Skills and puzzles and work

Back in 2007, I applied for an Administrative Associate job at Google. All incoming Admin applicants had to take a test full of LSAT-style logic questions (in addition to a free-writing portion). At the time, I was confused, and assumed it was just something Google did because they were Google and liked testing people. They were big on metrics and applying math to people, and that was SO not my world and I thought it was ridiculous. But I wanted to work at Google. So I studied, and I prepped, and I took the test. I don't know what my exact results were, but I know I scored high enough to earn a coveted role as an "Eng Admin". That is, I was an Administrative Associate supporting a team of engineers (I had hoped for Google Books). Of course, at a company where Engineer is King, they told me that they "save their best Admins for the Engineers" (a nice ego boost, even though it's a ridiculous thing to say - and do).

Anyway, after only a few months working at Google, I learned the importance of that test. Scheduling meetings for the 7 busy executives I supported was like playing Tetris with calendars -- it was all about matchmaking and prioritization and contingencies. If I move this meeting to this spot, what will be affected? How can I maneuver things to get these 20 people in 4 time zones in one 30 minute meeting? If this guy can't make it, can I suggest changes to his own calendar to make room for my boss?

Similar challenges have come up at Disqus, most often when rearranging seating. As a small startup, we have to be nimble. When products or projects change, so change our teams. And teams work best when they can sit near each other, so sometimes we change the seating arrangement every quarter, if not more frequently! While we try to make things as minimally-disruptive as possible, sometimes what's best for productivity is a total overhaul. And when people work on more than one team, things can get a little complicated, and quickly! Not only do you have to consider how to place one specific team within the space in your office, you also have to consider the necessary proximity of each team to each other (for example, if specific people or entire teams work closely together - here's where the whole "people work on multiple teams" things can complicate your seating chart).

It's a lot of "if this, then that". It's like a puzzle, figuring out which pieces go where...but it's a puzzle where the pieces keep changing and there is no one right fit for each piece. It's a fun challenge, and a little bit of a crazy one, but I love it. There's something so satisfying about moving a bunch of pieces around, over and over, until you find the right combination. Especially satisfying if the people you're doing it for appreciate your time and talents :)


What are some skills you never thought you'd need? What did you realize you're good at, perhaps only after you realized how important it was?

Be Prepared

Ok, so not this.

But kind of this?

While I technically missed National Preparedness Month (September), it's never a bad time to check in on disaster preparedness. With Hurricane Sandy terrorizing the East Coast, and the ever-present threat of earthquakes in my homestate of California, we could all use a reminder now and again, right? And apparently, October is Earthquake Month (and National Cyber Security Awareness Month? Does everything have a month?), so my timing is...not too late?

I was lucky enough to receive an emergency kit/backpack back in the day when I worked at Google, as part of their Oprah-like distribution plan (YOU get an emergency pack! And YOU get an emergency pack! Emergency packs for EVERYOOOOOOOONE!) .

My pack contains:

• rope
• thick gloves
• battery/solar-powered radio/lantern
• those shiny silver blankets
• a tent/tube
• ponchos
• glow sticks
• a wrench (for shutting off gas valves)
• a whistle
• kleenex
• a military can opener 
• a swiss army knife
• first-aid kit
• matches
• duct tape
• emergency candles
• water purification tablets
• out-of-state contact info
• expired water (oops)
• expired MREs (oops)

This, combined with our drawer full of water bottles, our always-packed pantry, and our extensive collection of camping/backpacking supplies (including several freeze-dried entrees) means we are pretty well set for a disaster...as long as our house is pretty much intact. If the house were to burn down or collapse and we couldn't go inside, we'd be in a little bit of trouble. 

72hours.org has information on what to do in cases
of all kinds of emergencies...including setting up
your family communication plan, finding shelter,
and stocking your home with supplies.

That's why I finally put together a "Go Bag" as well, something that's easy to grab and contains the essentials. We have the Google Pack, but it doesn't have everything. Like food, for instance. I grabbed an old backpack that I never use anymore, and filled it with canned goods (fruit, vegetables, beans, and spaghetti o's - things I wouldn't mind eating cold if necessary!), candy bars, and crackers that don't expire for a long time. It's a good idea to re-check your expiration dates once a year, just to make sure everything's still good! We each threw a rarely-worn sweatshirt in the bag as well, just in case, and I added some additional items like, um, feminine products and disposable utensils, and I'm considering adding some Clif Bars as well.

I do keep our important documents (marriage/birth certificates, social security cards, etc), my backup external hard drive, and some of our more "valuable" jewelry in a fireproof safe (documents and electronics in heavy duty ziplock freezer bags for water protection), but it's a good idea to also keep copies of the documents (especially insurance/marriage/birth certificates) in your Go Bag as well. Note to self: make copies and put in the Go Bag.

One thing that could prove useful, that I never think about, is a reliable source of fire. If your power goes out, you'll want a flashlight (and spare batteries), of course, but you also might want to light candles. You might need to light a fire for warmth, or to cook food. And in that case, a reliable fire starter will be pretty handy. I would usually just suggest a box of matches (in a waterproof container!), but there are other options too.

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Zippo Emergency Fire Starter, and I highly recommend it as an addition to your Go Bag. I'm not great with lighters, to be honest (I think I'm always afraid of burning myself), and if you don't have matches around (or your matches get wet), this would be a good alternative to have on hand. The waxed tinder sticks light quickly and easily, and stay burning for a good amount of time - definitely long enough to light a fire, I'd say! You can buy them online, or at various sporting goods stores...but one lucky reader is going to get one for free!

Leave a comment below, telling me what you have in your Emergency Kit -- if you don't have one yet, what will you put it yours when you make one? ed note: This contests closes for entries on Sunday, 11/11, at 11:59pm PST.

Seriously, everyone should have one. Don't be caught in a disaster without provisions. Stay safe out there.

Ed note: I actually started writing this post before Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast, and with the stories of devastation over there, this post just seems all the more relevant now. Please help yourself by being prepared -- and if you want to donate time or money to those in need on the East Coast, head on over to the Red Cross website to see how you can help.

Official FCC Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with 72hours.org, and I doubt they even know I'm writing this post. I just think their site is extremely useful. Red Cross Bay Area (with whom I am also not affiliated) pointed me to them a few years ago. Neither company has provided me with any compensation, and my opinions are my own. Zippo sent me a free firestarter (and refills) to try and review, but I was not otherwise compensated, and they did not require that I write a positive review. This is my blog, and my opinions are mine, yo!

Hello, Custom Domain!

At long last, I have upgraded my domain name.  What was once www.kimskitchensink.blogspot.com is now the much simpler www.kimskitchensink.com.  And thanks to Google, it was supremely easy.  File this one under "These are the reasons I love Google."  Also under "It was really that easy?" and "It was cheap!" and "I am one happy camper."

I've been thinking of making this switch for some time, but was too lazy or intimidated or something to actually do it.  I thought it would be complicated, and expensive, and hey, what's so bad about having "blogspot" in the url of your blog anyway?  The tipping point?  I'm going to be attending some bloggy networky types of events soon, and I'm making some fancy business cards so that I can connect with other bloggers or potential sponsors or people who want me to review their products or who want to give stuff away to you guys.  Because that sounds like fun.  Anyway, the blogspot-inclusive url was too long to fit on the card, and it looked messy, and I think I'm ready to step it up a notch (is that even a phrase?).  Go blog.

If you blog using blogger and you want a custom domain, just read the instructions here.  It was seriously as easy as telling Google what name I wanted, agreeing to pay $10/year, and waiting about 15 minutes for it to become active.

If you read this blog via RSS feed, you may need to update your feed subscription. I think it should still work as-is (that is, if you were subscribed before, you should still get the feed without having to change anything), but I don't know for sure.  Let me know if you have problems and I'll figure it out.

But hey! What about those events you mentioned?  Why, do you want to join me?  Ok!

1. BlogHer Holiday Meetup (San Francisco, December 7, 2010)
2. FoodFete  (San Francisco, January 17, 2011)
3. BlogHer 2011 (San Diego, August 5-6, 2011)!

Are you attending any of these?  Let me know!

PS - know what else is new this week?  Disqus!  We launched v4 of our website and product...it's a complete overhaul, and it's pretty exciting.  Personally, I like the sweet, interactive design element on the new homepage, because I am easily amused.  The backend and admin changes are also great though - for complete info on the new stuff, read our CEO's blog post.  If you're not using Disqus for commenting on your site, and you want to, what are you waiting for?  It's pretty easy to set up, and our customer service team is supremo excellente if you have troubles.  Plus, I can see them from my desk. 

And that's all, folks!

I'm a dork

Let me preface this by saying that I am a giant dork.  Ok, now that that's out of the way...I noticed a cool Google logo thing today, and thought I'd blog about it on the off chance that someone else thinks it's cool too.  Or knows why it's so.

The Google Chrome browser has an option for "incognito" browsing. I was browsing all incognito style recently, and noticed that the Google homepage logo looked different.  I couldn't figure out what it was...was it crisper?  More bevel-embossed?  Just for kicks (and because I am a super sleuth), I checked it out in a normal Chrome browser window, and it looked all same-as-usual.  It then clicked: the incognito browser window has no shadow!  Is this because it's so incognito, it doesn't create a shadow? Eh? Eh? Maybe?  That's my theory behind the design choice.  Though that doesn't explain the brighter colors, and lighter (and not-underlined) hyperlinks to the right of and below the search box.  Also, incognito logo doesn't have the little "TM" trademark sign.  Gosh, this is like one of those "find 10 things that are different about these two pictures" games.

A comparative analysis below.  Because I was worried that it was a fluke and was going to go away, I took screenshots and slapped them into a picture.  Check check.  Or try incognito browsing for yourself and see the difference live and in your face.  I'm hoping one of my Google buddies will read this and leave a comment about the different faces of www.google.com.

Also Called "National Fun Day"

I don't have any sort of elaborate April Fools' Post planned...I'm not usually one for the "OMG WE ARE ENGAGED JUST KIDDING APRIL FOOLS" type of posts (hello, Facebook? Did you send out a memo telling everyone to post fake engagement announcements this year? sigh), and I am generally gullible when it comes to April Fools' Day anyway.  Around 6:30am this morning, Will woke up suddenly, saying "Oh Crap! Oh Crap!"  I thought he was talking in his sleep, and mumbled, "agwugwethr what's wrong? asfoasfijasf" (or something like that).  "OH CRAP IT'S 9:45!!"   "What?!"   "Ha, ha. April Fools."    "argh. I'm going back to bed."

I do, however, love (love love) when companies get in on the fun.  Google (erm, Topeka) is usually the winner (for complexity, follow through, and commitment!), but this year, Whole Foods had some great stuff up too.  So did Southwest.

Anyway, because I love Google and all its awesomeness, here's a look at some of my favorite Google April Fools' Hoaxes, past and present.

• The Google Toilet Internet Service Provider
• Google Romance 
• Jobs on the Moon
• Pigeon Rank (Will always joked that this is what I was doing when I worked there)
• Google Reader Advantage
• 3-D Google Maps

Awesome.

I think this might be my favorite Google Video ever. (thanks, Brittany!)

Rainy Day and Happy News!

It is raining here in Berkeley, and I kind of like it. Mostly, I think, because I am warm and cozy in my apartment, and I've already gone to Curves today. I also went to the grocery store for milk and chocolate pudding mix...it's a healthier dessert than ice cream and cookies, and I LOVE chocolate pudding. Mmmm I am going to make some this afternoon! On days like this, I like sitting on the couch with a book, watching the rain outside my window, and that is precisely how I plan to spend my afternoon. After a hot shower, and taking a break to watch Ellen, of course.

So...it's a nice day. The Boy and I are going to REI tonight to pick up some things for his 6-week backpacking trip this summer. He is doing a 12-mile or so hike tomorrow with some of his friends, and the weather prediction is for more rain (have fun, guys!), so there are a few things he wants to pick up tonight. Like special hiking pants that are not made of denim. Yeah.

So yes, I will sit in my nice little apartment and enjoy the rain. My friend Caitlin sent me this great video from the Google Chrome team - it's super cute. Check it (and the others) out!



And what is the happy news? My wonderful wonderful, wonderful beyond wonderful friend Erin (also known as genius poetess E.C. Messer - examples of her work here, here, and here-click Poetry, E.C. Messer) is moving here. I seriously love this girl. We became friends in college, when I was a freshman and she a sophomore, so grown-up with an apartment and a kitchen. We would bake delectable treats and watch movies and play dress-up (or maybe I would just imagine life in her amazing wardrobe) and just have a grand old time. She got a kitten named Gertrude, and wore cool things like brooches and hats with veils, and has a large collection of cool books and vintage...things. She is just all around awesome, and we make a pretty fierce duo if I do say so myself. And she has been far away in Chicago, becoming a Master of Fine Arts at SAIC for the last few years, and she's moving back to CA in a month, and has plans to move to the SF Bay Area in August.

So yes. This is happy news. Happy news, indeed.

On Advertising

I've been thinking a lot lately about advertising on my blog, and felt the urge to write about it. This post is a little long, but I haven't been blogging super-regularly lately, so why don't we just average it all out and call it a day, eh?

I received an email a few weeks ago from a "fellow money blogger and saver" who wanted to make me "a little offer." Basically, the company this fellow works for would pay me $18 per month in exchange for placing a text link to their website on my website. Fine. Except when I responded to further investigate this offer, he revealed that the link did not need to be in a prominent place, it just had to be on the site somewhere. I didn't have to write anything about it, or even claim to know anything about the company. This raised a red flag for me - obviously, they are using link-placement to boost their pagerank on Google search results. After asking a few people about this, I learned that this is fairly common, and why wouldn't it be? Bloggers often need money, and this is an easy way for companies to boost their placement in results. However, as a former Googler, I just can't do it. To me, this is fraudulent inflation, taking advantage of the algorithm if you will.

I'm not saying this is anything new. I know it's not groundbreaking or scandalously revealing. But this is the first time I've been directly confronted with the choice to make easy money ($18 a month, wow) to do something I don't really feel comfortable with. Maybe it's the "do good things and help people" mentality I was raised with, or maybe it's just the fact that I still feel a sense of commitment to supporting Google's mission and ideals. Either way, I just don't feel right receiving money to help a company take advantage of the system.

So, that's out. I wrote to the salesman (because, let's be honest, that's what he is), thanked him for his interest in advertising on my blog, and told him that I just did not feel comfortable with this type of advertising. He hasn't responded, and I don't expect that he will. I'm sure he's moved on to someone else, and I know there are a lot of people out there who do put text-link ads on their blogs, and that's their deal. No judgement here, it's just not for me. But what now? Is there still a chance for me to monetize this blog? Do I care?

As you may or may not have noticed, I use AdSense Advertisements on this blog. I've made about $4 in ads over the last two years or so, which leads me to believe that this is not the best form of moneymaking. Go figure. BUT the purpose of this blog is not to make money. I write this blog because I like to write, and I have things to say, and regardless of whether or not people find it interesting, I enjoy putting it out there. In writing. And sometimes pictures.

But I digress.

I tried AdSense because it seemed like a good idea. I mean, I don't have to do anything and money will appear in my account? Sweet! I suppose it works better if people actually, oh I don't know, click on the ads, but I didn't think about that. I just slapped them in areas I thought wouldn't be too intrusive, and hoped for the best. And to tell you the truth, I mostly ignore them myself. I log into my AdSense account fairly infrequently, and have thought of it mostly as a mostly-passive experiment in using the AdSense program. I did work for the AdWords team at Google, after all. I might as well use a related product. A few weeks ago, I decided to try placing ads in more visible places on my blog, to see if more people would click on them. Not so much a success. Maybe this is because many of you subscribe via RSS feeds rather than visiting directly (I know I view 99% of the blogs I read on my Google Reader). Maybe, like me, you don't tend to click on the ads anyway, whether you see them or not. Either way, they don't seem to be making much of a difference.

So...do I leave them up or take them down? I think I'll leave them up for now, and I'll review the literature online about improving your AdSense revenue to see if there are easy ways to up my CTR. Google just out an email about updating Privacy Policies - I didn't even have any posted on my blog in the first place. If you click on an ad, the advertiser may "drop a cookie" - that's the gist of the privacy policy. My understanding is that just about everything online these days "drops cookies" though, so it's not really as intrusive as it sounds. Do what you want. Click or don't click. It's your choice. How's that?

The moral of the story is that this blog was not started in the interest of making money, but if it ends up doing so, that's fine by me. I will continue to write what I want to write, and you can continue to read if you want to read, and whatever happens with that will happen. Honestly, simply, and on my own terms.

Analytics Update!

I've decided to check in a little more often with my Analytics. It's fun for me - I like finding out vaguely where you all come from and speculating how many of you found me at random. I don't get a ton of comments on this blog, so the Analytics gives me an idea of how many people are actually reading this thing.

Without further ado, the Analytics for January 4-February 3:

• The Numbers: Short and sweet, here's the numerical overview of last month's activity (click to enlarge).

• How You Found Me: It's a pretty even 3-way split. 40.46% of you are "Direct Traffic" which I think means you typed in the URL or clicked the link in your bookmarks or whatever. 38.7% were referred from other sites - so hooray and thanks, people, for linking to me in your sidebars and such...and thanks to the readers on those sites for clicking through to my blog when I leave comments and whatnot! 24.67% of you found me through search engines. Thanks to Grad Girl, Miss Jane, and Le Blog D'Adrienne for referring the most people!
  

• Where You Come From: You hail from all corners of the earth, oh lovely readers of mine! This map (click to enlarge) shows the overview...the darker the green, the more visitors from that country. Hi, Thailand! Hello, Denmark! Yo, Germany! Bonjour, France! Y'all came from 24 different countries - including the U.S. Naturally, California (and LA and the Bay Area specifically) has the greatest density of visitors, since most of the people I know are in CA...but hey there, Illinois! Way to come in second place for number of visitors last month! You beat out New York, where I'm sure I know more people! So whomever is out there in Illinois reading my blog (Erin?), way to be! :-)

• How Many You Are: Last month, I officially had 304 visits, with 216 of those being "absolute unique visitors" (aka different people on different computers). That sounds like a lot to me. Out of those 304 total visits, 61.84% were new visitors, with 38.16% being returners to the blog. Fancy graph (click to enlarge)!

• Do You Bounce: The bounce rate is 75%, which I just learned means that 75% of you are "bouncing" away to other sites, rather than clicking to sites within my blog. That makes sense I guess, since most of my new content is right on the main page, and you wouldn't really need to click through to other pages of mine to find information if you're just coming for the most recent post. Feel free to use the list of labels on the left to look up posts by topic and such though...or use the search box in the upper left corner to search for specific terms and phrases. Average time spent looking at the site is 1 minute 12 seconds. Longer than it was the last time I checked, so maybe I'm writing longer or more interesting posts? Maybe folks are coming to visit less frequently so it takes them longer to catch up on all the new posts? Who knows?
  

• Loyalty: Well, 61.84% of readers out there only visited my blog once last month. I'm guessing these are the people who found it by accident and then realized it wasn't what they wanted. Or maybe some of my friends out there only came to visit once over the course of the month. Whatevs. 7.89% of you visited twice, 5.26% visited three times, 7.57% of you visited 15-25 times, and 6.58% of you visited a whopping 51-100 times! I don't know who you are, you 20 people who read my little blog 51-100 times last month, but gee thanks!!! That was a lot of numbers.

So thanks, one and all for coming to visit my little blog here. If you like, you can check out all my Shared Items (links and comments about what I have been reading and liking on the internet) - I'm always sharing stuff there, way more frequently than I write full blog posts, and it's easy to subscribe to it via a feed reader (ie Google Reader). And please don't be shy - leave me comments or email me at kimskitchensink [at] gmail [dot] com. :-)

New Job For The New Year

So, exciting news around the Kitchen Sink these days. I've withheld posting about it so far, just because, well, I don't know I guess. Since I've emailed the friends and family, and mentioned it briefly on Facebook, I guess it's about time to blog, right?

I will be leaving the Great Google as of Wednesday next week. Starting January 5th, I'll be working for Pixar...and I'm pretty damn excited. :-) Google is a great place to work and all, but I've really been missing the arts. It'll be really nice to be back working in a field I'm passionate about, and I'll be getting back about two hours a day, since my commute will now be 7-10 minutes each way (instead of 75+ minutes each way). Granted, my actual working hours will be longer (it's a 50 hour week instead of my current 43-ish hour week), but to be doing work I'll actually enjoy? And to be less than 10 minutes from home when I'm done? Awesome! (this paragraph had a lot of parentheses. sorry.)

I'll be working as a Production Coordinator, and while I'll be doing a little admin work (booking a little travel, making sure my manager gets to her meetings), I'll get to be involved in the production side of things (pinning storyboards, setting up meeting rooms). Nothing terribly glamorous, but that's the industry for ya. You have to start somewhere so you can slowly work your way up (in any business, but especially in theatre/film), and I'm really excited to be at the not-totally-bottom (hey, I'm not a PA) of the ladder. And the projects my team will be working on are things I'm totally stoked about - where I had trouble connecting with the projects my engineers at Google have been working on, I think that here, I'll be able to connect to the work much better. (this paragraph had a lot of parentheses too. sorry.)

So yeah, I have three more days left at Google, and I feel pretty ridiculous and very, very lucky. In this economic climate, with news of layoffs by the thousands from companies all over the country, I feel a little guilty and incredibly blessed to be able to choose to quit my job at one fantastic company because I have been offered a job at another fantastic company. Granted, I work hard, and I plan hard. Even if it's only hypothetical, I think about the future. So it's not like this fell into my lap or anything, but still. I feel just freaking lucky to be going to a new and awesome job right now, that's all.

So that's my news for now...time to get ready for the my Google team holiday party! One last hurrah! :-)

More to come...


PS - putting in your two weeks' notice is kind of scary in the Real World.

Ok, so I guess this Android thing is pretty sweet.

I have a hard time accepting new technology (I know, I know, "but you work for Google!!!"), and I've been resisting this new Google phone for a while. After watching this video though, um, well, I might end up getting one at some point. The only problem is I don't think it will ever be on AT&T because I'm pretty sure the iPhone has exclusivity with them. It'll be a while before I get rid of my trusty, basic, simple-to-use, no-fuss LG flip phone, but if I ever do upgrade to a fancy "it's a computer! no, it's a phone!" type device, I'll probably go with this one.

Project 10^100

In honor of Google's 10th Birthday, the company is launching "Project 10 to the 100th" (www.project10tothe100.com.). Check out the video, and check out the site.

Google Docs in Education

I tried to post this directly from YouTube over a week ago, and apparently it didn't work. Sorry to just post another video (Mom commented that my blog is getting "boring" -- I'll be writing more substantial posts soon, I swear!), but I thought this was nice...and especially for those of you who are teachers or students, it's good stuff!

Oh yes, so cool.

You may or may not have noticed, depending on the city you live in and how often you use Street View, but many Street View images have been recently updated.

A few months ago, the Street View team updated the images around the Google campus in Mountain View...and we got to be in the pictures! Check it out below :-)


View Larger Map

Driving Directions: New Instructional Video

Check out the (latest and greatest) instructional video from the Google Maps team. I got to help write the script and even contribute to the directing a bit...it's actually quite informative, and I think it's somewhat entertaining as well (and that's a real, live, Google Maps engineer doing all the talking too!) ;-)

PS - When I first posted this, it was auto-playing, which I thought was pretty annoying. I don't like when you go to a website and instantly there's sound or music or something (especially if I'm going to said website while at work, and I don't have the headphones plugged in). I decided to investigate to see if I could fix it...and lo and behold: there was something in the code that said "autoplay=1"!!! Laura, one of my awesome engineers, showed me that by changing it to "autoplay=0" the video would no longer automatically play! Hooray for engineers! I totally learned something about coding today!

Analytics Update, and a love letter to Google...

I'm sure it is fairly obvious, but I am kind of in love with Google products. I use them for just about everything, and I love that they are all synced to my one Google Account (aka gmail address). I use Blogger to write this lovely blog, Gmail to receive and send (from multiple accounts, all in the same inbox!), Google Maps and Google Earth to do everything from checking out new neighborhoods to getting directions to planning a trip (I heart MyMaps!). I use Google Reader to keep track of my blog subscriptions, and I use PicasaWeb to organize my photos (sorry Flickr, but you will probably be phased out in the near future - Picasa lets me put slideshows on my blog so easily!). I use Google Docs & Spreadsheets to keep track of monthly expenses and to collaborate on crazy projects with friends. I keep track of my friends' videos with my YouTube subscriptions, and I use Google Groups to organize the Awaken A Cappella Alumni, as well as my monthly craft group. And seriously, that's not even all of the products I use...I just started to feel a little bit like a walking advertisement.

Anyway, I use Google Analytics to keep track of traffic on my blog, which leads me to today's post. Just check out the map below if you don't think I'm awesome. Because come on - we all know I am. Just kidding. But seriously, in the last month, I had readers in Iceland, Spain, Croatia, Iran, Turkey, Sweden, Norway, Mongolia...and 11 in Poland! And more! In the last month, I have had readers represented in 35 countries! Even if they were mistakes (55% of visitors have only visited once), it's pretty cool. Not to discount my awesome US readers, cause let's be honest, you're probably the ones who are consistently reading (hi, mom), but I love that my little silly blog is reaching people out there in countries I've never been to, even if you came here by accident, thinking you'd get some insightful information. I'm sorry if you were disappointed, but I hope you were entertained. At least a little. So thank you all for reading my somewhat erratic posts and making me feel just a little bit cooler than I really am.

The Valley Girl: Trailer

The trailer for Jesse's new web-series - includes appearances from Silicon Valley's finest. Including a one Mr. Eric Schmidt. Love it.

Doodle 4 Google: Doodlers in Action

Yet another reason why I love my workplace.

Click here if you can't play the video directly from my blog.

And click here to read the original post on the Google Blog.

Me On The Internets!

So, recently I played host to Jon Carroll and Leah Garchik as part of the Authors@Google program. It was really, really fun for me, because I am a big fan of both of them, and I basically got to walk them around campus and introduce them before they spoke to a gaggle of interested Googlers. Gaggle of Googlers. Tee. Hee. Hee. You can watch the video here (note to self: never wear white fuzzy sweaters on camera. They turn you into a marshmallow. Also, stand up straight!!!), and while it says it was added on 01/05/08, it was added on May 1st. European date formatting or something.

Anyhoo, Jon was lovely enough to write up a review/column of his visit here, and as usual, it does not fail to entertain. And he even called me "kindly Kim," which may become my new moniker. Maybe not. He also called me "charming" in an email, which just made me ecstatic, because I am that much of a big dork. Tee hee, I am charming and kindly.

He also wrote a piece recently about going to a charity event in Ross, which I swear I thought was about a charity event in the cheap store and not in a wealthy community until I read it. Who knew there was a rich-people-place called Ross? Not this recent college graduate, that's for sure. Though I suppose that if the event was at the store, he would have sad "at Ross" and not "in Ross."

Sharing is Caring

Because I'm such a giver, I've decided to start Sharing. You can see everything I'm Sharing by going to this pretty website (thanks, Google Reader). I chose the "sea" theme. I love choosing themes. I can also rock a theme: theme parties, theme meetings, you name it. Give me a theme, and I will let loose.

But I digress.

I am a Giver (no, not that kind of Giver). I am now officially Sharing, which is basically what this blog is all about anyway, me posting random things that I've found or thought about from all over the internets so that you can be amused at work instead of falling asleep at your desk, but now I'm doing it in an Official Way. See, Google Reader has this Sharing thing (I'm saying Sharing an awful lot), where your Friends (people from your gmail contacts who use Google Reader) can see selected posts that you have elected to Share. I had never Shared before; I had just read things that Emily and Nick had Shared with me. Now, I will Share my own items (well, not items that belong to me, but items - I mean posts from the internets - that I like). And like I said, you can find my Shared things here. If you use Google Reader, or any other Feed Reader Program Thingy, you can subscribe to my Shared Things page (yes, I've linked to it three times now). AND, because I am just so kind and into the Sharing, I also put a pretty little pink box in my left-hand sidebar (go look! now!), and it will include the most recent of my Shared Items.

Apparently, you can also Share with Notes. Or just share a Note on its own. Google is just craziness over in the Internet Department. Or Department of Internets.

Now, I will probably still post all sorts of blogs with titles like "oh, look! it's a list!" and "a long list of things because I am so creative" and things of that nature. But this Sharing thing from Google Reader is just so convenient, all I have to do is click a little "share" button when I'm done reading something and it automatically shares it with you! I don't have to copy and paste and deal with links and all that. Like I said, it is likely that I will still post link-filled lists all the time; but that will be reserved for Special things to Share. Maybe.

We'll see how this all turns out, but for now, subscribe to my Page O' Sharing!