I have to admit that the difficulty I had with resolving this problem was probably self imposed, but it’s taken me a good 5 or 6 hours of research and reading to come to a very simple solution, so I figured a post was in order.

Short version of the problem:

I wanted to be able to have each post type (specifically Category in this situation) display as its own page on the site (which WordPress does on its own with a category-post link) on the Navigation Menu (which is also possible in combination with the Pages). There are a few plugins that say they’ll make it happen, but I couldn’t find anything that worked exactly the way I wanted it to. I spent a bunch of time researching page templates and thought about creating a different one for each category in an attempt to hack together my own way using The Loop, and to put it simply: it just wouldn’t work. I was convinced I was missing some huge link, and was staring at an obvious solution.

Not surprisingly it came down to the simplest of solutions ever: an .htaccess redirect.

I created a Page with the title I wanted to use (to make it show up in the menu), and then redirected to the category page.

Redirect 301 /$PageName http://example.com/archives/category/$CategoryName

… duh.

Much thanks to Ipstenu for the Aha! moment.

He knows me from my Pagan days. Knows me as a child of Draconis and Eris. Knows me as someone to poke fun as Christians in specific, and religions that believe in a single god in general, and not really care that I’m stereotyping.

“I don’t believe in God.” He says, after hearing that I go to church every Sunday, and have for more than half a year. I immediately want to defend myself. Don’t lump me in with all of the rest of your Christian friends! I haven’t reverted! I’ve gone forward!

Instead I say “Why not?” and hear exactly what I hope to, and it tells me we’re still in sync, he and I.

“I believe in a power greater than myself, but I won’t call it God because I don’t presume to be able to comprehend and contain in a single word something so much bigger than me.” (<3<3<3)

Yup. All of that. And so much more.

There’s a huge whirlwind of thoughts in my head that cover everything from religion in general and my faith in specific, to my thoughts about what removing the emphasis on streamlined beliefs and belief systems could do for humanity. I think I’ll let it percolate a bit more before bringing it out for public discussion (which is as much a part of how I operate as anything else).

But man. What a ride the last year has been, inside this little head.

This is my response to Ipstenu. I thought it would be interesting to you folks:

“Funny enough, I had a very similar situation. I’m dating a boy who is very traditional with these sorts of things (which is a first for me).

I work a shift that is typically 2-4 hours earlier than him, so I am almost always up before he is. I took a snow day the day of the blizzard, but the next day I had to the office. I got up, bundled up quietly, and headed for the door. The boy’s older sister was at the house that morning, and gave me the most incredulous look when I told her my plan to shovel my car out. That set the tone, alright.

I went out and cleaned out the snow and drifts around my car and the ~15 feet out to the alley, went back and showered and went about my day. While I was shoveling a couple of the older guys (both mexican) around where he lives expressed disdain because I was out there, and the boyfriend wasn’t. “He takes care of me, but I’m certainly more than capable. I don’t need him or any other man to take care of me.”

That night, the boy tried to yell at me for doing it myself. “You should have gotten me up! I would have taken care of it for you!”

I tempered my inner strong-willed woman, and came at him with logic. “Listen, we need to get this thing straight. I will never be the kind of woman that asks you to do something because I’m ‘not supposed to’ according to society’s gender stereotypes. You can do all the ‘taking care of me’ that you want, without being asked. You open doors for me, and take the trash out, and protect me from the crack heads without being asked. That’s awesome. But I insist that I always be able and willing to take care of myself, too.”

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. “Okay, fine. But you don’t have to do it alone. Next time wake me up, and we’ll do it together.”
__

It’s definitely bred and cultivated into many cultures, still. The boy is second (maybe third) generation, but the predefined roles of women and men in his family are still very strong. “

Sometime in late March and early April of last year I started a new position at work. I acted as the voice of Liquid Web and Storm On Demand, managing the public images for both brands on Twitter, Facebook, and any forums on which we were active. I spent most of my days scouring the rest of the internet for people talking about us, helping and thanking wherever appropriate. The title became “Webhosting Evangelist” as the position was fleshed out, with many people that I encountered on the forums calling me a ‘Customer Activist’. My guidelines were simple: talk to people. Engage them, respond to them, help them, and give Liquid Web the friendly ‘face’ that it deserved.

I'm helping!

I had a great time in that position, got to meet some amazing people, got to speak at a conference about Monitoring, and just generally did what I do best: talked to people and responded to any problems they had as best I could. As the year went on it became more and more apparent to me that, though I enjoyed a large portion of the job and was genuinely interested in the subject, I wasn’t really cut out to be in Marketing at Liquid Web.

Twitter Fail Whale

Last week (in what now feels like a bit of a whirlwind of action and emails) the Bobs and I sat down and had a chat about where I wanted to go in the company. There were a couple options, but we all ultimately decided that I would begin to fill a role that had been needed for a long period of time: Quality Control. In general, the idea is that we have too many techs to know for sure that they are all delivering the same tone of helpfulness and customer appreciation, and we want to make sure that every customer is left with an overwhelming sense of “Liquid Web is AWESOME.” The job description, such as it exists right now:

The goal of the Quality Control Supervisor is:

To ensure each customer, potential customer, and any other external interaction is executed by our employees with the correct attitude and goal, and that everyone is given the tools and coaching they need to provide the best possible customer support experience.

Responsibilities:
* Build a Quality Control program for the Support Department that includes Quality Control Reviews and a retraining path for techs that are struggling.
* Identify problems during QC’s or lack of improvement and provide that information to the respective department head or operations manager.
* Help to improve internal communications.
* Continue to track, attempt to resolve and provide internal follow-up on all public complaints including, but not limited, to those mentioned on Twitter, Facebook, WHT.
* Monitor all ticket feedback (good and bad) and follow up appropriately.

Many, many, MANY things have been left intentionally vague to give me the necessary freedom to figure out exactly how to do everything there. It will probably morph a whole lot over the next year, and I look forward to the challenge.

Quality Control

I could allow myself to feel like the last year spent in Marketing was a failure, but I’ve decided instead to take it as a learning experience. I learned (more than I ever expected to, but I could probably sum it up in 500-1000 words) about myself, about the industry, and about the people I work with. Generally, I’m excited for the opportunity to dive headlong after a clear goal, and to be able to define processes again. I produce amazing results when given a goal, and told to just go for it. I sincerely doubt this will be anything but another way for me to shine.

4:21:32 PM me: I may be a bad person.
4:21:35 PM ani: oh really
4:21:47 PM me: I just caught myself chair dancing to Ace of Base.
4:21:50 PM me: Is there any hope?
4:21:51 PM ani: HAHAHAHAH
4:21:54 PM ani: no.
4:21:57 PM me: damn.

Both this month and last have been a whirlwind of commitments and filler. I don’t get as much time with the boy as I’d like, and I don’t get to see my family or his as much as I’d like, and I don’t get hardly any *me* time anymore. But I’m happy. Not just content. Not luke warm. Happy. I try, as much as humanly possible to pass that happy on to other people.

Finally I have found a spot to be exactly what I want to be with , and a person, who is completely content to let me be me. The fact that today I got an oil change, did laundry and some cleaning, had coffee with my bff, did some letter writing and some stitching, and some coding, does not seem strange to him. He has no mold that I need to conform myself to. It feels absolutely amazing to be accepted so completely. I hope he knows I feel the same about him.

Last night I made spaghetti, with perfectly cooked pasta and italian bread with garlic butter, and it was absolutely delicious. Last week I did shrimp and pasta that turned out nothing like I’d planned, with significantly overcooked pasta, but it was alright. It’s still a novelty to make something. It’s freaking awesome if it’s good. I’m starting to play with textures of foods and trying to pick out the different spices and foods that are put in the foods I eat, at least in my head. My refried beans have gotten pretty damn good. This batch of burritos wasn’t as good as the first, but they’re still pretty good.

I’m stitching again. Relearning all of the silly things I’d forgotten (pay attention to which way you’re stitching, silly woman, and for pete’s sake, mark your center so you don’t forget where it is and have to take out 60 very pretty stitches). I’m hoping to get back into it for longer than just christmas. I’m starting to be bothered by how much time I spend in front of the TV, not doing anything productive.

Too, and probably not a surprise to those of you that know me best, I’ve been having this intense battle with myself. I am missing something pretty huge in my daily interactions. I’m not really feeling like I’m doing anything that betters the human race, or betters a life, in a way that I’m not also padding someone else’s pockets. To that end I’ve been working on the website for my Church (which has been its own adventure), and I’ve applied to volunteer for Haven House.

Other than that… holiday cards are built and ready to go out, but I just realized they’re all square envelopes, so I’ll have to stop by the post office Monday morning and add the extra postage. Here’s hoping I get up early enough to make it to work on time.

Last night was a bit of a family night with my ma, my sister, and my brother. We were all sitting around the table playing Monopoly Deal (which is hilarious and awesome, and does not lead to the 3 day games that the board game does in my family), and my sister takes advantage of a lul in conversation to ask “So, does everyone know what tomorrow is?” My mom and I glance at eachother, and at my brother. We knew, but we didn’t really need to talk about it. My brother says “The 22nd of November? I let it go by like any other day.”

From my livejournal post on that day.

09:19 am
thank god for wireless internet in hospitals.

Saturday morning I took gramma into the hospital. We determined that her CHF was acting up, and that she’d broken another vertebre (or two). Treatment was going to be the same thing as always. Diuretics and morphine.

Yesterday morning (was it really only yesterday?) around eight AM I got a call from the hospital nurse: “I just came on, so I’m not real sure what’s going on, but I’d recommend that you get up here as soon as you can.” I call her back, and by “you” she means “you and everyone else who might want to see your grandmother before she dies.”

I call mom, thereby activating the phone tree. We spent all day yesterday up here. Family, friends, the one Great-Aunt who didn’t even go to the hospital when her mother was dieing. It’s surreal. [there aren't many words that make sense in here, meaning, for the rest of the day.] around 11:30 last night, when she’d lasted five hours longer than they expected, we decided to take shifts for the night. I went to Theio’s and hung with people, took a shower, and came back for my shift. I probably won’t be home today until it’s done.

Five years ago today, we said goodbye to my Mother’s Mother. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that I dreamt of her last night, but I was. I am surprised, too, that the pain is still so raw.

Gramma's grave

I miss you Gramma. Every day.

I have so much more to say about this, but we’ll start here:

3:22:21 PM me: http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2010/11/18/young-girl-bullied-for-liking-star-wars/ — another example of the internet mob. Doing good, though, with no real negativity.
3:23:56 PM SCollins: oh snap. star wars even.
3:24:04 PM SCollins: geeks take arms!
3:24:22 PM me: Ohyes.
3:24:26 PM me: Nasa even got involved.
3:24:52 PM me: http://twitter.com/#!/NASA/status/5611410558033921
3:26:42 PM SCollins: awesome

[time passes...]

4:25:20 PM me: http://starwars.com/
4:25:30 PM me: look at the second box below the header. (This story was there: http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2010/11/18/young-girl-bullied-for-liking-star-wars/ )
4:26:27 PM SCollins: ha
4:26:29 PM SCollins: awesome

I am absolutely stunned, again, at the positive force we can have when we band together. This little girl will not only be happy with her Star Wars fandom, but likely a strong supporter of everyone’s right to be a little different. It reminds me of the energy and excitement that the Browncoats pulled out to make Serenity happen. So much fun and awesome.

Taft, TX., originally uploaded by randomgoodness.

For the first time in my life I just got pulled over while I wasn’t doing
anything wrong. He said I didn’t turn my brights off quickly enough. He
really just wanted to know what this black charger full of white girls from
michigan was doing in his tiny ass town. Got away with a verbal warning.

On the way back to Sinton, originally uploaded by randomgoodness.

We spent. Few beautiful hours on the beaches at Port Aransas today. Brandy
and DJ’s first time in the ocean. It might have pooped us out a little bit.