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

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.