Once more: Where it begins

Things to write in: ROCKING
Things to write in: ROCKING, originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.

I remember when I first switched from RamblingMonologues to SweepTheSunshine.v1 (as I have taken to calling it), one of my favorite blogistanis, Binje, groused, “Yazzo, only you would go from one loooooong weblog URL to yet another long weblog URL.”

So, here we go yet again – another switch, but with a shorter URL this time. I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting it is for me to type “sweepthesunshine.com” without my fingers tripping over the keyboard, attempting to type “blogspot” without screwing it up. Then again, I can’t even type my name half the time without misspelling it, so…

This whole switching-to-Wordpress drama would not have been made possible without the help of my buddy and Tech Support Rockstar Extraordinaire HijabMan, who put up with all my questions and issues and complaints with good humor. Clearly, I pick my friends really well.

When we virtually “sat down” at our respective ends of the country and rolled up our sleeves to get started on this drama, he first told me to go ahead and install WordPress. I said, “It asks me, ‘Please create a MySQL database for this software to use.’ Holy shit, what is THAT?”

Five minutes later, thanks to HijabMan, I had a MySQL database. One minute later, WordPress was installed. Hell, that was quick. “I’m still astounded we got even this far,” I pointed out at the end of it, “but that’s cuz I didn’t have to do anything.” Clearly, I am useless, but not totally! While my Tech Support Rockstar dealt with all the complicated background stuff, I managed to tackle the minutiae – things like: Formatting the blockquotes to my liking, resizing the columns, adding an entire section to the sidebar, fiddling with the flickr plugin formatting, changing the font size and search box font and footer colors, adding that slight gray border around my photos, and ten thousand other trivial things, because I am so obsessive-compulsive and stubbornly refused to fully inhabit this space until the design was to my liking (which is a perfectly normal stance, isn’t it?). I am also the worst dictator to work with, and if you tell me that you hate my small font sizes, I will say, “I hate you, so shut up,” and kindly invite you to increase the text size from within your own browser, thankyouverymuch.

Still, I am indebted to my buddy HMan, and this is saying a lot, considering he had the audacity to offer insights like, “Your [blogger] template right now is, umm, kinda ugly.” Vat BLASPHEMY. Also, if I hear him say, “Can I make a suggestion?” one more time, I think I will stab him.

In summary:

DotCom Pros
– Shorter URL
– BETTER COMMENTING SYSTEM! (Multiple exclamation points!!!! Remember when you had to spend a ridiculous amount of time, trying to submit comments through my Enetation system on the old sweepthesunshine? And then I had to spend a ridiculous amount of time deleting repeat comments, since Enetation has issues, pretty much. Basically, that time is over. Also, I hate the Blogger commenting system with a passion.)
– Three columns = better-organized weblog. Or something.
– [I can’t remember what else. I’m still too excited about the spiffy new commenting system.]

All my weblog archives (2003-2007) are still at SweepTheSunshine.v1, because I don’t, as yet, know how to transfer them over. (Thanks a lot, Blogger Beta, for making things so complicated.) If you know how I could do so without breaking anything, please share your expertise. I’m sure you’re much more technically proficient than I am. (There is this option, actually; I’m just too scared to touch it for now.)

Anyway, let me know how you like! If something’s screwy, or could be improved, tell me.

It’s looking really empty around here, I know. I promise real posts soon. Between work meetings/deadlines and the time left over for some small semblance of a social life, I have plenty of potential posts, but little time to actually write them.

Meanwhile, welcome to my new-and-improved sunshine space – we’ll have a high of 72 degrees F on Saturday, and a high of 78 on Sunday. (Seriously, we will, at least in the East Bay, where I live! I’m really excited about this, since I was this close to renaming my weblog STALK the Sunshine.)

26 thoughts on “Once more: Where it begins

  1. HMan – Never challenge the dagger chappals, yaar!

    bdr – TANKS, buddy! I promise there’ll be more content around here soon enough, inshaAllah.

    Organic Muslimah – It’s a small world, and HijabMan is the networker extraordinaire, so he’s pretty much everywhere. =)

  2. okay, I’ll be honest. I clicked over thinking, “booooo! not another switch..” but then it was just too pretty. Congratulations on moving to WordPress.. I was thinking of doing the same but without Hijabman’s help I don’t think I can do it myself! :-/ you made it sound rather complicated.

    oh! I AM still going to boo you since apparently bloglines doesn’t recognize the rss you’re putting out. What is up with that? How do I keep up to date on my favorite rockstar?

  3. Oh, a note. Links go bold when I hover over them. This causes badness if the word is at the end of the text block. Because the paragraph starts to dance. Which I’m generally okay with, but the link becomes unclickable. This hurts my feelings.

  4. Yasmine – jk about the rss, it works now for some reason.

    Hijabman – wow, thanks. I’ll hold you to that even if I don’t decide to move to wordpress for like 5 more years.. :)

  5. OMG I was totally drooling over those notebooks just the other day at Harvard Bookstore. And I was contemplating buying that one on the left.

    New home looks good: I approve! (And yes, I sooo remember that enetation thingy taking ages to post comments!)

  6. Shabana: yay so glad you like! it was a long time coming, and i’m glad i finally made the jump. =)

    Anjum me love: it’s only as complicated as you make it. and, apparently, i like making things complicated, because i am obsessive-compulsive, and i want things my way, and they have to be PERFECT. i just like being difficult.
    PS: glad the RSS feed worked for you. i use google reader, and i didn’t have any issues. =)

    HijabMan: your pretty knives will be no match for my functional DAGGERS. DAGGERS, yaar.
    PS: TECH SUPPORT! my comments are all justified, too. i’m not sure how i feel about this. whaddaya’ll think?

    Adnan: Thanks, buddy! =) And I know links become bold when you hover over them – this was something else I got tired of nagging HMan to fix for me, so I went and did it myself (which was probably his plan all along ;)). I’m a fan of bold links. But I see what you mean about the dancing paragraphs – I had this issue over at STSv1, too, because of the justified paragraphs. I think I just may have to un-bold them. *sigh*

    rawi: you know what I always love about your comments? You ALWAYS notice the photos! =) Thank you, buddy. These notebooks were a birthday present from my friend A last year. I still haven’t written in them, but aren’t they beautiful?
    PS: It means a lot when my readers approve layout and URL changes, so thank you! Much appreciated.

  7. :)) this rocks! congrats yasmine, it’s beautiful.. like majorly. even though i was beginning to get attached to your other space at blogspot since it was nice and comfy, this is mega good and it will certainly get as much love as your other webhomes.

    i loved that post u linked to from rambling monologues – sooopar funnyy yaar :D

    hope you’re well inshallah. love and all yummy things and yellow roses, ruqayyah

    ps. did you recieve the e-card i sent you on march 1st? i hope you did…

  8. Yasmine!

    I am in the market for a camera, I need something inexpensive (I am on a budget), point and shoot and something that would be good for super close shots.

    Yala :-)

  9. Ruqayyah my love: Thank you so much for the kind words! I think it’ll be even nicer when I can sit down long enough to write real deal posts, so you all have something substantial to read. =) But, meanwhile, we’ve just gotta work on making this space homey and comfy, too. And THANK YOU for the e-card! Highly rockstar-ish of you, and I’m sorry I haven’t replied yet – I wanted to send you a real email back, but I’ve been swamped with work the last couple of weeks. I’ll get back to you soon, inshaAllah; meanwhile, you’re a ROCKSTAR!

    organic Muslimah: If you’re in the U.S., I’d highly recommend you buy your camera from Costco. They have an AMAZING return policy – which I know ALL about, since I’ve replaced two cameras there already, because I’m an idiot who takes photos at the beach all day long and gets sand/water in them. ;) All my photos have been taken with a Canon Powershot Digital Elph SD400 and an SD600, and I’ve LOVED them both and highly recommend them to everyone (I take a lot of macro/close-up shots, too). I used the Digital Camera Resource Page a lot when I was researching getting my very first digicam back in summer2005, so you might find it really helpful in terms of comparison purposes. Here’s the SD600. I like this site’s breakdown and reviews for digicams. (Check this to narrow it down by price range!) Again, Costco‘s return policy is ROCKING, and I think you might find the cameras cheaper there than anywhere else. Sorry for the bajillions links, but let me know if that helps!

  10. MUCH cleaner design, and a welcome change, hehe. Now that the other one is in the past, I can call it ugly too, right? Without risk of stabbing?

    please?

  11. Oh I forgot to mention, WordPress is awesome in more ways than you know, and has a “Blogger Importer” built-in. I think you just plug in your old login info, and it does the rest for you…

    Read on…

  12. organic Muslimah – anytime, buddy. =) let me know how it all goes!

    fathima – you’re the all-around coding & design rockstar, so if i screw something up around here, you are SO my other Tech Support Person. ;)

    Hamza – there is never a reason for me to NOT stab you. and what do you know about all this wordpress business anyway, hmm? got a topsecret weblog we don’t know about, HMM?
    (PS: it worked, in a roundabout way actually! TANKS for the tip!)

    ZMAN – hahaha sure vill do, buddy boy!

  13. Pingback: Back in business
  14. i may, i may not. ahem.

    i’ve just gone through every posting system there is, either for myself, or for others, and wordpress is one of my favorites. movably type, however, is my tool of choice, just cuz i can make it do ANYTHING.

    glad it all worked out.

  15. I don’t know JACK about movable type. I just like it because I always forget whether it’s spelled “movable” or “moveable,” and I’m pretty sure it’s the former, but I automatically always want to say the latter. =)

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