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 Sitting in the bedroom of a cabin amidst the beautiful snow-covered trees of Cypress Hills, with outdoor education students recharging for the day to come of cross-country skiing and quinzhee-building, there I sat… experiencing my first night of #edtech futility and the subsequent anxiety.  Yes, anxiety. In a place like this…
cypress 2016
I attempted to determine a website to purchase a domain name. I looked at GoDaddy, HostGator, amongst others… all at prices well above $10. Driven by a desire to save cash, I hesitated and tabled my decision, seeking support from the #ECI831 Google+ community page. My saviour appeared in the form of Kyle Webb. He provided me with a website at a portion of the cost.
Click. Pay. Done.
Or so I thought.
Whilst awaiting said saviour, I had investigated WordPress… and it seemed very user-friendly! Upon creation of an account there to check things out… I immediately felt bombarded with a new set of questions… how much flexibility do I want with my website, do I just take a free plan, the premium or professional package? Support is better for the higher level packages, and it says “great for pro bloggers”. I have no delusions about the current state of my blogging abilities, they are limited and fresh… but to quell my innate ambition and deep-rooted desire to be great… especially when I had seen a #MLKDay tweet with the quote: “If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.” Maybe I can do both?! Maybe I can BE BOTH?!
Couldn’t decide.
I waited till class.
There I bore witness to the ease of WordPress once more in class Tuesday, January 19th,… and I was a believer, but I thought I needed to create a website first to do this… so I downloaded FileZilla to begin transferring files in order to create the website for my previously purchased domain name… this led to problems with navigating the world of website creation:
FileZilla wouldn’t connect to my new website.
YouTube?

This doesn’t apply to me.
I used the wrong FTP address.
I can’t find the folder to upload files.
It’s named differently for my domain provider.
Do I need to code?
I didn’t take computer science.
I was frustrated.
I spent $7 for nothing!
… maybe I’ll look at WordPress one more time…
Create a blog.
No, I don’t want to purchase a new domain name.
Use a random one.
Not what I want yet.
Try again.
Wait…
What does Domain Mapping mean?
Oh.
Wow.
So with a simple and minor additional purchase, I could forego basic website creation and just link WordPress to my previously purchased domain…
Done.
Anxiety gone.
Just be great, do the small things.
I am great.
Nothing else?

Twitter?
Easy.
Got one.
Anxiety gone.

Is it professional enough?
Maybe?
My picture is a #selfie with an #environmentalscience students at #Wakamow in Moose Jaw.
It isn’t.
I didn’t look Katia or Alec professional.
Am I great?