The (digital) Move.

So.

I moved my blog.

While the timeline I had in mind would be over the span of two months, tops, I managed to do this in two days. It helped that I've had ClassicPress in a pinned tab for quite some time now, and buying the domain name was the easy part. Hosting was where I dragged my feet, but it was quickly resolved by how easy it was for me to fall back into the server maintenence groove. But still, at first I was nervous. I don't have the budget to have a professional on retainer, so it would have to be a DIY operation-- and while I've managed Linux servers in the past, it was quite some time ago and I felt quite rusty. And in addition to the rust, I am also occasionally lazy. And impatient. I wanted my site moved now!

I settled on DigitalOcean. It came highly recommended when I first asked around for hosting solutions, with the caveat that it wasn't exactly casual-friendly.  "I'm just going to try it out, poke around it, shake the cobwebs off my knowledge" I thought to myself. I was also prepared to get my hands a little dirty if it came to that. Besides, there was this handy tool that set up the headache-inducing environment for me, brought to my attention from browsing ClassicPress Forums. So that certainly helped!

Like many things, it was like riding a bike. Once the wheels started turning, I remembered a lot more than I thought I would. I had to do some updates, set up ClassicPress, and I was done! Before I knew it, I was settling right in nicely as I customized, secured, and broke things (the deleted DNS records got better-- yay for restore buttons!).

This feels like... wearing a beloved blanket. I didn't want to move to a whole different blogging platform, after all. I'm a creature that enjoys the familiar and the nostalgic, and right now as I type this I'm transported back to 2005. During Web Developing class everyone was setting up their WordPress accounts for the first time, and I thought it pretty magical. Frankly, it still is. And now, I can develop my own theme. Since I don't have to pay extra to do so, I don't really have an excuse now. Besides time, anyway.

So, hello again! We're back on schedule.

I can only wish my IRL move in the upcoming months will be as smooth as this was.