I’m a woman (something people on the Internet seem to miss about 3/4ths of the time).
Now that we have that out of the way, I’m Mika A. Epstein, better known as Ipstenu. I am a gamer-geek Jew who lives in Chicago, works on computers, and has pets. I travel and blog about it, I’m a Libertarian/Green Party/ACLU supporting kind of person, who wants to live as green as I can. That’s why I have a hybrid.
Yes, that picture is me (and it’s the one I use for my avatar pretty much everywhere as I’m a stickler for consistency). I host four websites here. This one (which includes Half-Elf on Tech), Jorja Fox: Online (for the actress Jorja Fox), Consensual Reality (which is used by my BFF) and Your Tax Dollars at Work (someone else who needed hosting space). I’m not looking to host anyone else, but if you happen to know me well enough and have a convincing argument, come over with gluten free, kosher snacks, and we’ll talk.
Contacting Me
I AM NOT A CONSULTANT FOR HIRE!
I know this shocks people, especially the masses who come here from WordPress.org’s forums, but I’m not. I volunteer help there because that’s how I got good at this stuff, it’s how I continue to learn, and I feel that it’s important to help people. But I do draw the line. Here are my rules.
- If you’re NOT a relative, or a good friend, you’re unlikely to get support.
- If you have a complex problem, I’ll probably tell you to hire someone (see my suggestions on who to hire).
- If you think I have an attitude now, don’t bother contacting me.
- If you have a problem with one of my plugins, request help here!
- If you STILL think you need to email me for support, it’ll cost you $125 upfront, via paypal, to get a reply with any help.
This does not mean I don’t provide help with my plugins! Please read How to get help with my plugins. You can also post in the WordPress.org forums and tag the post with ‘ipstenu’. I get updated when that’s done so I’ll come help you out as best I can. Tagging every single post will put you on my shit list, though.
If you really need to hire someone and I’m not taking it for whatever reason, I have a list of people I recommend.
Meeting Me
Lately I’ve gotten questions from Jorja Fans, WordPressers and Twitter peeps about meeting up when they’re in Chicago. 99.999% of the time, I say yes to meet you in a public place, usually coffee (I prefer Caribou), but also I’ve gone to bars, Navy Pier, a baseball game and so on. When you contact me, remember to tell me your online handle so I know who you are! My only ‘rules’ are that I don’t roll on Shabbos (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown) and I only eat Kosher foods.
Contacting Me
Still here? Okay.
