Weekend Debauchery…

I’m back, BITCHES!!  Yes, that’s right I’m back and more FAB than ever!!  This weekend has been quite a whirlwind.  It started off Friday, I was supposed to have a date on Friday night, but I got an email Friday afternoon cancelling.  So, I decided to go to my cousin’s bar and hang with the family (i.e. my brother and cousin).  I was going to go and have a drink, maybe a bite to eat then go home.  Well, no such luck, one of my brother’s friends was there and we had a VERY interesting evening.  There was alcohol flying all around that bar.  It was a lot of fun, the most fun I’ve had in a very long time!!

After a long morning of recovering from the previous nights events, Saturday night, I went to the New Kids on the Block concert.  Not exactly what I have in mind for a Saturday night, but I decided that maybe I needed a change in scenery.  I don’t usually hang out with the girls I went with and I thought it would be a good bonding experience.  Also, the opening act was Natasha Bedingfield and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her!!

I knew there would be a huge amount of cheesiness, let me just say that I was NOT disappointed. 

The Girls loving NKOTB

There was pyrotechnics, synchronized choreography, costume changes just to name a few.  Imagine being in an arena with 20,000 screaming 30 year old women.  Holy Moly!!  Actually, not a pretty sight.  During the concert I was taking notes of all the cheesy things that were going on…

• Flowers on the video screens when they were singing a slow song
• Women in the audience dressing as if it were 1986
• Our Cheesy “I (Heart) NKOTB” t-shirts
• The memorial during the middle of the concert of all their favorite actors that passed, including family members
• Each of the band members got to sing a song all by themselves on stage
• Piano in the middle of floor of the audience
• The costume change into all white outfits, the stage is draped in white drapes, fog covering the stage
• Then they changed again into Celtics jerseys
• Four girl dances in coordinating outfits
• They performed the same dances to the old songs they performed to in the 1980’s
  

  Only at the NKOTB concert!! Is it 1986?

• Oh and the cheesiest moment of the night goes to Jordan.  He was singing a song by himself on stage and he was wearing a white button down shirt and as he was singing the song there was a fan blowing on him from the bottom up.  Then!  All of a sudden!  His shirt flies open and the on-stage camera zooms in on his abs, so his abs are on the large video screens in the arena. 

All in all, I had a great time hanging out with the girls.  It’s a concert that I never thought, in a million years, I would have attended.  It’s something I can say that I have done and check it off of my list of things to do before I die.

 

Oh, P.S., my friend Christy is going to the NKOTB concert at the end of the month.  Christy, I have an “I (heart) NKOTB” t-shirt for you!!  Only worn once!

WordPress vs. Blogger

I started blogging last year, a friend of mine suggested that I start a blog to write about my life because crazy stuff seems to happen to me.  She was blogging on Blogger.com, so I decided to follow on blogger.com as well.  I didn’t do much investigation into the comparison subject.  After about 8 or 9 months of blogging on Blogger.com, I decided to see what other blog hosting sights were out there.  That’s when I found WordPress.com, I fell in love!!  I wasn’t love at first sight, I was very accustomed to Blogger.com, it was my home, and wordpress took some getting used to.  I had lots of questions.  Would my blogs transfer over?  Would I loose them forever?  Finally, I put my nose to the grindstone and started using wordpress.  I am extremely happy in my new home.  I feel like I’ve traded up!!  

However, there are some pros and cons to both sites.  Let me see if I can get them straight.

WordPress Pros: 

(1)  Detailed Dashboard - I love the fact that you blog stats are soo detailed.  You can see how many people viewed your blog as well as your specific posts.

(2)  The Page Layout Options – That was the biggest factor when I went on the hunt for a new blog hosting sight.  I am a woman of many, many moods.  Some days I want my blog to look a specific way, as far as design.  Although, I have yet to change the layout.  I love love love the layout I have right now!! 

(3)  The Detailed Blog Posting Options – I love the fact that you not only have tags, but you can “file your posts” under categories!!

(a)  Media – I like the fact that you can add media (video, audio etc) to your posts.

(b)  The Insert More Option – I really like the fact the you can add a link at the bottom of your post so the viewer can click on it and read more of your post.  A kind of like “after the jump” sort of thing!! 

(c)  Post-Page-Link Option – When you want to write something new, you have the option of writing a new post (like this), a new Page (like a new blog), or a new Link (you can create a new link at the top of you page for your readers to read).  For example, if I want to start to write about fashion or something, I can have a link at the top of my blog stating so and you would click on the link and find posts that are all fashion related. 

(4)  I liked the fact that I could import my posts from blogger.

(5)  I like the fact that the spam comments are easily filtered out.

(6)  WordPress does a better job promoting other wordpress blogs to you.  For example, if you read one of my posts, wordpress will add a list of similar themed posts from other wordpress authors to the bottom of my post.  It’s easy to find other bloggers with similar interests, etc…

WordPress Cons:

(1)  I don’t like the fact that I have a difficult time inserting a picture into a post.  If I have a pic that I have on my computer, I either have to have it hosted on another web site or I can upload it and it can be inserted into my post as a gallery.  I wish I could upload the pic, make it any size I want, and place it where I want.  (Blogger.com is like that)

(2)  I’m having a difficult time getting the time zone correct.  I don’t know a lot about HTML coding, and I can’t figure out how to get the damn thing correct!!  It’s 8:30am and my blog says it’s 1:39pm.  Ugh!!!! 

(3)  I’m having a difficult time trying to add extras to my blog.  If I want to add a list of my favorite books to my blog, it’s a bit difficult to do do.  It takes a lot more figuring out to do it here on wordpress than it did on blogger.

(4)  You can’t change the font of your post.  If I remember correctly, you choose the font on a separate page from where you create your post.  So, if you want a Courier font for this post, I cannot do it from the editing buttons provided.

Blogger Pros:

(1)  Easy to arrange page elements.  They’re all very self-explanatory to the HTML novice. 

(2)  Very easy to create a post and publish.  Easy to insert a pic into your post and place the pic anywhere you want in your post.

(a) Easy to change the font of your post.

(3)  Easy to edit and set-up your profile.  I like that there fields that you fill-in and they post on your profile. 

(4)  If you want to keep in touch with someone specific, there is a field where you can input their email address and every time you publish a new post, they’ll be notified that you have done so.

Blogger Cons:

(1)  Only a few templates to choose from to layout your blog.  Now, I know that you can go and get HTML templates from the Internet and insert them into blogger, but you can loose some of your page widgets if you use a foreign template. 

(2)  The Dashboard is not very detailed.  The wordpress dashboard puts the blogger dashboard to shame!!

(3)  You can’t break up your bog post into 2 pages like you can on wordpress.

(4)  There are just way fewer options on blogger than on wordpress.  I think you can get a more “professional” looking blog on wordpress. 

Conclusion:

I’m happy to be here at wordpress!  I feel that more people are viewing my blog and I enjoy reading other people’s blogs.  My comparisons above are of my opinion.  I’m sure that there are ways to do things that I don’t know how to do, and I hope to learn those.  My opinions may change as I learn to become more HTML savvy.  I look forward to making my blog more pimped out!!  If you have any suggestions, please let me know! 

Thanks for reading!

 

Plan B

As I wrote in an earlier blog, my company is laying off thousands of employees.  I believe the final figure will be about 1.5% of the workforce, but when you work at a company with about a total of 306,000 employees, it’s a lot of people.  That’s the back story.  The front story is this…

On Thursday, we had a departmental meeting where my boss’s boss announced that she was leaving the company, she also announced that one of my boss’s peers is also leaving the company.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am so happy these people are leaving!!!  Waste of space if you ask me!!!  However, I can read the writing on the wall.  When leadership starts vacating it’s time to get your shit together and look for greener pastures.

This is where “Plan B” comes in to play.  It’s been my experience that large corporate environments are NOT for me!!!  But the question is, how do I avoid working in a corporate environment, when I NEED the salary and benefits?  Well, Part 1 of “Plan B” is make my house work for me.  How do you do that, you ask?  Well, my house is configured in such a way that I can rent a portion of it out.  The rental portion would include a private entrance, bedroom, bathroom and large living area.  There is no kitchen, however the rent includes all the utilities, electricity, water, gas, cable and internet.  I think that it’s a pretty good deal!

I put up an add on Craigslist and Myspace.  I’ve gotten a few responses, and today I was supposed to have a showing with Meaghan M at 9 am.  Well, Meaghan never showed.  But we shall press on.

Once, I have Part 1 of “Plan B” in place I can work on Part 2 of “Plan B”, which I believe will be quitting my good for nothing job and doing something like being a barrista at the Starbuck or something.

Product Reviews…

PREM. STRAIGHT LEG JEAN rinse wash
Available in 2 colors $8.98

This weekend I had a chance to check out the Sarah Jessica Parker clothing line Bitten at my local Steve and Barry’s. Let me say, I was impressed. The line is very basic, allowing you to layer several pieces to create a look. I was impressed with the variety of jeans, there were many different washes and style of jeans. All the pieces were priced at $8.98. Although, I didn’t try on any clothes, I’m a bit skeptical about the quality. But what can you expect for $8.98?? I did like the fact there were many basics, of which I am a huge fan!!

DEEP V STRIPED TUNIC SWEATER

purple and navy

Available in 4 colors $8.98