Despite my apprehensions about over-sharing via the interweb, I’m launching this website in anticipation of the Toronto premiere of Bounty Hunters (aka Bail Enforcers) to share some info about my acting work, as well as providing an outlet for my recent obsession with pole – dance, fitness, and aerial tricks… not stripping. ‘Cause that’d be an over-share.
Before I could dive in though, I had to check with tech guru, Andrew Currie, aka Asiansploitation’s Director, for advice. My initial intention was to host a website on WordPress because I had become familiar with their template, Vigilance by The Theme Foundry, throughout my overhaul of Asiansploitation’s website, so I opened a free account thinking it’d be handy to buy my domain name from WordPress for $17/yr. But my frugal nature dictated that I wait for the guru’s advice before spending any money. Thanks goes out to my mother for making me a tight-ass.
Sure enough, the guru advised that although it may be cheaper to buy the domain and host the site in the same place, it can make it difficult and/or impossible to change hosts without affecting 
your domain. He directed me to Name.com to buy the domain for US$10.99/yr and HostGator.com to buy their Hatchling Plan (good to host only one domain) for US$5.56/mo for 1 year (US$66.72/yr) and then install WordPress to design the site and blog.
Next though, my frugal nature teamed up with my self-diagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder requiring me research further into buying domain names and hosting companies, 
leading me to How To Make A Website – 5 Simple Steps – Free Tutorial, which with the exception of suggesting GoDaddy.com instead of Name.com the advice is the same as Andrew’s.
But what really sealed the deal for Name.com + HostGator vs. WordPress was that using WordPress as my domain registrar and my host would create the same problem from which Asiansploitation’s website suffers – when you navigate through the site the web address remains the same for every page (ie. asiansploitation.com), so if you want to share a specific page, you must use the WordPress web address (ie. asiansploitation.wordpress.com). I have a feeling the work around for this has to do with domain mapping of which I know naught.
So I went ahead with Andrew’s advice, but to my dismay found that I could not delete my WordPress account. *sigh* even though there’s nothing in there, my OCD gives a lurch to think of all the tracks I’ve tread around the internet with these dormant accounts.
And speaking of leaving my tracks around… I didn’t know what domain privacy is, so I didn’t buy it… and after searching for my website on WhoIs.is, I found my information letting it all hang out. *epic sad face* So after some more research regarding the ups and downs of WhoIs Privacy, I 
understand that although it may be in the best interest of a legitimate businesses’ credibility to publish contact information, it can leave the rest of us vulnerable… so for a whopping US$3.99/yr, I bought WhoIs Privacy from Name.com bringing my total for this website to US$81.70/yr.
I thought I was all set to install WordPress and start designing when I got the following email from HostGator:
Hello,
Thank you for your order with HostGator.com!
In order for us to continue with the account setup, please respond to this ticket with a scanned copy of a Photo ID such as as a passport, or drivers license. In addition to a photo ID, please include a scanned copy of the credit card that was used in your account purchase (assuming you purchased a hosting account with a credit card). For security purposes you can mask off all the digits of the card number except for the last 4 digits.
We sincerely appreciate your cooperation here, and look forward to working with you.
Thank you,
HostGator.com Sales Team
Again, googling whether or not this is normal practice – which it is: verification requests are sent to high-risk applicants as well as randomly selected applicants – I called them (toll-free: 1-866-96-GATOR / 1-866-964-2867 or international: 001-713-574-5287) assuming I was the latter until HostGator Service Rep, Orlando, assisted me in realizing I was the former because I had been corresponding from a country other than my billing address. Kudos to HostGator for their very thorough yet friendly security measures.
And now I have a website! Thanks for visiting :)
