Even worse than last week's MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

I think it was Lewis Black that pointed out that -10[sup]o[/sup] F is not a real temperature. Its not even on the scale, no one ever planned for it to be this cold!

I drove north on Saturday to visit Meli, not planning on staying past Saturday afternoon… I’m still here and only hoping to get home by tonight. Starting Friday night we have been hit (and are still being hit) by the worst blizzard since 1978, not only are the roads as bad as to be nigh unnavigable but after sitting in the sub-zero weather for several days I can’t even get my car started at all. I tried to get a jump start from a cop on Sunday (from one of those portable jump kit deals, as cops can’t actually give jump starts from their engines) and we cound’t get it started so I am just hoping that it will start sometime today so I can evetually get back home. Naturally I called into work today, and the entire campus is closed (something that I don’t think has ever happened before) so we have spent the last few days just sitting around trying to keep warm.

And speaking of yesterday I actually saw a sizable portion of the Super Bowl! I haven’t seen it in probably around ten years, so it was a big deal. Didn’t actually plan on seeing it (Meli and I were going to watch the 6-hour BBC Pride and Predjudice instead), but we got pulled along with some friends to a Super Bowl party type thing and even though I wasn’t really paying attention to the TV the game was playing in the same room as me, and in my world that counts.

62

Most of my locals do tend to have an ethnic cuisine aisle, and I’ve perused them on numerous occasions just looking for something a little different – you never know when you’ll find something that sounds really good once proper thought is given to how it might be used. The main problem (as least as pertaining to searching out ingredients for souther cuisine) is that most of it tends towards Indian and east-Asian cuisine, probably owing to the high concentration of that particular demographic in the region. The biggie near my work does have some interesting stuff – Mexican seems to be its second biggest section for some reason (no Huitlacoche, thankfully) but strangely there doesn’t seem to be a stitch of southern charm anywhere. I can probably find the black-eyed peas, but I’ve never run across hominy. Or grits, for that matter.

I have to say though, I had to Wiki “hominy” and it was a little unsettling. Based on the process it describes to make hominy, it sounds like the lutefisk of the corn world. Seeing it associated with menudo didn’t help, either.

Still, I’d try it anyway. :slight_smile: (Hominy as prepared in this dip, not lutefisk or menudo. Those are rather beyond my “try anything once” limits.)

Ellen - Canada. Ontario, to be a little more precise. We don’t get much of that southern hospitality down here.

63

AAARGH! Aargh Aargh Aargh! :smack: :smack: :smack:

Long story short: Getting our new gummint-sponsored health insurance up and running, and into the actual insurance company’s system so they know I exist before my surgery scheduled in three weeks, is making me absolutely insane! You’d think that scheduling a surgery for seven weeks after Papa Tigs started his new job would be enough to get the insurance info together, wouldn’t you? But noooo. it’s just one aggravation after another.

Today it was:

  1. The insurance company has no record of us even though we have paperwork showing our policy should have been activated yesterday.
  2. The HR person who was Papa Tigs’ assigned point of contact for all things HR? Left last Friday. After taking no calls and responding to no voicemails for the previous three weeks.
  3. Because the HR people gave us bad info about signing up for insurance in the first place, by the time we finally did get signed up we missed a cutoff so, if we’re lucky, the insurance company will get our info this next Friday. In the meantime, I have all kinds of pre-surgery appointments scheduled and no way to verify that the insurance will actually, you know, cover them.
  4. The guy who’s the boss of all those idiots in HR? Sits next to Papa Tigs every morning in a meeting. You think maybe, just maybe, they may soon find out that they fucked around with the wrong guy? :smiley:
  5. I couldn’t even donate my first pint of blood for my surgery today because the doctor’s office forgot to fax over the order. So I wasted a trip to the hospital in the freezing cold.

Aargh!

64

Mindfield, if you email me your address, I’ll send you some grits! I’ve done the same for another internet friend in Washington state who’d never eaten them. You’ll thank me, once you’ve ingested the culinary marvel that is Garlic Cheese Grits. This you eat for dinner, as a sidedish–not for breakfast, which is when you eat Normal Grits (with butter and salt).

65

Happy MMP, Cool Kids<tm>! Heh, BooFae, that cheese is definitely scary; I thought of mint chocolate chip ice cream, though, on the first look. But cheese …?! Yikes!

LOL the ads are all for knitting and yarns and stuff, courtesy of Jahdra I guess? I’d like to learn to knit, I wonder if I’ve got the patience for it?

It’s bitterly cold here - temps in the teens, with wind chill in the single digits. I was at the bus stop for about 10 minutes this morning - and that’s about my limit in these temps, I’m afraid. This afternoon, after 10 minutes I hailed a cab.

Over the weekend, I made a batch of triple chocolate brownies (Duncan Hines - they were good too!), chili, which we served with corn muffins (and it was delicious) and finally yesterday morning I baked an apple pie using granny smith apples and Pillsbury crust. BTW, the Pillsbury crust beats Safeway brand hands down!

Good on you, Vonderbob for doing the volunteer firefighter thing. Please everyone who is or has to be outdoors in this cold, bundle up in layered clothing to stay warm!

66

Off to go to school. Pity me-4 hours of sitting in front of the computer, NOT able to play games or surf the Dope. Torture, I tell ya.

I just had a surreal experience dealing with limp celery. No, it’s not dirty-what minds you all have! I’ll tell ya all about it another day.

67

I’m here. It’s cold out. Nice MMP. Off to find food. Back afterwards.

GT

68

Anyone wanna steal a school bus?

I know where about 100 of the things will be sitting in an unlocked lot, idling all night so that they’re warm and running in the morning.

All you have to do is sneak past the off-duty cop sitting at the lot.

Went to the eye doctor today, then Wifey and I had burgers. Now I’m sitting in front of a stack of burning wood in the fireplace with an evil cat staring at me.

69

It occurs to me, BooFae, that your scary cheese is in the “cream cheese” family, therefore would probably taste sort of like room temperature mint-chocolate chip ice cream - which I happen to like.

Yeesh! :rolleyes: it’s not even pre season yet. Pitchers and Catchers are just shaking the winter stiffness out. no games for another month, and those won’t count anyway!

I’d better go get a Winnebago - I have all the other ingredients…

Sage Rat - salt is the answer. I once came home to a pair of slugs mating on the outside of my house. “Ice Melt” does not work, but ordinary table salt does.

Well, tomorrow is my first dose of the new med. I am very stressed. I have to be there at 8-oh-frick-in-the-ay-em. I have no idea how long it will take but I was told to take the whole day off because you never know. I will probably not post tomorrow, because I will likely want to crash as soon as I get home. The I have to go thru it all again in two weeks, but then not again until August.

70

I am frustrated beyond belief. I have wasted an entire day trying to find something, ANYTHING that will help me with this stupid mapping program.

After finally finding a site that had a few somewhat informative articles, things started clicking a little more for me. The big “AH-HA” moment came, though, when I realized they did not install all of the apps I need. Most unfortunately for me, this program uses a lot of programming language. The only way to work around the wizards is to program. Guess what, I don’t have the module that allows me into the Visual Basic application or utilities application. Grrrrrrrr. So, tomorrow I will have to contact the automation people and beg them to give it to me.

All this frikkin’ time just wasted…

Screw it. I’m going to move onto something else and come back to it.

71

This is my version of Quick ‘n’ Dirty Texas Caviar

1 can Hoppin’ John
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
1 can chick peas, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 large green pepper, diced small
1 cup sweet onion, diced small
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped, or 2 tbsp dry cilantro
1 tbsp dry parsley
1/2 8 ounce bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

your favorite tortilla chips, for dipping

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. If you don’t find Hoppin’ John at the store, a can of Rotel chiles and diced tomatoes and extra black eyed peas is the same thing.

Cover and place in refrigerator to marinate for a minimum of 2 hours. It’s best made the day before.

72

When come back, bring syntax.

73

:stuck_out_tongue:

Sounds like you had a busy Super Bowl evening, Bobbio. Egg roll recipe sounds yum. I’m not sure if I can replicate the pager part of the recipe, though.

That cheese really looks like mint chocolate-chip ice cream. I will assume it was just mislabeled to save my brain from coping with the horror of reality.

Cardinal numbers…heee.

I was wondering if you were gone for the funeral mass, Puggy. I remembered it was early February, but couldn’t remember exactly when. Sounds like you did a good job of celebrating your dad’s life. How are you holding up? And the rest of the family?

Hope the medication goes well, rosie. Give us an update when you can.

Sorry about the software frustration, Taters. Hope it gets better and you get the modules you need.

Eeeek, Mama T, glad I’m not the HR guy sitting in the same meeting as Papa T.

Ick…slugs…ick, ick, ick!!!

All area schools were closed cuz the wind chill was supposed to be around -17 F, which is way below anything we’re used to. I bundled up and wandered to the bus stop anyway. If you were bundled appropriately, it wasn’t actually that bad for a limited time. Definitely not as bad as what Al and meli have had the joy of experiencing.

Wow…Winnie and welby in the same MMP? Next thing you know we’ll be seeing Ex and Rue.

What are you studying for, welby?

There was more, I think…but I’ve forgotten. I had a tiring day at work (pretty much meetings straight through from 8:00-4).

I’ve been watching episodes of Remington Steele and am thinking about crawling into bed to read Harry Potter 6 some more for a while. I’m getting close to the end of it. 5 took me a while to re-read (which surprised me), but I’ve been sailing through 6.

Might be back later…

GT

74

Whew - I’m really late today, but I have a good excuse. I was test driving a car. I think I’ve decided which one I’m going to buy - I’ll tell ya for sure when I have the paperwork in hand. I didn’t want to get another car till we’d paid off FCD’s, but for a variety of reasons, I’m gonna get it now. And it’s cheap enough that I can pay it off in 3 years, which is good.

Scruffy is doing lots better - she’s almost back to her normal self. And as others have said, it’s COLD!

That’s all I’ve got. I need to throw my lunch together for tomorrow, then head to bed.

Kisses!!!

75

Thanks for the recipies, Ellen and VunderBob! It’s a relief to know that Texas Caviar does not involve actual caviar - I could never afford that on a student budget :stuck_out_tongue:

Today has been fairly productive - I finished all my reading for class tomorrow, which is a first (I usually leave it until the morning of). On the other hand, I have a proposal to finish today. Ugh.

Can’t wait til the temperature goes above 0F. I’m not asking for much, really. -30 with windchill is just ridiculous and shouldn’t be allowed. Those school buses sound tempting, MBG.

On an unrelated note, I really really REALLY need to a) stay away from the alcohol and b) find the willpower to say no. Why why WHY do I repeat the same mistakes?

76

because you’re still young and your subconscious wants you to believe you’re indestuctable. We’ve all been through it.
(either that, or you need a 12-step program…)

77

Oh, man totally almost missed the MMP!

wavers

It looks like the worst of my wisdom teeth recovery is over. I’m back in class… and a week behind, of course! My cat keeps waking me up at night… he likes to eat feet that are covered in blanket. He’ll attack my feet at 4:30am even if I’m just rolling over or something. sigh I love my cat. I love my cat. I love my cat…

78

I’m back, after a movie, a session with the heating pad, and a muscle relaxer. And I have a dilemma.

Y’all know that I have Pommies. Sometimes I breed; I have conformation show aspirations, and I want to breed my own. One of the stipulations I put into my puppy contract is that if, for whatever reason, the client cannot keep the puppy/grown Pom that it is then returned to me. (My biggest nightmare is that any of my Poms end up in the shelter.) Well I just had a call from one of my favorite clients, she has to move and isn’t able to find an apartment that will accept dogs at this time, so Toby (one of Satine’s litter brothers) will be coming back here until she can find a place to live that will accept a dog. She stressed that she and her young daughter are very attached to him, and want him back. They are in an unpleasant situation with their current landlord and are moving immediately, but will continue looking for an apartment which will accept a small dog. Toby is a very sweet little boy, and I have no qualms about keeping him for her, well, maybe a small qualm. (Is that possible, to have A Qualm, or must it be multiple qualms?) Jewel has gone into season, and the boys I have, both the intact and the neutered, are beginning to go insane. So there will be one more insane male…pass the nerve tonic!

Well my daughter will be walking in the door any moment so I had better get busy. rosieposie you are in my prayers.

Back later…

79

Wiki, how’re your burned out neighbors doing?

80

They are staying with family while they figure out what to do. I saw the mom and daughter over the weekend, raking through the rubble for anything salvageable. The paint on the shed where they kept their propane tank is rippled, and I’m guessing that they are waiting for the weather to be reasonable before they raze the rubble. What a sad, messy sight. The FedEx woman just delivered the memory card for my new digital camera, but not the camera. :frowning: When it comes I’ll show you what it looks like.