A fellow blogger just got shut down without warning by WordPress.com. This is a service that offers free and paid blog publishing. It is one of the most popular in the world and also right-wing and anti-sex. Our friend Michael from collaredmichael.com found himself cut off with a nasty message replacing his blog.
Our blog was hosted there, too, for a year. It wasn’t cheap. To support our audience and technical needs, we paid $300 a year. We got a couple of warning emails about content. I decided that enough was enough and moved us to a much cheaper and friendlier host.
If you want to start a blog, you can do it for free at wordpress.com. You will also have to deal with censorship and advertising on your site. Blogger.com is the granddaddy of free blog sites. Google owns it. A couple of years ago, Google announced it would not allow adult sites on blogger.com. After a huge outcry on social media, they rescinded that. Some of my favorite blogs are on that service.
After a lot of trial and error, our choice for a host is namecheap.com. This company has been our domain registrar for years. They are staunch defenders of privacy (beware of Godaddy, releasing domain information to the government). They also offer EasyWP, which automatically builds you a WordPress site without the hassle of wordpress.com nanny interference. It’s not free, but it is very cheap.
Setting up a blog is a few clicks away with them. You are reading our site via their EasyWP service. It lets me do the technical tweaks that I need and build a site without any technical knowledge. They also have superb technical support.
If you have something to say and want to join the blogging world, that’s my two-cents worth. Good luck!
dog update
Our sweet golden retriever has been going downhill. She stopped eating much food about a week ago. That tapered off until she stopped eating entirely last Thursday. We took her to the local vet on Friday. It was clear she was in pain. They gave her a shot of pain meds and sent us home. Since she stopped eating, she couldn’t take her seizure and pain pills. She stopped drinking on Friday too.
We tried to make an appointment at an emergency hospital. It is the same place her regular neurologist sees her. They told us they had no capacity. Saturday night, she had a big seizure. Sunday morning, we called again. We were more insistent. The hospital tech said that they could see her only as an outpatient. At least that’s something. We took her, and the vets there decided she needed a feeding tube, blood tests, and treatment for her seizures and pain (Finally!). They also admitted her as an inpatient for 2 to 3 days.
We are very lucky that we have pet medical insurance. It covers 90% of medical costs. The hospital estimates it will cost $4-$6,000 for this stay. I am very happy we bought that insurance. The hospital called the insurance company (Trupanion), and they instantly approved covering the costs. Our real concern is if they can make our pup comfortable and find a way to help her. She’s only nine years old and an important part of our lives. Most of all, we want her to be happy and pain-free.
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