Once I made the decision to go ahead and create a blog I had to figure out where to start.  I knew html, having actually created a blog years ago doing everything manually.  Which was the main reason I ended that blog, maintaining it was a nightmare.  Endless links, archiving, and file managment left no time for adding content.  I knew what I wanted, my own domain and blog software that would work with it seemlessly.  I looked at a few solutions, briefly considering a free hosting site, but recalled my days with tripod and their annoying ads.  I also considered optimum online’s boost and the free domain they provided, but setting up the domain was so buggy I decided to cancel my service rather than wait on hold for an hour just to be given  the “real” tech support telephone #.  Using that $15 a month savings as a maximum cost, I began my search for low cost web hosts.  Googling “best web host” gave me many reviews to choose from.  It didn’t take long to narrow my selection to Bluehost and Starlogic.  Bluehost provided more storage space and more features, Starlogic cost $2.00 less a month.  Like most rash decisions, I decided to save 2 bucks a month and clicked on my saved Starlogic URL. 


As fate would have it, their site never came up.  If they couldn’t keep their main page up, what chance would my puny blog have for survival?  So I went with Bluehost, and was very glad I did.  A few minutes later my domain was parked, and I was ready to roll, at least I thought I was.  Back to google, I now typed in “blogging software”, and was overwhelmed by the choices.  Time to rethink what exactly I wanted to do.  SQL scared me, but all the software seemed to run off of it.  A quick check to my webhost showed sql included.  Next up was cost, free is good.  Then the catch. I wanted to create a 2nd blog in Korean.  If I was going down the path of blogging hell, I damn sure would drag the wife down with me.  For someone with no time, she always seems to have a lot to say.  Looking over wordpress, I saw the magic letters “KO” and knew it would do what I wanted in Korean.  Even better,  it said Bluehost would install it for me automatically using something called “Fantastico”.  Sure enough, it was one of many icons on the control panel.

I ran it once and actually got it to work.  Then I ran it again in a subdomain I created for my wife’s blog.  5 minutes of reading the support document told me I needed a single file to switch her version to Korean language support.  After uploading it, extracting it, and editing the config twice,  It actually worked.  Then I called the wife in, showed her my handiwork, and went template shopping together.   “Only 73 pages more to browse”, I informed her.   I stopped at the first one she said “ohh” at.  It was Talian designed by VA4Business. 

 Over the next few hours I learned what pages, categories, widgets, plugins, and adsense was.  Funny thing was I still hadn’t written a single word.  So many ideas, but where to start?  Just add a few categories and go for a walk to clear my head.  Came back and added a few more categories.  No change to my page though, “Where did they go?”  The hardest part of the whole installation was figuring out that categories didn’t show up unless they actually had content.  Overall, WordPress gets high ratings from me.  You really can get it up and running in 5 minutes.  Then spend the next few hours playing around with it until you satisfy your curiosity what all the features do.