Why I Moved To a Self-Hosted Blogging Platform

I am almost finished setting up this blog and happy to welcome you to my new domain!

Why I Went Self-Hosted?

I felt constrained being on the WordPress.com platform at http://groovygenie.wordpress.com, although it is a simple and easy to use blogging platform. The inability to customise themes or add plugins to WordPress.com really felt punishing and suffocated the geek in me. I had to break free!

Web Analytics is Dope

But most importantly, I would like to deepen my learning in web analytics and the only way to do this is to have control over my blog, this blog. I see this as a worthwhile investment, got to walk the talk, baby!

Vanity is Evil

Then again, a really nice URL to call my own is pretty sweet as well! I am using Host Gator for my hosting needs. Highly recommended by tweeples.

Well, things have been going swimmingly well so far, so if anyone need some pointers on setting up your self-hosted WordPress, I am happy to share! Drop me a mail or tweet me anytime.

So I welcome you to the new A GroovyWeb by Isman Tanuri! Do stick around ya’ll!

Yours sincerely,

The Groove Master

Learning about me

I am currently finishing up on the BA studies, majoring in Marketing Management (I’ve just realised how little they actually teach you in college.) Part of the final dissertation/professional project submission is to assess my learning styles and the personality that comes with this person. Very interesting results. Major points to consider about self:

• I am exceedingly multi-modal, which means I use a complete combination of  visual, aural, kinesthetic and read/write to learn.
• My dominant personality functions are: Extraverted Intuitive and Introverted Feeling. Not bad for this geezer.
• In Belbin’s Team Role Test: I’m a Plant, Specialist and Evaluator Monitor.

Of course, there are dark sides to all of this. You can find out below. Bottomline, with all these tests, I am much better able to judge myself and certainly capitalise on all my strengths and work on those niggling deficiencies. It will help in the long run.

You may also wish to experience the slide set below in its ‘glory’ via .pps.

Goodbye, beloved friend

Dear Dream,

It broke our hearts to see you go, but it hurts us more to see you suffer in silence as your body failed you. You’re off to a better place now.

You were the most gracious cat, affable and unassuming. You were unconditional with your affections for us, and that really set you apart. I still clearly remember the day I found you, scratching the closed door of the downstairs room in the rented apartment we used to live in. What a sweet surprise to find a cat, a ball of friendly fur that greeted me when I opened the door. I remember you were unafraid and gentle and I think we hit it off pretty well. That was 7 years ago. Looking back, I am glad I had asked to be responsible for you from your last owner. Those early months in Petain Rd were perfect for us to get to know each other, short though they may be.

You amazed me. I was on the move and I had to bring you over to the family to assume care for you. But you adapted really well to new surroundings in the family home. And I was really proud of you when you stood up for yourself, in dignified response to the constant playful antics of the little ones at home. You were a good big brother, just as I had expected you to be. Over the years, you were always an important agenda on my visits to the family home, I looked forward to those visits and now I will miss you.

I may have failed in being your caregiver but I hope I had given you an opportunity to be in a really good home in your last years. Space to run free, an abundance of your favourite chicken meals, feline companions and, most importantly, daily love and affection from the family in Pasir Ris. I’ll cherish the persistent memory of you basking in the sun at the front door, ‘regally’ and nonchalantly (notwithstanding the bicycles who were trying to avoid running over you :) Oh and another. Waiting at the dinner table, eyes pleading for chicken bits from our dinner plates. And yet another, of loud meows from the kitchen in the early hours of the morning, perhaps a friendly, daily reminder for us to wake up and seize the day ahead. Those are good memories of you, of a family.

Although I genuinely believe you had lived the full life you deserve in your last years but, belated as it may be, I must truly apologise for not being around enough, dear friend.

As we buried you yesterday at dusk, your still form extremely thin and old, we knew it was the timely release we had wished for you, from the broken body and unrelenting pain. Yet, it is always too soon for someone dear to go away and never to return. Dear friend, you were a part of our lives, a part of this family and we thank you for the many years together.

Dream, gone on 13 July 2009, truly missed and never forgotten…

(image courtesy of ideologi22)

End-note: Dream’s actual age is uncertain although from the vet’s advice, he was probably beyond 16-17 years old, a long time in equivalent cat years to be alive. He lived life fully, ate a fair bit of chicken-in-a can in his days, strode along calmly (never runs!) and had a regular spot under a tree for his naps. Recently, he was not responding to medication any more and his internal organs eventually began to fail. He left us naturally and a dignified end to a wonderful little life.

'Ikea' Trainers by Adidas

Finally decided on a pair of running shoes to replace the old pair (2 years old, a little thin on the soles though still dependable). Running daily in the old pair had been giving me aches on the joints, so hope these new ones can keep the machine working better and recover faster.

Haggard and Shiny, two of a kind

Slinky new!

Thanks, Zulina and cousin, for the generous discount! :)

Bye bye, Google shoes…we’re not destined for each other.

'Google' Shoes

Certainly a current obsession…can’t wait to get my hands on them…

‘Google Shoes’ by Adidas (don’t sue me)

I know, Lauren, these ‘blind’ you, haha

But they’ll make me run faster, like the Wave..

Ps. Thanks, wifey, for being a ‘sporting’ model.