PLAUDITS: Congrats to RollCall.com

I HAVE A DRAFTING BOARD THAT'S about 20 years old, a gift from my parents when I was in my Frank Lloyd Wright phase, a time when I was itching to become an architect when I was all grown and big. I still have the drafting board after all these years. It has a small crack in it, but it still functions just fine -- perfect for 11X17 paper and all my projects from the past two decades and for all those down the road.

I don't use the drafting board too often anymore, but it has come in handy for various web design projects oddly enough. 11X17 paper is perfect for so many things, and getting ideas down on paper, organizing them and connecting all the dots, for me, is the best way to clearly think up a strategy before jumping headlong into a logistically challenging project.

My drafting board has been sitting on a dining room chair for the past few months and one of the sheets of paper near the top is from a year ago when I was still working at Roll Call. At the time, we were about to upgrade RollCall.com and introduce a useful Election Map, essentially a campaign tip sheet on all of the 2006 races. I used my drafting board to sketch out various ways to organize the information, content and such, especially when you're dealing with 435 House races and all the Senate seats up for grabs this fall.

Just as we were about to jump into the technical development of the Election Map in the late spring, I jumped ship, recruited by the Post to head over to Express. But I feel that although I did little in the execution of the Election Map (which was unveiled in September), there's a lot of my heart and soul as to the conceptual development and the content organization. It's the little things that count, of course, so that's why I'm excited that RollCall.com has been nominated for a 2006 Webby (for politics), essentially the online Oscars for those who don't know. So go vote for Roll Call, if you don't mind.

Again, congrats to Team Roll Call. I'm going to go celebrate with a nice bottle of wine. I knew staying up late all those nights would pay off eventually.