Don't Tell Him

M had a thing tonight so I hung out with my boy here. We don't do a ton of bonding, so when he does feel like it, it's kind of cool.

Yeah, I know, cat posts aren't exactly elegant discourse. Bite me.

Review? More Like...REVUE!

I've been working on a project launch for a few days and really just want it to be finished. The entire team is ready for it to be done. It was a cool project, but after N review cycles we could be launching a manned Mars mission and we'd be all "meh".

Do I like this kind of work? Is it boring?

I haven't made up my mind yet..

Who's Sleepy In The Apartment? This Guy...

Mush has an incredibly annoying and endearing habit of getting on the desk of whoever is working in the office. While he was very fond of stealing my chair whenever I got up, this pales in comparison to his irrepressable desire to sit on your keyboard RIGHT NOW!!!

Anyway, this has started bugging M a lot since it's hard to work with a fat fur-blob blocking your screen, so she got a cat bed and put it on a corner of her desk. For the past several weeks, she's been getting him to stay in the bed anytime he's on her desk, and it has worked too well. Now he just won't leave. We see him there at all times of day or night, which we refer to as him "working late" or "working weekends".

He is not allowed out of the bed while on the desk, but we are ok with it when he kind of spills out in his sleep. That's just plain cute.

Sharing

Last night, S&G came over for dinner. We used a korean beef recipe from M's friend's food blog. S brought a korean salad as well, and it was an all around delicious meal and good time.

We also did a quick bagel technique lesson before wrapping up for the night, and the results turned out great for this morning. Our neighbor upstairs joined and brought some fruit and it was a perfectly civilized breakfast.

Behind the bagels that bread is dusted with flour. I am not in fact sitting the bagels against some horribly moldy bread. That would be really disgusting.

Today has otherwise been relaxing and pleasant for the most part. I've had about 4 bagels with cream cheese (just a tad) and lox, which is not the healthiest thing I suppose, but it's not the UNhealthiest thing either. I did some miscellaneous organization, then went for a walk, and then I spent 2 hours fixing the internet. That part was not very relaxing.

I have not watched the movies I wanted to this weekend, but that's cool. I'll get to them soon.

I'm gonna chill for a bit now and then head to bed. Got a launch in the morning.

Decade-ish

Looking through the machine of a close friend who is not me, I saw this list of mp3s and realized that it has been over a decade since this very close friend has been getting his music almost exclusively online.

This friend sorts all his mp3s by modified date, because the order has all the good memories tied up in it. "istmix" (actually the first one, the ones before it downloaded with incorrect dates) for example was found on a 0-day FTP site while working in the computer lab and is a weird remix of TMBG's "Istanbul Not Constantinople". The entire Pink Floyd "Meddle" album was a huge find and was so cool that it prompted my friend to pay some dude with a CD burner 10 bucks to dump a few hundred downloaded songs onto a disc so they wouldn't all be stored on the CS department's servers.

BRD-SM69 is from the Windows 3.1 days where only 8 chars were allowed. The filename, the date of download, even the folder name that they're stored in all have meaning. That may seem a bit ridiculous, but when Everything to Everyone fires up and it brings on memories of playing that same file while arguing religion at the helpdesk, well, that makes my friend very happy.

P.S. My friend knows that Megadeth, Hanson, White Zombie and No Mercy should probably never be on the same screen together, but that's how he rolls.

He's Snoring Right Now

M had made a cat food run earlier and picked up some other necessities so we unloaded the car and the label on this box just seemed off to me.

Ok, the REAL label is the second picture, but when I saw it all I could do was picture Charleton Heston yelling "It's People!" at a bunch of cats, all of which totally would not care in the slightest.

Speaking of that, I have a bunch of movies that I would like to watch this weekend. We'll see how that goes.

By the way, that first picture represents my insane paint skills. Can you see the color transition on that label? Yeah, that's right. Maaaaad spray paint skillz, bitches...

A Twist On Revelations

Occasionally, M is out and about when I leave work and she'll meet me at the bottom of the hill and save me a bus transfer. On a Friday, I'm more than happy to not take that second bus. It also helps if the first one doesn't get bogged in traffic - another shortcoming of the bus as compared to a train.

Along the route is a bar with a pig and a cow dancing a jig.

Oh, I've noticed in the past week that I've started using hyphens as punctuation - something that I'm not quite sure why I'm doing or if it's a good idea.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Shot On Sight

My commute takes between 25 and 35 minutes, which is 2 buses at 9 or 10 mins each and then various waiting times. It goes by quickly, but it's very different than my NY commute, which was about the same timing. 9 or 10 minutes on a bus isn't really enough time to do anything. By "do anything" I mean sleep. I used to really like that I would get on the subway, find a seat, and conk out for 20 mins. Now I'm kinda dozey, but it's not the same.

Also, the bus comes about every 20 minutes, so if I miss one, I'm stuck waiting around for a while. Today my bus pulled up directly behond the one I needed to transfer to, just as it pulled away from the curb. Rather than wait around, I decided to walk home, and just grab the bus when it passed by. As it turned out, the next bus was late, and 30 minutes later I was home, no bus in sight. I like this, because a brisk walk home at the end of the day was very pleasant. I will try to do this more often.

On the walk, I noticed a license plate with a Jimmie Johnson frame (for M) and a this window sticker on another car. There are no shortage of bumper stickers around here.

Someplace To Go

There are a few weird things about my job.

1. Girls work there

I've been working in software for a long time, and there are really not that many chicks. Advertising, on the other hand, is like the George Clooney of career fields.

a. Girls wear weird shoes

I get that heels can (sometimes) make a girl look taller, thinner, and hotter. I have no problem with this. My problem is more with the nature of shoe culture and "cuteness" that goes along with it. Are you wearing the shoes for each other, or to look attractive to guys? I'm not sure I get it. I know this is a high-school level argument, and I'm not REALLY confused by it, but occasionally, in a vacuum, I just find the whole strapping yourself into uncomfortable pointy stilts to be a bit strange.

2. Men's Work Fashion

Work clothes for me are dress shirts and slacks. When I started this job, I got some really nice variants on each. It's still the J-Uniform, in that it's always combos of the same things, but they look nicer, they match, and according to M are at least somewhat current. I have stuff in both black and brown too. Apparently though, there are not very many people who actually wear this in the company. I've seen some of the very higher-ups in similar attire, but mostly it's that casual-dress that I've never been able to put my finger on. There's a lot of jeans, any variously formal combos involving jeans. One guy frequently does a sweater over a wrinkled dress shirt, jeans, and dress shoes. The girls fawn over him by the way, but it helps that he's generally a good-looking guy. I sometimes wish I could pull off a look like that but I feel weird anytime I see myself in something similar. Hell, I'm still getting used to sweaters. To be fair, if money weren't an issue, I'd probably have some "nicer" stuff, but as long as I look presentable and not geek-dressy, I'll be ok.

3. Women's Work Fashion

I'm not going to cover a lot here (neither do they sometimes...HEYO!) but I have similar thoughts as I do with the shoes. The range of clothing runs from frumpy conservative to practically clubby. Again, it's not that this is really all so shocking, but I do step back and find it pretty hilarious every now and then.

It has been a busy day, with a few projects getting ready for launch. I'm onsite for a meeting to scope out some new work, sipping on a splenda-sweetened lemon drink and taking pictures of my shoes with my phone.

Not What FDR Meant

I meant to wake up early today and didn't. The alarm went off, but I just kept myself in that light doze for an hour or so until I realized that really, I needed to go to work. I don't miss much about my old job, but checking mail at 6AM and then occasionally being able to fall back asleep in my cup of coffee was nice.

This was a day in which I managed to complete a lot of tasks at work yet not really get much done, to paraphrase Hack, but it kept me busy. One of the other PMs brought Banh Mi for everyone but it was nothing compared to the place T and I used to go in NY, Saigon Banh Mi, in the back of a jewelry store. I'll be back in NY Apr 18 and you can bet I will be going there. I'll also hit Otafuku for some much-missed takoyaki. Mmmmmmmm.

I got to catch up a bit with Kath today, which was very cool, and it is crazy awesome that she's actually been to that bakery I mentioned yesterday.

I had to work late, which meant 6:30, and otherwise the evening was nicely uneventful. There's not a whole lot to report. I've started making my own pasta (used an AP/WW/Semolina blend) and had some tonight with tuna and a spicy mayo/sriracha sauce. I don't know how the rest of you feel about sriracha, but it is fantastic. I've been putting it on everything.

I read the news a lot, and when I have a few spare minutes at work, I bring up CNN or Google. The CNN habit I picked up at my first job in '99, when that was just where you went for news. In the past few years, I've just watched the utility of the news on that site go way down. I think I might have to quit, and just stick with Google or AP or something.

I did love this headline though.

Bringing the Pain

If any of you have read The Bread Baker's Apprentice, the cover has some chick holding a huge loaf of bread. This bread is called a miche, or Pain Poilane, named after the dude who makes it - and it's one of the most "famous" breads out there. Yes, apparently there are famous breads.

The baker is Parisian and you can only get this bread by either going there or ordering it shipped from the bakery. It's not cheap, and I've always wanted to get it but never really felt like laying out the dough for it.

Heh.

Anyway, a few months ago I was in NYC (I don't think I've told this story, so if there's another post on this somewhere, please let me know) and after a work dinner (the LAST work dinner) I met up with T down in LES, at this little bar called "Clandestine". We're chilling, and I notice a sign above the bar saying "Tartes Poilane" with a bunch of things like cheese and meat listed with prices and such. I look over, and there's a big basket with a huge loaf in it, and I'm like "Holy crap, is that really pain poilane?" to the bartender, who assures me that it is, and that the owners have it shipped in. Now, I'm not very hungry at this point, so I don't particularly want to get a tartes, but after a while I decide I have to try the bread, so I'm trying to pick what to order and the bartender says "Dude, if you want a piece of bread, Ill give you a piece of bread". Which he did.

It was actually what I expected, hearty, very sour (to get the right flavor I would have to culture some crazy starter with wheat and rye for 3 weeks), complex, and a little dry. After the bartender made the mistake of asking me what exactly the big deal was and I explained it to him ("There are famous breads?", he remarked), he mentioned that recently a customer had complained about the bread and we had a good laugh about it.

About 10 minutes later I got sick (from the dinner, not the bread) and went back to my hotel.

So...the point of all of this is that this morning, I stopped off at the supermarket to pick up some cold cuts for a sandwich (I had some wheat bread in my bag that I'd made the night before) and as I'm wandering the store, I see this sign. So at least I know that if I ever have a craving, I don't need to order a 4.5lb loaf of bread from France, I can just get a 1.1lb loaf for 7 bucks.

If I ever get to that point, I'll probably just suck it up and make one.

Hey, Dancing with the Stars is on.

What, it's after 7:30...

The Timeline Has Been Restored

So we had some leftovers from a dinner last night with the Peters. We had made burgers, some potato things, a salad, and baked some apples for dessert.

There were apples and topping left, so guess what we did.

Yes, we ate them.

I Totally Lied

Driving around on Saturday, we saw this car with a bumper sticker that you cant remotely read from this picture that says (I think):

"My Marine can take out your honor student at one and a half clicks"

Wee Non-linear Beastie

After this post, I promise I'll start posting in order again. Honestly, this is confusing to me too.

On Saturday, we got to play with some kittens. One of them climbed right up me and with very little coaxing, promptly fell asleep in my fleecy hood.

I know this is out of order a bit, but honestly, kittens, people...kittens.

Ah, TiVo

M and I both really love to watch TV. If left unchecked, we can watch way too much. We recently reinstated our rule to leave it off until at least 7:30, and we've actually not watched much at all over the last few days. It's been really good.

I did like the truncated title of this show though...

I've noticed that at the top of this blog, I've got sections for the first post, Germany, and current posts. This is a little sad and implies that there's nothing really interesting that's gone on in the past 9 months. I'm going to have to do something about that.

Delicious Present

M and Co went out for a bit and she came back with a bread and chocolate bar from a local chocolate place. The indredients: Chocolate, French Bread, Butter.

Yup, a bit weird, but ultimately good.

Passage of Time

Two months has really been a long time. I've forgotten a lot of what's gone on, and that's a real shame. I'm enjoying writing now though, so hopefully that's a good sign.

The DragonFires came to visit, and J.Cyclone came up as well so it was nice to see them all again.

I made the goulash again, and saw this car parked outside the supermarket. A guy was driving it, and I think I'd have gone with a different license plate.

Inside, I went to buy stew meat, and they didn't have any. I asked the butcher there and he said he'd prep some for me, which was great. I had a bottle of beer on my basket, and when I leaned over the counter to talk to him, he looked startled and said "Do you have a gun?!"

I looked down and my jacket had covered the bottle just enough so it looked like a barrel was sticking out.

Fortunately, no one got capped.

Not Devoid of Weirdos

While waiting for a bus home, this person walked by in a "Nymphomanic Treatment Center Staff" sweatshirt.

Ew.

Staying on Theme

At some point, I will probably just need to try this, although I really don't know why.

Jumping to the present tense, I haven't exercised in a while and have generally not been as healthy as I should. I'm kicking back into it as I usually do, by cutting out the unhealthy foods and avoiding alcohol for the next month. I've started up my exercises as well, and will hopefully be back in shape before too long. I'll get some running shoes this week and that will help as well.

I'll be back in NYC on April 18th, and I'd like to do some running in my old haunts while I'm there.

Best

Shifting back to the past, I had to meet with the client the day after the beach (on Sunday), and M gave me a ride out there.

When I got back, there was a growler of M&J in the fridge. M made a run on the way home. Way to rock, M.

BTW, the meeting went well and the project launched on time.

Still Delaying

The Peters were making a red sauce from scratch, so we headed over to PeterE's place after the beach to help (read: watch and eat)

Very delicious. We've started doing big cooking days each weekend. I did a goulash using Alton's recipe that was delicious. I've since done it again and I think I'm getting it to a real, authentic flavor. I'm glad I've got these guys to cook with since we all seem to share similar tastes and interests.

PeterE and I picked up some rennet recently to make fresh mozzarella, and I'm going to get some gear for home-brewing later this week I think. Homemade amber, here I come.

I will definitely document and post those efforts as they happen.

Better Than The Original

One weekend in February, the weather was particularly nice, so M and I headed to the beach for a picnic.

It was very pleasant, and a great way to spend the day. This coincidentally, was the first weekend where I had to do anything for work. It's almost launch time for my first big project, and I put it off for a bit to enjoy some sun and sand.

Also, I loved the fish sticker on the back of this car.

Slow People

There's a restaurant right around the corner from work that seems to be a favorite hangout, and I've done a few (ridiculously early) happy hours here. It's not bad, but I wish they had Mac & Jack on tap.

To be fair, they do have like 10 things on tap, and it's a decent selection. I do still love that I can walk into any place and see a draft list like the one below (from Hilltop).

Not All Is Different

Doing grocery shopping in big trips is something I have not gotten used to. I am just not very good at planning ahead for what I want a day from now, much less 3 or 4 days from now. However, I don't have a supermarket and 3 convenience stores within a minute of the apt anymore, so I've been trying to get more in the non-NYC mindset for this.

Fortunately, I realized that right where I transfer buses after work there is a very nice, if slightly overpriced supermarket. Although we still get our staples from the Safeway or QFC, it's nice to just be able to hop over on my way home and pick up stuff to make dinner and tomorrow's lunch.

I found this wine brand that I am totally in love with. I haven't tried it (20 bucks a bottle), but wow, it's hard to target your marketing at me any more than this.

Also, I totally want this ring: http://itsno.name/index.html. I'm all about my AG.

Also also, I'm in love with this comic: http://xkcd.com/123/. I know I'm a bit late to the game on this one. Not only do I like the geek jokes, but if you start reading through these, there's some great, genuine emotion that I don't see very often elsewhere. Big fan.

Politics

M and I caucused for the first time, and it was kinda lame. I'm definitely for revisiting the political system in this country.

I was glad that Obama won, as was the cafe across the street from my bus stop.

"Baracks caucus bigger than Hillarys"

Get My Gluten On

My parents gave me an Amazon gift certificate so I decided to treat myself to something I've wanted for a while, a 50-lb bag of high-gluten flour. You may remember my "gluten flour" failure and since then I've really wanted to try baking with the real thing. Unfortunately, you really can't find it in stores, and when I have found it, it has been in little overpriced bags. In general, HG flour is 5 times more expensive (buck a pound) than regular old AP flour, so it's not something I really want to spend MORE on.

It arrived, and I needed to figure out how to store it given the space limitations in the apt, and the desire to not have any larvae in it.

Mush helped, and in the end the place looked like a coke lab.

I've gone through over half of it in 2 months.

I Don't Remember

There's usually a good few breads going in the kitchen. I don't even know what I was making here. It looks like some bagel dough and something else.

Maybe I should have skipped this one...

Thanks Guys

When I was in NYC in December, I received a really awesome bottle of Scotch from my aunt and uncle. Lagavulin is one of my favorites and a great Islay malt.

My brother has a bottle as well, so we didn't even have to ship any to each other. I like that he grows a winter beard. I wish I could do that.

Mmmm, delicious.

I should mention that with a little bit of the dram left in my glass, I knocked it over right into the keyboard of the laptop.

It smelled like whisky for days.

Onsite

I have to go onsite to the client occasionally, and often it's not really necessary for me to be there. Here I am on a conference call for one project while attending a meeting for another. I'm taking notes and also taking really close-up pictures of my finger.

The job is still totally fine. People ask me if it makes me happy, and my answer to that right now is N/A. I'm not looking for this to make me happy. I want something that I'm decent at, can provide a decent living, and at least moves my "career" laterally, if not forward.

I spend a bunch of time wondering what exactly I want to do with my life, and I feel like I'm getting past the point where that's really a valid thing to be doing. There's definitely a time-crunch, and just having a job that doesn't take everything out of me is a good start.

At this point, I feel I've answered my big question of "Is this what I want to do?" and the answer is no. At least not in this kind of way. I'm pretty good at this, but I can't say that it's a ton of fun or all that fulfilling.

Which is totally fine.

Quelle Flourrrrrr

I should mention that I'm not going to backdate anything today. I've got a bunch of pics and like two months worth of stuff to talk about, and I have no idea when I took some of these shots, nor do I want to take the time to date-match them. It's frustrating actually, because on of the things I like about this blog is that it lets me know what I was doing on particular days. C'est la vie, homies.

Now that I'm actually going to an office, I've had to change my old habits somewhat. Not only are there not really any places to buy lunch near the office, but it's mad expensive. I've been bringing my lunch almost every day, but usually just stock up on cold cuts that I leave in the office fridge and bake some bread for sandwiches. Here is an attempt at an italian bread (w/olive oil). Add some dry salami, mortadella, and muenster, and you've got a damn fine lunch indeed.

Is this particularly healthy? No, but more on that later.

These pics, and several others were taken with my work phone, rather than Crappy D, and it looks like they were date-stamped. I won't realize this and manage to turn it off for a while.

Stupid Horse

Two long months - no new posts. It's been what I think of as a recovery period from my previous job. I've actually had quite a bit of free time but I found myself just chillaxing, cooking, watching TV, or other non-blogging activities. It's been the same way with email. I've got a backlog of emails that I need to write or respond to that I'll probably get to today as well.

In the past several weeks, I've got myself a decent routine. The bus stops right by the apartment, so I'm generally out the door at the same time each day. It's been an 8-5 workday pretty much, which I'm cool with.

I also like the consistency of weather here in the winter. It's been between 36 and 46 each day when I leave for work, and generally around 40-50 when I come home.

I haven't really worn gloves or anything this winter either. Just a hat.

That needlepoint is courtesy of M.Dragonfire