THIS! IS! MY! JOB!!!

5PM Outsource This!
Guy: Today, from 1:30 to 4:30 I played tic-tac-toe and hangman, and then at 4:30 I played board games and drank booze. I love my job.

Westport, Connecticut
via Overheard in the Office, May 8, 2008

We all know this guy

11AM But Without the Whiskey and Suicide Attempts
IT dork: It's like Christmas when you get to open a new server!

Berkeley Street
Boston, Massachusetts
via Overheard in the Office, Jun 2, 2008

Where did your $600 go?

Based on my calculations, mine is going to Exxon. Or BP or Shell. For my car, avg. $12,000 per year, avg. 25 mpg, at $4 per gallon, I'll be sending $480 more this year (than last year at $3) to those wonderfully prosperous oil companies. That's if the price of gas doesn't go up any more this year, which it will, meaning that my whole tax credit will probably go to the oil companies. So many disgruntled thoughts are going through my mind.

Make corn tortillas at home

Why? Just to see if they are softer. Recipe

Road rage update

What are the chances that drivers on the road are going to drive well when the driving instructors don't know how to drive courteously? On my way home from work today, "Student Driver" car, with only one occupant so I will assume the instructor, in the middle lane, going 10 miles under the limit. Which obviously geeked up traffic. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Safe v. Unsafe Plastic

This list from National Geographic was educational. There is a lot in the news about chemicals leaching from plastics; this is the facts, minus the panic. One interesing fact: the salad "clamshells" for the to-go salads at work are type 6, which is the same plastic used for styrofoam take out containers, and is NOT safe. It's designed to hold food!

Gluten Free Cake!

I don't know, but this blog author really talks up this cake!

Sushi Bowl

I was going to say this is easier than making sushi, but I'm not so sure about that!

Eggplant

Eggplant Stewed in Honey and Spices

Scroll down the posting for the recipe. Haven't tried it, but shall soon. Probably when Sam is out of town!

Roadrage 1

For some reason, the drivers on the east side of the 275 loop around Cincinnati are the worst I've encountered so far. They all seem to be driving half asleep. Seriously, the number of times I've seen people jerk the wheel to get back in their lane is ridiculous.

I think most of those people are on their cell phones. It's a phenomenon (I'll spell check that word later) that crosses all class/age/race boundaries: no one can drive well and talk on a cell phone at the same time. NO ONE. This means you. This also means me. I know this and try to limit it. People speed up when they suddenly become aware that they are driving to slowly. They are made aware of this when others start to pass them. Apparently their ego can't take that, so they then speed up to make sure that no one can pass them. They then drift back into that half-aware-driver state and focus back in on their phone conversation and begin slowing back down to 60 mph in the far left lane. (Often conversations with other people in the same car have the same effect, especially among the teens and baby-boomer generation, for some reason.)

Smokers also seem to be very bad drivers. This is not only when they are scrambling to find a cigarette, find a lighting source, or brush the hot ashes from their thighs. I truly believe the studies that say that cigarette smokers go through their day high. Their driving certainly proves this.

My top driving peeves:

1. Not using cruise control. People seem to think that cruise control is only for when you are on vacation, driving for hours on the flat highways of Kansas. No. It is for anytime that you want to maintain a constant speed. Except in heavy traffic, slow speeds and mountainous areas that will kill your transmission, cruise control is appropriate. Your fellow drivers will thank you for not gradually slowing down in front of them.
2. Not pressing the gas when the incline of the road dictates. (Using cruise control will prevent this.) If you keep steady pressure on the gas pedal and maintain an even speed on a flat road, you will slow down if you start going up hill. That is fine, as long as you GET OUT OF THE WAY! Move into the right lane if you want to save gas and your speed drops to 60 on a 65 mph speed limit highway. MOVE OVER!!!! Every single day there are massive backups on my way home because ONE person ignores this principle and the 50 cars stacked up behind him while his speed slows from 70...65...60...55... all in the far left passing lane.
3. Not using turn signals/indicators properly. Read the manual: turn on the signal to INDICATE that you want to change direction. Turning on the signal WHILE making a lane change or a turn really does nothing. It does not reassure the people behind you that, yes, you really did mean to do that. The purpose is to let people behind you know that you are about to change your lane/direction before you do it so that they have time to react. Yes, some people are jerks and will speed up to cut you off. However, assuming that the person you are about to pull in front of at 65 mph is a jerk and NOT giving them fair warning is unkind and unthoughtful. Signaling after you start breaking for a turn is also unkind as it will make the person behind you wonder if you are breaking for something in the road, for a turn, or are just a really bad driver.
4. Speeding up to prevent someone from changing lanes. WHY?
5. Not paying attention and then expecting everyone on the road to let you cut across 5 lanes to make a right when you were in the far left lane passing everyone (or holding up traffic), or being in the far left lane when you really needed to make a right turn (or the opposite, of course). Or using clearly marked "no u-turn" areas on the highway instead of going up to the next exit. No excuse for this. It's illegal and dangerous.

I feel much better. I guarantee this list will grow.

Think before you cook

We should have read this article in NY Times (via shelterrific) before our first "all of Sam's mom's family gets together sometime around but never on Thanksgiving day" at our place. We made a recipe for stuffing that was enough to feed all of Cincinnati's homeless. Seriously, it filled two large turkey roasting pans; you know, the big, disposable aluminum type. There were 19 people, and we didn't even eat a quarter of one pan. We froze the leftovers, thinking we'd eat it later because it was really good chorizo and cornbread stuffing. Never happened.

Why I'm not going to let the clutter build up in my house.

Because help can't get to you.

HIGH gas prices - the fault of religion?

Comedic post on a blog had this fact:

"Fun fact #3: A Washington DC church group has launched a “Pray at the Pump” campaign to implore God to lower gas prices. Since they have started the national average for unleaded has gone up about $0.43."

My caffeine addiction

I'm not alone.

What I learned (well, I knew it but now I can prove it) from this article:

1. Caffeine "slips effortlessly across the blood-brain barrier" and blocks "the adenosine telling us to go to sleep because we’re tired". However, small amounts throughout the day don't seem to impare sleep.
2. Caffeine produces a high similar to cocaine, and like cocaine "the brain develops a tolerance to all of these drugs, ever-increasing quantities are required to achieve the same high." The good news is that caffeine has a "built-in restraining mechanism. Technically called caffeinism, it’s the state in which an overcaffeinated user hits the drug’s “dysphoric” range and is overcome by the shakes, anxiety, tension, and nausea... Too much cocaine makes you feel invincible; too much coffee makes you think you’re having a nervous breakdown." Oh, and I have been there! (With caffeine; no idea about the other.)
3. Drinking coffee before breakfast is bad. "A study released in late May found that drinking coffee before breakfast could cause blood-glucose levels to rise sharply, which can be dangerous for people with type 2 diabetes. " Plus it gives me a stomach ache and my muscles get tense.

Breakfast advice

Not from me. I am a breakfast eater, and according to this study, I am eating the best breakfast of all!

Excerpt from last paragraph:

"So what, then, to eat? The path of bread crumbs—or cereal flakes—through the thicket of breakfast suggestions is this: Breakfast is not dessert. Most muffins and bagels are out, as are those breakfast bars with the creepy strip of ersatz milk, and the many cereals that claim to be “whole grain” but are in fact sugary and fiberless. Out too are my beloved toaster waffles, unless I find a version containing the recommended five grams of fiber per serving. What remains are the foods that we probably should have been eating all along: unprocessed, low-GI, fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables (in omelettes if nowhere else), oatmeal (slow-cooking or steel-cut rather than instant), whole-grain breads and cereals (that are also high in fiber and low in sugar), protein in the form of low-fat dairy, and eggs in moderation. "

Provençal Chicken

We roast whole chickens all the time, but this sounds like it would be an extra kick. It's so hard to find easy, healthy recipes!

Pas de Margarita

Try a Paloma.

Baby bok choy

Gettin' Asian with it.

Brunch food

Baked Eggs and Asparagus with Lemon Bechamel

Good produce

I don't know about anyplace else, but lately produce at the grocery store has been really bad. I'd like to start shopping at the local farmers markets. Find one in your area.