geeking out

computer girl
Originally uploaded by herbstkind

Sure. I work on a computer all day.

I could be said to do "geek work" by some. But that's really only if one doesn't know what I do. Yes, I do some HTML. I find and resize relevant Creative Commons graphics. I even create social media accounts and utilize their widgets in my own professional sites. I test features and submit bug reports and teach other people how to do the same. And to blog and use a content management system. I figure out how to make point-and-click softwares work together.

But mostly I work on online strategy, which is basically communications that just happens to be online. Different, sure. But communications all the same.



I'm not a coder.

I know enough design to be a nuisance to a real designer. I dabble in information architecture. I edit blogs. I manage a team.

But I'm not a coder. I'm also not a network gal. So, really, in the grand scheme of geeks, I'm not all that geeky (much as I wish I were, I would be insulting the truly amazing geeky people I know if I put myself in the same category). I get annoyed when I think about changing systems that I've set up that are working but I can't remember exactly why.

So when Blogger emails me that that they're moving away from how I do things on my own blog (because only .5% of people do it this way -- although I'll bet you it's the really smart, hard-core bloggers who do - ha!)... well, I had a moment of panic.

I started reading their documentation about what I was going to have to do. And it all seemed so easy until the dreaded "unless" came up. And wouldn't you know it -- my situation is the one detailed under the oh-so-unlikely "unless" caveat.

What does that mean? It means that I'm going to have to work harder than all the other .5% to move my blog to something that works for me and for you, the people who read this blog. And I've been reading for the past two hours to ensure I know what I need to know to sort out what I need to do.

It all has to do with my custom domain, webgoddesscathy.com. And that I've been using webgoddesscathy.com/blog as my blog address. And that my host provider doesn't make it easy for me to switch to blog.webgoddesscathy.com.

I know, riveting stuff.
My first instinct was to move on to something easier. Like buying an iron with my Aeroplan points. But I decided NOT to have ADD tonight. I decided to focus on ONE thing and see it through to the end.

And, let me tell you, it made me feel pretty geeky again. All that DNS and subdomain talk - it's hot.

But what it did not get me was to the end of the task. Nope, because in the end, I had to put in a support ticket to see if there was anything I could do.

And once I get THAT answer back, I have to make the next decision: switch to a new blogging service or just piss off all the two people who read my blog: my mom (HI!) and her friend Marlene (Hi Mar - I know you're gonna be so excited that I mentioned your name!). OK, and Raye, Steph and maybe Kat. I know from my stats there are others, but you don't really post comments so I can't name you. (Apparently David still reads me from time to time - yay! - so hi to you, too!)

So it's all to say that:

a) I like geeking out and wish I had more time so I didn't feel so stupid when I did get down to it

b) I wish blogger had chosen a better time to change their service

c) It's probably a good thing they're doing this as it may force me to redesign and goddess knows how much that is needed. (For goddessakes, it wasn't even on my New Year's resolution list!)

d) Now you know what I do... mostly.