Starting tomorrow we’ll go on a short holiday. While are still in Romania we thought it would be interesting to have a car trip in Europe, trying to take things easier and see as much as we can. We planned really loosely this trip and even the word “planned” is used in a quite inappropriate context. We just decided it’s time to go, taking advantage of Bianca’s holiday and of the promised good weather. We do have some cities we want to see and a little bit of a plan, but it can be changed anytime. We plan to see Vienna, Prague, Salzburg, a little bit on Austrian Alps and probably some sea side in Croatia. At best, the holiday will be two weeks but we can go back anytime if we don’t like something.
I’m quite happy with this arrangement. Although I had quite a bit of traveling during the first half of the year, it was on my own, without my family. I visited Thailand, Japan and had a short stop in New Zealand too (ok, that was business related, but still). But since the last trip something started to feel somehow inconsistent and I strongly felt the need to be in a warm and welcoming company. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic to travel on your own and feel independent, autonomous but I just had enough of that. I’m not bored, I just need something else.
I do have some scheduled posts for the next week but again, if I will find something interesting to write while I’m still on the trip, I’ll change the order. All in all, expect a little bit of relaxation here. Maybe it was time for it.
New Domain Name
A few days ago I decided to change the domain name from eDragonu.ro to DragosRoua.com. There were a few reasons for that. First of all, it was this gap between what I wrote in the last year and the old domain name. Edragonu was my first nickname on the internet and I had quite a bit of emotional link to it. But what I wrote in the last year was more related to my real persona. It was time to jump from the nickname level to the real life level.
Second, there was this SEO thing that was bothering me from some time. It seems that Google is limiting the searches to a particular TLD by redirecting the searches to the assigned servers. Let me explain: if you have a domain ending in .ro, even the content is in English, Google will assume it’s a Romanian site and it will include it in the Google.ro cluster. Sometimes, some terms were out of it and had quite a good ranking on other search engines, but seemed there were local search engines too, like Google.in or Google.ie. Changing the domain to .com will most likely put the content in the main English clusters.
I know there will be a time penalty until the new domain will be picking up in the search engines index. When I made the change I had an alexa rank of 75.000 which is something way about average. Right now I’m starting from 24.000.000. 🙂 It’s picking up quite faster though, I think I’ll be back in my old numbers – and even better – anywhere between one and three months. Which is exactly when the holiday will be over and a new season will start.
If you have some bookmarks, feel free to change them to the new domain.
Full Moon
This summer will be really interesting. A few days ago we had a full moon and in the next few weeks will have a solar eclipse (not visible form Romania, only in Asia) and another full moon. These full moons are also mixed with some eclipses. Of course we have full moons every 30 days, but these are specials. There are some interesting astral configurations.
I won’t dive into details here, but these are very special aspects. A lot of violent events took place in the last few weeks and I expect even more to come. I’m not a huge fan, but I can’t but take into account Michael Jackson’s violent death. A few days ago we had an earthquake in Romania, a small one, but we expect replicas. The keyword here is “aggressiveness”. It’s time to release huge energy depots and if you’re not knowing why you’re doing this and try to blame others for your own problems, it will come back in a very strong way. Everything seems to get out of your reach.
This is a time for control and moderation, for clarity and lucidity. Every step made without careful consideration will not only be made in a very aggressive way, but this aggressiveness will come back amplified quite soon, usually to trash something out. There was some turmoil in my neighborhood the other days, involving some big confusions and false problems, but I’m happy I managed to keep my head clear and let the flood of aggressiveness pass me by. I’ve been there before and I know that any aggressive attack made under these circumstances will come back in a very destructive way.
Projects
In the last few weeks I’ve put together some new projects, a few of them not directly related to this blog. The main one is still related to this blog though, and it will be my first commercial product. I can’t say more at this time but most likely it will be in the form of an ebook. I worked pretty hard during the last 5-6 weeks only to realize that the project will be way bigger than I initially thought. Writing a book is something way more difficult than working on a blog. Regardless of the ebook success – which will, of course, be quite visible 🙂 – I’m already getting a lot of good vibes only from working on the book.
The other projects are related to the new business I’ve started in New Zealand, and it will be about iPhone programming. There’s no secret that I am a huge fan of iPhone, even before it was launched. Doing some programming for the platform was just a logical step ahead. Learning Objective C can be frustrating at times, but it’s rewarding. I already have several apps outlined and some of them are even in Alpha stage. I expect to have my first apps in the App Store this fall, but then again, time will tell.
One of the iPhone apps will be directly derived from my Assess – Decide – Do series. It will be a productivity application, what we may call right now a task manager, but it will be built upon the Assess – Decide – Do framework.
It was a busy time, as you can see, and what’s ahead is even more challenging.
Which.
Is something.
I love. 🙂
Where in Romania did you go, other than Bucharest?
Hey Dragos! Congratulations on your new domain – I’m sure this will mark another growth point for your site! For sure, a .com is better than a .ro. I was half expecting that you would make the change sooner or later, and it happened sooner than later which is terrific! 🙂
Yeap, it had to happen, and sooner is better than later. 🙂
Hi Dragos,
Have a great holiday! It really does sound like a wonderful trip!
And I’m looking forward to all that lies ahead here. You’ve been doing some great things, and what’s ahead is just a continuation I’m sure.
.-= Lance´s last blog ..Painting The Masterpiece of Our Life =-.
Hey Lance, thanks for seeing you here again, always a pleasure. The trip is fantastic so far 🙂
Happy vacation and glad that you got your new domain name.
Yeah, at last I pop-up into your blog to place a comment 🙂
.-= Hicham´s last blog ..De-Stereotyping the Image? =-.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Hi Dragos,
Excellent post. For sure switching to .com will improve this website rankings, which is great. I look forward to seeing the first Assess Decide Do iPhone application.
Hey, thanks for stopping by, always a pleasure :-). About that .com thing, I’m getting more and more confirmation that it was a good idea.
Dear Dragos, I think this is my most favorite post of yours. Do you why? I felt more of YOU as a person and who you are. In this post you became SO much more real to me. I like that a LOT. You are a fascinating person. I too have traveled a lot. Some alone and some with. And yes, both have their place so I am glad you are listening to your heart. There is something wonderful in traveling ‘with’ and being able to turn and say, “Did you see that? Wow! Wasn’t that amazing or odd or beautiful or whatever?!!”
Another thing: I realize I don’t know you but when you said things would be more relaxed here and maybe it was time for that anyway. My whole insides jumped with JOY. Somehow it just felt right and time for you to do this. I think it will only INCREASE your readership. We can all read concepts until we are blue in the face, but to read them and sense the soul of the person behind them, to read them them and say, “Wow! He’s really human like me. He feels like me. He’s doing something I’ve been thinking about doing or he’s facing something I’m facing.” All these things cause an immediate bond of kinship or depth and we say, “I want to read more of what this guy has to say.”
And New Zealand is incredible! I’ve been there…AND business or not, all travel is a journey both inward and outward, all an adventure of Life. So I am glad you got to see NZ.
One last thing. I too just finished a book and it’s with my literary agent just about to go out to publishers. And yes, it’s a LOT of work and commitment, but one that most of us who take it on are compelled to do. So to wrap up, I wish you safe and rewarding travels and many good wishes with your book.
It was really good to “see” your spirit in this post. I enjoyed it immensely and hope you do go with the relaxed “version”. You have much to share with the world and it comes from a solid and true heart. I am cheering for you. Robin
.-= Robin Easton´s last blog ..Is Nature Real? =-.
Thank you so much, Robin. Yes, I’m human, as everyone else. As I write this, I am already on the 2nd day of the trip, and I do enjoy every second of it. It’s really nice to feel you so close 🙂