The Selfie, Self Hosted That Is

For just under a year and a half I have been happily plying my blogging trade on my humble free WordPress.com site. I would often glance at other fancy pants blogs and wish my pants were a bit fancier. My pants were functional and practical, like a good supportive pair of briefs. But I no longer want functional and practical underwear; I want something a little racier, something to get you in the mood, to read. Go self hosted said the little voice inside my head and then I realised it wasn’t a little voice inside my head it was actually my wife.

I can’t emphasise enough just how much I struggle with technology and change and so to make a technological change filled me with dread. I would need someone with extreme levels of skill, patience and yet more patience. Finding the right web designer is a little like finding the right partner, you need to search around and try a few out before you commit to the one.

Web designers can be an elusive bunch, every time you think you’ve found the right one they move to Montreal, or break the news that there is a 1 year wait list for their services or hit you with a quote that makes your wallet sting. After a few weeks of searching I found the one for me, her name is “Tabitha Emma” and she ticked the boxes that I needed to be ticked. To say that Tabitha has been patient during this process would be like saying that I have been a tad indecisive, both are enormous understatements.

The process of designing a new blog is by no means straight forward and my original brief changed every time a pretty blog fluttered their eyelashes at me. Colour schemes, font styles, font sizes, headings, logo’s, social media icons and the all important question to truncate or not to truncate are all things that I chopped and changed like my wife does when she is deciding what to wear for a night out. If Tabitha has a little voodoo doll of me that she has been stabbing with needles for the past few weeks then I could hardly blame her.

But we got there and today I have a site that feels like it fits just like a nice Cashmere jumper, a fitted one not a baggy one. I no longer have feelings of blog inadequacy, I feel like I can now stand up in a crowded room wearing nothing but my fancy pants and shout “come and read me”, metaphorically speaking.

I have a very small favour to ask all of you and don’t worry it’s not money. Could everyone who subscribes to the blog or has enjoyed the misadventures of this particular Dad Down Under please subscribe to the new blog through the heading that says “Subscribe” funnily enough. At the risk of having you roll your eyes I would not be writing if it was not for the readers so I hope I can tempt lots of you to follow me over to the new site, it wouldn’t be the same without you.

Check out my fancy new pants – http://daddownunder.com.au/