I suppose I have contemplated my blog moves over the past few days for several reasons, one of which happens to be that we’re preparing for a physical move.

I am happier here, on my own domain, for several reasons. First of all, I can do whatever I like, and there aren’t limits. No one tells me what kind of files I can upload or how much space I can take up. That’s dictated by how much space I’d like to buy. I bought plenty for much less money than some of my old friends pay to be limited by an old diary service I used to use.

The first time I moved, I didn’t really want to, because I knew it would cost me. But I felt it was necessary, so I did it. And it did cost. It’s weird, but when other people had moved away from Diaryland, I didn’t really keep up with them unless I really wanted to. In fact, Cranky Dragon and Anne are the only examples I can think of. I tried to keep up with others, but I was lazy. Diaryland makes it easy for you to check and see if your favorites have updated — as long as they are also Diaryland users.

So it cost me some readers, because despite the fact that some of those people indicated they wanted to continue to read my writing, I know they didn’t. After some time, I stopped reading theirs too. It was too hard to keep up. And with the exception of about two people, I did give up. No one over there pings Weblogs.com or Blogrolling.com when they update. Yeah, all I have to do is click a link on my blogroll and check, but I don’t do it. Frankly, it would be easy for them to check my site for updates, and they don’t either. We like things simple. We’re lazy. The fact is, I have begun to find myself more attracted to blogs than diaries. They’re shorter, so the investment to read them isn’t as great. Most bloggers I read tend to know more about the web and HTML and produce really interesting sites. When I first started my Diaryland diary, like most people, I didn’t know any HTML.

I really don’t miss it anymore. For a time, yes, I missed being part of a community. After a while, especially once I had my own domain, I realized how limiting a service it was, and I would never go back. Users over there pay more per year for less than I get at my own domain — less space, restrictions on allowable files, restrictions on what you can do, from creating .htaccess files to cgi. They also get horrible customer service. The two times I’ve had to contact the people who host my website, I’ve received immediate response. I’ve never had any problems trying to get access to my site or post an entry, which I cannot say about Diaryland. So for those reasons, I really can’t recommend going to Diaryland for any of you who might not have a diary/blog, but are thinking of starting one.

I’m sure there are other services out there that are pretty good. I haven’t really checked. Upsaid is very good, but they are no longer free. They only cost $2 per month, which is much cheaper than lots of sites, and only a little less than I pay for my server space, which is $3 per month. Upsaid allows lots of different types of files to be uploaded, but there is necessarily a limit on space.

I wanted to tear my hear out trying to install Movable Type, but once I got it running, it was running smoothly. I love it. It’s very easy to use. I like the CSS-rich templates. That makes it easy to change things across multiple pages, which was not true of Upsaid necessarily.

So I guess what I am saying is that this change has been good. I’m really happy here. I can do lots of things with this place if I want to. Or I can just sit here, at my little blog, and be content. It’s whatever I want it to be. And to me, that’s what home should be.

Well, post-planning is over. I still haven’t received a straight answer about why I didn’t get the job I thought I had. I get the distinct feeling I’m being ignored, which of course makes me wonder about some things.

That said, I had a grueling interview with the principal of a private Jewish high school yesterday. It lasted for 2 hours and 45 minutes. It looks as though I am being seriously considered, along with one other person. She seemed very positive — she noted I should have received professional development credit for writing my Beowulf teacher’s guide. I had never thought about that before. Hmm. She liked a lot of the things I said and showed her — student work I’d graded, writing assignment ideas, my two teacher publications. I think it would be a rewarding place to work. And I should probably hear from her early next week. So. There’s that.

I’m very glad to be finished with school. I feel very tired. This worrying about the job search is too much. I’m trying to just do what I need to do and not fret so much. It’s hard.

Tomorrow I have errands to run. Saturday, Sarah and I are going to the Georgia Renaissance Festival. Sunday, I’m resting. I hope.

Someone stole the number for my debit card and has been trying to make charges. Unfortunately, the hapless thief didn’t know he was dealing with my bank account, which was in the hole. Still, there were these little charges — $.50, $.47, $1.08 that my bank was paying, but hitting me with overdraft fees for. The jerk successfully charged about $50 on the card, which was paid by my bank. That was my first clue that something was wrong — I got these overdraft notices in the mail for two charges, but I knew I hadn’t made them (knowing my bank account was in the red). The person in question has just made a charge for about $109 that hasn’t gone through yet. I tried to contact the company whom he charged whatever web services he was buying to, but they are closed on weekends. I hope that will be the end of it. I called the bank, and they shut down that card, so if the pecker tries to charge anything else, it won’t work out. Anyway, it turned out those little charges were for foreign currency conversion. I wish I’d been overseas. I could use a nice vacation like that. Still, it made me think. Why didn’t Bank of America think that was weird and contact me? I know of other banks that will do that. My mother’s does. I am thinking about closing my account with them and setting up shop elsewhere. Not that anyone wouldn’t love to guard over the average $20 I seem to have most of the time, you know.

I still haven’t heard from the people I interviewed with on Tuesday. I sent a follow-up e-mail both to the department head and the principal. The principal didn’t write back, but the dept. head did:

Thanks for the information [my cell phone number]. I hope to be able to get back to you sometime this week. Sometimes it takes way too long to get the information we need from downtown – but I assure you that I’m anxious to follow up! Thanks, again, for your effort to meet so late on a school night – I hope you weren’t too tired this morning.

I am still very nervous. I really want that job. I do have an interview with another school on Wednesday, but it’s too far away, and I don’t really want it. Still, if they offer me a contract, and I haven’t heard from my first choice, I could use it as leverage to get them to make an offer.

Sarah spent a long weekend with her dad in Panama City, Fl. I know she enjoyed herself. I am anxious to see her later today so she can tell me all about it.

This is an entry from my old diary. I always liked this one.

Goals. My husband says he hates when people ask the old question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I used to ask my students to write an essay describing their lives at the ages of 15, 25, 35, 55, and 75. Each age was a paragraph – your standard five-paragraph essay. I often got some remarkable stuff. I learned what their dreams were. Where they wanted to be at the age of 75.

When I’m 75, I would like to have lived my life. I suppose one of the reasons I got divorced [from my first husband] was that part of me was empty inside and knew there was more to love than that. And I was right. I would like to just take life by the horns and do some things I’ve always wanted to do. I am taking steps to do that, but some of the things I want to do require money (alas), so they’ll have to wait.
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