Same as Coffee

So Chris shared this little gem with me the other day, and I thought it was brilliant and was in love with it. Except there is one fatal flaw to it--parallism issues. The author switches between "me" and "you" in the list about things coffee does. This flaw prevented me from really being willing to share it. I know that is weird.

So I have solved the problem by wasting 30 minutes of my Saturday creating my own more correct version. Here it is, thanks to Paint and Photoshop. (I started in Paint, but I wasn't enjoying the difficulty of text editing, so I switched to Photoshop.)

 It really is the most charming idea ever. Who ever came up with it is a good person. :)

Cooking at New Place: Dinner #1

Okay, so I've lived here for 3 weeks. Obviously, I have cooked in my kitchen before. Tonight is my first fancy cooking night, except when Chris was visiting.

So here's what I'm making.

I got 2 adorable little beef round steaks on sale. I am currently marinating them in 3 T honey, 1 T fresh lemon juice, 1 T fresh ground ginger, 1 T low sodium soy sauce. The little tupperware they're in also has 2 cloves of garlic and some thai chilis to add a little zip.

I'll probably throw it in a skillet on medium high with a blend of vegetable oil and sesame oil. Sesame oil has a great flavor, but it's a bit pricy. I usually dilute it with vegetable oil to get the flavor and make it go further.

Then I sliced a giant sweet potato into fry-like sticks and tossed them in olive oil with paprika, salt, and pepper. I spread the little sticks out on a cookie sheet, sprinkled some rosemary and parsley over them, and they're baking in the oven at 375'. I think they will take about 20 minutes.

To conclude my fancy meal, I'm making asparagus. This I will also toss in olive oil with salt and pepper. I'll put it in a glassware baking dish, sprinkle some mozzarella over it, and then bake it at 375' for 20 minutes.

Pure genius.

When it's done, I'll provide a review, but I think it will be a win. :)


...Several hours later, I have eaten! Sweet potato fries and asparagus were pure win.

The steak left something to be desired. I think I will stick with my usual soy sauce, ginger, crushed red pepper, minced garlic, and lots of brown sugar for the purposes of steak. Lesson learned.

Social Fitness

So I've decided to go for the YMCA membership for social reasons as well as fitness reasons, but I'm not cutting the internet just yet.

I don't want to pay for both, but the installation fee for internet was hefty. I don't want to join the YMCA, not like it, and then have to pay said installation fee again to get my internet back.

Instead, I'm joining the Y on a trial basis. I get to have both a Y membership and internet service for one month. If I decide in a month that I don't like the Y, I will keep my internet. If I decide that I like the Y, the internet goes.

Tada! Pure genius.

Interwebs? YMCA?

So I'm struggling with a dilemma.

I've discovered a YMCA conveniently close to my apartment. It has a track and a pool, which are two things I like that I can't get from the hokey workout facility at work. Sounds like a worthwhile investment to me. There are even some fitness classes I could take. That would be a good decision socially.

Cost is my concern. A membership is $38 a month. That's not bad, but I don't want to spend that kind of money if I won't use it. I've kind of decided that if I get a YMCA membership, I'll cut my internet plan.

Technically, I can access the internet from the lobby of my apartment complex (though it can be inconsistent), so I don't need to pay for internet. My paid-for internet hasn't been that consistent anyway. The only major drawback of cutting my internet is losing the ability to pay bills online. I can't fathom paying with paper methods.

I'm also contemplating getting rid of my Netflix, but that's a bit less likely.

The real question is will I take the time to go to the YMCA? Will it be worth it? I don't know, but I should figure it out--soon. If I go for it before January 16th, they waive the initial fee. That will be a wash considering what my internet installment cost was. Oh well.

One thing I definitely should do is get some Wii games that demand being in motion without investing in fancy Wii gadgets that I don't already have. Wii investing is at least a flat rate. I won't have to continuously pay.

10 days to decide. Blergh.

Beatles' Friday

What do you do when you work at a place that has a casual dress code across the board? Have Beatles' Friday.

There's nothing special about jeans on Friday when you already wear jeans every day. I'm guessing that's why one of my coworkers has established Beatles' Friday. It's the day you can wear a Beatle's t-shirt to work.

It's not mandatory; just like you're not required to wear jeans on casual Friday. I like the bizarre spirit of it though, so I think I'll run with this tradition.

Tomorrow, I will be lame because I don't own a Beatles' t-shirt at present. Keeping my eyes peeled.

Test Anxiety

So my job is a bit like taking a test...all day long.

I spend forever reading and processing each question, struggling with those that might be interpreted in more than one way.

I worry that I will fail because I am taking too long.

Like a take-home test, I even spend forever trying to find the right answer and even more time trying to transfer the knowledge to the test in a meaningful way.

Who knew revising a test could be like taking one? The major perk is that when I find a question that I know could be interpreted in multiple ways, I get to make it clearer, rather than struggling with how the writer wants me to interpret it.

As to the worry that I am taking too long, well hopefully I get faster as I become more comfortable with this subject. I've been incredibly efficient at past jobs; I'll get there with this one, right?

In contrast, I'm also worried that I sacrificed quality unecessarily in favor of time with the test I finished reviewing today. I think I should just tell my boss that and maybe he can give me an estimate of what a reasonable amount of time on my text project might be? That's fair. I shouldn't try to do all of this without some guidance.

Tomorrow should be better--a smaller test to review (all on my own, not picking up where someone else left off and trying to make sense of it), and I might get to review a video tutorial. That last part sounds fun.

My boss just wants to see how my brain works. I'm confident that my brain is doing exactly what he'd like it to be doing on a quality scale, but my lack of subject matter knowledge might make me too inefficient to keep this up. Not understanding the subject makes me pretty slow. Please let me hike up this learning curve like a Himalayan guide. Please, oh, please.

On a strange note, two days of working at this job, and I am mildly interested in getting my pilot's license. Probably can't afford it though, so it will stay one of my crazy thoughts that get no follow-through. It would probably stay that way if I could afford it. :)

Simplifying Life

So in the spirit of New Year's Resolutions (which I am notorious for starting 2 weeks after the year starts and maintaining for about 20 minutes), I have set some goals to simplify my life.

After moving into my new place, I am amazed that I could fill up the closets. I had far less closet space at my last place, and it worked. I am completely convinced that I have too much stuff now. I'd like to see some open space in the closets.

My goal is to cut out some of the crap. I once lived a very stark lifestyle and had a room that looked like it could fit in a convent--simple, not stylish, bare walls. It was a very positive way of being. So, I'm going to try to go through the nooks and crannies of all my storage spaces and gather one box worth of materials to donate each month. One full box each month is required. Some of the first stuff to go should be excess pillows, bedding, and clothes. I've been given a lot of bedding lately, and I have a shopping vice.

I've already packed up one box of stuff to haul off for donating. I've also got a bag of old paint and materials I used to refinish my coffee table and end tables that I plan to take away somewhere. I need to figure out if it can be recycled or disposed of safely.

I'm also planning to read at least 2 books a month and I will get rid of them as I read them. I won't be buying any new books. I have plenty.

Last but not least, I need to keep plugging away at crochet projects. Then I can get rid of some of yarn. That should clear out some space too.

Hopefully my New Year's changes will involve some more cooking and working out too, but my only set goal is to get rid of some of the material stuff.