February 5, 2020 – Second Official Friday Night BeerBlog

When I started thinking about adding some options to my llmcshane.com website over the holidays, I searched the internet for “how-tos” on adding an RSS feed to my podcast, an archives page for my blog, and some enhancements like widgets and website analytics.

I was less than thrilled when I read that my current host and plan wouldn’t allow these types of plug-ins. Basically all I had was the basic ability to post a blog with the addition of home and about me pages. In order to be able to do new things with the site, I would have to upgrade to a business account with a business level pricetag.

Yet another reminder…I am thrifty and am not working the type of hours that I normally work outside of Rona, so this option stopped me in my tracks. But. BUT. I already had this idea in my mind that I wanted to start a podcast and once something is in my head, I can be a real rat on a cheeto. I was convinced there was another answer, so I kept researching.

I found that it was possible to migrate my current .com site to a host that used a .org platform. (excuse my ignorance if I get the tech terms all wrong.) All of the reviews of this other platform were glowing. I just had to figure out how to do it. It was going to cost me some money, but this option was half the cost of the other. It seemed like a good option.

I purchased a new domain with a new host and looked to migrate my former domain over. I followed all of the steps from several instructional sites to migrate my site before I shut the original down. Yeah, it didn’t work. Luckily I had archived everything. I was going to ask for some real help.

Ever try to get tech support on the actual phone? My new host site wanted me to type into their website what my problem was. Well, I didn’t really know what my problem was so I dug until I found a phone number and I called and it was less than enjoyable. There was some serious curse words bouncing off all the walls.

This support person told me that he had never heard of anyone being able to migrate their .com site to their platform. I was looking at the article where they say it’s possible dude! He spent the next thirty minutes making me feel like a total dumbass and I work to get something in place, but supposedly it was going to take a couple days for my old site to be redirected to my new site.

I waited. For three days. The new site did show up, but it was insecure and in a form that couldn’t be read. This wasn’t right. But I definitely wasn’t going to call “tech support” back again so I did more research. I read articles and I punched buttons hoping something would work. Hour after hour. Until BAM. Something worked and there it was, my site domain redirected to the new platform.

I didn’t have any of my old site, so I spent the next week rebuilding what you see now. And it’s probably a good thing because I’ve been able to punch buttons all over the place on this site and figure out what it can do. There are still so many things to learn on it – I currently still can’t get my RSS embed code to work, but I’ll get there. I’m still not a tech, but I definitely understand so much more already. (Note my use of technical words and phrases at the beginning of this blog that I knew nothing about a month ago.)

I was thinking about this migration this morning and it hit me. This experience has been a real analogy for what I’ve personally been going through as well. I love the life that I have, but there are some things about it that aren’t working for me and I feel the need to migrate to a new platform that has more options, while taking along big parts of my old life as well.

Yeah, well, doing that has been just as hard as migrating this damn website. There is so much advice on how to you should do it and that advice might work for me. It might not. On the whole, there is not not an actual person that has all the answers to fix it. Help is always appreciated of course, but in the end, it is up to me to figure it out.

My sister-in-law bought me a book for Christmas by Maggie Smith titled Keep Moving. This book is full of quotes about Creativity and Change. One struck me, it says:

“Accept that sometimes dismantling has to happen before you can build. As you look at the mess of life’s pieces and parts around you, trust that the materials you need are there. Start sorting: Which can go? Which should stay? How will you use them? Keep Moving.”

This. Reordering your life, even with all the same pieces, is messy. And it will probably be a disaster before you get it all figured out. That’s where I am. I’ve got mental shit all over the place, like I’m reorganizing my junk drawer or something, currently sorting it all into relevant piles. I’ve even found some talents I utilized earlier in my life that are finding new life in this transformation. I used to be a hell of a producer and editor and I’ve found a new purpose for that old skill in the podcast environment.

And notice the new upgraded subtitle of the blog. It’s gone through some versions over the last year, but since it is published on Friday evenings during happy hour, I’m officially calling it what it is, my Friday Night Beer Blog. Keepin’ It Real.

If you want to jump on this train, follow along at The New Old You with Lesley McShane podcast. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google and several other podcast outlets. If you would like to be on my email list for updates when new podcasts are uploaded or new blogs are available, I’ll eventually find a way to let you sign up. Yet another thing that has to be recreated after so called “migration”.

That’s it y’all. Enjoy the freakin’ weekend. (That’s a shout-out to my girl, Sanchez – We once did a ride where we sang R. Kelly the whole ride. And life was good.)

Till next week.

LLM

For the Friday Night BeerBlog Podcast reading of this blog:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1594894/7704121