Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Freely Changing - A New Year - A New Look

You probably noticed a rather obvious change to the blog.

Yes! It has a new title and along with it a new URL. The main title of this blog is 2 Live Freely and the new URL is www.2livefreely.com. Now, for my long time readers, it's still going to be the "Living Free" blog. So, don't fear that it's going to change or morph into something so new, different and not fulfilling you won't recognize it. The blog will essentially remain the same.

Here is the official notice:

NOTICE: This blog is now the "2 Live Freely" blog with the URL address www.2livefreely.com  --  Please make note of that for future reference in the event you ever feel you've lost your connection to it.

Blogger has been and continues to be the host platform for this blog and the Blogger URL, www.livingandworkingfree.blogspot.com as well as my own registered domain, www.livingandworkingfree.com will continue to be active for at least the next several months. However, at some time in the future the blogspot URL will be phased out and disappear. The 2livefreely.com URL will become THE official blog address at that time. The livingandworkingfree.com domain may remain active a while longer, however, it, too, will be phased out.

Why Change The Title?

We know change is inevitable in just about everything. It's part of life. When I began this blog on February 6, 2008 with a post titled "Welcome To My World," it was my fourth attempt at blogging. I began with a blog in February 2005, three years earlier. There were two other blog starts, one in 2006 and another in 2007. And to be honest, there have been several other blog start ups since I began this blog.

This blog is approaching it's eighth year in publication in a few weeks. The world has changed. I have changed. This blog has changed.

However, with this specific blog, I was determined to find my "voice" and attempt to say something that was meaningful and would have some impact on other people's minds and lives. I attempted to consolidate into one thought process what I was attempting to say in the earlier blogs. I don't recall how extensive my domain search with Blogger was at the time I started this blog or later for my own registered domain. But, somehow I came up with the livingandworkingfree idea.

The title and the resulting URL were wordy and cumbersome. But, for the time, they worked. Again, inevitably, with the passing of time, I evolved, the blog evolved (and we both continue to evolve) and the "Living Free" concept became the central core of the blog.

Change happens whether we like it or not. So, wouldn't it be great if I could shorten the URL? Could I make it easier to remember and still reflect the actual core concept of the blog?

The Search For A New URL

When you add on the www and the .blogspot.com, it's a total of 37 characters to key in to address this blog. Even if you use the URL without the .blogspot it is still 28 characters. Have you tried to get that many characters on a baseball cap, a tee shirt, a coffee mug or a business card . . . readably? It's just too long for the purpose intended.

So, over the past several years I would do various searches for all kinds of shortened variations on the theme. Livefree or livingfree were my natural choices since that's where the blog evolved to. But nothing with a top level .com domain was available. Apparently, I selected a somewhat popular subject or some people registered the domains I wanted and were sitting on them. I guess they were counting on someone like me coming along and paying hundreds or some kind of four figure amount to acquire one of their URLs.

Finally, as this new year began I had time on my hands. I've been sitting here in sunny California waiting for My McVansion at the "engine hospital" to have a "heart" (engine) transplant, go through rehab and return to me. A perfect time to focus on matters like this.

Again, after hours of contemplating, writing out domain names, checking their availability, clicking on them to see what came up and researching "Whois" files to see who had them registered, I finally settled on 2livefreely.com. It was available and I grabbed it. So, now there are only 19 characters instead of 28 or 37 characters to key in. And, the 19 characters will fit better on a baseball cap, tee shirt, mug and business card. Oh yeah, and they express in one digit and two words what the blog is about.

Is this the ultimate URL and title I would have chosen? Probably not. But, I've lived with it for a little while and become comfortable with it. Of course, I welcome your comments on the new title and URL. And, I'm planning to continue using the "Living Free in an Unfree World" concept as the subtitle. So, if you choose, as I do, to continue referring to it as the "Living Free" blog, that's just fine.

Facelifting And Upgrading The Site

The other thing this "downtime," waiting for My McVansion, has allowed me to do is to gain some valuable insights from fellow blogger, Internet marketer, soon to be another full-time "vandweller" (with his better half, Sharon) and friend, John Abert of Cherokee Village, Arkansas, www.incargonito.blogspot.com. With his input and time to dig in and do more research, I've found the paths to not only do a serious facelift on the blog, but upgrade much of it's functionality.

So, over the next several days, weeks and possibly a month or two, you'll see changes, that should really spiff up the overall appearance and appeal of the 2 Live Freely site. But, even more importantly, they will also make it much more user friendly and efficient to navigate. So, keep your eyes open and please send me your comments and thoughts.

A Quote

The other day, I was emailing back and forth with an old college friend. Greg Cordano and I graduated together with the same major, Industrial Arts. Greg had a successful teaching and administration career in public education. He's been a lifelong educator and continues that passion even in retirement. Greg and his wife, Mary, also a retired teacher, have a small educational consulting business helping kids have a more positive educational experience. He sends some of his ideas and concepts past me for any insights and suggestions I might have. I'm humbled that he holds me in such high esteem.

He sent one of his daily quotations to his email list a few days ago. It motivated me to make the following statement in response. So, he asked to quote me and he immediately sent it out to his email list. I offer it to you. Do with it what you will, but if you do share it, and I hope you do, please be sure to attribute it to me and, if you would care to, add the new www.2livefreely.com to the attribution. I'd appreciate it.

"Your time equals your life! No time, no life! Waste time, waste life! So, have the time of your life all the time!" Ed Helvey, 2015, www.2livefreely.com   



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