Apart from keeping Rob company via Instant Messaging (MXit) on my mobile phone while lying in bed during the wee hours of the morning, this is when I, the newest QuirkStar, read most of my RSS feeds. One such feed found at Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang struck a cord with me and will be the foundation of my first post here on GottaQuirk.

I celebrate two years of blogging this Sept 2007. It’s been a fast period of my life, that for sure. I first started blogging to understand the tools, share my ideas, so I could then deploy at my corporate job, boy, I didn’t realize the personal and professional benefits it would bring.

I also celebrate two years of blogging as Your Web AddiCT this December 2007 but unlike Jeremiah I do not ever want to do a corporate job, another reason for being at Quirk: it ain't no corporate job :) Ditto to it being a fast period of my life too. Actually, I started blogging from mid 1999 to November 2001 (the same time Quirk was born) to flex my HTML muscles. While the rest of the world was worried about the Y2K bug, I sunk my teeth into my site’s stats and started running little experiments to see how I could increase the traffic.

It’s been a great tool, I’ve met so many people, developed relationships (many who I have met in real life because of this) built a community, and communicated my ideas. I already see an ROI in blogging, I don’t need to measure, it’s brought me so many friends, so many contacts, it would be silly to measure.

According to Craig, I'm the first QuirkStar he's had to interview without a CV. Who needs a CV when you have Google? If you're really interested in knowing more about me simply Google, Rafiq Phillips. There are about 10 pages of search results that will provide you with everything you need to know.

So what’s next? Lots of good things so stay tuned, I’m going to start a new chapter, and I’d like you to join me.