For those who do not know me, delete this now. Sorry to spam.

For the rest, I borrow a quote from Toy Story:
"This is THE BIG ONE" :-) (gotta be careful here... You only
get to do this once...)

A lot of people believed (and maybe even bet) that this would
never happen (including me), but, as you may have heard or
guessed by now, I am leaving GO.com. Friday, the 19th of May
2000 will be my last day as a Mouseketeer.

When I took over as Webmaster in October 1995, the entire
Disney web site (Disney and non-Disney branded) got about
70,000 raw hits a day, and ran on a single Sun Sparc 20. 
Today the Disney web world encompasses in excess of 350 
servers of various types, for a combined hit count of over
50 Million hits a day. What this group of talented and
dedicated individuals has done over the last 4 1/2 years
is nothing short of amazing. I consider myself lucky to
have been part of it.

With that growth has come change, a lot of it good. While
I have been able to "go with the flow" during these periods
of change, and adjust my perspective, a little voice inside
has been whispering "The force, use the force". A lot of us
will remember Natalie Nichols, a co-worker who ventured out a 
while back. During times of high stress, she would appear out
of nowhere, pull me aside, and make me chant the Mantra:
(image of a person assuming the pose of Lady Liberty, holding
the scales of Justice)

(dip left arm) Marketing Web Site... (dip right arm) Cure For Aids...
           Marketing Web Site... Cure for Aids...

I could never figure out why this mantra calmed me so much.
Finally, I allowed the voice in my head to mesh with the mantra,
and a great feeling of Purpose came over me. I decided I had
to find "A Noble Cause".

So here we are, back in the present. After months of searching, 
I have finally found my Noble Cause, and I am off to tilt at
some windmills. I respectfully ask that everyone release me from
my Oath of Fealty, and let me ride off into the sunset to slay
Dragons with a clear heart, and a clear conscience. I do not know
if "I'll be back", but I do know that we will cross paths (quite
often I suppose...).

Ok, Reality Check time...
Some Memorable Moments from my tenure:

o Being asked to split the Disney/non-Disney sites into two
  different domains (all in one night). 1995
o Seeing Disney.com roll over from the old single box to the
  new server farm at AT&T. Feburary 1996
o New webmasters to share the load. Spring 1996
o The move from Grandview to North Hollywood. (now where did all
  those people come from?) [dates start to get hazy - old age]
o Richard Wolpert using a Bullhorn to keep us awake during the
  initial Disney's Daily Blast launch.
o Edmund Mesrobian stepping out of his office and yelling
  "Pirk!!!!"
o My 40th birthday party - btw, Phil Wahl orders really GOOD beer!
o Leslie Wilson walking out onto the patio during the Blast 2.0
  launch and asking me for a cigarette... (hey, who would'a
  guessed?!?)
o Woody after the Blast 2.0 launch (don't ask... If you were 
  not there, you just would not understand... :-)
o checkout.com gets started, and a LOT of people checkout.
o juansgone.com - one of THE tear jerkers of the year. Should
  have won a webbie... Really! (site is gone, gotta ask Masud
  where it is).
o Henry Tirado checking names off of his phone list everytime
  someone left (the first wave, not this current one).
o All the angry e-mails and phone calls from new co-workers
  wondering why my birthday keeps showing up in their Meeting 
  Maker 2 years after the party was over.
o Patrick... need I say more?
o Randy Dragon's departure from Operations. The end of an Era. 

So now, I present the obligatory closing questions:

o I really want to know... Just who DID win the pool? (you know,
  the one based on my supposed exit date?)
o Why do people say "www" instead of world wide web, when www is nine
  sylables, and world wide web is only 3? (Thanks Josh!!!)
o What does CPM stand for anyway? and who coined the phrase STS?
o When do we file a class action lawsuit against Microsoft for
  leaving us all vulnerable to viruses like ILOVEYOU? (by design).
o Why is almost everyone in Marketing a Director or assistant
  Director?
o How many licks DOES it take to get to the tootsie roll center of
  a tootsie roll pop?

o Why do they wait until you have already decided to leave before
  they ask you to stay?

Think of it as "Evolution in Action".

We have certainly come a long way. I thank you all for a truly
great experience. 

Steve Pirk [Webmaster Emeritus]
May 18th, 2000