Katie’s Kibitz

So after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to abandon my domain and move over to here. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of blogger, but it’s free. Additionally, I can’t seem to get ahold of the person who set up WordPress for me, so I can’t get it the updates that it so desperately needs (something I might be able to do if I had the password for the MySQL database…). So I’ll make the switch. My domain wasn’t hugely expensive, but I’m just tired of paying for stuff on the web that I can get for free (though I will continue to pay for my primary email address(es)).

What this does mean is that all my posts from www.katieweidmann.com are lost. Well, not lost, because I spent a lot of time backing them up, but because it’s an old version, I couldn’t actually export it. So I have the posts, but I wasn’t willing to do the work to get the comments on those posts. I might still try to snag some of the comments before it all dies in September, but if not, those will be gone forever. But life goes on. And in time I might post the archives, but I have to do them by hand, so don’t hold your breath.

Yup…here we are…

http://www.katieskibitz.blogspot.com/

I know I haven’t blogged much lately, and I have been back in Eugene and on a regular internet connection for 2 weeks now, but I’m struggling. In large part I’m struggling because this thing does cost me money each year. Not a lot, but more than I’m willing to spend, and especially since very few people read this. I know, because I’ll ask people to comment (they are enabled again), and they don’t.

So my struggle is this. I want to keep my blog, but I don’t want to feel financially obligated to write often (which I do here, even though I don’t write often) if no one is reading it. Sorry, parents and partners don’t really count—I talk to you regularly. I’m looking at moving over to Blogger, which is part of Google, it’s not too shabby, and it’s free. The downside is that I can’t seem to import my WordPress stuff. There are instructions to do so, and that’s great, but there are no actual “import” buttons. Making it impossible to do so.

I want to keep and archive all my past posts, but to do so I must either keep paying a company to host this dealio, or I have to copy something like 265 posts by hand. Not so fun sounding, that one. But then neither is spending the money. So we’ll see.

In short, I’m not blogging right now because I have to make a decision, and if that decision is to import it all by hand (and it’s leaning that way), then I don’t wish to generate more posts that I have to move. But if/when I move, I’ll make sure there is a link posted, and I’ll make sure it’s there for at least a month. I don’t think this expires until October, so I still have a bit of time.

I did actually email this out to a few people, so I apologize if you’ve read this twice.

So here’s a funny vignette for you all. Or not. And a note for all you potential bureaucrats—on the job injuries involve a lot of paperwork—even more if you have to go to the hospital (I did not).

It’s a little hard to describe the room I was working in today, but instead of it having nice hanging curtains like we’re all used to, the curtains are attached to frames that swing out from the windows when you want light. These frames are made of wrought iron in this case. I, on the other hand, am made of flesh and bone. And blood. A lot of that. Well, a little less now.

I was mopping part of the floor by hand, and because we had vacuums plugged into all the outlets in the room so we could hoover everything down, we actually had the curtains open so we could see. Laurel will know how much of a rarity this is in a house museum. Unfortunately, the frame was open right above my head, so when I went to stand up, I brained myself on the frame. I sat down really rather abruptly, and grabbed my head. Eventually, Jon (another intern) asked what happened, and if I’d be ok. I said yes, but wanted to put my Nalgene bottle on my head for a bit first, so the swelling wouldn’t be so bad (because it’s rather toasty here, I freeze my bottle the night before—another note: don’t overfill a Nalgene or strange quasi-molecular things can happen to the bottle).

This turned out to be a good idea, as it put me next to the bathroom in that section of the building (unfunctioning, but it did have a mirror). I had a bandana on, as my hair is now chin-length and doesn’t pull back very well, and I noticed that my white bandana had a not small red patch on it. Then I really freaked out–a bruised cranium is a bit sore, but a bleeding one is bad news. So I rather abruptly went to our office (Jon offered to drive me, but turns out he couldn’t have, since the little vehicle we use was by the office, which is only about 50 meters away). Beth the amazing office goddess (she’s a Park Ranger) found me gauze, and I grabbed a comb so I could look at the cut—and clean the blood out of my hair. Yeah. It bled for like an hour. Not hugely, after a time, but head wounds do that. And it turns out I whacked myself on the corner of the wrought iron, since the cut is only like 3 millimeters long. But damn it hurts. And it’s probably bleeding again this evening, since I’ve been poking at it.

The worst part of all of this though? The fact that I had to fill out paperwork. Actually, the fact that Beth had to call HR to find the paperwork, since the easy online filing system sucks, that Jon had to fill out the witness portion, and that a supervisor had to fill out a really long portion. Then we all sign, I get a copy, Beth gets a copy, HR gets a copy, and probably some dude named Joe-Bob the way this is going. And this is just for record keeping—if I were actually going to the hospital for stitches there’d be like 20 pages more of work to fill out. So I decided that I don’t need a tetanus shot. I think I got one a few years ago. Oh well, if I start exhibiting signs, I’ll go in to Pahrump. Yes, that is the name of the closest town. Pahrump Nevada. Gee-fucking-haw.

Not going to post much because it’s hot and the internet here is SLOW. But I made it safe to Death Valley, and we’ve started work. The work is hard but fun in a weird way—we are, afterall, glorified maids—but it’s nice to know that I have some killer new stuff to put on my resume. W00t.

We went camping last night, and hiking today. I didn’t make it to the top of Telescope Peak, which is the higest point in Death Valley (a little over 11k feet), but I was still up nice and high, and I’ve also been to Badwater (that was last Monday) which is the lowest point in North America.

Yes, it is hot here. No, it is not humid. Yes, hot winds suck. But it is pretty awesome here, minus the total lack of communications technology and sushil And trees. But I’m really glad I’m doing this.

Right, back to taking care of shit before my battery dies on Jeffrey. Joy.

I’m off to Death Valley and the land of no internet and no cell phones. I’m hoping to have occasional internet (as in when I go to the village that has the wireless connection), but I can’t count on it til I see it. So there probably won’t be much of the posting until I return on 6 July.

So basically, business as usual.

Take care all you lovely peoples

There’s a lot, both good and bad, to be said about California, but today it’s good. The California State Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage, citing that domestic partnerships are not an equal substitute for marriage. Admittedly, there are probably better articles on it, but read a pretty short Yahoo! article on it here.

It’s May 13th, and I haven’t posted since April 27th. So I am posting. I don’t have much to say, but that doesn’t usually stop me. For your reading pleasure this time, I’ll link you over to Stu’s blog. In particular, this entry. Yes, I am the person who posted the first comment. I have since read the article/piece, and it was interesting. A bit harsh, but not necessarily inaccurate. The link to Gaiman’s “The Problem with Susan” is also in Stu’s blog, and I encourage you to read it. It isn’t very long; only a few pages I believe.

In other news, there’s something about fencers. For those who don’t know, when I first moved to England, I overheard two other fencers talking at the pub one day. One was from Scotland (Stu, as a matter of fact), and the other from Germany—hence the moniker of German Danny. They were discussing a movie called The Gamers. So I mentioned that I’d been a part of the company who made it. And was even in it, playing the pivotal role of a dead body (Nimble’s Sister). Well in odd déjà vu fashion this is now happening again. I went over to Dylan’s place a few weeks ago, and we got talking about gaming. I asked if he’d seen The Gamers and he said no, but that he had heard of it. So I lent him my copy last week, and AJ, another fencer, saw it and started laughing and mocking us. Mostly because it’s fun to mock gamers (I think he is one), and so I asked if he had seen the movie. Lo and behold, he had. So I told him who I was, and similar to Adam, German Danny, and Stu, I got the reaction “Wow!! I know a movie star!”. I dunno what it is about fencers, but it is comforting to know that wherever I go, I meet strangers (who become friends) who’ve seen the movie without having it forced upon them by Dead Gentlemen.

Hey, at least I’m famous somewhere

I love that line. Because when the average high temperature is around 107º F /42º C, it doesn’t much matter if it’s humid or not. It’s hot. Real hot. And even if the average low temperature is 78º F / 26º C, it’s still basically a moot point.

I bring this up because those are the average highs and lows in Death Valley for the month of June. This being relevant as I’ll be in Death Valley for the month of June and first week of July. I was offered and accepted a 5 week internship (paid) at Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley National Park. It’s an annual cleaning/maintenance/curatorial/conservation thing, so it should be a lot of fun and good experience, if freakishly hot. I’m excited about the work, but a bit freaked out at being without cell phone service (yeah, loads of towers in the middle of nowhere) and very probably being without regular internet. One of the housing sites does have wireless internet, but they’re not real sure that’s where we’ll be living—in fact, we probably won’t be there. So hopefully one of the other interns, who will have a car (I’m flying into Vegas) will be willing to take me over to the other site (a 25 minute drive) a few times a week. Since that’s where the pool and the fitness centre and the internet are, I’m hopeful. And at least 2 interns will cars. And I’m older than all of them (they’re undergrads), so hopefully they’ll find me mature and trustworthy, and be willing to lend me a car if nothing else. For I can’t do without communicating with Adam for 5 weeks, or without playing Kingdom of Loathing (yes, I do rank an online game nearly as high as my boyfriend).

It should be an interesting experience, and certainly good for my CV. I’m also hoping that I can get a new, more recent reference out of the deal. But if nothing else, working for the National Park Service is never a bad thing.

Not so much like the movie, though. Which I don’t remember much about, but I know I saw.

Anyways, I’ve got a new gig going on. It doesn’t pay, but it is good experience, so yay me! Every Tuesday morning (I started this week), I haul my buns out of bed at about 5am, drive over to Greenhill Humane Society, let myself into a dark but not too quiet kennel, grab a dog and the dog’s requisite paperwork, throw the dog in my car and hope it doesn’t have an accident, and then take it over to KEZI’s news studio (no link, because their website is horrid). Then I go on air with the dog to present Greenhill’s Pet of the Week. With KEZI, it’s always a dog, though that’s not the case with all the other news agencies. One of the biggest reasons I’m doing the KEZI gig is because no one is willing to go on air. Don’t get me wrong—staff from Greenhill have done so, but it’s not really the kennel staff’s job. So they asked the volunteers for help, and I was either the only one to step up, or the most willing sounding. I’ve carefully avoided asking which one.

This isn’t my fav thing to be doing of all time, between getting up at 5am and driving all over town, but it’s kinda cool in other ways. I like getting to see the news live while I’m on set (to be fair, if I’m in the studio for 10 minutes before being on camera, that’s a long time), but it’s also just kinda nifty to watch the weatherman (who also interviews me) wave his arms around over a blank wall. Addtionally, it’s really good for the dogs and Greenhill, as it maintains awareness and hopefully will get people in to adopt pets. And it is wicked good experience, because it not only shows that I’m willing to interact with the media and go on camera (hey, a LOT of people aren’t), but it will also show that I’m fairly poised and comfortable doing it. And hopefully I’ll get better in the coming weeks.

So yes, that was my Tuesday morning. I might even say to go ahead and find the clip online, but I doubt you can. KEZI’s website sucks, because you can’t search it (must be the only site left on the planet that you can’t search), and they don’t really update the video clips that often. Hell, I couldn’t even find the news anchors or reporters on the site.

I should, if I get around to it, have a series of posts to post. I have to write them first, but there are ideas floating around. Unless I cover them here and now first. Yes.

As a side note, over the last 4 days, I watched the extended versions of Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, and Return of the King. So please ignore any Rohan theme you may hear me humming.

I have made it to and from Yorkshire safely. Not sanely, perhaps, but safely. I apologize for not posting whilst there, but I didn’t bring Jeffrey with me (I love him, but what’s the point of a laptop that has about half an hour battery life?), and I just couldn’t be arsed to log in on Adam’s computer. The general consensus on my trip—besides it not being long enough—is that SFO sucks as an airport. On the flight out, I only had about 30 minutes in San Francisco for my connection, which is totally cool, except I had to go through security to get there, or wait an undefined amount of time for a train that would bypass it. To be fair, I did ask the guy when the train would be around next, but it was like talking to Manuel. So I sprinted through the airport so as to get in line to get on the plane. But I and my luggage made it to Heathrow, and then from good ol’ Heathrow on up to Manchester. I would like to point out that Heathrow staff lie, and there is no Pret a Manger in Terminal 3 (this was on my flight back. I’m still pissed—3 weeks in England and I never once got to eat a nummy Pret sandwich or Caramel Crunch Cheesecake…I miss Prets).

Anyways, Manchester Airport is under construction (like the rest of the damn country), making it worse, but to get to the train station in the airport I think I had to walk like 5 miles. But I did get a train to Huddersfield immediately, which rocked. And I was even able to charge my phone up a bit so I could message Adam and tell him I was on my way. Of course my phone finished crapping out (the battery is totally gone now, as well as the ability for others to hear me speak) about a week later, but it mostly served its purpose. I decided to not buy a new one, because I just couldn’t justify the money.

The only other highlights of the actual travelling are that I saw Juno on the flight over, which I loved—Ellen Page (use the previous link) was AMAZING, and I just found the movie to be honest and real. And very funny. Definitely a best picture and actress nominee. I also watched Dan in Real Life, which was cute and nice, but nothing like Juno. But Steve Carell (again, previous link) is always worth watching. Funny, but genuine. On the way back I caught Enchanted, which was kinda cute, but nothing special. However, I was really sad that they made absolutely no use of Idina Menzel’s amazing voice. How a Tony Award winner isn’t used in a singing role is beyond me, especially when she’s got a set of lungs like that. Other than that, I caught National Treasure: Book of Secrets which wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Lowered expectations and such. Though I did actually like it more than the first one. Quite a lot more. But then, that’s not saying much. I also caught bits and pieces of Persepolis. I wish I had seen more, as the bits I caught were superb (I actually dozed for about half an hour). I can see why it was nominated for Best Animated, and it was a really enthralling tale about a girl growing up in Iran during the revolution. It did draw me in, but so did the notion of trying to sleep for a bit of my 10.5 hour flight. Especially as I was in transit for a total of 26 hours (from leaving Adam’s house at 6:45am UK time to arriving home at 12:45am Oregon time…if you’re confused post a comment and I’ll try to explain it).

Right, now it is time for bed. I’m actually trying to make use of my jet lag (very mild, actually), to start getting up earlier. It’s easier when you pass out at 11pm.