by Kat
Justin and I are headed to Montana for our 7th yearly Glacier National Park trip. If I can manage to get my act together, we take off for Helena tomorrow to visit his dad, then head up into the mountains to backpack and hike for a week. It'll be nice to do nothing-- the last few weeks have been a whirlwind. There's a lot I'd like to write about, silly and serious alike, but I simply haven't had the time or the energy.
I will, however, leave you with one juicy tidbit that many of you may have already gleaned from the ether of the Internet: I'm changing jobs. As of the middle of last week, I no longer work for SEOmoz.org. It was a mutual decision... for numerous reasons my heart was no longer in my work, and they recognized that. To be honest, I feel a great sense of relief because I can get back to pursuing journalism, which is where I think I wanted to be in the first place.
If you have any questions about the change, or want to chat, do email me. I'll be out of the loop pretty much til Labor Day, but then it's back to the grind.
Posted on August 22, 2006 @ 12:46 AM |
4 comments
by Kat
( Amsterdam Photos from Fri, Sat, & Sun )All righty-- so it's taken me a while, what with travel and all, to get this last set of photos edited and uploaded, but here they are. And they're worth a look... Saturday was the most scenic day of all, so go see!
Friday I wandered about Amsterdam on my own, mostly to check out the rest of the
sights I'd failed to see so far. I went to the Anne Frank House, which I recommend to anyone who can brave the lines. I only waited half an hour or so from line's end to the door, so it wasn't
that bad. And when I got out, I was hungry and dehydrated so I got the most touristy food I could find-- a
pickled herring sandwich! I know it looks gross, but it really cures what ails ya.
After walking about town, I
biked back to the
Brouwerij T'IJ to pick up some beer. They were having an impromptu (English!) tour so I tagged along to see all the nifty
beer-making machinery, like these
yeast vats. Then I hopped back on my bike and promptly got lost. Well, not really... I got mistirected into a part of town I wouldn't have otherwise seen, down by all the
museums. I sorted myself out and went back up north to catch a
canal boat ride before heading home.
The canal boat ride was a bit of a fiasco. First, because I tried to get a snack before catching the 6PM boat, and the restaurant made me miss it. Second, because this LOUD Chinese man sat next to me and proceeded to shout to his family in Mandarin during the English portion of the narration. I wanted to punch him.
Anyway, did you know that there are over 1,000 bridges in Amsterdam and nearly 100 canals? Well, that's the kind of trivia we learned while boating all over for an hour. We saw a few
unique oddities and admired much of the city's
traditional architecture.
Saturday was the day of my Aunt's performance, a concert featuring a soprano, a pianist, and my aunt on viola. I took the entire morning of the day to bike in the countryside just outside Amsterdam before meeting her in the afternoon on Durgerdam Dike to take tickets for the performance. The bike ride was probably the highlight of my trip because it was so beautiful, warm, and relaxing. I have to recommend you look at the whole
Saturday Gallery to really get a feel for what it was like... miles of
canals and
farmland dotted with
windmills and
livestock. I even came across one
swan family. I took several pictures of them
swimming in the canal before finding another
swan roosting next to the path not 100 meters down. They were rather mild tempered for swans. Even so, they hissed at me a few times and I had to speak gently to calm them.
I met
my aunt on the
Durgerdam Dike to watch
the concert around 3PM. Unfortunately, all the countryside biking, combined with my bugbites, histamines from wine, and general stress, led me to have a pretty severe allergy attack and I was itchy, exhausted, and miserable the rest of the afternoon. After a shower and a nap, we headed out to
Wynand Fockink, one of Amsterdam's legendary schnapps bars. Even though I was well over the duty-free limit on alcohol, of course I had to bring back a delicious bottle of passion fruit
schnapps. Of course, security never even asked!
I went out to the red light district later that night for another walk around of curiosity. If you don't remember
my original post about it, I had a pretty miserable experience and it was kind of a lame way to end a good trip. But overall, I had an amazing time. Hope you enjoyed the photos!
Posted on August 16, 2006 @ 7:46 PM |
1 comments
by Kat
I'm sure Rupert figured out somehow that I was leaving town for San Jose tomorrow and wouldn't be back for a week. Thus, he decided to self-destruct in a spectacular fashion and put us through a harrying trip to the emergency clinic.
The cause? Symptoms similar to his last urinary trouble, but this time with complete blockage, which can be deadly in a matter of hours. He was trying to pee but couldn't at all, even at the prodding and palpitating of the ER doctor. We gave them permission to give him a catheter to check for blockage and the results came back positive-- completely blocked.
The vet returned with an estimate for overnight treatment ranging on the low end from $533 to an exorbitant $1,132. I'll be the first to admit that when faced with veterinary bills of this magnitude the question "is it worth it?" has crossed my mind. The answer, always, is "of course." So I was prepared to plunk down my credit card as a deposit, say goodbye, and roll with the punches. After I had a nervous breakdown in the car. But when the doctor went to fetch Rupert so I could kiss him farewell, she returned with the jubilant news that he'd urinated everywhere, all over the vet tech. Hurrah!
So we returned home with our cat and only $330 in veterinary charges... and the newly accepted knowledge that if we want our defective pet to remain healthy, we must continue to feed him shitty-ass ash-laced Science Diet c/d, FOREVER, rather than adding even the smallest amount of his Innova kibble. Thanks, "holistic" catfood, for throwing off the pH balance of my feline. I bought you to replace ass-tastic Science Diet, and now you've chained my cat to it forever. WUNDERBAR.
The cat is happily doped on painkillers and waddling about with a plum-sized lump on his left leg where the vet gave him subcutaneous fluids. I'm sure he'll be fine and I can afford to take care of him, I just wish he'd stop doing this right when I'm about to leave for a week.
I'll be in San Jose for Search Engine Strategies until next Friday, learning the tricks and tools of the trade, networking, and partying every night with Yahoo!, Ask, Google, et al. Will blog if I'm able. :)
Posted on August 05, 2006 @ 11:39 PM |
8 comments
by Kat
( Photos from Thursday in Munster, Germany )
All righty folks. You can't have forgotten where we left off, because it was only yesterday! Today we continue with Thursday's pictures and my trip to Munster, the Munsterlands, and two water castles.
We got up bright and early to drive to Munster. It's only an hour away from Bochum but I guess traffic on the Autobahn can be pretty terrible. And it was blazing hot the whole time I was in Germany, so we didn't want to risk spending the early part of the day in the car.
First, we walked by the Munster
Schloss, or Palace, which was built 1767-1787 for Munster's ruling Prince-Bishops. It now houses administrative centre of Munster University and is decidedly less interesting than the other things we saw that day. It was already bloody hot out at 10AM.
Our next stop was Munster's central Cathedral, called the Dom, or
St. Peter's Church. It's a huge structure with winding hallways, a gorgeous sanctuary, gardens, and plenty of ancient artwork. The inside even hosts an astronomical clock. It seems like a weird thing for a church to have, but it helped them correctly predict the dates of their holidays. The thing has been through a few incarnations and in its current, should tell 100% accurate time until the year 2070.
There's no shortage of
other churches in Munster, and all of them are gorgeous. Unfortunately, a lot of them were under construction while we were there and the insides were inaccessible.
We stopped for apple streudel at Stuhlmacher on Alstadt, Munster's biggest street. The street is pedestrians only, which is a nice respite, and lined by shops and cafes on either side. At one end is the
Prinzipalmarkt, or main market, and Lambirtikirche, the most amazing church in the entire city. St. Lambirti's has a very intricate steeple tower inset with torture chambers called the Cages of the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists overthrew the ruling bishop at one point and were, in turn, overthrown themselves some time later. This is where their leaders spent their dying days, probably picked to death by birds. Savory!
Gerd & Gertrude sweetly bought me some
incredible german bread and gourmet chocolate while we wandered Alstadt. We poked around a bit
looking at the architecture before heading back to the car and driving to our next destination, Schloss Nordkirchen.
Nordkirchen is one of the most famous castles in North Germany, primarily for its beauty. It's called "The Versailles of the North" and houses a lovely sculpture garden on the grounds. We didn't wander through the garden because it was so blisteringly hot, but we did take a walk
around. There were
black swans in the moat!
Next, we drove to
Burg Vischering, which was my favorite castle of the whole trip. So stately, yet so humble! I'd be proud to call it home. Inside the rotund castle is a courtyard, where we retired for a beer and I spent the better part of 20 minutes taking pictures of
doors and
windows.
I slept most of the car ride back, and then relaxed in the garden with my hosts for the rest of the trip. Oh, and I took a picture of
their shampoo because I found it deliriously funny. And that's that!
Be sure to look at
the rest of the photos. :)
******************
As a side note, I feel compelled to mention that the water tower in my hometown, Ypsilanti, Michigan, has just been awarded the title of
Most Phallic Building in the World. Hurray, Brick Dick!!
Posted on August 03, 2006 @ 1:59 PM |
3 comments
by Kat
( Photos from Bochum and Hattingen, German cities in the Ruhr Valley )
Been a while since I posted more photos from my trip to Europe. See the lowdown on the first batch
here. This time I'm reminiscing about my first two (of three) days in Germany. The best photos are in the 3rd day, hands down, so wait patiently for them!
I'd forgotten what cool place names they have in Germany. I wasn't really anywhere "on the map" so to speak, so I had to have someone write down the names of all the places we went so I could add them to my photo galleries.
I stayed in
Bochum, a mid-sized industrial town in the Ruhr Valley. My gracious hosts were
Gerhard and
Gertrud, an older couple who are friends of my grandparents. Not-so-coincedentally, they are also relatives. Gerd & Gertrud are not immediately related to the American Ortlands, but we do
share a last name and a common ancestor. My grandparents have been investigating our family history and discovered Gerd & Gertrud's son in a Berlin phonebook on a choir trip. He put them in touch with Gerd, who is an avid geneology hobbyist, and managed to find our link.
They were amazing hosts and a lot of fun to be around. I saw a lot of very beautiful, historic villages and castles... just what I needed to balance out the hubub of Amsterdam. I was in bed by 12, up by 8, and relished whatever mid-afternoon nap I could take.
The Ortlands have a lovely house near Bochum University and keep a beautiful
garden. We ate most days in the back yard, even though it was still quite hot while I was there. Two meals a day we had bread and cheese or bread and jam and for lunch we had a variety of delicious cooked dishes. I think I tried turnips for the first time! Gertrud made the most delicious cherry tart for their family get-together on Wednesday and I really have to have her send me the recipe. Mmm.
(
All righty, keep reading for the full details...)Tuesday I took the ICE from Amsterdam to Duisburg station, then transfered to Bochum, where they met me on the platform. After a quick lunch and rest, we headed out to the surrounding towns... most specifically
Hattingen and the surrounding Ruhr Valley.
Our first stop was Dorfkirche Stiepel a beautiful and VERY old church built in 1100 AD. This church is where Gerd and Gertrud met many years ago at a wedding. Cute! The
inside of the church is covered with delicate, aging paintings. Outside is cemetary speckled with extremely old gravestones from the 30-years war in the 1600s. Unfortunately, I cannot really share with you my most unforgettable experience in Germany, which happened at this, the first place I visited:
The inside of the church, except the vestibule, is off limits to visitors until services. After taking photos inside, we were wandering the grounds when someone entered the church and didn't come out. A few minutes later, incredible organ music EXPLODED from the chapel. It was the organist, practicing for the next service. We returned to the vestibule where we couldn't see him (the organ is upstairs at the back of the church) but could hear the music in its full acoustic glory. So. Incredible. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
After that, we went to a small Castle,
Haus Kemnade and looked at some of the oddities in an adjacent museum, which had an exhibit of coin banks & coins.
Next, we went to Burg Blankenstein where we climbed Blankenstein tower and ate Italian Eis. OMG!
Finally, we drove to Hattingen, the cutest old town ever, where we wandered about looking at the great houses and shops.
At the end of the day, there's nothing like a cold beer , or three!
(Be sure to look at the rest of the photos in the Tuesday Album)
Wednesday was really relaxed. I though this was going to be our busy day, since it was my only full day in Bochum, but some of Gerd & Gertrud's relatives planned a lunch with them a few days before I scheduled my arrival. Oh well! That morning, I took photos
in the garden and then walked with Gerd to Bochum University and the university Arboretum, through the Chinese garden and the greenhouses.
When the family came to visit, I went downtown to explore the Bochum Mining Museum and look at the city hall and surrounding buildings. I even found one named after me! There was also some spiffy graffiti under the bridge. Woo.
That's about it for Weds (see all the photos here) but Thursday we went to Munster and saw lots of castles. It was awesome, so I'll try and get those pics edited soon.
Posted on August 02, 2006 @ 1:18 PM |
4 comments
by Kat
Another addition to my goodie bag of Seattle Weekly reviews was published today. It's for the ACT Theater's latest mainstage play,
Mitzi's Abortion. It's an amazing play and I highly, highly recommend anyone in Seattle-- pro-choice OR pro-life-- to see it while it's out. Tickets are only $10 for 25-and-under and $52 for "adults."
Read my review on the Seattle Weekly site.
Posted on @ 1:07 PM |
0 comments
by Kat
Dear *****,
Say what you want, but I think you're missing the point. When I started working at SEOmoz, there were only four employees. I could have called myself anything I wanted except CEO and it would have been true. We all did a bit of everything just to get it done. And the title "Project Manager" was one they gave to me, not vice versa. Whether or not you think I'm "good enough" doesn't change the fact when and if I leave for another job, I could just as well put that title on my resume as well as any other.
I find it ridiculous that you think it a worthwhile effort to belittle me because I'm a recent graduate. I got where I am - one of the top five companies in the industry - by my own competence and effort. And while I know many people who were fortunate (or rich) enough to have their high-level jobs handed to them by friends or family, I am not one of them. I worked throughout college so that when I graduated I'd have more to show for my education than credits. I edited and published a magazine at my university. I was in charge of tech support and project consulting for multiple university departments. At the same time. And on top of that, I'm confident that I have the brain power required to master any job put in front of me - with or without experience.
Yes, I am taken aback by your need to nitpick my job title. You are suggesting, and I quote, that to be a Project Manager I am "good enough in therotical (sic) approach only." You are belittling my intellect, my abilities, and the work I do for my company. It may be a case of simple misunderstanding, due to the fact that English is apparently not your first language. But I think you've made yourself clear and I hope that I have as well. I'm sorry, but I cannot in good conscience provide you with further assistance. I hope the next time you want help, you choose to ask without first insulting the person you've contacted.
Sincerely,
Kat Ortland
(
This is in response to the email exchange under the cut... )On Jul 31, 2006, at 7:25 AM, ***** wrote:
how can u b a proj. manager at the ag e of 23
do u 've ne exp. to handle proj's
tell how do u handle seo operations at ur end
-----------------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: Kat Ortland
Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 2:55 AM
To: *********@mpcs.co.in
Subject: Re: SEO - hi
Hi there,
Project Manager is a bit of a misnomer for what I do. I'm not involved with Project Management in a traditional corporate sense because we're a very small company. Everyone at SEOmoz wears several hats. When I signed on, my title was Project Manager because I was in charge of organizing and tracking project milestones and other critical data. I suppose a better title now would be "Search Marketing Consultant" or something similar, though we all do a bit of everything-- design, consulting, blogging, SEO work, etc.
I had no experience in SEO before working for this company, but I've worked in tech on hardware, software, networking, and web dev since before I was seventeen. I also have field experience in publication and linguistics. I pick things up fast-- and I think it's silly to assume that someone my age couldn't do any job they put their mind to. With or without experience, it's really a matter of the proper environment and training. I've been blessed with a company which allows me to develop skills I feel are important to me. And a company which provides quality services along with that flexibility.
As for our SEO operations, you can get a good idea of the services we provide on the main SEOmoz.org website, listed under "Our Services." To learn more about our do-it-yourself SEO advice, read the Beginner's Guide: http://www.seomoz.org/beginners.php
Cheers,
Kat Ortland
Project Manager | SEOmoz.org
www.seomoz.org
web2.0awards.org
------------------------------
On Jul 31, 2006, at 11:39 PM, ****** wrote:
Hi Kat,
Okay so you are not a "Project Manager" (as you accepted you are "Search Marketing Consultant") I made that conclusion just because of several reasons like you graduated in year 2005 and after college you started directly working as a project manager, isn't it strange. whereas people take several year to gain
the development knowledge then the team leading expertise and then they come accross managing the entire project. And your company claims you to be a project manager at 23 just after your graduation irrespective of the fact that you have not managed any of the projects/assignment/tasks before. As anyone can think of the new guy who passed in 2005 doesn't possess much experience as they are good enough in therotical approach only.
Any ways, that was the other part of conversation. I was actually searching for some S.E.O. tips to optimize my site (www.*****.com) Its a B2B construction community portal. Still I believe that we can't put our best efforts to optimize the application to make it listed in first 10 search engine listing/ranking so the reason I was searching for a S.E.O. Company to get my clients site optimized. But we want
to put our efforts first to optimize it some extend.
Thanks,
Regards
*****
ARGH. I didn't send the letter at the top of the post. I'm not sure he's worth the reply. What do you think?
Posted on August 01, 2006 @ 5:15 PM |
6 comments
Lazy Lightning, at
6:23 AM, August 22, 2006
, at
10:30 AM, August 24, 2006
