kelsey’s “what’s so great about wordpress” blog

January 23, 2009

Waffle’s World? August 16, 2006

I don’t get this whole WordPress phenomenon. Ok, so you can have a blog. So? What have all of you had for the past however long you’ve been blogging? I thought you all had blogs then, too. Maybe not.

But since I’m here, I think I’ll give you a little post. Of course I don’t have anything cool to say, as usual, and this is about the 80th new url I’ve given you for my website. Don’t worry, this is not anything permanent… unless I give up on blogspot. I guess we’ll have to see if Amy can access wordpress in China.

I’ve recently decided that being in IT (IS, whatever you want to call it) at a large company has its ups and downs. One of the ups is that there are a lot of different areas you can work in. Or so I’ve heard. I was just assigned to an area, but I think there will be opportunities for me to move around eventually. Another up for a “global company” is that you can work with people all around the world. And sometimes even attempt to speak Spanish or the language of your choice.

The downs are things like silly processes for things and crazy documentation and authorization at 50 levels. Another down would be that because the company is so big, a small group of people can’t be in charge of everything, so in a tech support role (me), you often feel like you’re bouncing people around all over the place, just trying to find the root of the problem and then find someone who can solve it. It doesn’t necessarily help if you outsource your first-level support to a country that doesn’t speak English as its native language. At least it keeps it interesting.

One thing that I will give WordPress credit for — it says “howdy, hillkels” at the top. I like that. A nice personal touch.

Cats. Cats can entertain and drive you crazy all in the same day. All in the same hour, actually. All in the same minute! Waffles, in fact, can tear up the carpet one second, and then jump at his own shadow the next minute, and it’s really funny, and I stop getting upset about the carpet bits laying around by the door. For practical reasons, I had to get some plastic stuff to put over the carpet in front of the door, and now he CAN’T scratch. But if he figures out a way, somehow, as sneaky as he is, I might just have to get him declawed. That’s right, I said it. I’m told laser-declawing is pretty humane, and that it doesn’t hurt the cats too much, but I’d still like to let Waffles keep his claws if I can.

I’ve finally figured out how to make some good bubble tea. I’m still not sure if I have it quite right, but it does help to have big, nice bubbles. Last night, which was my first success case, I also used milk tea as the base. Milk tea and milk. Milk tea is suprisingly ok tasting as far as tea goes, and it goes well with the flavoring, it seems. I used coconut last night, and I’m going to have to try out my favorite (taro) soon, maybe even today.

I opted out of the 22 mile bike ride for my 22nd birthday. Somehow Mancino’s and a movie just sounded a lot better. I like to use the excuse that Sarah said she’d quite possibly be stopping by and I don’t want to be gone when she comes, but there’s a good possibility that it’s just an excuse. The other excuse is that it’s my birthday, and who wants to ride their bike 22 miles on their birthday? I mean who besides crazy people like that guy who kept winning all the Tour de France’s. Why can’t I think of his name? Lance Armstrong. And maybe Steve Cupery. Possibly Brandon Baier. All these crazy people that average large numbers of miles on a “short” bike ride.

What are the odds of getting 2 phone calls at the same time? I was beginning to think that maybe it was 9:00 and people were getting free minutes, but instead it’s only 8:44 and two (slash 3, since there were 2 people calling from one phone) called to wish me happy birthday.  So unfortunately I missed a call from Sunshine and Sparky, but it left me with a good voice mail!  More calls are welcome, tonight (although I doubt you’re reading this tonight), tomorrow night, or any other night of the week.  Yes, that’s right, Kelsey E. Hill said calls are welcome.  I don’t get a lot of human interaction after work.  Waffles is cool and all, but he only meows and squeaks.  More squeaking than meowing.

Well, I think I’m done here.  Now I’ll have to decide whether to continue with Blogspot or switch over to WordPress.  Hasta la pasta!

Waffle’s world? At wordpress.com? August 15, 2006

An excerpt from my new WordPress blog:

I don’t get this whole WordPress phenomenon. Ok, so you can have a blog. So? What have all of you had for the past however long you’ve been blogging? I thought you all had blogs then, too. Maybe not.

But since I’m here, I think I’ll give you a little post. Of course I don’t have anything cool to say, as usual, and this is about the 80th new url I’ve given you for my website. Don’t worry, this is not anything permanent… unless I give up on blogspot. I guess we’ll have to see if Amy can access wordpress in China….

Go to http://kelseyhill.wordpress.com to read more.

Don’t worry, wordpress isn’t necessarily a permanent thing, so don’t whip out a new bookmark/favorite yet.

Being a girl… August 9, 2006

I hate being a girl sometimes. Like when it’s time to figure out what you’re going to wear to a friend’s wedding that you suddenly found out you’re going to be in. A guy just picks out a nice shirt and a clean pair of pants… a girl has to wear a dress. Yuck. Or a skirt, I suppose, but it has to look nice and match the shirt, which doesn’t happen often for me.

I went dress shopping tonight, for the 2nd time. I went this past weekend, too, when I found out I was going to be reading in the wedding, but I didn’t have any luck. This time I headed out again, with a time limit of about an hour before things started to close. I hit up Younkers first… it’s been a long time since I’ve been in Younkers. I found a black dress on the sale rack, but is it good to wear a black dress to a wedding? Plus, I have to wear a shirt over it because of the cut. It’s hard to explain. Anyway, it didn’t cost too much, but I’m not sure if I like it or not. Then I went to Fashion Bug, which has surprisingly fewer dresses than I remembered. It’s been a long time since I’ve been there, too. I found another dress, even more on sale, but I tried it on again when I got home, and I’m not sure I like it. So then I tried on the dress I wore to Joe’s wedding last summer and almost think I like it the best, which means all my shopping was for naught.

Gosh, I just want to wear a shirt and pants. Blast…

Smoking while biking August 7, 2006

I’m not the one who’s doing this smoking while biking thing, but I passed a guy on Saturday who was puffing on his cigarette while he pedaled away. It seems counterproductive, but hey what do I know. Another guy (today) was smoking while rollerblading. Maybe it’s the new thing, but I’ve never been up on what’s cool, so I don’t think I’m going to start now.

Do you associate cars with people, or maybe it’s people with cars? I was thinking about it while riding my bike to the Tridge and watching cars go by. Certain cars remind me of certain people. I see a Focus, I think Bizzle. I see an Escape, I think of Melissa. But it’s not just ownership… I see a big truck, and I think Bizzle again, even though she doesn’t own one (yet). I’m also not very good at sticking with one particular make/model/whatever it’s called. For instance, sometimes all SUVs look the same to me. Ok, maybe not all, but a few. So I associate ALL of those cars with whoever I would have associated with the one type of SUV. Anyway, this sounded a lot more insightful in my head on the way to the Tridge.

I got nothing else for you now.

Coming to you from un-neverland, where you actually have to grow up August 4, 2006

Hey people, what’s up? Argh, I don’t even know what to write. I guess I should just tell you a little bit of what I’ve been up to, whether you really care to hear it or not. Of course you’ve already seen my pictures of my cat and of my apartment. Or maybe you haven’t, but they’re right below this post and probably more exciting than this post will be.

Man, now I’m one of those people that just goes to work every day, doesn’t do much at night… I’m going to be one of those people that never changes their away messages because all they ever do is go to work. You know, those people that put up a message like “Hi ho, it’s off to work we go” and it stays up for a week. Or “At work” (i.e. I’m boring) or “Another day, another dollar” or some such boring message that just sits there for days and days. I watched “Finding Neverland” the other day, and it made me want to find Neverland. Those lucky lost boys, never getting older, never growing up, never getting an 8 to 5 job, never having to pay bills.

Ok, gotta think positively, since this is just the beginning of a long career of an 8 to 5 job and growing up and paying bills. Actually, things are pretty positive right now. I just started my job this week after my extra long vacation. I’m on the Dow Workstation team, which is pretty much in charge of everything that goes into a Dow computer. Everyone at Dow uses the same laptop, with the same programs, etc. I mean, some people install more programs than others from the list, and people have slightly different configurations, but basically they’re the same, which makes supporting them a lot easier. Especially since those of us supporting have the same workstations, too. And that’s what I’m doing — support.

My first few days were basically training. Monday morning I just showed up at a specified location, not knowing anything about what I was doing. Official orientation lasted until about 11:30, and even throughout that time, all I knew is that I would be in the PSC department. What does that even stand for? Too many acronyms, let me think for a sec. Product Service Center? I’m beginning to think that’s not even the right acronym. Anyway, my supervisor came and met me there, took me to get my badge, etc. He, my team lead, and I ate lunch together in the cafeteria. Then it was time to meet the rest of the group.

There are a couple of people in the group that just joined this summer as well. They, unlike me, did not take a summer long vacation and started soon after graduation, but the point is that they’re my age, which is cool. The guy who did a good majority of my training just started in January, so all three of them have an idea of what I’m going through being new to the team. Blah blah blah, this is not exciting to you, is it?

Waffles is doing well. Everyone always seems to ask me about him. He’s loving the apartment. Ok, fine, so he’s always trying to sneak out, but I’m sure that’s a sign of loving it. I think he just sleeps all day because he spends a good portion of the night trying to wake me up. He also always wants me to play with him when I get back from work. He’s a crazy cat. If you ever want me to pass on a message to him, I will. I mean, really. Every message people give me to pass on, I actually say out loud to the cat. It’s not like there’s anyone else around to look at me crazy when I’m talking to a cat. Just don’t expect much of an answer from him. Sometimes he at least looks at me when I’m talking to him, but mostly it’s a blank stare. Other times he ignores me altogether. Sometimes, if I talk to him when he’s already doing his meow thing, he’ll meow in response, although I don’t know what it means and I don’t really think it’s an actual response to what I’m saying.

That’s all for now. When I get my creative juices flowing someday, I’ll give you something more exciting. Peace out bean sprout.

Waffles (and not the kind you eat with syrup) July 29, 2006

Probably one of the coolest things about my apt in Midland is my cat, Waffles. He came to me by way of my bro Joe, and he survived a trip that including 4 destinations and 2 different vehicles without giving me too much grief. I do have a lot of cat fur in my car, though.

Here are some pictures of the crazy cat:

Back by popular demand July 25, 2006

Ok, the title of this post doesn’t make sense, since I wasn’t gone, but oh well. When have my titles ever made sense?

Oh yeah, it was the whole popular demand thing that made me think of that. People demanded that I post some pictures of my apartment. Actually, it was more like 1 person (maybe 2?) and they asked, not demanded, but demanding sounds better. Anyway, the point is that I’m giving in to these so-called demands and posting some pictures for you RIGHT THIS INSTANT. I took them the first day I moved in (last monday), so it’s changed a little since then, but not a lot. There are less people for sure. And a cat. I’ll have to post some pics of him, too.

Chalso looking a little worn out on the big cool chair that I stole from Amy. As you can see, behind her is my window sill with random pictures Amy decided I needed to have out. And the view through the window is of the ground since I live in the basement. I mean garden level.

This is Amy on the sweet ugly rocking chair. It’s a cool chair — don’t let its ugliness fool you. Note also the tight orange chinese pillows that Amy gave me just for being her sister. I guess that probably makes her cool, eh?

That’s Dad checking out the TV, apparently before the really talkative cable guy stopped by. That’s my $20 garage sale entertainment center, along with a TV provided by the one and only Jason Gaffke. He must be cool, too. Also note the cool llama. He’s from Peru. Again, that was Amy’s decorating, so I’m not sure if it’ll all be that way permanently, but for now I’m too lazy to change much.

That’s my bathroom. Unfortunately you can’t really see the cool towels, but they’re there. I’m still working on getting a shower curtain. Amy gave me half, but I still need the plastic thingy. Hmm, I should get one before I try to take a shower tomorrow. Anyway, I think the bathroom’s a little small, but then again, what do you do in a bathroom that you’d really need a lot of room for? My point exactly. One crazy thing is that the light switch is on the left by the sink instead of under the towels like in my old apartment. It throws me off a lot.

There’s another view of the living room with Chalsie, Mom, and Amy. They (along with my dad and grandparents and later Josh) were all nice enough to help me move in and consolidate all my stuff from 3 different locations. I guess you could say I have a pretty cool family.

And last but not least, there are my grandparents, chillin on a couple of the dining room chairs. Behind them is, surprise surprise, the dining room. It looks quite a bit different now because I have a hutch (with no fancy dishes to put in it) and more chairs. All this cool furniture was donated by my sweet grandparents, including a bedroom set which is not featured in any of the pictures because someone was sleeping in it when I first got out the camera. Oh yeah, there’s Sarah’s room, too, but it’s empty so I didn’t take pictures. And the kitchen. I forgot about that. Ok, so really, this isn’t a good tour of the apartment, but I guess that means you’ll just have to come visit.

I have more exciting things to talk about, but I’m getting tired and I really want to read my book, so I’ll postpone the excitement until a later date (i.e. probably tomorrow). G’nite everyone!

Can’t keep up with all this craziness… July 20, 2006

Wow, I have an apartment now. And a cat. And a cell phone (!). And soon I’ll have a job. When did things start picking up like this?

As you probably know, I’m back from Cleveland. Did I ever tell you about being in Cleveland? It was fun… hanging out with the Benish family. We even got to help paint Rachel’s room and visit an Asian food market. We got some good “ready in 5 minute” bubbles for bubble tea, along with some coconut flavoring. I also found out Will works at a loading dock. At least that’s where I dropped him off for work. Supposedly he’s working in administration at the Cleveland Clinic or something, but I think it’s all a big cover for really just working at a loading dock. Who knows the real story… We also went out for Chinese for dinner one night, where Amy and Rachel attempted to order some things in Chinese and get us some authentic Chinese food. Of course there was more meat than you’d ever get over there and things weren’t exactly the same, but it was all pretty tasty.

After Cleveland we did some stuff. Oh yeah, Friday night I got to hang out a little with Bizzle and Emily. They were in town for the Maritime Festival and they walked up to our house, so we sat on our porch and talked for a while. Heather (from across the street) tried to sneak over and joing us, but I took her home while she whined about wanting to stay outside. Gotta love 5 year olds. On Saturday, we hit up the Maritime Festival for some jet-ski racing action. I like the races where they jump the tires and go up the ramp. We also talked to some people from school that we hadn’t seen in a while… that’s always fun, trying to make small talk. I’m no good at it. An F for me in conversation skills. Our cousins showed up about the time Amy and I decided we needed some slushies, so we ended up getting 8 and carrying them all back to the beach. I had to make Amy start all her sentences with “I’m happy because…” so she wouldn’t be all negative on me. She ended up just complaining anyway, but at least it made us laugh. It was fun seeing the LaValleys again. We watched some more races with them, then headed home for dinner and hanging out before the fireworks. We even got in a couple rousing rounds of 20 questions. Do you realize how hard it is to figure out something like “mario”? “paper” and “a wick” were kind of tough, too. The fireworks were sweet, and I saw even more people I hadn’t seen in a while, along with some I had.

That’s also when I found out that I’ll have a roommate starting in August. Sweet, eh? Sarah’s for sure transferring to SVSU, so she’ll be in the 2nd room at my new apt. I’m pretty excited. We also have a 3rd roommate, in feline form. His name is Waffles. One of Joe’s friends had him but couldn’t take him wherever he was moving, so it was either give him away or put him to sleep. I decided I’d rescue him. He’s a year old, so he’s not quite a kitten anymore, but he’s still pretty cool. And he’s orange.

Ok, I’m getting tired now, so I’m going to end things here for now, but if you want my cell phone number, first you have to give me yours. IM it to me (sekiy82) or email it to me (hillkels@gmail.com) or something. And then maybe (just maybe!) I’ll give you mine.

I burned myself and now it itches July 16, 2006

Hi y’all. No, I have not moved to the South or even visited it recently. That’s just what popped into my head. Scary, isn’t it?

I just wanted to give you a little update of where I really have been and what I’ve really been doing since I last posted… just in case you care and just in case I feel like pressuring someone else to post something on his/her own blog. So let’s see… Last weekend, I helped wire the new church. This guy, Randy, was pretty much in charge and knew what he was doing, and I just assisted and didn’t know what I was doing, but it seems as though most of it will work when we need it to. Hopefully, most of it translates into all of it because I wouldn’t want to make someone do it again. And I just realized that the compost bin is right outside my window, so when the breeze is coming from the north, it smells like rotting food. Coolness.

I don’t remember what I did after working on the church on Saturday… oh, nevermind, my memory has been jogged. Lance invited us over to swim in his pool! I’d never used it before (nor had Amy or Josh, as far as I can tell), but it was a pretty nice experience. Ah yes, the benefits of having friends with pools. Amy’s always into exercise, so we swam some laps, but it’s not quite like back in my days at the IM pool and the CCRB where I could swim miles. Or maybe just one mile. Or a half a mile. Or 2 laps. On Sunday, we got to use a different pool — the Tobey’s. Sarah and I needed to go thru our financial bible study with Mrs. Tobey, but our whole family was invited out to swim/hang out, so Amy and I (and Lance, I think) headed out there, along with two of the MAPS couples. We didn’t even go through our bible study until about 5:40, and then we wanted to leave at 6 to go see Pirates 2, so it was pretty quick, but Sarah and I are fast learners. At least we pretend. Pirates 2 was sweet, but I say even if you know you’re going to have a sequel, you still need to wrap things up a little bit better. I didn’t feel like anything got resolved in this one, but I suppose it’s all part of their crazy money-making scheme.

Monday morning was the most excitement I’ve had in a long time (Note: sarcasm is dripping here) — an eye exam at the eye doctor’s! Yes, fun times were had by all. Actually, I really appreciate my eye doctor because he doesn’t putz around and take forever. He gets right to the point of what you need and gets it for you. They even had my contacts in stock this time! He also seems to be good at “bedside manner” or whatever it’s called when you’re an eye doctor. He talked to Amy about China; he talked to me about U of M, starting a new job, etc. Then he asked if I could help him with a computer issue. At least it was an easy question to answer, but in the future I think I’m going to pretend that my job is something that no one would ever want to ask me about, like cellular molecular biology or chemical engineering or waste management or mortuary science or something. The problem with mortuary science is that if the other person tried to make small talk about it, there’s a good possibility it would be something disturbing and I would pass out and my cover would be blown.

The rest of Monday was uneventful (mostly because I can’t remember what I did), but I do know I burned myself trying to help make lasagna. At least the meal turned out well, and my burn is healing (but itching!). Oh yeah, I also did some “linux speak” to help my dad out over at school. I’m not sure it helped a lot, but it was fun Yes, I just said linux is fun.

On Tuesday, Amy and I decided to make the trip to Cleveland. We had been going back and forth on it for a while, but finally just decided to go. It was a rather unplanned trip, to say the least, but those are the fun kinds. (Planned ones can be fun, too. Pretty much trips are fun.) We called my grandma to see about stopping there, but she wasn’t home and never called us back, so we went to Ann Arbor instead, so I could start the packing-up-my-junk process. I forgot Bizzle had class on different days this term, so she was gone when we got there, but we did get to eat some No Thai, and eventually the Bizzle showed up and we got to talk/hang out for the first time in a while. I also managed to get some stuff packed into the corner of my room, and now our apartment looks even weirder than when Shawsy moved out.

Going to church now, be back later.