In a good way that is.  I have just transformed my blog from a blogger hosted one to a wordpress self hosted site at:

4handsclapping.com

Everything went better then I expected:

1. Sign up for hosting and get domain
   My friend Anthony recommended and I went with dream host.   Registration took all of 5 minutes (plus 15 minutes waiting for google to process my payment.)
2. Install blogging software
   Once into the dream host control panel I had Word Press installed within 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Trasnfer over previous posts
   Took me a few minutes googling to figure that built into the Word Press control panel was functionality for pulling over my previous blog posts and their comments.  That process took just a few minutes (I am new to blogging so I have few posts though).
4. Transfer over theme
   I decided to transfer my theme over as well because I didn’t want to have to look for another one.  This was the trickiest part and involved just way too much cut and paste.  I actually wound up using beyond compare to view the textual differences between my old home page and my new.  That actually worked pretty well.  Doesn’t look perfect yet, but then again it didn’t before either.

If I tallied up all of the time I think we’d be looking at maybe an hour to an hour and a half.  Not bad.

Right now I am thinking about why I am blogging.  Here are some of the reasons in descending over of importance:

1. Thoughts -> Text = Good
   I need to be forcing myself to write down my thoughts.  There are numerous benefits to doing so.  One that comes to mind is that I may think I have a bright idea, but once I start to write it down more of my analytical skills kick in and that once bright idea starts to seem a bit dim.  But maintaining a journal could solve that, so why a blog?  Reasons 2 and 3 help answer that.
2. Exposure to friends and family
   I’m sure that those who care about me would be interested in knowing what their buddy is currently thinking about or wrestling with.  Putting those thoughts online can make that happen more easily and often.  It also gives them a chance to offer correction or encouragement.  I need both of those in equal measure.
3. And beyond . . .
   Finally, maybe, just maybe, my thoughts and idea wrestling will in the vast sea of blogs be of some benefit to someone else out there.  Either way, reasons 1 and 2 are good enough for me.

Some of your thoughts on blogging would be really helpful. Got any?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.