About www.wilburstreet.com
There's a few sections here, so look at the headings to see what interests you.
HOW THIS SITE IS ORGANIZED:
You'll notice 3 sets of menus. To the left is the "navigation" menu, which contains
the links to the "heart" of this website. Within those sections, you'll find the people
and friends Wilburstreet, and the events and gatherings that have happened while at college, and
after college has ended.
On the top menu you'll notice 'general' information. These are the things that you might use often, fits in no other place, and in a way, is a "module" of the website (i.e. Guestbook), that is not central to the information itself.
On the right menu are links to a few things that belong on the foreground; things you can find without having to search the site too long.
Lastly, you'll notice a Google search tool on the left, below the navigation menu. By clicking on the correct box (the web or www.wilburstreet.com) you can search either.
HISTORY:
Ok, ok...so you want to know how this website came about, huh? Well, I'll try and give the
simplest, most detailed explanation that makes any sense at all. :)
Here's some background. First of all, a bunch of friends partied a lot during the late 1990s (1995 to 1999), and some of these people lived on Wilbur Street. Some didn't, but I figured that Wilburstreet.com deserved it's own place on the web, and a ton of cool shit happened there, so I said, 'www.wilburstreet.com' it is. :)
Anyway, sometime during 1998 or early 1999, Lindsay mentioned how at the end of May 1999, all of us would be going our own ways; some back home to their respective state or country, some to take month-long vacations, and some people to move to other parts of the country for work or pleasure. In speaking to Lindsay, he wanted to make a monthly "newsletter" and send it out via the mail to everyone. I thought this was a great idea, but then I thought it could get to be a lot of work, and then a lot of money when you talk about printing that stuff and mailing it out to everyone.
So, for the first few months of 1999, I played around with the idea in my head. How would I be able to make something that could be easy and cheap, that would keep everyone connected? When May of 1999 arrived, reality started to set in. There were only about 25 more days of partying left, leases would be up, and people were gone. That sinking feeling started to set in, along with the reality of "moving home" and "getting a job".
On one of the last nights on Wilburstreet - around May 29th, 1999 - I got a pen, some paper, napkins, cardboard, etc. anything I could write on. I was half-lit anyway, as Bryan and I were drinking with Lindsay, Dank, and Dank's father who was over for a meal. I decided that the Quote Wall was too good to lose. So, for an hour or so, I wrote everything down, and on this website, you'll find that quotewall. Now, back to the story...
The next day - May 30th or 31st whatever it was - I got a call from my Dad who said that my Grandmother's brother, Bob, who lived in Richmond, Virgnia had died. He was old and sick, and while I didn't know him too well, my Grandfather did. So, I drove the 3.5 hours home to Long Island, arriving at about 5pm. Spent 6p-11p unpacking the car, then going to bed, as I had to get up at 5am to drive my grandfather and 2 other relatives from NY and NJ, down to Virginia. So, not even 12 hours after I left Newark, I'm back, although passing through on my way to Virginia.
After the wake, with the funeral being the next day, I had a lot of time to kill. Not knowing that part of Virginia well, and since I was with my grandfather, I hung around the motel, watching some movies, and then it dawned on me. Why not make a website? In 1999, the web was really starting to come around, becoming a tool for both information and entertainment. So, on June 17th, 1999, the very first version of 'wilburstreet' came out. It was called 'Wilbur Street Online', and was quite small. Small enough, that it didn't need it's own name.
By the fall of 1999, enough people knew about the website, and enough were sending me information, that it started to steamroll quite a bit. Seeing the need for a lot of room, I started leasing the name 'www.wilburstreet.com', where the website resides today. Since the fall of 1999, the website has gone through many visual and functional changes, but it's generally remained the same; a place for people to come to remember some fun times at college, and keep a handle on where their friend's are and what they are doing currently, and to make plans for the future.