Finally I can say that my new website is ready. Websites are never complete, they just move into different states of "readiness." I've been working on this thing for a month, and each day I think to myself about the Livebooks ad that says, "I became a photographer so I can manage my website." HA! How true and how right it can be for some people. But they weren't going to get my $1700. I can honestly say that this has been a rewarding milestone for me. It's not for everyone, but I derive a sense of accomplishment and freedom knowing that I can control a piece of my business. Sorta like growing your own food or fixing your car. All of us have grown so dependent on services, that we have lost the art of doing things ourselves. Maybe that's why the DIY movement is so popular these days. It certainly helps counter the otherwise oppressive news we seem to be bombarded with by the media. I admit the site is not perfect and I am not really happy with the navigation in the Portfolio, but that fact that I have everything in Wordpress is great for me. One big happy place. Fully maintainable anytime, anyplace. I didn't pay a cent for any of the programs, all of them are Open Source and freely available. All tutorials and forums, freely available. Lots of helpful people to work out problems...people helping each other and passing it along. That is what is so remarkable about the web. I can't say enough about it. It's wonderful.
Over the next few days I will be documenting what I did to get this site up and running. I am not a web programmer, in fact my former employees would probably say I'm not really a programmer either...but if you have time and some masochistic tendencies, you can do this. Or you can have a good read about how some of us spend our free time.
Now to let the world know...