#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 31, 1999 -- "Century's End" at New Year's Eve

December 31, 1999: For New Year's Eve, I was able to work in a Steely Dan reference (well, Steely Dan adjacent -- Donald Fagen's "Century's End"). The promo was pre-scheduled, of course, and the promo blocks of the AOL.com home page weren't critical infrastructure, so I wasn't on call. If anything bad happened, for Y2K or anything else, I'd be in it just like everyone else. So, as I recall, I spent Y2K getting loaded at a friend's house party:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 30, 1999 -- Work From Home

December 30, 1999: Working from home was still a bit of a novelty in 1999; we featured some sort of personal events calendar, AOL Mail, and free chat. (Not sure how that last one fits in to support work, unless we're talking AIM, not chat rooms.)

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 29, 1999 -- Make Resolutions

December 29, 1999: No surprises with your standard pack of resolutions: Lose weight, build a web page, find a new job:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 28, 1999 -- Resolve for 2000

December 28, 1999: Getting close to the New Year, and more importantly, the start of the (popular) millennium, we went with some self-improvement items for resolution material -- organizing, exercise, and finance tips:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 27, 1999 -- Stay in Touch With AOL Mail

December 27, 1999: In the interstitial holiday week, we led with AOL Mail, greetings, and chat. Pretty straightforward. Pretty boring.

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 26, 1999 -- Holiday Wrap-Up

December 26, 1999: For the day after Christmas, we went with shopping clearance sales, more e-cards, and a Y2K preparation promo.

Since this week was a slow week, we just went with one promo per day:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 25, 1999 -- "Galaxy Quest" Is Technically a Christmas Movie

December 25, 1999: Well, Galaxy Quest was released on Christmas Day 20 years ago, so I guess you could consider it a Christmas movie. In any case, a Galaxy Quest gallery lead a fully secular Holiday Fun promo, that also had  free online greetings and web chats (for all those people bored at home or a relative's house).

In 2019, Merry Christmas!

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 24, 1999 -- Christmas Eve

December 24, 1999: For Christmas Eve, we went with a pretty tame and non-denominational "Happy Holidays," with candy cane graphic, local events, e-cards, and chat:

There was no PM update. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 23, 1999 -- Overnight Gifts; Last Chance

December 23, 1999: We were nearly at the end of the shopping blitz, with a last-ish call for overnight gifts (including gift certificates and online greetings):

For the PM update on the eve before Eve, we went with a jewelry image for more overnight gifts, gift certificates, and greetings (also note the Blockbuster.com ad in the top right -- this is just the preview server, but I'm pretty sure that was a real ad in the rotation):

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 22, 1999 -- Not Too Late; 48-Hour Gifts

December 22, 1999: The countdown continued, and all of our promos stuck with the last-minute gifts theme:

For the PM update, we remained tedious, but at least the 48-hour mark meant the end was near:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 21, 1999 -- Great, Fast Gifts; Tick, Tock, Shop

December 21, 1999: Last-minute gifts (with precisely the same lineup as before)...

...followed by even more last-minute gifts (with precisely the same lineup as before):

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 20, 1999 -- Gifts That Fit; There's Still Time

December 20, 1999: Five days until Christmas and we featured gift certificates, last-minute gifts, and online greeting cards:

For the PM update, we went once again with the watch promo for last-minute gift options:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 19, 1999 -- Out of Time (Last-Minute Gifts)

December 19, 1999: We went with another watch image, not for higher-end gifts, but to show potential gift-givers that they were running out of time:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 18, 1999 -- Get in the Holiday Spirit

December 18, 1999: A week before Christmas, we finally broke with shopping as the primary action for the promos, leading with a candy cane landscape and party food and tips; shopping search and gift suggestions were still there of course, just moved down a bit:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 17, 1999 -- Holiday Savings; "Can't Miss" Gifts

December 17, 1999: 8 days from Christmas and we featured party supplies, gift search, events, and greetings:

For the PM update, we went back to the blue gift box:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 16, 1999 -- Holiday Sweets; Shop Stress-Free

December 16, 1999: Back to candy and sweets. The good news is, in a world before Amazon Prime 2-day shipping, we're getting close to shipping deadlines for online ordering, after which shopping promos were kind of moot:

For the PM update, we went with more shopping, with an even more generic promo featuring free shipping, gift finders, and product search:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 15, 1999 -- Hi-Tech Gifts; Holiday Fun

December 15, 1999: Week 3 of December shopping promos started with hi-tech gifts, featuring an old-school Nokia-style cell phone:

For the PM update, we went with an alternate angle on the little black dress for holiday parties:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 14, 1999 -- Great Kids' Gifts; For Boss & Team

December 14, 1999: Generic kids' gifts promo, featuring the ever-popular "Toys 16702" image:

For the PM update, we reworked the office gifts promo for Boss & Team:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 13, 1999 -- Got Presents? Plus Hi-Tech Gifts

December 13, 1999: More gift boxes to start the week, as well as a way overused riff on "Got Milk?"

For the PM update, we went with high-tech gifts, including an SLR camera (film, no doubt):

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 12, 1999 -- Back to Classic Gifts

December 12, 1999: Once again, back to classic gifts and another teddy bear:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 11, 1999 -- More Gifts Made Easy

December 11, 1999: For Saturday, we recycled the "Gifts Made Easy" promo:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 10, 1999 -- Ready to Party, Plus Gifts They'll Keep

December 10, 1999: Headling into the weekend, we went with the holiday party theme, featuring a stock art model wearing a little black dress:

For the PM update, here's our first live screenshot of December: Gifts they'll keep, featuring TV (CRT, of course) and stereo gear. In the My AOL.COM headlines, we see that presidential candidate Senator Bill Bradley got heart treatment for atrial fibrillation (20 years later, we're seeing advertisements for a-fib drugs on TV):

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 9, 1999 -- Gifts With "Taste"; Gifts Made Easy

December 9, 1999: Another missing promo image (Candy 16767) for candy and sweets, along with gourmet delights:

For the PM update... more gifts made easy. I think this was a straight-up recycle of an earlier promo:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 8, 1999 -- New Gift Ideas (in an Old Promo)

December 8, 1999: Another generic gift box promo, featuring Nifty Under $50 gifts. It was also red. Also, not sure why, but there was no PM update. Or at least no screenshot:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 7, 1999 -- Classic Gifts; Gifts for All

December 7, 1999: Week 1 of the December online shopping blitz closed out with classic gifts for kids and teens, featuring a teddy bear:

For the PM update, went with another generic gifts promo. The photo didn't render; I have penciled in "Gifts 16698," which was an identifier for the bit of stock art. Based on the color scheme, it was blue:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 6, 1999 -- Quick, Easy Gifts; Gifts of Time

December 6, 1999: On the sixth straight day of December shopping promos, we went with kids' toys and gifts for teams and boss:

For the PM update, we went with watches:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 5, 1999 -- Different Gifts

December 5, 1999: We went upscale with the gifts, featuring jewelry in the photo spot (then quickly dropped back down with discounts on pet gifts). I think this is the first Sunday promo that wasn't a sports roundup:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 4, 1999 -- Shop From Home

December 4, 1999: And another shopping promo for Saturday!

I note that so far in December, I don't have a live screenshot of the home page; they're all previews. Which probably means that I was canning these promos way in advance. Since they were all shopping promos, it wouldn't have been that hard:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 3, 1999 -- Fresh Gift Ideas; Get Gifts Online

December 3, 1999: On the third day of December, we went with... more gift ideas and online shopping! Ugh, I feel an evergreen promo to copy and paste coming on:

For the PM update... more gifts. I think we were also in the process of exhausting our supply of gift stock art:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 2, 1999 -- Gifts of Music; Gifts of Gifts

December 2, 1999: At this point, buying music still pretty much meant CDs. (Remember, this was pre-iPod/iTunes):

For the PM update, we went with another generic gifts promo:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]

#20YearsAgoOnAOLcom: Dec. 1, 1999 -- Flights From $78; Holiday Values

December 1, 1999: We led off December with more airfare deals, going with a very specific figure of flights from $78 (book by Dec. 15):

For the PM update, we went with Holiday Values... and we didn't mean anything squishy like charity, forgiveness, or goodwill, but gift ideas:

[Series note: In the late 1990s, I programmed the content for the AOL.com home page, which relaunched with a new design on July 14, 1998. I printed screencaps and saved them. 20 years later, I'm scanning them in and posting them with a little commentary under the tag #20YearsAgoOnAOLcom.]