I was inspired by @andycarolan@social.lol ’s ‘User Manual’ he posted here a few weeks ago. I started working on one for myself as well, but I prefer to call it my /about page for now. To me, ‘user manual’ sounds too rigid. What are the implications if someone doesn’t follow it?
Notes
Wed, 29 Oct 2025 19:19:58 +0100
We had elections today in the Netherlands. I voted early this morning.
Late this evening, but by tomorrow morning in my case, there should be clarity on the outcome and the potential formations of our new government. While I hope for the best, I do have some anxiety about getting the worst, again.
Mon, 27 Oct 2025 11:30:51 +0100
This is our final and confirmed itinerary for Costa Rica, where we will visit six locations by rental car during a 21-day stay.
| City | Accommodation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose | 1 night at Autentico Hotel | We arrive late Saturday afternoon, making San Jose and the Autentico Hotel our hub for arriving. |
| Tortuguero | 2 nights at Pachira Lodge | Pachira Lodge is located in a remote wildlife haven on Costa Rica’s Caribbean side, accessible only by boat or small plane. Famous for sea turtle nesting, rainforest canals, and guided wildlife tours. |
| Puerto Viejo | 5 nights at Shawandha | Puerto Viejo is our first recovery stop. Known as a relaxed Caribbean beach town with Afro-Caribbean culture, reggae vibes, excellent surfing, and coastal jungle. |
| La Fortuna | 4 nights at Casa del Rio | Every tourist in Costa Rica visits La Fortuna, famous for the Arenal Volcano, hot springs, waterfalls, zip-lining, and outdoor activities. |
| Monteverde | 2 nights in a suite at Koora | Monteverde is celebrated for its cloud forests, with misty hanging bridges, wildlife night walks, and zip-lining. |
| Samara | 7 nights in a private house with Soleil Living | The perfect luxurious end to our trip, with a final week on the Pacific coast, known for surfing, yoga, horseback riding, and stunning sunsets. |
Mon, 27 Oct 2025 08:40:54 +0100
I followed @eivind@social.lol advice and moved my WordPress website (camiel.schoonens.nl) to Pikapod early this morning. I didn’t use any of the paid plugins available, as I expected this to be a relatively easy migration process. In the end, WordPress is a filesystem and a single database, and all site content is saved in the wp-content folder.
@camiel 20 euros per month for WordPress hosting sounds like a lot for a personal website. Are you using any particular plugins or storing a lot of media on your site?
If you consider micro.blog a suitable replacement you could also look into omg.lol’s own weblog-service(http://weblog.lol), or blog tools like Pika(https://pika.page/).
The ways to create and publish a website is vast and very few of them should cost as much as you’re currently using on WordPress hosting. For WordPress you can get a Pikapod for as low as $2 per month, hosted in the EU.
The entire process took me about 15 minutes once I figured out the steps to follow:
- Download the wp-content folder from the old domain host via FTP.
- Export the database as a SQL file.
- Create a WordPress website on Pikapod.
- Upload the wp-content folder via FTP.
- Import the database on Pikapod by uploading the SQL file and overwriting the tables there.
- Update the DNS records to point to Pikapod.
Sun, 26 Oct 2025 10:42:06 +0100
Prices for my private WordPress hosting have gone up to over 250 euros per year. I need to consider a different setup, potentially with Micro.blog, as I find this a little too much for a side project that generates hardly any traffic.