Keeping the Lights On

July marks the beginning of a new era for Appleseedeon! The drapes haven’t changed much, but beneath the hood, the site’s running better than ever. Images load faster thanks to optimization, caching actually works, and my plugins aren’t crashing the site. Wanna know the best part? It’s no longer costing me an arm and a leg.

Backing up is hard to do

Just like your phone plan, your internet plan, and your streaming plan, GoDaddy always raises its prices. Oh, sure—they’ll beg to keep you. They may even offer a cheaper option, but the fact remains: if you gouge me, I’m gone. Eventually.

The decision to pack my bags should have been swift. And yet, as my service plan drew to a close—and as GoDaddy threatened to suspend my site—I found myself on the fence. For one, I knew that renewing with GoDaddy is easy. No sweat, no tears, no elbow grease. Click a button and it’s done.

Moreover, the fact that GoDaddy held all of my precious files in their hands made me reluctant to take any action. In particular, database migration. Once, I lost everything while trying to move my database without the proper know-how. The fear of losing everything again still haunts my dreams.

Time was another factor. When I’m not working, I’m helping Erica with the kids. My brain becomes paralyzed with indecision when I finally have a moment to myself. Should I write? Play a game? Tinker with my website? Web development devours time like an arcade cabinet gobbles quarters. And time is money. Perhaps GoDaddy’s asking price wasn’t so outrageous?

But it was! Outrageously outrageous. Before spending another dime, I resolved to sit down and answer some questions that I should have asked ages ago. Here’s the gist of it:

• Why do I keep paying money to keep this site alive?
• What, if anything, am I trying to prove?

Vanity, says the preacher

Having a place to post content apart from YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram is invaluable. Anything posted on someone else’s platform can be flagged, censored, or deleted. Here, the words I write belong to me. Appleseedeon is my brand, my voice. I’ve placed every pixel to my satisfaction. As a famous Sith once said, “Unlimited power!”

That’s all true, but it’s not the whole truth. Appleseedeon is a vanity project. It’s my way of saying, “Look at all the stuff I’ve written!” Creative types can’t help but share. It’s in our DNA. Sometimes it’s a whisper, other times it’s blurted through a megaphone—but it’s as necessary to mental health as breathing.

So, why do I spend money to keep this site alive? The answer is that I’m warming the bench. When I have something to say—and time enough to say it—this is where you’ll find it.

The proof is in the portfolio

Most people don’t believe facts without proof. For example, I’m a writer and a graphic designer. I still struggle with imposter syndrome, but my work speaks for itself. This website is my portfolio and thus my proof. The trouble is that it’s only a portfolio for my writing. There’s nary a bit of graphic design on display.

Remember when I said I’d lost backups before? My online design portfolio was one such fatality. Years of work catalogued and formatted for showing off—deleted! Detailed projects, each categorized by sortable taxonomies—up in flames! Oh, cruel fate.

But just as all who wander are not lost, not all that’s lost is gone for good. Flash drives, CDs, floppy disks, hard copies—I’ve got redundancies galore. What I lack is the will to slog through it and publish everything yet again. It will happen, someday. I believe that. And when it does? This is where you’ll find it.

Goodbye GoDaddy, hello HostGator

Jumping to conclusions, I paid GoDaddy for a one-month hosting extension. That was sufficient breathing room to roll up my sleeves and do some research. Turns out HostGator offers free WordPress migration and a better overall hosting plan. For about a week, Appleseedeon existed on two servers while I ironed out some kinks. GoDaddy won’t release my domain name yet, but eventually I’ll bring everything under one roof.

For now, I’m perusing old posts and repairing broken media links. It’s a nice feeling knowing that my writings are still available to read. More than a few of them are embarrassing—the poetry, in particular—but this is my home on the web. It’s where I can put my feet up and take a snooze.

I think I’ll keep the lights on for a good while longer.