Author: Tiara Rea

Last month we had so much to report that we skipped over a Lunarpages interviewee! So this month we are making up for that hardcore with an interview with one of the most influential and well-respected members of the web hosting community. This guy is so big that you will absolutely not believe we got him to sit down and agree to an interview for our Newsletter!

He’s collosal. He’s spectacular. He’s….MITCH KEELER.

*fangirls go wild*

Mitch not only writes for our web hosting blog, Newsletter, and takes care of our LunarForum community and pre-sales customers, but he also hosts his own podcast, runs some incredibly-successful websites, and knows just about all there is about web hosting and the industry. We figured it was finally time for a good, old-fashioned sitdown with our buddy Mitch.

Hey Mitch! Thanks for taking some time out from writing our Newsletter articles to handle a quick interview.

Not a problem. Nice to be on the other side of the content stream every once in a while in front of my close and personal amigos, the always awesome Lunarpages clients.

You’re another one of those people who work for Lunarpages and does just about everything in every department. So what’s your official job title and what do you do for LP?

I don’t know if I have ever been given one? I guess officially I would be considered a Level One Customer Service Representative, Senior Forum Moderator, Content Writer, Sales Guy, Blogger and Official Odd Jobs Associate. Think I almost got everything covered there.

How long have you worked here?

I have been happy to have been with Lunarpages for a year and half now with the greatest customer base known to man.

You’re a remote worker, which I am quite jealous of at times! Where do you work from and can you tell us a bit about remote working?

Well, working remote (which is something I’ve been doing in one way or another the past five years now) has its blessing and hardships. Sure, there is no commute to work and I don’t have to wear pants if I don’t want to. On the other side of things though there is never really a boundary of “OK, I’m at work now, time to work” or “OK, now I am at home, I can do other fun things now”. It all just blends in together. I love it, but it might not be for everybody. There is a lot of gray area and not much black and white with the work that we remote workers do. Another special thing about working for Lunarpages is I get to spend my day working along side some of the best support staff guys and gals in the business too. From top to bottom everybody offers something unique to the team and I am sometimes in awe of their awesomeness.

You run a bunch of websites as well. Tell us a bit about The Web Hosting Show, to start. What do you do there, what’s it all about, and what makes it super cool and exciting?

The Web Hosting Show, a weekly podcast that I produce and host, was a project I started after writing the Lockergnome’s Guide to Web Hosting eBook. At the time podcasting was just starting to get popular, and it looked like an exciting bandwagon to jump onto. I have been doing it for three and a half years now and it is still one of the highlights of my week to be able to reach out and help or discuss hosting topics for both novices and experts. My goal since day one has been to produce an audio broadcast that is a melting pot for both web hosts and hosting clients so each can learn more about this industry we are all apart of.

Everyone should definitely take advantage of listening for all things Web Hosting related. You also write for and manage Firefox Facts, another website I adore. Personally, I love Firefox and gave up IE a long time ago for its sophistication, but tell us about Firefox Facts and why Firefox is so important that it deserves its own facts website.

Well this was another project that came from an eBook. It started as a project pretty much brain stormed for me by Chris Pirillo. He took a lot of my articles I had done for the Lockergnome.com web site and put them together as an eBook. We needed a device to push the eBook out to the public, so there is where FirefoxFacts.com came into play. It is probably my most popular project to date – we have over 4,000 subscribers to the RSS feed alone. I’ve always been passionate about using Firefox and it is another area where I get to help and inform the mass public about something I really enjoy.

Any other web projects you’d like to pimp?

Well, there is my resume web site, MitchKeeler.com and my own personal blog at Mitchelaneous.com where you can find all kinds of oddball things that have caught my interest.

It looks like you also dabble in website design. What sites or themes have you designed?

Web design is one of those things I like to dabble in, but I am far from being a master at. Reading more about how to do this, or what is the best way to do that is interesting to me and has helped me with the design of my own previously mentioned web site as well as a few Lunarpages powered projects.

Since you write, design, podcast, code, and moderate forums, what’s your favorite thing to do?

Writing was first, so it will probably be my biggest passion. It may sound a little corny but I enjoy anything I do where I can reach out and help people. Almost everything I do on the Web is in one way, shape or form to inform the public and try to help out as much as I can.

And how about in whatever ‘downtime’ you have, if it exists! What do you like to do outside of web hosting?

Well, that goes back into the whole remote workers have no downtime discussion. Seems like I always have a project pending or a task that needs to be done. I don’t mean to sound like I work all the time but I guess the best way to explain it would be that work is fun to me. In my opinion I have one of the best jobs in the world because I wake up everyday loving what it is I do. When it is time to lay back and relax though I have been having a lot of fun with my recently purchased Wii. Just holding back the urge to start up another side project about it.

When I was in high school, I made a list of 10 things I wanted to do before I died, which included 10 things I’ve yet to do. lol What would your 10 things be?

Lists like that freak me out a ‘bit, maybe cause I am a little on the paranoid side or perhaps I don’t want to look back at it ten or twenty years later thinking, “Well, I had better get this, this and that done!”. Call me anal if you must, but if I make a list there is an impulse in my brain that says to get it done ASAP. I would say anybody should be happy if they can look back after the day is done and point out one thing they did they were proud of. If you can do that on a daily basis, your going to be well on your way of doing more than just 10 awesome achievements before you kick the bucket.

That’s an awesome philosophy, Mitch! If you could work from any locale in the world, where would it be and why?

Any golf course (personally don’t know of any by name) across the world. The grass is always greener no matter which side of the fence you are on and I am not responsible for keeping it that way.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, I have a miniature sheltie named Ash (yes, from Evil Dead and Army of Darkness fame). He’s more than enough for me right now.

Amy’s been on an iTunes music kick lately, sending me some awesome music recommendations. What about you? What kinds of music are you into?

Did I mention you can get me on iTunes? For the most part, anything heavy metal or rock-related will tickle my fancy. Also to dive a little more into my geeky side, I have a thing for video game music too – mostly from the Final Fantasy series.

What’s your greatest hidden talent?

I used to be able to stick both my legs behind my head, which was somehow related to my fixation over Weird Al Yankovic when I was young. These days though I can only manage to get one back there.

Okay, so your new nick will be Mitch “the Human Preztel” Keeler. On that same vein, tell us one secret that you’ve never publicly told anyone – a Lunarpages Newsletter exclusive.

I believe in UFOs, my older sister dressed me in drag when I was little and I know every single word in Hulk Hogan’s “Real American” entrance music (also known as “Real American” by Rick Derringer). Gave you a three for one deal, just ’cause I know the Lunarpages customers are so great they deserve it.

LOL We need pictures, Mitch! You’ve worked for a lot of web hosts in the past, so I’m guessing you have some amusing customer stories. Any you can share?

Hmmm… that hardest part of that question is to think of one that won’t get me in trouble. Asking for some sort of photo identification, only to receive a modeling head shot photo is a funny one that comes up more often than you would think. One time I was asking for that information and the guy in question sent me the portfolio head shot. Also, working sales as I have done for so many years you get the oddest requests when it comes to “can I host this type of site?” which some of the weirdest I can’t share here because they would at least be rated PG-13. Just look at some of the weird sites online and think that once upon a time they had to pitch that idea to their web host trying to make sense of it all.

Okay, the most important question of this interview – are you excited about the new Indiana Jones movie or SUPER excited?

Always been an Indiana Jones fan, how could you not be excited?

My point exactly! Aaaand would you rather: eat a worm or a beetle?

A worm, the crunching of the beetle would freak me out a ‘bit.

Go skydiving or climb Mt. Everest?

Climb Mt. Everest, not a big fan of not having ground under me.

Teach a class or be a student in one?

Teach a class, very much related to what I do now in a way.

Eat fast food or a 5-Star Restaurant?

Fast food. I have to respect it as that was where I worked my first job, actually flipping burgers for a local fast food chain.

Listen to music or watch a movie?

Watch a movie, always interested in seeing a story.

Read a book or write one?

Write one, however I think you have to read much more before you are able to write so maybe that one would be a toss up.

Thanks again, Mitch! I hope to see some photos posted soon with your legs behind your head, pretzel-style. Or maybe you eating a worm. It’s a tough decision. hehe