I Need A Nap

Posted on December 3, 2008 by Frog

I just found out that a very good friend’s father died today. He’d been in the hospital for a little over 5 months this year and then finally got to go home right before Thanksgiving. He wasn’t in hospice so there’s a bit of shock that he died but when you consider how bad things had been this year it wasn’t totally a shocker. Still how great is it that he got to go home for a hugemongous family event and then got to die at home? Not a bad way to go.

I’ve been fending off a cold all week. Thank heavens for the Neti Pot. I know there’s something wrong with me but I love seeing the chunks come out into the sink.

I’ve been observing training this week. Today as I was listening to the trainer I realized this is why I love training so much. I’ve missed it–do I want to get back on the road again and never be at home? No. I do not want to do that. The positive on that is I get to eat at places like Tippy’s Taco for lunch.

I heard from a classmate today that she’s also having a problem writing her cultural analysis. She says she’s afraid it’s too much like a soap opera and not enough like an academic paper. I told her that I’ve been fretting about being whiny and soap opera-y and so have procrastinated so much that I’ll be a whimpering mess this weekend as I churn out the paper. Must take a step back and get me out of the analysis.

We started watching Bleak House over the weekend. We got through one DVD. There are three. My take on it is that I remember why I haven’t read much Charles Dickens (I know, I know, bad English major). So much of what he wrote was serialized and while the story is rich with fascinating details I just want the point. So, we really like the BBC production but every time a new episode starts I start hollering about the pacing. Then I shut my pie-hole and watch another episode.

Posted in Generic Thoughts, Thinking, Watching | 3 Comments

Nuts!

Posted on November 28, 2008 by Frog

I have begun working on my second and final paper and it’s a painful process because my work on it makes it abundantly clear that I need to get the heck out of my place of employment (POE). My paper is a cultural analysis of my POE and while most times when one of these is commissioned by an organization the organization says, “Whoa, look at all our dirty laundry. We’d better make some changes.” Instead I’m saying look at our dirty laundry, no wonder I’m miserable. And misery makes me want to cook.

I started a batch of granola but realized I needed coconut. A quick call to the better-half means he’ll bring some home since he was going to stop by the store later today anyway.

I’ve already made a batch of falafel nuts. And now I’m moving on to a batch of these tasty sounding nuts.

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Happy Thanksgiving, Pilgrims

Posted on November 27, 2008 by Frog

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Pile of Fluff

Posted on November 26, 2008 by Frog

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Gobble, Gobble, MF

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Frog

OK, so it’s that time of year again and this still cracks me up:

Ain’t finger lickin’ like chicken

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Foot Dragging

Posted on November 25, 2008 by Frog

I’m off from work this week. Partly it was for mental health purposes and partly because I need to write papers for the end of the semester. Naturally, I’m dragging my feet on the paper writing. I decided to go with the shorter one first and while that sounds like a good idea, I feel like I’ve analyzed the semester-long project to death with all the reflection on the class wiki and blog that now that I have to synthesize, I’m just not interested. The part about not being interested tends to happen to me at the end of each semester and I just need to kick my own butt and get going. At least I have set up where I want to go with the paper. I just need to get on with it.

I realize I’ve reached the bottom of the barrel when I mention weather here but I’m sick to death of windy days. It seems like for the last week it’s been windy and my poor chapped lips are tired of it.

Let’s see what else? We went to delux last night for dinner and I’m not interested in going back. The pluses are that draft beers are $2 on Mondays and the blue plates are a dollar less. The mac and cheese side dish was good. The design of the place was nice and the ceiling changes color! It’s hard to remember what the bar upstairs looked like that time I went there with the loud band, dim lighting and free flowing drinks and it was called Paradise Cafe (? I think. It’s hard to remember).

The minuses: was there actually truffle on the truffle fries? The fried chicken was the saltiest thing I’ve tasted in a long time. If I hardly touch fried chicken it means it sucks. Also, I’ve turned into an old lady but for the love of god will someone please stop having dining tables smack up against bars? If I’m with my old husband and my old friend then I don’t want to be rubbing asses with 20-somethings doing shots. Especially after I’ve eaten part of a shitty lump of fried chicken. It pisses me off. You damn kids get off my lawn.

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It was cool

Posted on November 23, 2008 by Frog

This afternoon the better-half and I went to see the final show of Shadow Play at VCU. It was absolutely captivating and we were engaged the entire time. There were some laugh out loud moments and some more solemn ones. It was original and clever. All done without a word of dialogue. Kudos to the theatre students at VCU.

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The Burn Feels So Nice

Posted on November 21, 2008 by Frog

There’s a group of people at work who decided to have a Sushi Lunch Event! on Monday. I’m off next week and will have to miss it. Which stinks because I’ve been vocal lately to certain people that I’m amenable to hanging out and doing things within the organization. My own unit sucks the lifeforce from me so I’m looking for fun elsewhere. Anyway, with all the emails about sushi floating around I had to get a sampler from Fresh Market a little while ago. I just finished the last bit of wasabi and I love the way it burns. Yeah baby!

I’m hoping the better-half won’t see this post until after he decides to stop by the store and buy sushi for dinner tonight–hee.

As you can tell I’ve eaten lunch by myself today and that’s been great as the last two days have been a freaking nightmare about lunch so much so yesterday I said I’m not eating lunch. And that was freaking that. This whole let’s eat lunch together thing has taken on qualities that could be explored in an after school special. Scene: The girls at West Beverly must hang out together all the time and one day Brenda decides not to eat at the Peach Pit but at In-Out Burger. Bitchy comments fly and Brenda doesn’t get invited to go shopping. In the last five minutes of the show a reunion at the Pit brings everyone back together. Happily Ever After. Screen goes dark.

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The line boss, he’s a fool, got a brand new flat-top haircut

Posted on November 19, 2008 by Frog

When you start looking up Johnny Paycheck lyrics you know you’ve gotten to a bad place at work, yet again. I’ve been doing some interviews with people I work with to find out what they think of our organization’s culture. I have a paper due at the end of the semester on organizational culture.

It’s nice to hear that some folks think we’re back on track and we’re ready to regain our footing. It’s also been nice to hear how the organization was before I got here. I was here about a year before things started going to hell so I don’t know much about how things were because I only experienced one good year. The last few have sucked with layoffs and uncertainty.

Yesterday I talked to the mirror image of my unit and what a different attitude they have. An interesting point came up that when they moved to our present location they immediately unpacked. There are people in my unit who have not unpacked. It’s been about a year. Doesn’t it say quite a bit that we still have packed boxes? I think my cultural analysis paper will be tough to write…I will have to strike a balance between being authentic and resisting the urge to call people out. My bias will have to be held in check.

In other news, I was asked by my professor to talk about my recent presentation and whether or not my partner did his fair share. I was honest but now feel guilty. I hate being in this position and I could have certainly declined to discuss it but as I do not want to work on any more large projects with him (I’ve done it 4 times already), I felt I needed to answer her questions. Still. The guilt.

Can’t it just be Friday, 4:45pm? Then I’ll be out of here for a week.

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It Feels Like Florida

Posted on November 15, 2008 by Frog

It’s in the 70s here and humid. I feel like I’m in Florida. Luckily a cold front will be moving through later today and then we’ll be sitting pretty with cool temperatures. The better-half purchased a whole chicken the other day and we’ll be roasting that tonight. It seems odd to be making such a warm and comforting meal when it’s balmy outside. I’m sure I’ll get over it when that chicken comes out of the oven.

This morning, to mix things up, we made an omelet with mushrooms, onions and some peppers that have been encased in olive oil. The peppers are a mix of jalapeno and habanero from our garden. The peppers aren’t hugely spicy–they’ve been roasted and as I said, sitting in a jar of olive oil so there’s a quiet heat to them. I need to practice my omelet making but this one was good. I think next time I’ll make two so they cook quicker than one giant one. Both Julia Child and James Beard say that omelets should cook in something like 30 seconds. Mine took longer and had a tiny crust.

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