Trying Something New

About a thousand years ago, I took a CIS 101 class (computer information systems).  Computers were fairly new to the general populace and I felt that I needed to be prepared for the Bold New World ahead of me.  (Besides, it was a required class)

Our first assignment was to write a “Hello World” program in GW Basic.  I remember following the instructions we were given and everything worked out exactly like it was supposed to.  Then I lifted my head and looked around at my classmates.  None of them had yet managed to even come close to completing the assignment. 

Obviously, I had done something horribly wrong.  So I deleted what I had done and did it again…and again…and again.  Somehow I always managed to come up with that same silly solution.  Finally, the instructor saved me from myself when he  strolled by and told me that he was impressed with my grasp of the subject. 

It didn’t take long to realize that my understanding of computer programming (not to mention computers in general) didn’t go much beyond that one simple bit of code.  Indeed, it was all downhill from there.  Fortunately for me, I married a man that lives and breaths computers and haven’t had to worry about it since. 

When I first entered the blog world, I was on my own.  Fortunately, hosted blogs are fairly easy to to tweak.  For the most part, you don’t have to know an ounce of programming to use one.  I’ve been very happy in my sheltered little cocoon of a blog.  All of that changed a couple days before Christmas when Shaun presented me with my very own domain name and a place to host it. He even moved most of my content over to the new website. 

Now,  it would be simple enough to just leave things as they were, but somehow that just seemed wrong.  After all,  the whole point of switching to a self-hosted site is so that you would have total control of what your blog does and looks like. 

So, armed with a stack of books and online tutorials I set about creating a place that I could happily call home.  Despite the fact that everything I read boasted about how easy it was to use this software…it made my eyes glaze over and my head ache.  My brain spun with terms like SEO, widgets, domain mapping, plugins, FTP, php coding, parameters… I soon realized that I needed to find a prequel to the WordPress for Dummies book. 

When the first template I was trying to tweak kept breaking, it seemed only natural to go to my own personal Computer Guru and beg him to just do it  for some assistance.   Shaun merely laughed and told me he only knew how to write code in C++ and C#. (Because I totally know what those are and totally believe he can’t figure anything else out in two minutes or less.  I get the feeling he’s practicing some Tough Love on me.)  So…I’m still struggling to figure this thing out out on my own.

I plan on making the Grand Reveal on New Year’s Day.  I don’t promise anything spectacular.   In fact, I don’t promise anything at all!   However, if things go as planned,  I hope to welcome you all to my new little home on the web.

I hope you will join me…