The 3rd World Rocker

That’s right, I have been trying to get a website up for the longest time, and now that my music persona is so active =) I decided to get a website up.

Now it cost it about $18 to buy the domain name from GoDaddy, and this is for 2 or 3 years. Now the challenge for me was to get a site up as soon as possible, that will provide as much information as possible.

The first blog I had was good, but if someone wanted to listen to my music, they had to hit the link to my ReverbNation page, if they wanted to see where I’m playing next, they had to click the “Gigs” catagory and look at the latest post, OR navigate through my Reverbnation page…all this is was fine, but I need a more effecient way to do it, and also the cheaper the better.
I looked into it and found that ReverbNation has some very cool widgets, but non were for WordPress, which kind of sucks, because WordPress has some really cool Themes.
NON the less, they had widgets for Blogger.
So I created a free account in blogger, tested out the widgets and it works GREAT!…now s “join the mailing list”, music & gig info are all readily avialbe, and is automatically updated when ever I update my ReverbNation page, its genius.

So all I had to do was log into my GoDaddy account, and forward the domain to the blog. So now anybody could go to Mosno.Net, and get a “website”.
I’ll keep searching and trying out different blog sites until I find one that looks SUPER professional, with cool templates, then I’ll be set. Until then, keep checking www.mosno.net to see how things are looking =)

I just wanted to post what I did in case there are any bands out there having a hard time putting a website together. Aside from buying the domain, all the other sites are free =)

Take care everyone, have a safe holiday.
Salaam.

The good news is there is no mosno in Blogspot, which means I was able to get mosno.blogspot.com…nothing is there yet except some test posts.
More good news, the widgets from ReverbNation are “formated” for Blogger, which means I could coustomize it to be almost like a real site with a few tweaks here and there.

The bad news: Reverbnation is actually down at the moment, so I’m not able to actualy test the widgets before I reforward my domain name to it.
More bad news, blogger doesn’t have as many cool themes as WordPress does =(. so it make end up looking kind of “cheesy”, until I find some kind of cool downloadable theme for it.

So make sure to keep checking www.mosno.net and soon enough it will be getting a facelift.
I’ll keep you posted.

Salaam.

So we are actually off tomorrow at work, but I’ll be coming in for a couple of hours to take care of some things. My Centro should be arriving in the mail today, I keep tracking it on the FedEx site, and its in Maryland now..eeeek, so exciting. I only hope that the Verizon store will be open tomorrow so that I could get my information transfered, eeeeeek so exciting.

Last night show went really well, there was a couple sitting next to the “stage” who were really into the music, after my set the lady came up to me to told me that she was half Greek, so she totally dug the whole “middle-eastern” vibe to the music. Sweet. Her mail friend also loved the fusion, he told me that its something new and pleasant. Through out the night I saw them point and talk about about to eachother, glad I left such a nice impression. Sweeeet.
This is encouraging me to get new cards made with “www.mOsno.net” on them to give out, also I need to start a mailing list.
I do have a show tomorrow at Joe Squared, that place is usually packed on Friday nights, I think I’ll print a sheet out and have people give me their emails.

Step by step, I’m almost there, I think I’m completely relying on Digital format, I think I might need to do some actually “physical” labor =)

I’ll be hitting the JaMas open mic tonight, and play my Michael Jackson cover, they should be pleasantly surprised (at least those who didn’t hear it Saturday) but it has changed since then to, so hopefully it’ll be a nice “mix” for the ones that HAVE heard it =)

Later my friends.
Salaam.

I walked over to the Verizon Wireless store that’s next to my work and made the plunge, that’s right! =)
I upgraded my phone to the Palm Centro, they will be mailing it to me, because they didn’t have it in the store =(, and upgraded my plan to include checking emails, w00t. So Insha Allah (God Willing), I will be PDA Cellaphied by the weekend, yay. Very exciting. I love getting new gadgets, its such a rush, like writing a new song =)

I’m also in the market for a video recording device, so far The Flip is running at #1, it has good reviews and does what I need, and is nicely priced. The reason I’m getting one is to start adding videos on YouTube, and get my face out there..now that I have the time and I can actually do so.

Also it might help with gigs, have a live clip, send a live clip. I hear that in order to get a spot on the Millennium Stage in the Kennedy Center you would have to send them a video of you performing live..so a good archive of such events would come in handy. I’m also thinking “bonus” material for my CD (when I actually start making it) =).

In other news,
the AshPad is STILL without a couch =), but I can’t complain, all the toys are here, and more are on the way.

Take care my good friends.
Salaam.

These are so inspiring, since I’ve finally started going back to the gym. Two articles in the Wired’s blogs relating to how technology can help track your progress, and motivate you =)

The Algorithmic Workout.

The Nike Experiment.

Check’em out when you get a chance.
Salaam.

Wow, today has been CRAZY!! they switched out the phone system during the weekend, and it affected programs we didn’t think of. So needless to say that we were buried in phone calls, luckily it has slowed down al-hamdulillah.

I got an email to check my calendar at work, and it seems that tomorrow is the IS department picnic, so they will shut down the HelpDesk for 2 hours, as we run around outside. Wow, that’s actually pretty cool, looking forward to it, should be fun.

Also a websit for my stage persona is up, wohoo!, it was quick non-pro way, but at least something is up for people to see you know =). You can all check it out at www.mosno.net. There you will find links to all my other mOsno accounts that I’ve created, like twitter, uStream, & YouTube. I’m trying to get a nice little camera to do some video to put up on YouTube, and hopefully use it to broadcast shows on my uStream.
I’m very exctied about this.

Well, its back to work for me.
Take it easy peeps.

Salaam.

Work is going fine, I’m starting to get the hang of how this place. I’ve been pretty pro-active the past few days. On Monday I actually signed up with the gym accross the street from my work, I’m hoping to start getting back into shape. I don’t have an excuse now, and I miss going to gym in general, its awesome =)

Yesterday I installed STEAM on my entertainment box, created my account [BaltiRaf] look me up if your on there, and brought out my USB game controller. One of these days I’m going to start checking out the games, and play some of the demos, and even start getting full games. I really do want to get into the Gaming world, I think I’ll have a lot of fun.

I’m really loving my PC, its multi-purposeness is awesome. I watch my DVDs on it, I catch up on my TV shows through Hulu, and soon, it will be my gaming console as well. And all of this through my 32″ flat screen. All I need now is a couch and a coffee table to set all the little toys on =)

Yesterday was “be lazy” night, so I didn’t go anywhere and caught up on my Planet Earth. I have now only one more disc to watch, and its the “Living Together” disc. Should be intresting to see what kind of advice they have for us. The series is just amazing, not just visually, its like a whole different world out there, so magnificent. I must say that I’m mostly fasinated by the “deep ocean” episode, wow, there are some crazy creatures down there =)

Tonight should be a fun night Insha Allah (God Willing), I get to play Djembe for Sahffi at her show at The Theater Project in Baltimore. Maybe I could get some information to see if they have any musical events that they would need performers for, it would be nice to play in a theater, very rockstar-iesh.

Friday will be AMAZING, I have show with Acacia Sears at TeaVolve in Baltimore. Not only will I get to Djembe for her, but I get to play my own set. Hopefully they will have WiFi, I think 90% of places now do, if that’s the case, I will take my gear to broadcast the evening on my uStream page, so keep an eye out. And for quicker updates check out my twitter page, my Tweet Name is ashAfied.

Have a wonderful rest of week everyone, I hope to see you at a show near you =)
Salaam.