail to enlarge)
I was trying to recreate the "flower-power" theme
of the 70's...
this one wasn't well received either!
This one came next:
(click on thumbnail to enlarge)
I was finally on the right path, but they still had lots
of
criticism and suggestions.
(click on thumbnail to enlarge)
The above was the next design, and I stayed on this basic
path through many variations of color, background, links,
etc.
Almost every variation can be seen at the top of this page
(via the slide show).
When I got very close to the final version, I began working
on the meat of the site: posting old pictures, creating
a directory, memorials to the friends we had lost, etc.
It was now February 2004. I contacted Joanne (Isaacs) Lancaster
(my best friend from back in the day and still a dear friend),
whom I knew also had a collection of old pictures of the
Bums. Joanne then told me that Robbie Indovino too had lots
of old pictures, and indeed Robbie was a veritable gold
mine of memories and assistance. Joanne and Robbie immediately
began scanning their photo albums and sending them to me,
an arduous process that they both diligently pursued with
enthusiasm.
Over the next few weeks they sent me scans of entire pages,
unable to remove most pictures as they had become permanently
attached. And every night for hours I worked on them as
I scanned my own pages. Then the pictures were all cropped,
improved, named, sorted out... eventually becoming the "main
photogalleries" you see on the right side of every
page.
In addition to sending me pictures, Robbie spent much time
looking over my drafts and IM'ing me his comments. He deserves
credit for thinking of the password to our directory, and
it was Joanne who suggested I add music.
The jukebox shareware I found isn't perfect, but at least
it works - don't those songs swell your heart and flood
your mind with memories?
When the site was finally ready to be launched - it was
now early March 2004 - AtlanticBT
became our "host" — and still is to this
day, as a gift to me (and to us). And I began to spread
the word to the few old Bums I was still in touch with at
that time that we now had a website.
Debi Red was the first one to write me to say how much she
enjoyed looking over our
(then) new website — and thus our "Message
Board" had officially begun!
The site started appearing on Google, word continued to
spread, and before long we had a score of people on our
Directory. Trying to drum up publicity, because as you all
know there are WAY more than 20 Jones Beach Bums out there,
I contacted Ed Lowe from Newsday, telling him the story
of how Ginger accidentally stumbled onto our 2001 reunion.
I had a feeling he would like it, and sure enough, he immediately
called me, Ginger, Robbie, and a few others, interviewed
us by phone, and wrote a really nice story about us. It
was published in New York Newsday on a Sunday in September
2004 (CLICK
HERE to read).
We immediately received several new sign-ups, and word continued
to spread.
At one point in 2005, I was so enthusiastic about the growing
site that I wrote a story about the time in 1973 that Mama
Pfeff, Debi Red and I went to the Watkins Glen festival
determined to meet up (somehow) with other Jones Beach Bums.
(CLICK HERE to
read that story.)
Then another writer from Newsday contacted me, and on Saturday,
May 26, 2007
we were featured in Newsday's Act II section. CLICK
HERE to read that wonderful piece! Needless to
say, as a result, many more old Bums excitedly discovered
the website, joining our Directory and sending pictures
and messages they too wanted to share.
The job at AtlanticBT did not work out as I had hoped, but
it taught me enough about websites to create a now nationally
known site that has reunited most of my dear old friends,
an accomplishment I will always be proud of. It also led
me to discover that real estate is my true passion, because
every day of those nine months I drove by an inviting-looking
real estate office called "Fonville Morisey",
and I always wondered if perhaps I would be better off selling
real estate instead of struggling to become a web designer.
Well, it has now been 5 years that I have been successfully
selling real estate -
right across the street from AtlanticBT!
(CLICK
HERE to see my business website.)
You have now reached the end of the history of the Jones
Beach Bums website.
But not the end of the Jones Beach Bums!
Because happily, it appears that we still live on.
We live on to reminisce, to communicate, to occasionally
meet...
and most importantly, to continue to love and help
each other.
As we were there for each other during high school,
we hopefully will be there for each other forever.
Shari (AKA Sharyn Friedman)
Fuller
7/15/09
