Ever Evolving

There's more domain news:  I bought the domain name nownorma.com, which, when I think about it, is more "me" than normaknits.com.  My blog is pretty thin on the knitting, pretty eclectic, and I hope like me, ever evolving.  So how much more fun is nownorma.com?  Easy to remember, and really more reflective of the growing and changing me and what this blog is probably going to become in the next few years, than normaknits.com.  

Cookie will love this:  Another suggestion the domain company made that is available is "thenorma.com"  I almost went for it, but how many domains does a person need?  Narcissism can only go so far.  And going around buying up domain names, while it is easy, cheap, and seems like a break from all this stress, isn't really going to take me very far unless I get back up and dust myself off and ... you know the old yarn... start all over again.  

Well, that's about as far as I've got.  I ran into a brick wall right off the bat.  I tried to open a Wordpress account, and it said I already have one.  I do?  Well, damn.  Turns out because I am a member of Sandy's Warm Hands blog (thanks, Sandy!  mwahaha), I have a Wordpress account, and they say that is my primary account, and I can't open another one with the same email address.  Oh, for fucksake.  I do NOT want to start another email address.  So, all right, I did some tweaking and crap in there, and finally got it right, I thought. Well, not really.  I got partway up the wall only to find out that it's still giving me the .wordpress.com ending.  Not what I want.  I'm sure that's an easy fix once I get a host.  But *SIGH* then the tutorial says to click on "Tools" and then "Import."  But there is no import option in my tools section.  I look more closely, and apparently it believes I am still Sandy and this is NOT my primary blog, and I cannot import and therefore change everything.  Do I neeeeeeed this crap?  

I feel like I'm in military basic training.  I'm gonna make it through the tire course eventually -- I will! -- but right now I've jumped back down off the wall to catch my breath and get my bearings, because I'm just sick and tired of it and I've got work to do.  I've got an event to cover tonight, in fact.

Fuuuuuuuck.  

In my heart of hearts, I want one-stop shopping.  I do not want all these levels of stuff to deal with -- all these accounts, all these charges, all these steps in order to do something.  I don't want to have an intact blog but an unintact host.  Or I might have those two things, but have forgotten to renew my domain.  Goddamnitalltohell.  If it's not one thing, it's your mother.  I mean "another."  

I'm kind of holding out hope that SquareSpace will get this all figured out soon -- they assure me they are working hard on it -- because I'm liking the looks of what they have to offer, and honestly for this, the simpler the better, though they could eventually turn out to be just another Typepad that, though once perky and shiny in terms of its customer service and ease of use, has degraded so much over time that I have come to this point. Not that I'm cynical or anything. 

It's not my full-time job, this blog and web crap.  I really don't want three or four or five of everything to deal with -- a domain, a blog platform, a host, a photo hosting site.  Too many things to exponentially go wrong, too many accounts, too many passwords to remember, too many steps, too many charges, too much head-banging.  

I just want easy and seamless.  Is that too much to ask?!  Don't bother answering that.  It's simply rhetorical, because I am a realist and a pragmatist.  I know damn well that it is indeed far, far too much to ask. 

Right now I have Chaucer and Neitzsche and an OB/GYN rotation and Kristen Schaal to think about.  I sincerely hope Kristen Schaal is NOT a horse tonight.  Though if she is, at least I'll know what's coming, and the vocab would not be too much of a challenge.  Would that I could just put the steno on auto-pilot, but contrary to popular belief, that is not possible, either. There is a feature called "auto brief" that will be of some help, though.  Sigh

Cocktails and dinner on the lake with friends on a beautiful afternoon and evening which involves no work on my part:  Now, THERE'S an answer that is right in almost every situation. 

I tried to take a photo of the windfarm in the Adirondacks opposite, dead center of the photo, but my camera did not capture it.  No matter -- there was no wind and it was completely still anyway. 

Comments

[Joan in Reno]

Good luck in your new endeavor. I hope your blog U-Haul works better than Typepad. I surely would miss reading you every day.

[Cookie]

Seriously, you need a sexy 24 year old geek to make everything better.

I love TheNorma.com! Too perfect. Although, NowNorma.com is wonderful, too.

You'll get there and it will totally be worth it.

xo

[Kristen]

You could probably tempt a geek on campus with some home cooking...

[Kathleen Anderson]

I have a friend who recommends staring at the horizon when in stress. It readjusts her perspective. Adding an adult beverage is a sound move.

[Elizabeth]

Squarespace is awesome. I have no idea about the import stuff, but everything I've done there has been great. The second level of pricing would allow you to map your new domain to your Squarespace site.

re: WordPress-If you purchased a domain-mapping upgrade you *could* use WP.com and then map your domain to that address, but you would probably be happier just purchasing hosting and running a self-hosted install of WordPress instead. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you would like more details. It basically boils down to how much you want to be locked into a hosted service again.

[Sarah]

Ever evolving sounds like a great way to live life. Yep. That is the thought to hold onto when the growing pains make sitting down and forgetting about it all seem like the better option.

[Diane]

I hear you. I just want to drive the car, I don't want to tear down the engine and put it back together again.

On the other hand, learning new stuff keeps us young. Or at least that's what I've been told.

[gayle]

Yeah, that learning and growing thing always comes back and bites us on the ass...
TheNorma would be tempting! But NowNorma is a great fit.

[(no longer at) a simple yarn]

Not that you asked, but if all else fails, BlueHost. Quite happy over there (in an 'I'm really no longer blogging but keep the domain active' sort of way).

Thinking perhaps you could have a family of domains...nownormacooks.com, nownormagardens.com, nownormarants.com, nowmrjeffries.com...an empire, to be sure.

[Nora]

I'm getting a headache just thinking about the Typepad debacle.

Cookie, as usual, has the best solution.

xo

[Joannah]

Nownorma,
Surely you are in an academic-y enough environment that a computer geek student can be bribe with a batch of homemade cookies or similar baked goods to help you figure this all out, and probably in some way that is even better than we can possibly imagine? No? (BTW, I like nownorma quite alot!)

[Jean E.]

NowNorma. I like it! Is there going to be a "blog warming" party when the changes are made?

[Stacey]

You need to download the WP files and install WP on your domain hosting site. It'll be a fresh. I think it's wordpress.org/download.

I've done it and can walk you through it. I went with dreamhost.com because they have one click installs on WP. Makes it easy peasy. You'll have to FTP the files onto your domain host account. (unless thay have an easier way to upload/ set up directories)

[Renee]

NowNorma is an excellent name! Hope you have a great day.

[joan]

My head hurts from thinking about moving. But that picture (I was in the Adirondacks just this time last year) makes it better.

Thank you for speaking up.

xo

[elizabeth a airhart]

viva norma -mutatis mutandis

i shall return try to be there

[Cheryl S.]

What Stacey said.

You don't need (and won't use) a Wordpress account if you host the Wordpress blog on your own domain - that's only if you want to use the free Wordpress blogs without your own domain. If your domain host offers Wordpress with a "one button install" or "auto install", you don't have to download anything for the installation or upgrades - just click buttons. Very simple. It will even do an auto-import from most blogs, but I know Typepad's a problem. (I think Sandy went through that - maybe she can help?)

Tip: When you install Wordpress, it will ask where you want the files installed. If you install it in the root directory, your blog will be at http://nownorma.com. If you want to reserve the main page of your blog for something else (you probably don't, but just for informational purposes), you would want to install it in a directory, such as http://nownorma.com/blog. (If you do that, I'd suggest using a generic name like "blog" for the directory, rather than "wordpress", in case you ever (God forbid) have to change from Wordpress to something else.)

[Mary K. in Rockport]

All Greek to me. Good luck with all this. Excelsior.

[Knitnana]

I love the title...and I love that you're going to your own domain, (I bought Knitnana.com years ago, but there's nothing there yet).

Sometimes, the "nasty" opens doors to the wonderful - and while, in the process, we cuss and fuss, in the end we're so much better!

I know...I just know, NowNorma will be fabulous!
(((((hugs)))))

[Lorette]

Now why didn't I think of the 24-year old sexy geek solution? This past weekend could have been a lot more fun. Dang. That Cookie is a smart cookie.

[Manise]

NowNorma(L) would have been fun too! :-) Great job speaking up in the forums and letting people know what's what! In the end it will all be worth it. Now our Cookie is onto something. Hehe.

[Leslie]

Now, Norma, quit your bellyachin' and get 'er done!

Yep, NowNorma.com works for me too :)

[lisa]

Cocktails! I have a new favorite... like mojito, but with basil and gin: muddle some basil leaves, about 3/4 to 1 part simple syrup, 1 part lime juice, 2 parts gin. Shake w/ ice (I just bought a cocktail shaker, OMG LOVE IT), and serve over ice. It's really fabulous. I even made the simple syrup... plain sugar is good but the syrup is better. Tastes like green. Summer. And the basil is just starting to come in. So, it's pesto, and gin cocktails!

[Pam]

NowNorma is great! I laughed and could totally relate to your story today about blogs, domains, hosts, platforms, sites. Makes me crazy trying to talk about it. Wishing you good juju.

[marianne]

nownorma. I LIKE it! I've already expressed my feelings on all you have to go through to move the blog. major suckage. Love the photo.

[Marcia]

Love the names, and good luck with all of that. More than ever, I'm thinking to just give it up. There is NO WAY I'm going through that crap...even if anyone cared, which obviously, no one does. It was fun while it lasted!

[Rosemary McN]

I'll follow wherever and wish you tons of dark chocolate mocha latte cafe in the meantime.

[Alex Deve]

Norma, this is Alex from TypePad. I've read your recent posts, and I feel terrible about what you've been through, and how you feel. I don't know is there is anything I can do to change that and gain your trust again, but I do want to apologize for everything. First of all, we clearly have made a mistake with the latest push, and we're currently working on fixing it. Second, we cherish our customers, but on this occasion, we haven't provided the customer experience that you expect from TypePad. We're also working on fixing this and understand what happened on our side. We listen to every single piece of feedback, and adjust things based on what our customers tell us. As soon as we've heard you and others about this change, we realized we had made a mistake and started to work on fixing things. I hope we can get this done early in the week, and we will surely let you know about our progress. We're also going to get in touch with you by email to help you with the changes you're trying to make, whether or not you decide to stay on TypePad.

[Alex Deve]

Re-read my last comment, and I meant "even if you decide not to stay on TypePad", instead of "whether or not". It's an offer to make this process easier for you.

[Beebs]

I heard that when one door closes, another one opens.... but the hallway can be a bitch. A 20-something geek and an adult beverage might be just the ticket. And who knows? Alex (the previous post) just might be able to help. He sounds oh, so very sincere......

[Sheila]

I like nownorma.com but love THEnorma.com. I can hear my mother's condescending voice when I see the nownorma tag. "Now, Norma, you know that isn't true, it just isn't". *shudder* But TheNorma has a bit of prestige to it. "The one, the only...Norma!" But since I don't get a vote it's kind of moot.

I think the 24 yr. old geek is the way to go. Have you seen some of those guys? No pocket protectors or nerdy glasses on them anymore. The homecooked meal or homebaked cookies as a bribe sounds like a smart idea, especially if the meal is served in a lovely sexy knitted negligee with some good beer (I don't like wine).

[Norma]

Hi Alex,
I appreciate the response and the personal touch. I have not yet
broom-cleaned my old place and padlocked the door, and so if Typepad is able
to win back my trust, I would welcome that. And of course, I hope you come
back to read this comment, because it's going to be posted in the blog
comments, rather than the personal email that I would normally write -
because, well, Typepad has hijacked my email response system. (touche,
meant in good, but barbed, humor)

Norma

On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 1:30 PM, wrote:

[Alex Deve]

:) - touche indeed! We'll fix that email issue!

[Judy]

Looks like you got their attention! You go girl. Off to make some doggie biscuits. I'd sent some to Mr. J if you send me your address.....

[sandy]

Well, one thing for sure is that if YOU blog on MY account, then I will (technically) be bloggling again! hahaha.
Typepad is just sucking eggs lately, huh? That is NOT good.
Not. Good.
LX

[Cookie]

Norma, find out how old this Alex is. I can drive over there, tape him up and FedEx him to you if need be.

Seriously, thank you, Alex. This has been a very frustrating few days at a time when a lot of us don't have much time and don't need another thing to worry about. It's nice to know that we have been heard and that TypePad is working on this. And that y'all see the error in the roll out of the changes to how we reply to comments.

[Kym]

Oh, this just gets more interesting every day! Just what I expect from NowNorma. . . whatever she does! :-)

[elizabeth a airhart]

if you click on mr deva's name on the comments
it will take you to his page and what he likes etc
little older then 24 lives sf likes good company
thats us

[Manise]

Checking in again thanks to Cookie. Finally someone from TP has stopped to notice and listen. You go girl! Love elizabeth a's detective work! :-)

[Kathy]

The Typepad stuff is giving me a headache! After years with Typepad, I also want one stop shopping!!

[Marilyn]

Norma, you have got some pull. Amazing that you got a personal reply from Alex. You rock.

[Jackie]

You don't need a Wordpress.com account if you are planning to use your own domain and hosting - you only need to install Wordpress at the host. If you use a host like Dreamhost (and I can give a code - JBLUE - that gets you $25 off) then installing WP is just a one click thing. Easy peasy.

Feel free to email me if you need help. I do this for a living.

[Flowers]

You seems to have great artistic skills that one can judge from your blog. Visited your website, it looks perfect. Keep it up the good work.

[Barbara M.]

Hi, Norma..... just a note to say how much I love your blog.... even if you have given me a very persistent case of "Kristen Schaal is a horse!" I CANNOT stop humming it, but it's just impossible to explain when people ask what I'm humming over and over again. So if I still like you after that, I guess I'll always like you.

Thanks!

Barbara

[Mary Fran]

Oh, what a PITA. I don't do well with change or challenges... sometimes. Sometimes I can conquer it. Today is not one of those days. New sitter, oldest missed his bus in the am. I like to be in control. Hope it all works out for you! TT: Pre-kids, my husband and I liked to backpack and tended to have issues with bears. Visiting my in-laws this weekend and there is a family of three black bears that have decided to be permanent residents. Too funny.

[elizabeth a airhart]

good night where ever you are

[Bruny]

Where are you Norma... miss ya!