Here we are at the end of May, and I've finally resurfaced. To say I fell down a rabbit hole (again, figuratively) may be slightly understated. A more accurate assessment may be that I entered a rabbit warren, exploring every twist, every turn, before the light of day once again revealed itself to my ocular sensory units! As hinted at in the previous post, the blue creature in the image was a clue to the particular leporidian domicile to which I was temporarily accustomed. If you do not recognize it, try typing one of the words from the list below into a Google search and see what happens!

Allow me to provide some context. Having been personally involved in what can be refered to variously as the yesterweb, indieweb, old web, static web, or Web 1.0, among others, I have become disenchanted with the current iteration of the internet...or what is commonly thought of as the internet today. It is with fondness and a dose of nostalgia that I look back to the era of desktop computers, dial-up internet, and the general DIY-feel that pervaded those early days of the Web. Instead of a few heavily-trodden paths to a handful of popular sites, the Web was a place of exploration and discovery, your browser a portal to limitless adventure. Instead of being "always connected" and "always online," the internet jockey of the day sat down at his or her computer, fired up the internet connection, and took a spin on the information superhighway, driving along much like a car afficionado that climbs behind the wheel of his or her favorite automobile to ply scenic byways on a Sunday afternoon.

With that in mind, (and much more besides...if you are interested), I wanted to try my hand at coining a word...or even a family of words. The goal was to come up with a term that would encapsulate the ideas, philosophy and experience of those early days of the Web. This lead to a journey encompassing several weeks. After some initial scouting, I ended up on some excellent websites covering topics from etymology to Latin words and meanings. From there I began the work of wordsmithery. The list below includes 200 original words, all of which Google admits to never having encountered before! Mind you, this list is but a fraction of the words I attempted. Some were already recognized words. Some exist as handles or hashtags on a variety of social media platforms. Some were actually real Latin terms. Some were names of businesses or places.

There is much work left to do, however. Out of these 200 words, my goal is to narrow it down to one or two that check all of the boxes. I want it to sound like a "real" word, not just a couple of words, or their derivations, slapped together. I want it to have meaning, drawing from the individual definitions of the root words. And finally, I want to be able to use it in all its forms: verb, adverb, noun and adjective, to describe and illustrate those early days of the Web, and using the Web like that today.

I'm back! Let the finalization process commence!

DEREK'S 200 ORIGINAL WORDS...
...at least per a Google search!
abnetcene, absectela, abtelator, abtelavia, aderraneum, ambiteliter, antelasecta, antenetcene, antenetizen, anteplect, anteraneum, antewebcene, antewebist, antewebped, antewebster, anthrotela, antiwebcene, antraneum, araneanaut, araneascopy, araneatrope, archaeoplect, archaeoplexus, archaeorane, archaetelae, archaraneum, archeteliter, archetextilis, archordium, archwebian, autoraneum, bioraneum, circaraneum, circordium, circranea, circraneum, circumsectel, circumtrama, circumwebify, cybertrames, diawebist, enordior, eotelavia, eowebian, eowebic, eowebory, foreplect, foreplexi, foreplexus, gradaraneum, holordrium, intertela, intraordium, intraraneum, intrasectel, itertrama, itineraneum, metaraneum, metrodium, monordium, morphordium, motaraneum, nautaraneum, neoplectere, neordior, neterrator, orditramite, ortaplect, ortaraneum, ortiplect, palearaneum, paleonetian, paleoplect, paleoplexi, paleoplexus, paleoranea, paleotelar, paleoweboid, palordium, panaraneum, panordiam, panordior, pantelanaut, panweban, panwebian, panwebist, philordium, polyraneum, praeraneum, praetelar, praetelutor, prewebcene, primaraneum, protaraneum, protoraneum, protordium, protosectel, protosectela, prototelavia, protowebian, protowebic, protoweboid, reorditum, retroplect, retrordior, retrordium, retrosectel, reveracate, reveranei, reveraneum, reveraplect, reveraplex, reverplek, revertextum, rewebium, sectaranea, sectaraneum, sectatelar, sectordiat, sectordium, sectramite, sectraneum, specteloid, telalustro, telambler, telanautic, telanautical, telanovum, telapalaris, telapalor, telapedite, telaphile, telascopy, telasecta, telaspecto, telaspectus, telatramis, telatramite, telatropes, telavagary, telavernal, telavernum, telaviatic, telordiam, telordiant, telordient, telordite, telvagari, terraplect, tramagrade, tramambulate, tramaraneum, tramasecta, tramatilis, tramatrames, tramavagor, tramavagus, tramaverum, tramavium, tramordiam, tramordient, tramvagus, transaraneum, transordior, transordium, transwebvium, urwebian, urwebist, vagaraneum, vagoraneum, vagordial, vagordium, veraplect, veraplek, veraplexus, vereplect, veriplek, veriplexi, veriplexus, veritelar, vernaplexus, vernaranea, vernaraneum, vernaranian, verniplect, verordior, verplexitor, viaraneum, vitaraneum, vitordial, vitordium, vivordior, webhabitant, webicianado, webicium, webionado, webistorian, webiviator, webstorical, webtiquity

Though it has been a while since the last post, things are going well in our neck of the woods. My absence from the blog is due to falling down a rabbit hole (figuratively, not literally). I have almost made my way back again...almost, but not quite. While I will not currently reveal the exact nature of this particular rabbit hole, I will say that it involves the creature in the image below...