Wow. It's hard to believe it has been 3 years already. As Pocket McDeb celebrates its 3rd birthday I can't help but look back and study the journey. We've certainly come a long way in just three short years.

How we began: I recall reading an in-flight magazine some time in 1996. It was a full page advertisement that caught my attention. There in full color high-gloss was this little device that I just knew I had to have. The very first PalmPilot shipped in April of 1996, and I was the proud owner of one of the first. I had a hunch back then that the Pilot was going to be one of the fastest selling consumer electronics products in history. Turns out my hunch was right. It sold faster than cell phones, pagers and even color televisions. It did not take long for upgrades and new devices to come along. Of course, I bought them all along the way. In early 2000 (I think), I started reading about the new Pocket PC devices that were coming. That first Compaq iPAQ 3600 and the Jornada with the great screen cover were on their way. I was trying desperately to find one. During my search, I found Brighthand. I became a regular in the discussion forums along with everyone else who was searching for an available iPAQ. The new devices were very hard to find. Demand had surpassed supply by millions and most of us were stuck waiting. My first Pocket PC was the Jornada, but I quickly exchanged it for the iPAQ 3600 series when I found one. I hung out at Brighthand, made some great friends and eventually became a moderator and editor. When Dashboard became popular, I started downloading skins for it like mad. Later WisBar came along, and that was skinnable too, so I had to try making my own. With a little encouragement from Neil Faulkner I became a skinning machine! In 2001, Web McDeb was born so that I could share all of the skins I was cranking out. If you'd like to see a real blast from the past, look HERE. That's what one of the first versions of Web McDeb looked like. Later in 2001, we shut down for a while so that I could adjust to a new job and spend time with family. I did not stay away long, and we were back in April 2002. The site has gone through many changes since then, and boy have we grown! Just take a trip down memory lane courtesy of The Wayback Machine, and see what I mean. When the PocketPC 2002 was born, the skinning focus shifted from Dashboard to PPC 2002 themes (since they could be used in Dashboard anyway, it just made sense). And now thousands of themes later here we are.

Ch-ch-ch-changes: With a little help from Movable Type, we've built up quite a database of Pocket PC themes. Add some desktop wallpapers, screen savers for cell phones and BOOM! Instant web traffic. Just look where we rank now in the Google Directory. Sitting in 13th place out of well over 100 Pocket PC sites, I'm pretty happy there. And now we are way beyond just Pocket PC themes. Partners like Mobile Planet, eSellerate, and Clickgamer have brought us hardware, software and great games. When KAMware stepped in to help us create ThemeMaker McDeb, I was (and still am) elated.

Just keeps getting better: My company name has always been McDeb Productions, but I had never really done anything official with it until the last year or so. The graphics related favors that I was doing for a few Pocket PC sites has now transformed into a full-fledged working business. McDeb Productions has grown into a design company that I'm quite proud of.

Special thanks to you: The loyal visitors to Pocket McDeb are my pride and joy. You guys are the reason we keep cranking out the free stuff. During good times and bad, you have always been there with kind words of encouragement. You were all there for me during my Mother's critical illness, and I will be forever grateful. She's doing great, by the way. McMom is back in the hospital for a very short stay to treat a blood clot in her lung, but she's due to come home tomorrow. She's walking again and looks terrific! She's back to her old witty self and we've been having a great time together.

Special thanks to the PPC community: I'm not going to try to name everyone here. The list of folks in the Pocket PC community to thank is very very long. And, I would feel badly if I left someone out. There are countless websites, software publishers and individuals who have supported Pocket McDeb during the past three years. I am very grateful. It is wonderful to run a popular website that is not considered a competitor in this community. Our platform is unique enough to not be directly faced-off with any other. Due to this unique standing, I've managed to develop some wonderful friendships in the PPC community and we truly enjoy helping each other out when we can. It's a great place to be.

Thanks for taking this little history lesson. Now sing songs and send cake!