Hi, I'm Charles Angus Stewart (my friends call me "Charlie"). This is my first Letter from Tripod, but you should cut me some slack. After all, I'm only eight weeks old!

Those of you who subscribe to Tripod's weekly Insider newsletter already know part of the story about how I entered this world. Last December, while the rest of Tripod was partying it up at the company Christmas party, my mom, Margaret Gould Stewart — who works for Tripod and helped organize the party — was at the local hospital giving birth to yours truly. Even though she was disappointed to miss the shindig, she was psyched that I was three and a half weeks early. Being a project manager, she always likes to deliver ahead of schedule.

I only kept her in labor for about 18 hours, which was nice of me, considering how long she made me wait to come out. During labor, my mom was entertained by my dad, David Stewart, Tripod's Director of Human Resources. He told jokes, sang little ditties, and performed all kinds of antics for her amusement. Of course, by the time the sixteenth or so hour rolled around, she was in no laughing mood. I remember hearing her ask dad about Tripod's life insurance benefits; she wanted to know how much she'd get after she'd wrung his neck for getting her into this mess in the first place.

Well, everything worked out in the end, and I was born at 8:33PM on December 16th. I was a little guy (weighing in at 6 pounds and one half ounce) so I had to stay a couple of extra days before going home. But I'm much bigger now (10 pounds!) and totally set up in my new home. My parents are great. They wake up in the middle of the night just to see how I'm doing. And, they think it's really funny when I pee and sometimes even poop all over them when they're changing my diaper. I don't like to sleep much. There's so much to see and do, especially at night! Hopefully I get my parents on a better schedule soon. They seem hell bent on imposing this grown-up concept of day and night on me. But, I guess it's my job as their kid to open up new worlds for them.

Last week, I made my first trip into the Tripod offices to see all the folks that I had heard for eight months while I was inside my mom. What a goofy looking bunch! They seemed happy to meet me, and no one seemed to mind when my mom changed my diaper on the conference room table... Oops, was I not supposed to tell anyone that?