For many years, particularly during my teenage years, I secretly aspired to be like David Lightman. However, considering the pickle he found himself in, I can’t help but feel relieved that my efforts fell short. Besides, Cheyenne Mountain is quite far away. I suspect that WOPR has been replaced by a big ring now, which means I probably never stood a chance anyway.

This focus on grand aspirations led me to believe that WordPress would serve as the permanent home for Dandelion-Utilitarian.com. Its flexibility assured me that I could bend it into anything I envisioned without having to start from scratch, and its widespread popularity meant there were abundant guides and resources available. It represented refined maximalism and was a solid long-term choice.

I don’t naturally gravitate towards maximalism, because of this, I maintained a live mirror of the site’s posts through the Micro.Blog service on the dot net counterpart to my dot com site. Over time, I gradually realised that this straightforward mirror was the page I considered my main site. It offered the flexibility for quick, micro-blog style posts alongside full-length articles and extended musings. Despite its minimalist design, the blend of short and long-form content made it more versatile than the WordPress site.

The other day, I came to the realisation that what I truly desire isn’t flexibility; just a platform where I can post content accompanied by an RSS feed. In an almost whirlwind of activity, I decided to delete the Hetzner server that hosted my WordPress site and upgraded my Micro.blog subscription to the premium tier. This change allowed me to host multiple blogs, which was useful, as I wanted a separate feed for my ‘Niceferatu’ scribblings. The best part? By no longer paying for Hetzner, the upgrade didn’t actually cost me anything extra.

I spent many hours setting up my WordPress site, which taught me a lot about both technology and design. I don’t consider that time wasted, just a little educational project. However, I can’t help but notice that it only took me about 45 minutes in total to configure both of my Micro.blog sites to my liking. With a more minimalistic approach, greater flexibility, and less effort required, it feels like I made the right decision.

I’m excited to share my random thoughts, articles, and longer musings freely from now on. I hope you all don’t mind this change.

Unpacking the opening - For those who didn’t follow the first paragraph it was a reference to the 1983 movie ‘War Games’ which has a nerdy boy named David accidentally get involved in a global crisis with a confused chess playing computer. The computer in question was housed in Cheyenne mountain facility, which was also the setting of the 1997 TV show ‘Stargate: SG1’