About this Blogster

Dennis Shimkoski, once the Executive Director of the U.S. Customs Service web site, today works the web for others. He left his government job a few years ago to spend his time hosting OPWS, making suggestions and developing new ideas. (BTW, OPWS means "other people's web sites").

Web development is an all-inclusive term that had been the laughing stock of fat government bureaucrats in the 90's. The year was 1996. The place was 1300 Constitution Avenue in the Nation's Capital. The time was ripe to push an old agency headlong into the Internet era.

Two people weren't laughing. They were agents of change who knew Customs needed to join the Internet revolution now. Meanwhile, the great cahunas of the agency called the Internet "a fad" that required time and more deliberation before the agency could consider joining the "Digital Age" (not their phrase).

One recalcitrant was the head of the Press Office who wouldn't listen to common sense. Meanwhile, Dennis kept planning for the day when it would all come together.

Dave, a member of Field Ops, visited Dennis on Press Office business. The Internet and the lack of Customs' participation quickly became the lead topic. What could be done to get us involved, Dave wanted to know. He asked that Dennis talk to Bill, the Press Office honcho, and couldn't quite comprehend that the topic had been broached many times with the boss to no avail.

Rumors had been floating for months that Bill, the man who took his civil servants to the Republican Club for lunch, would soon be replaced. That was the only hope for the Press Office's capture of a vital instrument for public information and policy dissemination.