Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

50% of bank robberies take place on Friday.

  Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

Born in Chicago, moved to Houston, Texas when I was a kid. Met Kristina (wife, partner, friend) in art school.

After working short stints in separate advertising agencies, we decided to start The Speared Peanut in 1991. We've since been through thick and thin together, and we're still rolling along.

  What do you do for inspiration?

Keep our eyes wide open, listen to people, remain open to new and unusual things, have fun... read books, look at art, go fishing, make the time to think.

  Please list 3 of your favourite sites.

Right now... wfmu.org - sharpeworld.com - slatch.com

  What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

Besides our son Max?,... when we were asked to judge the Communication Arts Interactive Annual 9 (2003)

  What software couldn't you live without?

The usual suspects... Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.

  What projects do you have in the pipeline?

A new website for artist Christian Eckart, and some new work for Lou Reed.

  Who do you rate as being the top 3 design companies?

SecondStory, Fabrica.it, and Method have remained favorites for a long time.

  What effect on traffic do your new designs have?

We stop traffic wherever we go.

  Who is your target audience?

It's different for each project, but generally people who love art and music.

  What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

Our first official site was for artist, Kent Williams.

  What area of web design lacks the most?

Interesting, fun, warm hearted, down to earth, simple, smart, personable kind of humanly accessible type projects. The worldly story kind of stuff that Second Story (Insight link http://www.designinteract.com/insights/061301/) and Terra Incognita (Adobe feature (no longer online) and Insight Link http://www.designinteract.com/features/terra/), continue to pursue and explore.

  Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

No, and probably won't unless I hire a ghostwriter to write about something unrelated to graphic design... like birdhouses or jellyfish.

  Do you think Flash is here to stay?

At the risk of looking dumb in a few years... yes, without a doubt.

  What are your views on design/graphic school. Do you think someone can get into the field without educational experience in a school environment?

I have gotten myself into trouble with this question in the past, but my views haven’t changed. I'm proud that we've been able to live and learn and develop our creativity almost entirely from real world experience.

  When your company was just getting started, what did you find was most effective for getting new clients?

Working until 6am, going to sleep, and then getting up at 8am and starting all over again. The more time you put into your craft, the better you will become. The better you become at your craft, the more people will recognize your skills and want you to work. To us it was, and still is, that simple.

  What is the most expensive thing you've bought in the last week?

Dinner for our friends.

  What was the toughest thing you ever did with Flash? How long did you spend on it? Is it still online?

Probably the Garland Jeffreys website. Travis and I worked on that one for months.

  How have you learned so many Flash/design skills and techniques and can you offer any advice for newbies?

I've learned most every significant flash related thing through my good friend Travis Rimel. There are great community sites and open source sites around the web that provide endless resources for people wanting to learn flash... dig dig dig. Travis has probably gained the most knowledge from Flash Coders.

  What type of overcoat do you wear when Flashing, basically are you a labels man?

Naw,... old jeans, blank tshirts, thrift clothes and rubber bands... coke bottle glasses, mohawks and clown shoes.

  Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

50% of bank robberies take place on Friday.

  It's been a privilege, Paul, thank you very much.

No, thank you FWA and may your life be filled with more joy than one can possibly imagine.