So a week ago I’ve finally decided to get in on this whole online blogging thing.

I know, I know, it’s 2011 and you’re sitting there with a smug expression on your face thinking “where the hell have YOU been the past decade?!”. Well, I’ll have you know I’m no stranger to the Internet. I was there when it all started – and like 50 years from now this may actually be something worth bragging about.

I’ve perused many a website, signed up for many a free newsletter, changed many an email account after having fought a losing battle against SPAM (I wonder if those free newsletters had anything to do with it). I’ve been exactly 1 millionth visitor to more websites that I can remember and I’m still waiting for the free gifts and money they’ve promised me for it. I am active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Couchsurfing, FaceSurfing and CouchFace. OK, so the last two don’t exist to the best of my knowledge, but think of the possibilities!

I’ve created and completely forgotten about so many online accounts that science will take another hundred years to invent a number high enough to count them. I sat patiently for entire minutes while my dial-up connection painstakingly loaded up a 10 second clip of [insert your favourite porn star here]. What? Don’t act like you never have! Anyways, you get the picture.

“So why only start blogging now?”, you’re asking. Of course here I assume that you’ve got a keen and inquisitive mind AND you haven’t fallen asleep with your face on the keyboard. If it’s the latter, you better not be leaving comments like “akskdhyu77egf” on my page. To answer your impatient yet valid question – I don’t know! Thing is I really enjoy writing. So as a person who enjoys both the online world and writing I should have been prime candidate to own a blog. But let’s not dwell on the past, shall we? The future awaits. The future is bright and…whatever colour symbolises hope nowadays…yellow maybe?

To get my blog out there I could have easily started with numerous free websites that host a blog for you. Instead, I’ve decided to do some thorough research like a complete moron. This is how I’ve stumbled upon this guy, who talks about starting your own blog and making it visible. You see how I’d find this relevant. One key takeaway of the article is a graph showing correlation between time invested and “potential for doing awesome stuff”. So in two words: if you want to have flexibility and long-term potential then get your own website. OK, that was more than two words.

What Rand (still the same guy) doesn’t mention is that to do all of that “awesome stuff” one has to KNOW WHAT THE FREAKING HELL ONE’S DOING. Fun fact: I don’t. So now I’ve spent a few hours all of my free time researching everything from which host is the best, to how to pick a great domain name (thanks again Rand), to which software to use to build your site, and so on. It’s been in a vicious spiral of research breeding more research. In parallel with all of the research I’ve found a host, got a domain name and even got WordPress software up and running. About an hour or so ago it dawned on me that I haven’t actually written any content for my blog. And thus the rant you’re reading was born!

Not all of it was in vain, however. What I’ve got for now is a host and a website with a basic theme. Next step is to seek help from a friend of mine, whose answer to website design is a bit more sophisticated than “helplessly browse forums”. Until then, adios!