Very much deserved Ryan. Congratulations 
Congratulations Ryan
Congrats Ryan! :tup: Well deserved
Long time coming much?! I thought you would have had a MOTM award long now, but you have certainly earned it and you’ve done it! Congratulations and keep it up - Before long you’ll be notching up more posts than Paul and Rudy! 
Andrew Cooper
Well done Ryan, you’ve worked hard and it’s well deserved. Congratulations.
Thanks everyone :).
Where’s the video?!
Are you sure you don’t mean Audio? I think it is being edited by the censors or something first to see if is of “suitable sound quality” after all the naughty words have been removed, etc. 
Anyway, I look forward to seeing the translation into text if the audio version cannot make the grade.
Yes I couldn’t think of the word
And by the way everyone, I shall be coming back here full time.
I haven’t been on here THAT much due to my computer being broken (internet wouldn’t work, drivers wouldn’t show up)
It is fixed now though 
Congratulations ryan!
Update: The transcript is coming. The audio quality is awful (no fault of Ryan’s or mine, I hope, just a bad Skype/internet connection) and I’m not sure we’ll post the audio at all. I will make a manful effort (heave, big fella!) to get it done by the weekend.
The audio couldn’t hurt being posted Max :), that is if it doesn’t require any effort. I’d like to know what I sounded like
You sounded like one of those film kidnappers who try to muffle or distort their voices in telephone booths when asking for a ransom but for some reason Max’s voice was fairly clear.
Unfortunately a lot of the words you couldn’t actually determine what was said due to sound drop-out and after the naughty words were removed too.
Though I do remember you mentioning how great you thought I was at coding, which surprised me but anyway.
Perhaps if you ask Max nicely he’ll mail the sound file as it is really hard to decipher due to sound quality issues.
That’s a good idea. Ryan should have a copy of the transcript (I haven’t listened to it myself).
Post the original recording. Keep the naughty words in. We can all listen to it and pretend we’re working for a covert secret agency requiring us to tap phone lines and listen to them in a crowded telephone box.
Ryan, I can email it to you. I’m sick and getting sicker, and haven’t had the energy to work on the transcript. And why are you worried about it? Judging by your signature, you’re preparing to flounce out of SP like Scarlett O’Hara out of her mansion.
yeah, ryan, what’s that all about?
Pm sent
Transcript of the interview follows this post. I apologize for its incredible tardiness. A lot of factors came into play causing this transcript to be so late, but “Max is a lazy knucklehead” tops the list.
Ryan, you can’t quit before surpassing Rudy’s postcount!
Introduction: This interview was plagued with audio difficulties, rendering the audio quite difficult to hear at times. Because of the frequent and extensive dropouts and blurry signal, we’ve chosen not to present even an edited version of the interview in audio format. Instead, Max created the best transcript of the interview he could under the circumstances. Unfortunately, some of the raw content did not make it to the transcript, but the gist and the spirit of the conversation survives.
Max: Welcome to SitePoint’s Member of the Month audio interview. This is Mike, otherwise known as Black Max, interviewing the November Member of the Month, Ryan Reese.
Ryan: That’s me!
Max: Who is Ryan Reese and how did you learn so much about CSS and HTML in a relatively short amount of time?
Ryan: Here’s my full background on CSS. In high school, I took this computer class with this guy, Mr. McCormack. He basically taught the basics of HTML, links, images, that stuff. I got pretty interested in it, so I then researched it. I joined a couple of forums, W3Schools forums … got really into them … read tips from this guy, [URL=“http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/member.php?u=69665”]Kravvitz … some people might know him … that’s basically it, I just used forums. I think it’s by far the best way to learn.
Max: Okay. … Kravvitz is a guy that worked with me when I was first joining, too. I think a lot of people from around that time period remember him as being extremely helpful.
Ryan: I think I was at Devshed when I first met him. I didn’t quite really like that forum, because … [I had] an immature background, but … they had some [unpleasant] people over there. I’m sorry.
Max: That’s one of the reasons why I like SitePoint, because we tend to downplay the nastiness. If you’re a new guy, we don’t do that. That’s why I’ve stayed around so long.
Ryan: Yeah.
Max: Because once upon a time, I was the new guy. … Well, you know as well as I do, we don’t do that at SitePoint. We have our problems like anyone else, but that’s one thing we frown on. So I’m glad you stayed around. … You stick fairly closely to the Web Design forum, particularly the CSS forum, and occasionally go into General Chat and other areas. Do you have other Web-based interests besides HTML and CSS?
Ryan: Not currently. I used to have an interest – I kinda jump around – I was interested in PHP and SQL and JavaScript. I dabbled in that stuff. I did take a Java course in high school but nothing was quite as interesting as CSS. In all my classes, I would just be doing CSS, doing threads at SitePoint in class.
Max: How interested are you in CSS3?
Ryan: I honestly haven’t really taken that big a look into it. I’ve looked into it, obviously, but – I’m somewhat excited about it, but – it’s too far away from me yet for me to even get excited about it.
Max: Is it that it doesn’t have a lot of browser support yet?
Ryan: Yeah … some people have implemented it – yeah, that was what I was going to say. … It’s not exactly that I don’t like it not having support, it’s that it’s too early for me to … because who knows if it’s even going to go through?
Max: I hear you. Well, it is subject to change.
Ryan: Yeah. I’ve messed with some stuff, some transformations and specifications – that stuff’s pretty cool. … I’ll be going into it a bit more.
Max: So as it becomes more accepted, you’re probably going to get more into it.
Ryan: Yeah.
Max: Who do you admire on SitePoint and why do you feel that way?
Ryan: Um – oh gosh – can it be more than one answer?
Max: Sure.
Ryan: Probably two people. Rudy Limeback and Paul O’Brien.
Max: Okay, how come?
Ryan: Rudy Limeback is so smart. That’s basically it. He’s just a genius. He knows so much about – I tried learning PHP and SQL and databases and all that stuff, and it’s just hard for me, but he knows it all. It’s amazing.
Max: It’s amazing the level of knowledge he has.
Ryan: Yeah, it really is. And Paul O’Brien, he’s kinda like the Kravvitz of SitePoint. He’s really smart. There’s not that many threads I don’t know the answers to them, or can’t figure out, there’s like 1% I can’t figure out, and he just posts the answer immediately, it seems.
Max: His level of knowledge is amazing, and he’s so – he’s very willing to share.
Ryan: I learned a lot from him. I don’t go that much on SitePoint anymore, but I’ve learned stuff from him.
Max: Who do you follow outside of SitePoint? Who do you consider to be interesting outside the SitePoint community?
Ryan: Actually, no one. My outside hobby – outside of SitePoint, I do not follow any sort of Web development.
Max: Okay. That’s interesting. … There’s plenty going on at SitePoint. I won’t say that we are the be-all end-all of Web design and Web development, but yeah.
Ryan: I really should try to follow stuff and keep up … I haven’t been as active at SitePoint as I used to be.
Max: Yeah, your participation has dropped off a tad. I know you’ve had other things going on, like with the Rubik’s cube.
Ryan: That’s literally taking up all my time right now. There’s a competition coming up November 6th, so I’m following that.
Max: You said you’ve got it down to 8.19 seconds. Is that still the lowest?
Ryan: Actually, as of a few days ago, I’ve gotten it down to 8.12.
Max: That’s amazing. That’s incredibly fast. Where does that put you in competition?
Ryan: Well, it’s a lot harder to get a good solve in competition … you only get five solves per round, and it’s really hard to get a good solve. Right now I’m averaging around 17 seconds … as of a few days ago, I got 16.65 in an average of twelve.
Max: Cool!
Ryan: Trying to be good for that competition coming up.
Max: I hear ya. Well, everybody knows it’s different when you’re competing. The situation is different, the whole setting is different, and that’s gonna affect your time.
Ryan: The problem is … people watching me and stuff –
Max: Yeah.
Ryan: If the room is cold …
Max: That’s gonna make a difference. And you’re dealing with something that measures it in hundredths of a second. Every little tiny – everything affects it.
Ryan: The world record for the 2x2 cube is 0.97 seconds.
Max: Point nine seven seconds? Are you kidding me? Oh my God. I didn’t think that was even possible.
Ryan: For the 3x3, it’s only at 7.08, but people have gone faster than that. They just can’t do it in competition.
Max: Well, you’ve got SitePoint behind you. When you win, give us a shout out. That would be great.
Ryan: Yep.
Max: Tell me about your involvement in athletics. You’re very athletic.
Ryan: I am.
Max: Yes.
Ryan: I used to play soccer for about eleven years. As of recently, I’ve been doing some running, working out at the gym and stuff. … There’s the Baltimore Marathon that happens like right where I live, and I did the team relay, which is four people, and you run the distance of 26 miles, and you have different legs, some will run the first leg, second, third, and fourth, and my leg was about six and a half miles, and it’s hilly. I’ve been getting really into running and working out at the gym.
Max: So you’re going to be doing some of that competitively as well?
Ryan: Yeah, I’m trying to. I like doing 5Ks and stuff. I’m generally one of the top in my age group, running the time.
Max: Awesome.
Ryan: I got like 20 seconds – aah, 20 minutes for the 5k pace.
Max: That’s not bad. That’s really not bad at all. Well, all right, man, the same thing applies to that one. When you win, give SitePoint a shoutout. That would be great.
Ryan: In my victory speech, I’ll be like … I’ll mention SitePoint. If something does happen, I won’t be letting SitePoint down. I’ll give a shoutout to SitePoint.
Max: I’m actually going to start wrapping this up, since we’re getting some weather here. I’m actually close enough to you where you may be getting the same weather front that we’re getting. Which is unusual for SitePoint, you know, we have people all over the world, and you and I are actually not too far away from each other.
Ryan: Really?
Max: Well yeah. You’re in Baltimore, right?
Ryan: Right, I’m in Baltimore.
Max: Well, I’m in southeastern North Carolina, about eight hours [drive time] from you.
Ryan: Wow. We don’t have any weather yet.
Max: It’s coming. If you listen really close, you can hear it thundering in the background. So I want to go ahead and do this before this blows my computer out and I lose this entire file.
Ryan: No problem.
Max: Where do you see yourself in ten years, as far as your designing and coding go?
Ryan: Hmm. Probably, hopefully, for a career, it’ll be at, like, a design firm, because – hopefully it’ll be that. Otherwise I’ll be probably be freelancing, maybe, if I can get clients. Not quite sure in ten years, but probably going to be something like that.
Max: I’ve told people on SitePoint – there are a couple of people on SitePoint who remember you from your older and lesser days, so to speak, and I’ve said, “Don’t get too rough on Ryan, you’ll end up working for him one day.”
Ryan: (laughs) You really said that?
Max: Yes, I have. I’ve said that several times, actually.
Ryan: In my signature, I have “Age doesn’t matter.”
Max: That’s exactly right.
Ryan: I used to get a whole bunch of crap from people who say that I don’t know anything because I’m young and stupid.
Max: See, that’s ridiculous. You know what you know.
Ryan: I know more CSS than probably, not to brag, but probably more –
Max: You know more than I do. I’m three times your age, and you know more than I do. So there you go.
Ryan: Yeah. It just annoys me. And what really annoys me, my pet peeve, is when people ask questions on the forums for a job, like, they’re doing a job, and it just annoys me, because why can’t I get – like, I know more than them, but they’re getting the jobs, and it’s somewhat annoying that they get the job and I don’t …
Max: There are plenty of people out there in senior positions at design firms who are not a whole lot older than you are, 21, 22, 23 years old. So for anybody to say, “This kid’s 19 and can’t know anything,” that’s just completely ignorant.
Ryan: I was like 17 when I first joined, you know, high school, stupid kid.
Max: Like I said, when they end up working for you, and you start signing their paychecks, watch them sing a different tune.
Ryan: I’ll be the one laughing.
Max: Absolutely. Especially when you dock 'em pay for being jerks.
Ryan: (laughs)
Max: Last one, I’m starting to get some thunder. What would you like to share with the SitePoint community about yourself? You know, about who you are, how we can find you on the 'net, all those cool things … what we should know about you? Here’s your little plug for yourself.
Ryan: Hmmm. Basically, what sums me up is running, working out, cubing, and Web design. That’s basically it for me. I want to encourage people to try and learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube. It’s pretty nerdy, but so is Web design, somewhat. It’s pretty easy, you can learn within like an hour, if you actually devote yourself to it, and it’s pretty fun. Let me know, and I can help you along the way.
Max: You are the man. And you are the Member of the Month. How cool is that?
Ryan: Way cool.
Max: Ryan, I appreciate it. This concludes our interview with Ryan Reese. Thanks for reading, and keep posting on the SitePoint forums. All right, Ryan, let me out of here, I’ve got lightning!
Ryan: All right, thanks.