[Larry, aka Momp's Acre In Cyberspace, has acres of pages full of help for the beginner and seasoned user! How many? Try 163 pages on topics such as "Tips and Codes," the NASCAR, the Green Bay Packers, F-key savers, wolves and even an HTML workbench loaded with help for all users. He is presently working on a page entitled "Website Promotion!"--ck]
Larry is 55 years old, has been married for 33 years, and has two daughters and four grandchildren. Larry was self-employed most of his life, and the last four and one-half years he has been a driver and customer service representative for a courier company.
I asked Larry to tell me what made him purchase a WebTV unit. He said he purchased their Samsung WebTV Plus from the Home Shopping Network while watching them explain how easy and inexpensive it was. Larry and his wife, Sharon, decided to buy one. Larry said he plugged it in July 28, 1998 and their life with WebTV began. Larry also noted he has been addicted ever since. I then asked him what was the main reason for buying a WebTV unit. He said the initial reason for purchasing a WebTV unit was so they could be on the Internet and use their computer at the same time for his wife's job. Also, he liked the idea of sitting on the couch while he surfed.
Larry said the first 3 months he just surfed looking in awe at all the information on the Internet. Larry had read a lot about computers as they had just purchased their first computer in April, 1998 and Larry was just learning how to use it. Then he started his wife's KriBabiNan's homepage at Tripod in November of 1998. Sharon's site is about best friends. She enjoys collecting recipes, cooking, crafts, country music, and time just surfing with their WebTV. Sharon is now just as good as Larry is with HTML.
Larry says he visits (lurks) quite a few newsgroups trying to learn more about this little black box. He receives about 40 to 50 e-mails per day, of which one third are questions about HTML or in reference to something on Momp's WebTV Workbench. Make sure you don't miss his tips and code page. It is awesome work.
Larry said he learned his first HTML tag from Draac's GIFS123 just like so many others with WebTV. Larry told me he reads and studies every HTML help site he can find. He spent a lot of time lurking at discuss.html and discuss.homepage (ADH-HH).
After Larry felt comfortable with using HTML, he did his first homepage - Momp's Acre in Cyberspace. It was created on December 26, 1998 and hosted by Tripod. The first pages were entitled "The World of Spirit Eyes" which is about wolves and was dedicated to his best friend and business associate who passed away four years earlier.
I asked Larry what his homepage has to offer. He said, "My web site presently is 163 pages with 7 different sections and a few individual pages." Larry has different sections about Wolves, NASCAR, The Green Bay Packers, F-keys, WebTV Help, a small graphics section, and a "Website Promotion" section he just started. (See why I said "Acres Upon Acres Of Help!")
Larry said his future plans for his site includes expanding the graphics section, finishing up the "Website Promotion" section, and from there, "who knows." He states that he has so many things he would like to do.
I asked Larry if there was anything he would like to see WebTV change or do to improve it. Larry said, "I love my WebTV and the friends I have made surfing the web. It has opened a whole new world to me, and the people are some of the friendliest, most talented, and helpful people I have ever met. I sometimes get a little frustrated with the upgrades" He looks at them as challenges to overcome, but overall, Larry does not have any complaints with WebTV.
I asked Larry what was the one question that he got a lot from users. Larry chuckled and said, "One question I get a lot is people asking, "What is a Momp?" He explained that when his granddaughter was little and learning to talk, she could not say Grandpa. She called him "Momp," and the nickname stuck as you can see in his e-mail - Momp54@webtv.net. "The 54 was my age when I bought my computer, WebTV, and became 'addicted' to this little black box. "
Larry told me that he would like to thank all those who have helped him over the last 18 months while he created "Momp's Acre in Cyberspace."
[Community Editor's Notes: Thank you for all those pages! I especially liked your toolbench - what a great help for many users while making their webpages. Your pages on wolves were spectacular. The "Spirit" and "Heart" paths, with the artwork, were inspiring!--ck]
