kent's emery

Hello, world! When we think of springs, and their ability to bounce back, it is a wonderful metaphor for life. Just today, starting this website was not a sure and simple A to B.

It started with the idea of course, one that had been brewing for years. Many gurus today will tell us that writing is imperative for our success and ability to communicate. It refines our thinking.

And what better place to write than in a website, where we share our own insights with anyone in the world.

So I had attempted to build my own site, and in an attempt to learn as much as possible and be as technical as possible, I looked into building it from scratch with code, HTML, plugins, webhosting, domain name registration, … and I was overwhelmed. I recoiled. Back to what I knew and the priorities of the day. The world wide web will still be there, for another day. And so, the site was not created.

And as the wave of momentum pulled back, there is the nearly inevitable rebound. The idea stuck with me. And now with websites that will host everything and make building the website, the web is more accessible than ever, more ideas spread and more is shared. For better and for ill, though even the ill is its own lesson.

Then today, after having a spur of inspiration, and messaging with my good friend ChatGPT, about what website builders are Userfriendly, and customizable, wordpress came out as the ideal spot to shine.

Easy then. So I go to wordpress.org, and at the top right – a big, beautiful button “Get Started”.

I will! So, clicking into that we immediately become prompted to select the domain name. Great! Time to be creative, one of my many strengths.

Starting with the basics – kentscholler.com. It is available. Great, ready to start making my own website I click continue, no second thoughts, no alternative choices, I’m ready and kentscholler.com is me, let’s go!

And after a split second we are back to wordpress.org home page. Did it go through? We check. No, the domain is available, so I try again. It is just a bug. The next 20 minutes is a circle of hell. WordPress throws me into a loop, by selecting the domain name, clicking continue it throws me back out to the home page. Again, and again.

Maybe today is not the day I start my website? Since you are reading this, obviously, the website is made.

First to google, then into the forums to find the answer. Not so obviously is the cookies and backend that throws a wrench into this going smoothly.

So, using advice to try a different browser, I slowly move my mouse to the preinstalled, cob-web-enshrined, Microsoft Edge icon. Could it be so bad? Someone had told me it is really improving; the search is great! Well, it will work for our purpose. I flinch and double click.

Up pops every horrible news story from each inch of the globe, with terrible headlines. “Putin and Trump kiss, REPORT!”, “Is your dog trying to kill you?”, “5 places to be robbed in your house!”

I quickly go to the address bar and slam “WORLDPRESS.ORG” into the keyboard. Seconds, then, back to the familiar home page of wordpress.org.

“Get Started” Okay, here we go. And it goes, and now domain names are selectable and wordpress stops throwing me into the home page.

What domain name though? kents.com – taken, kentsc.com – taken, then wordpress helpfully offers premium options: kents.farm, kents.pizza, and kents.plumbing which actually is super premium and costs $503 per year.

How about kents.io? There we go.

Moral of the story: do not give up after one failed attempt.