Category Archives: administrative

Get Free Stuff for Searching Google

Posted by plumpdumpling on October 14, 2008 – 6:16 pm
Filed under administrative
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If you’re already searching Google, you should be doing it via swagbucks.com, a site that uses Google technology to deliver your results but also gives you points that you can redeem for Amazon gift cards, iTunes credits, Starbucks coffee, and a whole lotta other jazz.

I figure that I might as well being getting paid for doing what I already do, so I downloaded the toolbar to put the search bar right in my browser window at all times. The only drawback I’ve found so far is that it only retrieves the first four pages of Google results, but as my best friend said when she signed up, “I’m anything but thorough with my searches.”

Apparently I get points when you get points if I refer you, so use my link and help us both win. But mostly just me.

More Lost and Lonely Leftovers

Posted by plumpdumpling on September 17, 2008 – 1:48 pm
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My arch nemesis, Leigh, tooootally loves my blog more than all y’all and added the first new picture to my abandoned foods page. Though she did it not by actually sending me the photo but by posting it in her own blog, thereby forcing me not only to visit her blog once to see it but to KEEP visiting it just in case she posts more.

And now I’m forcing you to go to my abandoned foods page to see it there in all its glory.

P.S. If you’re using Internet Explorer 7 and my pages weren’t showing up for you in the past, they should be now thanks to my co-workers Jeff, Tim, and Jack helping me fix all 18 of my CSS errors. Whee!

Katie Ett IS . . . Full of Herself

Posted by plumpdumpling on September 3, 2008 – 8:55 pm
Filed under administrative, narcissism
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A movie trailer full of backstabbing and family drama played during “Shear Genius” reruns last weekend, and halfway through, I thought, Hey, this doesn’t look bad. And then the name popped up–Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys–and I thought, Ugh. Nevermind.

My best friend Tracey sent me a link to an entry Kate Harding wrote about the rewards and curses associated with naming your blog after yourself a couple of months ago, and it really got me to thinking. I mean, it’s not like I expect Katie Ett to become a household name any time soon (although look at the way it just rolls off your tongue like one word), but I make no secret about the fact that I want to be

RIDICULOUSLY FAMOUS.

(Like, if it takes me creating an affiliate program with iPods and plasma TVs as payouts to get you to tell five of your friends about me, I’m not above that.)

I wrote to my blog-godfather, Aaron, and he said, “You could be really clever about it, and spell your name phonetically. ‘KT Ett’s Unapologetically Mundane (Like KT Tunstall, only Less Musical and More Mundane)’. That way, you’re protecting yourself from cyberbullying AND getting your full name out there.” But ultimately, I’m too narcissistic for even that.

So my name is hanging out nonchalantly above my banner now. It may turn all of my bitterest enemies away from a blog they might otherwise not hate–much like seeing Tyler Perry’s name attached to any movie automatically means I’ll go to great lengths to avoid seeing it–but maybe it’ll make one person remember who I am.

Plus, I’ve always really liked the idea of having a nonviolent-but-creepy-all-the-same stalker, so I’m cutting out half the work for you.

Lost and Lonely Leftovers

Posted by plumpdumpling on August 27, 2008 – 11:50 am
Filed under administrative, restaurant ramblings
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Kamran: What makes you so interested in abandoned food?
me: I don’t know. I really like food, and I always wonder why someone would just leave it there. I would pick that shit up and dust that shit off.
Kamran: I would do that, too.
me: Really?
Kamran: Yeah, I mean pick it up. And then throw it away.
me: Oh, no, I’d totally be willing to eat it.
Kamran: What about a pepper dropped in the subway?
me: Sure.
Kamran: You’d just pick that up and bite into it?
me: Yeah, absolutely, ’cause you can wash that.
Kamran: You can’t wash off the subway. You can’t wash off New York City. New York City gets under the skin.


This was the very first, some lonesome transportation vegetation spotted on the F train.


Spotted outside Halloween Adventure along Broadway, this one is especially sad for me,
because dropping something after one delicious bite seems so much worse than after not tasting it at all.


My boyfriend and I saw this right outside his apartment building, but everyone there is rich,
so I suppose a lost bagel isn’t a big deal to them. There was a trash can approximately
6 inches from the bagel, it should be noted.

Please find my newly created page for showcasing my abandoned food finds in my sidebar and expect many more to come.

How to Get More Comments on Your Blog Entries (at Least from Me)

Posted by plumpdumpling on August 12, 2008 – 2:16 pm
Filed under administrative
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The thing I loved most about LiveJournal versus other blogging sites is that it lets you reply to comments and e-mails you when someone replies to your comment, which encourages conversation and community. When I left LiveJournal and began hosting my own blog, I found a workaround in Brian’s Threaded Comments, which e-mails me when you comment and gives you the option to click a little checkbox on the comment entry form and receive an e-mail when I reply back to whatever brilliant thing you said.

Most people aren’t hosting their own blogs, though, so plugins like Brian’s won’t work. And for those instances, my best friend Tracey and I recommend subscribing to comments feeds. Because I don’t get e-mailed whenever Tracey replies to one of my comments, I check her comments feed via my Google Reader to see if she’s written back to me. If you have a blog and you want people to know when you’ve replied to their comments, I heartily suggest that you add a comments RSS feed link in an obvious place.

For WordPress, the link would look like: http://[yourusernamehere].wordpress.com/comments/feed/
For Blogger, it’d look like: http://[yourusernamehere].blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default?alt=rss

I only tell you this because y’all have been so nice about commenting on my blog, and I want you to be able to share in the wealth. Let me know if you add one so I can add it to my Google Reader and keep up with you better.