New domain

Written on November 17, 2015

If you’re seeing this post, you’re seeing the new domain name I’ve decided to host my site, michaelsoolee.com. I decided to make this change for a few reasons.

My online handle for a few years now has mostly been hellomichaellee. When I first came up with the handle, I thought it was clever and easy to remember. But now I’ve grown tired of it. At the time when I came up with the handle, I was in my 20s, unmarried and didn’t have a family. Now I’m in my 30s, married and I’ve got two kids. I’ve changed.

I wanted a name that would reflect this, I wanted a name that was unique. Being named Michael Lee, I share my name with people across many cultures and races. My story and my character is what makes me unique and I wanted a name that would also reflect this.

Perhaps I’m tired (having two kids is draining) or perhaps just not as clever as I was before but I couldn’t come up with any aliases that I liked. First I tried michaelslee, just using my middle initial (because growing up I didn’t want people knowing my middle name was Soo) but there exists a Michael Slee in this world. Then I tried my first and middle initials and full last name, but that can easily be seen as Ms. Lee. So finally I just settled on trying michaelsoolee, my full name.

I did a quick domain search and the dot com was available, which I thought was pretty cool since it has been forever since I’ve hosted my site on a dot com (thanks slimy domain name squatters of the Internet). I quickly checked the various social media sites I have a presence on and they were available. So I bought the domain and have started to change also my social media accounts.

With this change for using my full name, now I can have a more succinct online presence. Before my domain, michaellee.co and my alias, hellomichaellee wasn’t the same. Now I own the dot com domain and also the handle on the majority of the social media sites I’m actively present on — win! For the few places where I already have the handle michaellee, I’ve decided to stick with it as a sort of, “Ha! I got it first :P”.

With this name change, I’ll also be working on a new site design (you’re probably thinking whoopey-doo another one). This time, I’ll be detailing the process and the decisions I’m making here on the site. I’ve built many things in the past, some of which still exist today and many of which that doesn’t. I’ve never done a good job talking about the process of building and what I’m learning along the way. That’s going to change.

So first, welcome to the new domain. Second, if you’ve been following along me along online for a while, thanks. Thanks for caring enough to lend me your time with the things I share. Lastly, if you’re interested in following along with the new site design or any of the other things I share on this site, would you hop on my email list? I share all my work on my current favorite social media platform, Twitter, but I’ve found that it isn’t really a good place to have conversations. I really enjoy talking to real people and I’ve found that email is the best way. You can sign up by clicking here.

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