Early in 2001, I mentioned in the Joe Mitchell Sunday School class,
of which I am a member, how easy it is to set up a web site. I noted that
the church did not have a site, and pondered aloud the possibility of setting
one up. At the time I simply intended to get the name JMCLASS.org, or something
similar. Jerry Spurlock said "go for it" and it all began.
Upon reflection, I decided that the Joe Mitchell Class was a limited
audience, so I determined to use the church as a base for the web site.
In looking for a URL, I first looked for "FUMC", which, of course, is the
abbreviation for "First United Methodist Church." But that would have been
too simple. Of course, that URL was taken, as were all other imaginable
variations. So I decided on the URL name FUMCTROYAL.ORG, which, although
a mouthful, does have some relative meaning, once it is mastered. I could
have gone for the .com version, but that has a commercial connotation.
I registered that name with Network solutions, directing it to a sub directory
of my company's web site, LQJRS.COM.
I got out my HTML book and began the process of building a site. I determined
that the site would be dynamic. There is nothing, in my estimation, less
appealing than a static web site. Electronic communication being what it
is, a web site gets old in a week if it is not updated. I experimented
with several ways to get announcements on the site, but met with little
interest or success. I did put the front of the bulletin up as a front
page, and was able to post announcements, thanks to Joan's giving me a
disk weekly of First Beat.
I knew that I wanted to do something with the new building, so, when
Jerry Span took some pictures of the demolition, I scanned them and started
writing the commentary.
The resulting documentary has developed into a descriptive narrative which describes, on a several times a week cycle, the construction in some detail.
I have tried to make the commentary as friendly as possible. At one
time, I started a narrative I entitled "NEWBUILDING OFF THE RECORD", which
in intended to use for reflections on mistakes and blunders. The single
paragraph, dated August 1, 2001, reads as follows:
NEW BUILDING - OFF THE RECORD - August
1, 2001:
In the interest of preserving congeniality
with the contractor and workers I have decided to write a parallel, off
the record commentary on the building construction.
Today the concrete workers had to cut
the wall at the location of the stairwell in order to frame the foundation
for a support column. It seems that the plans anticipated a 10 inch block,
whereas the wall only has 8" block (and 8" brick verneer). The bolts for
the column cannot be placed in an 8" wall. There will be no visible effect,
since the brick mason will be able to trim the exterior brick to cover
OK. But one wonders, in light of the front wall "dumb mistake" how much
this nature happens.
The front wall "dumb mistake", refers to the incident where the
front wall had to be torn out and redone when it was realized that
the wall was built to the wrong dimensions.
I did not find it necessary to continue the "off the record" commentary,
since I found that the contractor personnel were open and up front in their
discussions, and there appeared to be no attempt to cover anything up.
I do not know at what point contractor personnel became aware that I
was reporting on their work. I do know that Charles Ingram became aware
at a meeting at the church in which we were both in attendance. He later
told me that he looked at the commentary occasionally.
I would have liked to have presented more pictures, but images take
up a great deal of disk space, and in the interest of presenting an interesting
commentary, I decided to present pictures only about monthly.
When we began the project, the Joe Mitchell class was studying a series known as "New Testament Stories from the Back Side." I put an image of this book on the class web page, and then, under it a picture of the then vacant lot where construction was in progress, with the caption "First United Methodist Church from the Back Side", using a Troy Messenger photograph.
This began a practice, whereupon the first day of each month, I put
a picture from the front of the Thompson building, showing the progress
of the work.
As the commentary grew longer, I decided that it would probably be very
slow loading, particularly for those with dial-up service. So I decided
to break the work into chapters, with a pointer from the presentation page
to each month's work. With this arrangement I could put in more pictures
without making the load time exorbitant. So I inserted photographs I took
on occasion (usually holidays) with a cheap digital camera. I learned some
things, and I am not sure even now whether all the pictures are presented
in a usable way.
Although I did learn some HTML, I used the Netscape compose function
for the writing. I did check, from time to time, to see how it is presented
on Internet Explorer, which I feel is probably a more popular browser.
And I made the decision to use 800x600 resolution, as that is the format
I use on my computer at the shop. At home, I use 640x480, since I have
an older monitor there. I usually work from the shop, where I now have
DSL service. I have seen that the site seems to present itself very well
on higher resolution.
As the project drew toward conclusion, I felt it would be desirable
to tie it all together. I came up with the idea of having an appreciation
page for the workers who actually built the building. Thus the appendix.
I developed a rapier with Danny, the Construction Superintendent quite easily. He is from Monroe County; my son, John Thomas, lives in Monroeville. Danny has worked with or supervised JT's father-in-law, brother-in-law, and JT's co-worker/manager of Central Supply, which is JT's place of employment.
There is a need to express my appreciation to Charles Ingram, the contractor's supervisor for the job, and to Danny, for their openness and forthrightness once they learned that I was "snooping" on them. I also thank Ray Swisher and John Brannon, who made it easy to discuss the project. There are also those whose encouragement and expressions of appreciation made the project enjoyable. And, of course, my utmost appreciation is expressed to my wife, Gail, who answers the 'phone, and would become quite concerned that my attentiveness to the project would interfere with really important things like making a living!
TROY, ALABAMA
JUNE 21, 2002