.....drum roll please.....

Yes, we finally have our own website. No more banners. No more annoying ads. And a REAL domain name.

www.kathyfelix.com

Boring, you say? Conventional? Perhaps. But let me tell you why commonplace is better than creative.

When I arrived at Stanford as a wee little freshman, the first thing everyone tells you is to think VERY carefully about what you choose as a username. Your SUID is not just your e-mail, they warn you; it's your Stanford label for life. Forever means nothing to most 17-year-olds, though. I watched some of my dormmates make sturdy and faithful choices - kwilson, mjohnson, and so on down the first-initial-last-name road. Whatever! I wanted to be creative and cute, choosing my high school nickname to represent me in the Stanford world. Others were motivated by more obscure reasons, picking oddities like demon, flame, and peaches. The dullards sniffed in disdain; how are you going to put that as your e-mail address on your resume? I just thumbed my nose back and thought, who cares about resumes?! That's years away.

Well, it's years away now. And the first thing that happened when I joyfully came back to Stanford to begin employment was to discover that I was stuck with the same cutesy-ootsy SUID. But I'd graduated! I'd left Stanford! I'd had other jobs and done other things with my life! I needed something standard and professional to put on my business cards and give out to my colleagues. Too bad...the warnings were true. I'm labeled for life. I wasn't the only person to get stung, either. My boss, in fact, who is a class of '75 grad, sheepishly admitted to me that he had also picked a less-than-ideal SUID as a wee little freshman as well.

Good thing we have aliases!

I learned my lesson and have completely changed camps. Old, stodgy, boring, and conventional sound great to me. Chrissie, I should tell you that Felix thought www.katlix.com was the scariest thing he'd ever heard. And Tom, I just don't think catbus would have held up.

So www.kathyfelix.com it is. At least it will stand the test of time!