I think this was my first independent website; independent in the financial sense, of course--I think I may have had something like 10 (or more) sites in my name previous to this one, only paid for by my mom. The history of various sites is quite long, and maybe I'll make a page out of it someday.
In any case, the key points to take away here are of course the lonely tree image which has inspired all four versions of the rails-backed sites as well as the beginnings of the portfolio and showcase concept. I miss this design for its aesthetic quality, but it's not very practical for the copious amounts of text I tend to write.