www.mediajunk.com/public/ has been Michael Heraghty's blog since October 2002. Here's how it came about:
I first registered the name Mediajunk.com in 1999 - towards the peak of the dot-com gold rush - because I thought it sounded cool.
I enjoyed my job with Vision Consulting but the idea of setting up my own web design company was germinating in my mind.
In 2002, burnt-out after those frenzied dot-com years, I left Vision and took off to France, to write a novel.
My dream did not work out as planned. While I had always loved writing, I now realised that I hated writing the same damn story every single day.
But I rediscovered learning. I learned to speak French. I also learned that I loved designing web pages. I spent at least two hours a day updating my Diaryland site -- and I never got sick of it.
I realised that I enjoy working in short, intensive bursts. The web seems to suit this style of work. Projects typically last weeks or months.
I returned to Ireland in July 2002. I discovered Movable Type, and the emerging "weblog" concept. While my Diaryland site had been a personally, artsy, introspective journal, weblogs were outward-facing, open, social and discursive.
In October, 2002 I decided to create my own blog. At this time, I had been using Mediajunk.com as a space to create fun and nonsense -- my online doodle pad.
I created a folder called "public" on the Mediajunk site. This now seems strange - why would a blog be called "public"? - but conventions hadn't been established then, and I recall thinking I might need a private weblog too!
Within a year, I had started up my own company, Heraghty Internet Consultants.
After posting prolifically to the Mediajunk blog for the first couple of years, my posting trickled to a halt as the company grew and my spare time diminished.
Now (October 2006), I have at last managed to free up some more time by assembling a talented team of designers and developers to carry out more of the client work. We've recently given the blog a facelift, so hopefully this will kick-start some more prolific posting!
Update February 2008: I have decided to use the Mediajunk name and website solely as my blog. I have got feedback from people who tell me they are confused about whether my business is called Mediajunk or Heraghty Internet Consultants.
Mediajunk.com is my blog and nothing else, while Heraghty Internet Consultants has its own dedicated website.