~What in the Hell?~

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

~ Another Busy Weekend! ~

Skating this time. Not just cooking and making booze. (Altho the next batch of cider is ready to finish off and bottle off! YUM!)

Saturday I had three compulsory programs. For the first one, I managed somehow to put my dress on backwards so I was trying to take it off and turn it the right way when my pro came in the locker room and said they were 1/2 way thru my warmup.

Funny thing is, it kept me from getting nervous about actually SKATING. I did pretty good and got second.

My spins were good (of course) but my compulsory jumps SUCKED MAJOR. I was tired and my feet were sore. FAH on that!

Hell, I'm STILL tired and sore. I've done nothing but run around since last week. I think I just need a break. This weekend I'm going to see D - I think. Hopefully my ass won't be so draggin' if I can get some rest on Thursday and Friday.

My stupid co-worker is still in grievous need of a bitch-slapping. He is once again making excuses to the boss about why he can't do his job. I swear, I've never heard anyone make so many excuses about stupid shit. Seriously.

And then she comes and asks ME if I'm having the same sort of issues that he is. What can I say? No, I'm not. She asks me why and I just look at her and tell her that I can't answer that. WTF am I supposed to say? The truth? He's a lazy fuck who can't be bothered to anything HE feels is "beneath" him?

He gets so pissy whenever I want to take a day off because HE doesn't have the vacation time. Well, guess what? I've been here 7 years longer than you have so STFU. He has the worst entitlement mentality I think I've ever seen.

He seems to think that because he is a white male with a family that he should just "get" a raise and more vacation days despite his low seniority and poor job performance. And he makes it known that he isn't happy that he doesn't have seniority. Like it should just be granted to him because he has a dick. He also IS a dick which is why most people hate working with him.

I really just want to bitch slap him and tell him to get the fuck over himself. I guess he grew up being "privileged" and fawned over and now that he has to actually produce results he's mad. And no, he isn't one of those Gen Y people, either. He's just a spoiled, arrogant ass who thinks the world revolves around him and when he's faced with the reality it doesn't, he gets mad.

Well, maybe if you started doing your JOB you wouldn't be on the hotseat every day.

The boss will come in and ask him about something and he'll make a zillion excuses (as usual) and promise to have results "by the end of the day" or whatever. So she comes back at the end of the day (or whenever he promised the results) and asks him what the update is.

He gets pissy and makes excuse after excuse and one particular issue he's been making excuses about for the last two weeks. (He's blaming the temp). I just close my eyes and put on my headphones.

The thing is, the temp is a little "off" and he can't seem to understand the clearest of directions but instead of checking up on him to make sure he is doing stuff right, Ass Clown (my co-worker) just dumps stuff on him and walks off then blames the hapless TEMP when things aren't done.

He's such an asshole (co-worker, not temp). I can see why the last person in this job left. He just grates on your last nerve trying to be the source of all information yet knowing nothing because he won't actually do the job.

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The Rogue Goddess saw shadows dancing at 3:02 PM

Monday, October 20, 2008

~ Busy Weekend ~

Of NOT doing what every one else *thought* I should be doing.

They wanted me to show up to their event (that I didn't want them to do anyway) and work all day for nothing. Uh, no. Besides, I avoid those types as much as possible so I would rather not be involved in being "seen" if you know what I mean!

Instead, I stayed home and worked for MYSELF! Oh, the humanity!

Saturday morning I got up early and went to the farm to buy more un-preserved apple cider and honey. YUM! (The first cider batch was nearly complete - the fermentation had ceased and it was good so it became imperative to make MORE before the apple season is over for the year).

Then I went to the local farmer's market to buy up any "out dated" produce (I get dad bananas and the like for cheap) and bread.

I made a serious haul of green beans, broccoli, potatoes, apples, bananas, strawberries, French bread, pitas and dark chocolate chunks. YUM!

After unloading the car, I started cooking. See, this weekend was all about ME and my BELLY and my LIVER getting what they wanted. If I'm going to work my butt off, I'm going to get something out of it. 'Cause I'm selfish like that. (But at least I'm self-aware enough to admit it! hehehehe!)

First, I sanitized everything - buckets, carbouys, bottles, caps, bubbler, hoses - the whole she-bang to finish and bottle off one batch of cider then start the next one.

The finished cider (that had stopped fermenting and I had added the K sorbate to) went into the bucket and I back-sweetened it with 2 lbs of brown sugar and 2 lbs of honey. I also added more cinnamon. This batch is good but I over-added cloves at the beginning so it has quite a bit of a bite to it. (I affectionately call it "mule cider" since it bites you THEN kicks you.)

I bottled that off and started pasturizing the next 5 gallons (I had to pasturize 2.5 gallons at a time because my stainless steel pot isn't big enough to hold 5 gallons at once. Oh, well!)

As the cider was pasturizing, I started cooking some brownies for the 'rents. Just because I wanted to lick the bowl. (That is the best part, anyway!)

Then I called mom to ask her if she still had that hambone I'd bought her earlier because I wanted it for the potatoes and beans on Sunday. She had it and she also told me dad had more than enough apples! Ack! And I had just bought 5 more pounds! (But they were cheap, right? So it wasn't like I was out much.)

So I decided to make a pie. An apple pie. Like totally from scratch (we don't mess around - and if you're going to cook then COOK!)

I start peeling, coring and slicing the apples then I have to clean off the table to make and roll out the crust. I followed mom's recipe. She had scrawled "this pie is DELICIOUS!" across the top of it so I figured she'd eat it (I don't like the consistency of the cooked apples so I won't eat it - yeah, I'm weird like that).

During the crust-rolling out part, the first batch of cider was done pasturizing so I poured it into the 5-gallon bucket and put a lid on it as I pasturized the second half of the cider.

By the time midnight rolled around, I had accomplished much more than I would have at that other "thing". I had baked brownies and a homemade apple pie (which really WAS delicious as I found out the next day). I had bottled up 3 gallons of hard cider and a half gallon of mead. I pasturized and started the fermentation process for another 5 gallons of cider, cooked a pound of bacon (because it was in the fridge and needed to be cooked before it went bad) and made French toast (because I had to have something to eat with the bacon, right?)

I was pretty damned tired and slept like a rock. But before I tottered off to bed, I lit some incense and gave thanks for the GREAT HARVEST this year! Especially for apples! Be thankful for the earth's bounty.

On Sunday I loaded up the car and took the cooked booty home. I made mom try the pie so I could have a taste of it - damn, it was good! I mean, really good! Almost good enough to get me over that whole consistency thing (but not quite). The crust was a little thick so I'll make a note to roll it out thinner the next time (it's been so long since I've rolled out a pie crust I can't really tell when it's too thick anymore!) I'll post the recipe when I can get home and get around to it.

After I got back to my place on Sunday, I began the massive clean up - oh, man, it was like some nuclear waste-dump. The floor was sticky from the spilled cider and honey. EWWWW! Rugs were filthy. The dishes were all done, tho, because I tend to do them as I'm working - just keep hot water in the sink and wash the dishes and countertops as I go. It works for me.

All the rugs went into the wash, then I scrubbed the floor with bleach. I still need to clean the oven but I might do that tonight or whenever I get around to it.

Then I ran the vacuum and did the rest of the laundry. I had a very busy weekend and now I'm tired as hell. Sad, isn't it? I need a day off from my weekend activities!

This weekend is going to be worse I think. I have a skating competition on Saturday and when I'm not skating I'll be working. Then Sunday is the test session. I'm not testing but I'll probably work that, too. So next Monday I'll be tired as well. There is no rest for the wicked, truly.

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The Rogue Goddess saw shadows dancing at 11:01 AM

Monday, October 13, 2008

~ An Office Rant ~

Some people are just plain lazy slobs. My co-worker is one of those. Sometimes I'd just like to slap him and tell him to STFU and get to work.

He wanders the hallways chit-chatting about his golf score and trying to get people to play golf with him. When he's not outside smoking.

He flatly refuses to box or ship anything - even in an emergency because it's "beneath" him to do so. That's why we have a temp person - to do that stuff. Nevermind that he's already overwhelmed the temp person with HIS other work (that he's too lazy to do).

So today, I'm boxing up emergency stuff to ship to the plants that they have been screaming about for two weeks. I told this clown to get his shit together (most of it is HIS stuff) and I'd ship it out. Well, a day and a half later, he's still wandering around in the halls talking about golf. Now, I have a pickup scheduled for this afternoon. And if he can't get his shit to me an hour before the scheduled pickup, his shit won't go and I'll be sure to make that clear.

I'm really getting sick and tired of getting nasty grams from people because this clown won't do his job.

Get this - when I was gone for two weeks on vacation, I guess he went crying to the boss that he had too much work to do and wanted ME to take over half of his workload. I was like "uh, no." Then the boss ran some numbers to see who, in fact, has the most materials to take care of. Well, guess who that would be? Yeah. I have to babysit about 1300 materials while lazy ass has only about 500 total. And he's crying that "it's too much".

Well - MAYBE, just MAYBE if you got off of your lazy ass and did your JOB instead of wandering around talking and sitting in the smoking area, it wouldn't be so overwhelming!

He was told that since my workload is obviously larger that he wouldn't be getting any help from ME (not by me, but by the boss who is still trying to figure out why he can't keep up. Don't expect me to say anything).

And this fucker comes rolling in about 9:30am and leaves about 4pm when the boss is traveling on business. Is it any wonder he's so far behind?

Now he's bitching about the temp worker who just started two weeks ago. The ass clown has tried to dump all of his work on the temp but the temp doesn't know what's going on so he's screwing everything up. Then assclown gets all mad because HE has to go sort out what the temp has screwed up. Like maybe if you did your work yourself you wouldn't HAVE to follow the temp and take twice as long.

The temp is just supposed to be making copies and shipping material. Easy. A trained monkey could do it. But ass clown can't wait to get the temp trained. He wants the temp to start doing HIS (Ass Clown's work) now. So he just dumped it on the temp and walked off figuring the temp could figure it out. Uh, no.

Whenever the boss asks him a simple question like, "have you gotten the results back on this yet?" He has to launch into an hour long explanation of how he can't get anything done because blah, blah, blah. If you keep asking the question, he won't answer. He just keeps making excuses and trying to blame everyone and everything for not doing his job.

And it's never anything simple like "oh, I forgot that was due!" No. It's a litany of excuses about how everyone is conspiring against him, the temp is dumb, he's too busy, there are too many other emergencies, people won't stop calling him. WTF?

When I get "too busy" I simply stop answering the phone and only answer emails when I can get around to it. It really is that easy. If somebody is THAT desperate, they can come and find me in the lab.

Now it's getting late and the courrier pickup is due right after lunch. Has the Ass Clown given me the stuff to ship? No. As a matter of fact, he can't find the materials OR the paperwork. He's running around in a panic trying to figure out where he put this stuff (hint: it's not where it SHOULD be) and accusing the temp of "moving it" so he can't find it.

Whatever. He has an hour. Then I'm packing up what's ready and shipping it. Tough crap for him.

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The Rogue Goddess saw shadows dancing at 10:18 AM

Sunday, October 05, 2008

~ October is here! ~

And all is quiet.  Thankfully.

It has been an interesting few days.  Friday I stopped by the local home brewers "outlet" to pick up some stuff to make more meade and try my hand at some cider.  Apple cider is in season now and having some hot ass-kicking cider around the holidays sounds really awesome.

So I picked up a couple of carbouys, some "bubblers" (I know that isn't the proper name but that's what they are to me), yeast, and some stoppers.

Then on Saturday I went in search of fresh apple cider.  Fortunately, there are several farms pretty close so I picked up 3 gallons of the stuff plus 3 pounds of fresh honey for more meade (hey, if you're gonna brew, BREW!)

Saturday afternoon was spent sanitizing and brewing.  Man, let me tell you what, that cider right out of the jug was AWESOME!!  Damn!  I kept some of it back just to drink it unfermented!  

To the "to be fermented" stuff I added lots of cinnamon, 1 lb of brown sugar, a touch of nutmeg, a touch of ginger and some cloves.  I kept adding and tasting until it was where I wanted it.  Then I put it in a carbouy,  tossed the yeast in, plopped the bubbler on top and away the yeasties went.

Now it's sitting here in my kitchen floor all covered in a bag with the bubbler sticking out so I can watch it.  (And I do, too.  It just fascinates me for some reason to watch that thing bubble).

The meade, however, is not co-operating.  Damn that honey for being sterile anyway.  The dude that I bought the honey and cider from actually looked horrified when I told him I was going to ferment them both.  Like, hello?  Hard cider is about yummy.  Especially around Christmas when you can heat it up and it makes the whole house smell good.

I pulled the meade down and put some raisins in it and shook it up a bit to get some air into it.  It looks like it might be doing ok now.  We'll see in a week or so when I pull it out to give it a taste.

Haven't been doing much cooking lately.  Truth be told, I haven't been really very hungry which is odd.  I would expect to be starving about this time of year (close to hibernation time).  And I'm not sleeping well, either.  I'm sure it will all pass.

I've started bringing the plants in for the winter.  Getting them used to staying inside by bringing them in more and more each day.  They seem to be taking it ok altho their growth has slowed considerably.

Oh, and mom finally realized she could grow a fuschia.  Just like I told her.  She kept telling me how "sensitive" they are and how she could never grow one.  I told her it was because she didn't put it in the morning sun, out of the wind and water it enough.  

So I left mine with her when I went on vacation with explicit instructions to water it every day and guess what?  It did great.  And I let her keep it.  Now she's fussing over the thing (she doesn't want it to die off this winter) because it has grown like a weed for her.  

I think I might take a cutting of it and try to root one and get it to grow.  We'll see.  I haven't had much luck growing stuff from seed.  I haven't really tried cuttings but why not?

Today I went home and took a bunch of stuff to mom & dad.  

I helped Dad get the front door put back on (he had taken it off to paint it and was having trouble putting it back on).  Then I "made" him go to the hardware store with me.  (Because I know he likes to get out of the house).

We walked around looking for about an hour.  I picked up a standing plant rack but when I got it home I found half of the parts were missing.  So I'm going to have to take it back this week.  I'll certainly need it this winter to keep the spider plants off of the floor.

Not much else which is nice.  Just brewing, getting the plants ready for winter and running some "experiments".  My first cider experiment that I ran last weekend went horribly  awry.  OK, maybe not "horribly" since I was only out $3 but still . . .  

Word to the wise - you can't ferment anything with sodium benzoate or potassium benzoate in it.  It kills the yeast.  (Heh, but the upside to that is once you've fermented to where you want, you can add this stuff THEN add sugar to taste.  That way the little beggars don't gorge on your sugar and leave you with too dry of a brew.)

What else?  Well, I missed my violin lesson last week because I scalded my bow hand running the botched first cider attempt.  That was not good.  I had a blister on two fingers that I had to pop.  Ick!  But it's all better now.

Then I was going to skate tonight but the ice was down.  Bogus!  So now I think I'm just going to find a book and hit the sack.

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The Rogue Goddess saw shadows dancing at 8:23 PM

~The Mighty Nephy~

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