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About Us
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I developed an interest in rocks and minerals while doing undergraduate work at Calvin College, which is
located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. If any of you readers find this ironic, I wouldn't be surprised. The state of Michigan is one of
those geology-resistant states that does quite a good job of covering up the majority of the underlying rocks. Unlike
the western United States where rocks are bare before the picks and hammers of the world's geologists, the state of Michigan disguises
its rocks with grassy fields and forests; unless of course a local quarry or road crew has done some excavation work. |
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In spite of the lack of rock exposure in Michigan I was able to look at, handle, and test rocks
and minerals from all over the World. The Geology Department
at Calvin has an extensive rock and mineral collection that fills many shelves. Not very long after I began studying at Calvin, the
department purchased a digital camera. I immediately thought of how much I would like to share the beauty of some of these specimens with
other rockhounds around the world; so I began taking pictures and working to develop some HTML skills. |
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| What resulted was a site much like this, only with much worse design, WAY too many popup ads (due to its hosting
on a free hosting service), and never an update within a million miles. It was called Mountainbuilder Rocks and Minerals for those of you who
may recall (see image to right). At the time I was happy with what had resulted, and I received lots of
emails thanking me. The site was being used in classrooms by teachers and students as a tool for rock and mineral identification. |
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Unfortunately, not updating the site for so long ended up backfiring on me because after a year without
an update, the free hosting service deleted an entire half of my website, thinking I was never going to return. Even more unfortunate is
the fact I had not backed up the site or the imagery on the site. More than half of the images were completely lost, and it happened to be
the half which I thought had the best images. I was furious with myself for messing up so badly, but more than anything I was sad
that visitors could no longer enjoy the site to its fullest potential.
From that point on I began receiving emails from people who
were dissappointed and frustrated that half the site was gone. Then I watched as the number of hits slowly decreased until the site wasn't
even 25% as popular as it once was. Even the emails came lots less frequently. |
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Now fast forward a few years. I had graduated from college. I had taken a position at a Hydrology firm
in the hot state of Arizona. Life had become relatively stabilized after being out of college for 4.5 years. My website design skills
had improved significantly after some projects designing the company website, auctions on eBay, and some of my own pages. |
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| In October
of 2003 I began to reassess the rock and mineral website that was still plugging along, still half its original size; I began to wonder
if I had it in me to revamp the site, give it a new design, and fill it with many more pictures of rocks and minerals. I realized I did (and do) have it in me. I'm going to do my best
to keep this site alive and growing for as long as possible, but I can't do it without the help of my visitors. Please try to visit the advertisers on the website - each time one of you does this, it provides a tiny amount of income to help cover hosting costs and a little of my many hours of work. |
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Brooks Dillard is a Geologist and Engineer In-Training in Phoenix, Arizona.
He holds a BA from Calvin College (Geology) and is currently undergoing the certification process for becoming a professional engineer
in the state of Arizona.
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