I just passed my first-whole-month-of-working anniversary. Now that I'm a seasoned pro at this employee stuff, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share some of my favorite things about working at 'A Real Job.'

Big changes are on the career horizon here. Once more I'm altering course and going in a totally new direction. I've accepted a full-time position at Arizona State University, helping one of the departments with their print and Internet presence.

I'm always curious about other web designers—who we are and why in the world we put ourselves through this. Is it for love? For money? Because no one else in the organization had the guts to take on HTML? So, here's a long-running survey that I hope some of you will bother to take. Hopefully (barring death or jokesters) I'll keep it running for years.

This blog has been quiet for a few weeks because I've just been too busy to write, and if I hadn't been, all I would have done is complain. Besides putting out fires and running around doing last minute changes to sites about to launch, I ran into the stickiest problem I've so far encountered in my short career as a web designer--and the problem had nothing to do with CSS.

No, really. It's true. You see, I've never mentioned this before because it's kind of embarrassing, but I'm a recovering DIYer. Yes, I know many experts say there's no cure—that, with only one whiff of varnish remover, some people are addicted for life. You get your hands on a stack of shiny new paint samples or a batch of fabric swatches, and the next thing you know you're glued to HGTV all day and clipping pictures out of House Beautiful.