Changing the world...one MMP at a time!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
121

Evenin’ all. Only two (count ‘em - 1, 2) days to go! Unfortunately, my boss (who yesterday buggered off to Frankfurt (and is probably right now sitting in a pub in Sachsenhausen, downing my favourite brand of Weizenbier)) decided he wants me to redraft a pile of f*cking documents tomorrow in line with recent changes in the market. TWUNT! :mad: :mad: :smiley: So I can tell tomorrow is going to be a great day. Smart girl that I am, I have managed to offload the vast majority of the redrafting work onto the new associate (he started 2 weeks ago), leaving myself with only proofreading and implementing consequential changes in a couple of other documents. Why give myself a headache when I won’t be around later to deal with any repercussions of my failure to live up to expectations? In fact, judging by recent experience (things said to me directly and overheard), bitching about lawyers who recently left is the partners’ favourite pastime.

For your reading comprehension, you should know that I am not the only one to leave the nightmare office. In the last 2.5 years, 8 associates have left the office (of whom, 6 laid blame for their departures on TB), and there are two more leaving in the next 3 months. Take into account that, until the middle of last year, there were never more than 3 or 4 lawyers employed in the office (excluding the 2 partners) at any one time, and you have a HUGE professional staff turnover. Now THAT speaks volumes about the office!

Okay, I’ma gonna stop bitchin’ now and go make hamburgers for din-dins! :smiley:

ETA: I wanted to add that if my salary is the yardstick by which they measure their expectations, then doing nothing about fits the bill!

122

Hahaha! You should name all but one of them Cozumel and name the very last one Bob and see if anyone notices. That’d be hilarious! :smiley:

Have I mentioned that I’m known at work as the Instigator? Well, the Cookie Lady and the Instigator.

123

No kidding. I read a few of her books a while back and I learned that the quickest road to hell was to be a male in an Amy Tan novel.

Speaking of papers (needing to be) written, I finally rewrote the ending to the Piri Thomas section. It’s hard to make the point that prison helped Thomas learn to blend the African and Puerto Rican sides of his heritage when the Puerto Rican stuff is mostly implied through language. Fortunately the man has a website. Bless this Internet Age.

So far today I’ve:
*checked cataloging information on 2/3 of a cart of new reference books
*shelved same
*shelved the reference books that were lying around the section from yesterday/last night
*found out how to drop my online class
*sent out the email asking to have said class dropped
*tried to renew my library books
*walked over to circulation and had the guy at the desk check my record and figure out why the online renewal wasn’t working
*renewed my books until end of August
*banged out the next section of the Great Comps Paper Rewrite

But wait! There’s more! This afternoon I’ll:
*search for a photograph of A.R. Ammons that was supposed to be in a box of books but isn’t now
*mentally curse my Crazy Supervisor for not taking out the letters/photographs/anything that’s not a review copy cards from the books because it’ll have to be done eventually anyway and it just looks bad to have first and autographed editions of books that are being Preserved for Posterity with slips of paper hanging out of them
*sort through five decades of letters to and from the NC Academy of Science in my ongoing role as the Official Straightener of Messy Collections
*try not to flirt too much with the male GA (who will be joining the Air Force Officer Training in May. sniff)
*kill something and eat it
*do my weekly night shift at the reference desk

Ah Tuesday. How nice to see you again.

124

Ha! I just posted in the unexotic places thread in IMHO - my post was the first on page 2 and I had to restrain myself from editing to add “w00t! First on two!” You guys are a bad influence on me! :wink: :smiley:

125

'morning all. Dinner last night was fabulous, thanks for all the suggestions. As beautiful as yesterday was, today has gone grey and cold again, snow showers are in the forecast, and I just had a debate with skiffman over whether or not to buy potting soil now or to wait until after the halibut trip. Finally I told him to do as he pleases. He and the kids are now gone for the day, and I am headed back to bed to lounge and read a bit until the muscle relaxer and naproxen kick in, stupid low pressure system.

126

Glad to see I’m not alone, heh.

127

I’m in the meeting from hell. They let us out for lunch, which was sushi. Yum!

Later, doods…

128

Thanks for the link to the chicken recipe, Dottygumdrop. I did note the changes for ingredient adjustment. I think I’ll make that for dinner tonight.

dogbutler, gardentraveler thanks for the good vibes on the job and house stuff. I just hope the next time we buy a house it isn’t as crazy as all this. Once we get escrow opened, we can get the home inspection taken care of, then it is just finalizing the mortgage stuff.

Obligatory picts of the new house: exterior, kitchen, from the living room. They are kind of small, I took them off the MLS page because I forgot my camera when we went to look at houses that day.

Speaking of food and baked goods, I made a fantastic bread pudding on Sunday with a leftover 1/2 loaf of banana bread my mom made for me.

bread, cubed (it was about 6 slices)
appx 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 Cup or so of raisins
4 eggs, beaten
2 Cups of milk
3/4 Cup sugar (I use pure cane sugar, not white granulated)
1 heaping teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Set the oven to 350 F
Place cubed bread in a baking dish and sprinkle raisins over the top then drizzle the melted butter over the bread.
In a bowl combine the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon. I beat the stuff with a whisk until combined well.
Pour the mixture over top of the bread cubes.
Let it stand for a bit while the bread absorbs some of the mixture.
Bake for appx 45 minutes.
Let cool and enjoy a tasty desert.

I topped it with a vanilla butter sauce

1 stick butter
1/2 Cup milk
Powdered sugar, about 1.5 Cups worth added in as I went along
appx 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the milk and vanilla and heat
Add powdered sugar in 1/2 Cup increments and whisk in.
After the powdered sugar is in, the sauce will still be thin, add about 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch and whisk in, it will thicken up.
Drizzle over warm bread pudding.

Store leftover sauce in a jar in the 'fridge. Nice thing is the sauce won’t separate and get all weird when cold.

mmmm mmmmm good :slight_smile:

129

My amusing thought of the day:
So, at this time of day, the sun floods into the window behind me, I was basking in it today wishing I could climb onto the window sill (it’s a wide sill, but not that wide) and curl up for a nap in the bright warm sun.
Yeah, I want to be a cat. (I’m a leo if that makes a difference…)

130

Don’t ask me to nest the quotes, I dunno how. I think a paper on that topic that starts that way will have no trouble incorporating barmpot, spunner, twunt, putz, shmuck, and luftmensch (is it me or does that sound like a helluva law firm?) in it.
I had puter problems again–ok, it was me. But now I am on my back to the library to finally download this friggin’ file and Be Done with “Men’s Fiction”–the unknown genre that my site supervisor insists there is. FWIW, I agree with her–there is a definite type of fic that could be labeled as such. I am just sick of it.
My left lower abdomen hurts–no idea why. (appendix is on the right).
Warning! Meandering thoughts follow!
Re Amy Tan: I’ve only ever read The Joy Luck Club. All I remember from that is that it shattered my illusions of Eastern enlightment–those women beat the shit outta their kids! :eek: I read it when I was about 15. I think I had read too much Ping or Kung Fu as a child or something; certainly I swallowed whole the myth that Western culture was warlike and violent (ie BAD) and Eastern philosophy was tranquil and peaceful (ie GOOD, but yes, inscrutable). And it is warlike etc. and Eastern philosophy can teach that, but somehow, in my tiny mind it never occurred to me that Asian folks could be warlike (how this jived with what I was taught about WW2 I have no idea now–except that I probably didn’t think about it at all. We weren’t taught much–make that any–Asian/Pacific Rim history, except when it touched on ours, like the Boxer rebellion or the Chinese working on the railroad, and of course Pearl Harbor). Obviously, such beliefs are laughable. Humans are warlike and lots of mothers hit their kids. So, I guess I am guilty of growing up with that stereotype. Sorry! I don’t hold those stereotypes today, btw. I mean, I know Thoroughly Modern Millie isn’t true! :wink:

Anyway, Tan was an eye opener to me in that respect, in that I had never considered those issues before. I didn’t take what she wrote as gospel; it was a novel. I don’t recall any of her male characters, though. Hmmmm… maybe that proves your point! :slight_smile: Oh, wait–I remember some jerk who made his wife split the expenses evenly, but didn’t share the money equally. Weren’t most of them unhappily married? Aren’t most characters in fiction? Anyway, I see your point about the Chinese gods, and I wouldn’t know the difference there for sure. Then again, it’s not like I go around quoting authors as experts on culture.
More important point: why can’t an Asian-American author write about her heritage however she wants? It’s fiction. Wasn’t it Roger Ebert who said that he looked forward to the day when the black guy could be the villian in a movie? I think he also defended hotly the right of the filmmakers to make some Middle-eastern (or were they Asian?) guys in a film about gangs to be the bad guys. There was a huge outcry when the film came out (and of course I cannot recall the title). Come to think of it, I think they were Asian, suburban kids in the movie, but they rang a drug ring. Any of this ring a bell?

131

My brain hurts and I’m bloated and today just sucks.

grumble

On the bright side, I have learned that they’ve rescheduled my Montreal trip, which had originally been planned for Friday. This is good news… I wasn’t particularly looking forward to rushing to the airport for an 8am flight, spending the whole day in meetings (esp since I’d have to look perky and enthusiastic, being the presenter and all), and then rushing back to the airport for a 7pm flight home. I’d probably have needed the weekend to recover. :stuck_out_tongue:

I suppose I could’ve crashed for the night at Mumsy’s, since she’d have been more than glad to let me stay and would’ve problably even cooked me breakfast… but spending the night with my mother is ten thousand times more stressful than the whole flying-there-and-back-in-one-day nonsense.

Bletch.

Can someone please arrange for dinner to be made when I get home? I’d be ever so grateful.

Some of that garlic chicken sounds perfect… and maybe a slice of the Bavarian apple thing for dessert. Pleaseandthankyou.

132

Like this :slight_smile:

OK, OK!!… I’ll tell you how…

You quote what you want. Then you go back to the text you want in the nested quote, C&P it, and wrap it with another pair of “quote” tags. Like this (using {} instead of ):

{quote=somebody}
{quote=Someone Else}Someone else’s quote, inside{/quote}
Somebody’s quote, outside {/quote}

Thusly:

**Beebs **-- if you want, you can vent whatever is on your mind here. I think this is what we’re really here for – sort of a virtual mutual support group.

Funny story this morning – dropped of **MTT **at school (**FTT **stayed home to practice for her piano “exam” later in the afternoon – passed with flying colors. Of course! :D) Anyway, as I’m letting him off, he decides to wax poetic and instead of “bye,” he says “so long!”

… To which I automatically respond with “and thanks for all the fish!” :smiley:

Which went right over his head, since, voracious reader as he is, he hasn’t read Douglas Adams yet :smack:

133

It’s a tricky subject. On one hand, Asian American writers should be able to write about whatever the hell they want. On the other, it’s unavoidable that what they write is going to be considered some kind of insight into their ethnic background. Plus, I think it’s rather irresponsible to write about shit you made up and present it as true, when you know your audience will take it at face value. Writers can write distorted versions of Cinderella, for example, and any Western reader will know what’s been changed and what hasn’t, but if a Chinese American writer is going to write about the story of Mulan it seems disingenuous to write up her own version and imply that it is the traditional story. (Cinderella isn’t a good example, though. Robin Hood, maybe.)

Amy Tan can write whatever the hell she wants. She’s an entertaining writer and she makes a lot of money, and if she feels no responsibility to the culture she’s misrepresenting in order for her to sell her books, then that’s her problem. Asian American writers shouldn’t feel pressured to play the role of cultural ambassador every time they take up their pen, but they should at least make it clear that what they’re writing is not a general cultural standard. I hate it when they use phrases like, “It’s the Korean way.” No, it fucking isn’t.

Sorry, it’s a touchy subject for me. :slight_smile:

Must take Olive to the vet. Should be fun.

134

Oh, and I’d like to volunteer for the next available MMP - I had a random idea that might be amusing. :wink:

135

Give my pants back, Haze.
Seriously, I washed them yesterday, which means they should either be on the drying rack or hanging up in the washroom. Where are they? Nowhere to be found.

It’s okay, though, because we bravely went to Old Navy and found they did not have the ones I wanted in yet, so proceeded to a terribl Maul and found some jeans and a pair of… sort of greeny-gray lightweight cotton cargoes on sale at the Gap. The fastest in and out of a store I’ve ever done. I tried on three pairs in about six minutes, plus waving to the baby (Mum was walking around the changeroom with him.
I made some very nice corn muffins today, using The Tightwad Gazette’s universal muffin recipe, which is two cups grain, quarter cup sugar, two teaspoons baking powder, quarter cup oil, one egg, one cup milk, one and a half cups additions (nuts, cheese, carrots, shredded zuchinni, crumbled bacon, granola, whatever).

Mine were (doubled batch) half cornmeal and half flour, a little less sugar, two cups of thawed frozen corn, and half a cups of crumbled cheddar. They’re yummy.

I love that recipe. If you use honey or molasses, just use a little less milk. If you make savoury muffins, use less sugar.

136

Is it bedtime yet? Even if it’s not, can I just decide it is and go to bed anyway? That’s all I’ve wanted to do all day is just go crawl in bed and go to sleep. Come to think of it, that’s all I wanted to do yesterday, too.

Maybe trying to get off this antidepressant (that I’m technically on for my chronic pain issues, but also because, well, chronic pain is kinda depressing, duh-hey) isn’t the best idea. I’m not having physical symptoms, but wanting to crawl in bed and pull the covers over my head is usually an indication that I’m probably not handling life as well as I should.

Crap. I really don’t like being on that stuff. But I think I like spending my life in bed with the covers over my head even less. :frowning:

137

ooooh- amusing randomness!!

138

I have been thinking on the Mumpers Recipe Blog. If no one else wants to take it, I’m thinking I might be up for the task of it. :eek:

Is this something that you all would be looking at/reading, etc.?

139

I would love you forever if you did this.

140

You better get that kid some Adams tout suite or I’ll call CPSS on you. :stuck_out_tongue:

McUne, I’m usually on the ElJay when I’m not here, but I’ll go wherever the recipes are. I need to dig up the artichoke-chicken casserole that I got from a FOAF a while back. My Roommates declared it delicious and proceeded to eat most of it the last time I made it.

My feet hurt and my shoulder hurts. I need to do some yoga to pop my joints.