Category Archives: all posts

aaah, vacation. the ranty part.

I had a really marvelous time on vacation. even though I had to stay until freakin MIDNIGHT on the friday before finishing up things before I could go. boy howdy, that wasn’t cool. and then I got back and all the things I thought would get done while I was gone? not done. and also, a client was upset. and also, it was all my fault b/c I was working too hard on everything else and this one client (naturally) felt like I wasn’t helping them enough.

y’all may not know this about me, but I have a tendency to beat myself up. big time. I am not nice to myself about stuff sometimes, and when I’m disappointed I blub. I’ve been doing a great job holding it together at work despite the internal review to avoid this situation again and to develop an action plan to prevent another big screw up. My boss told me I need to learn to say NO when I’m overloaded. um. I may have to rethink my codependent-as-consultant analogy. it didn’t work out.

I’ll post later today, hopefully, with some real fun details and also pictures of crap demolition, and the mighty wayne-van in action. I’m not so blue anymore, because the specter of immediate wrath and disappointment from upper management has pretty much blown over. hopefully.

grouch.

so, want to know what’s NOT COOL?

me being at work at 7PM, when I should be an hour and a half away from friends in Delaware. YUCK. Today has been so primo busy, and I’ve got another hour or so ahead of me and I just want to cry but that would make me work slower…

just repeat after me… BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH…

I guess we’ll get on the road tomorrow. Sad.

oh sweet jeebus.

I can’t jump up and say this to the people who are talking behind my cubicle, because I am EAVESDROPPING. but:

stop bitching about public transit! it’s the best thing ever, especially getting into and getting around NYC! it’s cheap, it’s fast, it’s usually quite convenient. I would LOVE to be able to take a train to work! LOVE to have time to read, or knit, or whatever! LOVE to not get frustrated at tailgating, to not use up oil, to not leave a nasty vapor trail of potential carcinogens behind me as I zoom!

1. I don’t care if you think subways are FILTHY. stop being such a priss! You know what’s filthy? your lungs after breathing CAR SMOG all your life.
2. I don’t know WHY you think it’s hard to go from NJTransit in Penn Station to anywhere else in midtown. I hear you talking about your options like they’re awful, but really, are the choices of bus, subway, walking (gasp!) or cab just too wonderful and plentious that you can’t choose?
3. I am SO SURE you’re not that important that waiting for a train is going to kill you . Seriously. No, REALLY. you are NOT THAT IMPORTANT! if you were, someone would be providing a CAR with a DRIVER to take places!

you know what bugs ME? sure, maybe I get a tiny big squicked out when I hold onto a railing on the subway that is warm from someone else’s hand, but really what bugs me are smug suburbanites in big cars with matching unexercised legs and lungs bitching about public transportation. you are the people who tailgate me when I’m on my bike because you don’t know how big your car is and you’re afraid to pass. you are the people who buy giant SUVs and pickups because you might need them for 2 weeks a year when you’re on vacation with your whole family. You are the people who require a 2500 sq. ft. house for a family of 4ish. KNOCK IT OFF! you have NO IDEA how good you have it!

and why are you in such a flippin’ hurry, anyway?

EDIT:
snerk. it’s a good thing I didn’t poke my head out of my cube and butt in, b/c I just checked the log and one of the PThaters is a client from a Major Automobile Company. For all I know, she loves public transportation, and gets a bonus every time she slams it!

LAST weekend.

Cilantros strikes again: the fabulous Michelle and beau Koray came for a visit last weekend, and we went out carousing on saturday night.

we had an excellent time:

michelle and koray
michelle and koray

delia and colum (who’s name I am probably totally destroying)
colum and delia

cuz john and kelly
kelly and john selfphoto

matt and I
matt kari!

and even a special guest appearance by paul!
paul

afterwards we shared a cab downtown
michelle and koray

and matt and I path-ed it back to JC.
world trade center platform

siamese path connection

matt hearts kari hearts matt

Going! To! The! Beach!

It’s been a crazy hectic week here in jobby job land, wherein I’ve worked 2-14 hour days, a 12 hour day, and another 10ish hour day. Today I’m shooting for 8 1/2 because I ABSOLUTELY am going to be on vacation at 5PM tonight.

we are going to the beach! with the wild ponies! and lots of good friends! and sun! and potential-hurricane Irene! and my friends! and my family!

I can’t WAIT. I’ve been working so incredibly hard for the last few weeks, and it’ll be good to just kick back and relax and SLEEP. oh, sweet sleep. I have really truely missed you.

randomness at work.

if I am drinking several cups of coffee a day, but they’re all 1/2 coffee, 1/2 milk, can I count that as my daily calcium?

and also, if everyone in the ladies room at work uses the seat covers except for me, the seats are really clean, hey? It’s nice of them to protect the seat from their dirty butts. Thank you ladies!

argh.

work is not going well. I feel like my carefully constructed house of cards is tumbling about my ears. I am primo busy, plus I’m heading out to assateague for vacation next week. so I’m at least doubly busy. at least.

anyway, I have a couple of entries in the works, including CSA wk 8, my very fun weekend, and some shots of canoeing the weekend before.

but for now, a couple of pics:

when I was filling the van up on sat. PM a giant green bug flew torwards the windsheld and landed! I had no idea that praying mantis’s could fly. I took some marginally bad photos.

praying mantis! mantis on van
mantis on van mantis on van

and also, I have a rash and here it is. I THINK it must be poison ivy but heck if I know where it came from! The only thing I can think of is that there was some on my work boots and when I tied them last thursday it got me. BUT, I think I had it before then? like, from the weekend before? maybe I got it when we went to lebanon PA for mohammad’s bday.

rash2 rash1

Mother of Pearl!

Sweet Holy Kittens, but I am so wretchedly busy. I am seriously cracking, like, my hair is bushing out from the sheer electrical energy leaving my skull. I keep sticking pencils into my coiffure and it’s getting pricklier and pricklier, like a porcupine head. I’m so busy with so many different jobs and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m hopelessly overwhelmed or if I have been seriously dropping balls over here.

And to add to the fun, I’m heading down to my PE review course today. It’s just a pesky hour+ drive, you know, except for that whole crappy NJ traffic thing. I can’t wait until we move to our new office and 1. I can’t get sucked into stressful reports in person (can deal with that stuff remotely no problem) and 2. only have a 10 min. drive to the review course (until mid-October, when I take and really truely hopefully pass the PE).

Heck. All I want to do is stay at home, watch Brigett Bardot filmes, eat guacamole, drink mojitos, and read Harry Potter.

July 2005 Books

I had a bit of a binge this month!

49. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
50. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
51. Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
52. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
53. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
54. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling

And no, I didn’t have to mug any children. I borrowed the whole bunch from Gabulo and gave the first few a good re-read.

hairscut

shout out to gabulon, I got my hairs cut wednesday on my way home from work (I stopped in to supercuts, I just couldn’t take the sheer mass of hair on my head anymore!) and the next day (and today too) NO BUNNY has said anything about my hairs being cut.

it’s especially weird, b/c even though I personally am terrible at noticing this kind of change in a person I just came from a lovely grad school where I was asked if my hair was cut if I had just put it back in a head band!

I went from this:
me 070805 - 1 me 071305

to this:
me 072705 newhaircut

(which is understandably crazy looking b/c it was humid/raining/hot, and she didn’t blow dry it but DID put some “styling foam” in. I love the way it looks in the first photo though! I’m wearing a hairband [because the front is NUTS!] so it’s a little shorter looking than it is, but the back looks FUN. The first one, on the other hand… I’m STILL having problems with my non-bangs.)

CSA Wk 7

CSA7

Tomatoes! corn, yellow squash, eggplant, cukes, zuchinni, biscayne peppers (I think, based on the Kretchmann’s shares), a green pepper, and beans.

what’s left:
Wk 4: purple cabbage, and dill.
Wk 5: Non-spicy peppers, a cucumber, a zuchinni, beets, potatoes, lemon balm or lemon mint (?), and oregano.
Wk 6: non-spicy peppers (these all have to be biscayne, I think!), green pepper, jalapeno peppers, bag of beans, oregano, cucumber, zuchinni, eggplants.

Last week I used some of the biscayne peppers and swiss chard in one of those yummy layered quesedillas. and only last night I mashed up the basil from Wk 6 into pesto. I ate the corn from last week raw, which was super, except for the couple of ears that I left at work all weekend accidentally and couldn’t eat.

Tonight I’m going to use up my old eggplants for thai green curry (because I actually have curry paste now, yay!) and will toss in zuchinni, beans, and biscayne peppers. Someone gave me an idea for stuffed biscayne peppers (a chili rellano, really) with corn, which sounds awesome! and I am kind of craving fried yellow squash. The zuchinni I need to make breads with, I made a really tasty one with dark chocolate chips and whole wheat flour last year in Pittsburgh. and the tomatoes, well, I chopped a bunch to toss with my pesto noodles today at lunch, and ate one last night. SO GOOD. fresh tomatoes? are amazing.

So I’ll stop by the store tonight to pick up necessities like whole wheat flour, avocados, chocolate chips, cinnamon, eggs, milk, brown sugar, and other sundries like fresh limes.

and GOSH, but at 11AM on a day you didn’t eat breakfast is NOT the best time to post about food plans. AM SO HUNGRY. BUT, I did throw a lot of extra veggies into my lunch bag: like a big cucumber, a green pepper, some corn… I’m going to have to start munching.

biodiesel

so actually owning a biodiesel vehicle has reinstalled in me my LOVE for the biodiesel technology. I’ve been surfing blogs and communitites for the last several days and reading up on all the great new stuff that’s been developed since I started poking around the technology. Like the cool appleseed processors, both cleverly designed and cleverly named.

All this punk rock grass roots biodiesel development stuff is really reminding me of my desire to make my own fuel. Seriously. It wouldn’t be that crazy to start doing it, and dan aaron says his buddy (who owns a bar) will give me his fry oil. I just need a little patch of land to put a reactor and wash tank on. And I KNOW my brother would be totally into it. I bought the biodiesel homebrew guide today and once it comes I will absolutely be setting aside Harry Potter to learn all I can.

Last night while I was DRIVING somewhere (ahem, NEW JERSERY) I started thinking about the possibility of the hybrid civic not having a manual transmission. If that happens, y’all, here are my options:

1. buy a used insight, forgo the tax credit from the federal government, boycott the attempts of car manufacturers to not do their best, to produce cars that aren’t as efficient and as fun to drive as I now they could (besides, if I need a back seat I’ve got the NEW CAMPER VAN, right? so having a very small 2-seater won’t be a bad thing. It will actually be very funny to have a Very Big Car and a Very Small Car). or,

2. Buy a used late-model diesel car, and run it on B100. That would rule. Seriously. And I don’t need a new car, I find the concept to be kind of scary. What if I break it? And having to pay a car loan and full insurance coverage premiums, now, that’s something I could REALLY do without.

NEW VAN!

Would you like a tour of my new camper van?

YAY VAN! me 072305

(please note the NRA sticker. heh. I’ll be adding a NWA sticker to keep it company.)

The awning is in beautiful condition!
and an awning!

here’s the drivers area, check the CB radio and original 1983 radio with tape deck. V. Nice. Also, these seats fully swivel around to face the back or each other.
front seats

looking forward from the rear:
front of van from rear

the couch dan aaron is sitting on has seat belts and folds out to a bed. The bunk area above the drivers seats slides out to be a full bed also, like so:

upper bunk and drivers area

here’s the rear of the van:
rear of fan from front
you can see the sink, stove, and refrigerator (below stove). I’ve got the back doors open. You can’t see the cutsie spice rack, but there’s one of those too! The water pump and the fridge run on a battery under the counter which is charged by pluging into an outlet, and perhaps from the car bettery when it’s running. Maybe not though. If I get serious about this stuff I’ll buy photovoltaics and an inverter for that battery and to run the appliances. there’s a propane tank under the van and it’s about 5/8 full. sweet. Also, a furnace for winter camping!

To the right of that is the terlit:
toilet!

It’s all winterized right now (there’s antifreeze in the pipes) and I’m not sure that I want to unwinterize it, because this way I won’t have to rewinterize it later. Plus, I’m not sure I’m into dumping holding tanks. yuck.

all that, and she’s the same size as a conversion van! which I learned to drive on! This is so great.

Immediate work to have done on van:

1. fix the brakes (they’re waaaay gone, I had to leave a LOT of room to stop)
2. change the oil (it’s been 2 years)
3. add transmission fluid
4. change the fuel filter
5. inspect the van, but I’m a little worried that
6. the non-working reverse lights might cause a problem.

Something else that is totally funny is 7. the speedometer doesn’t work — my car speedometer doesn’t work either. Le sigh.

NON-immediate stuff includes:
1. solar panels for the lights/fridge/water pump so I don’t have to charge the battery with the really long electrical plug
2a. a grey water recycling system, wherein water from the sink is used to run through the toilet. this would require 2 holding tanks and a new pump but would be more efficient and would reduce toilet use. Because I have to buy a holding tank regardless, I might as well make it a cool recycling water situation.
alternatively,
2b. replace current water flush toilet with a composting model or a foaming super low flow toilet, thereby removing the whole “nasty holding tank” situation entirely!
3. I need a little trailer to put my biodiesel stuff on. also, I need a place to park the trailer full of biodiesel junk, and while I’m at it a place to park the camper van. that isn’t behind my folks house in a field full of mice.

But: YAY!

honda civic nerves

after I received a comment from a fellow honda civic hybrid list-waiter and manual-transmission lover saying she’d heard from another albany honda location that they would ONLY offer CVT (BOO), well, I got nervous!

I called the honda dealership near me in NJ and the guy said he didn’t know, but expected it would be the same as the current civic (both transmissions available). He also said that they have started production (YAY) and expected shipment in September or October (PHEW!).

So I put in a call to my salesguy in Albany (different dealership than Karen’s) and hopefully he’ll have some scoop for me. The last time I called he did say that he didn’t know any more than I do. le sigh.

In other car-type news, the Union of Concerned Scientists, has put out a list of hybrid and alt-fuel incentives by state.

AND totally wait for my next post, all about my NEW DIESEL CAR! and my REDISCOVERED LOVE OF BIODIESEL! and my EMAIL to the GOVERNOR OF NY!

CSA wk 6

csa wk 6

poorly pictured are non-spicy peppers, green pepper, jalapeno peppers, bag of beans, oregano, basil, mint, cucumber, zuchinni, corn, eggplants, and NOT a CSA tomato.

Also, check these out:
csa wk 6 flowers
Beautiful flowers!
Unfortunately they got a titch bit wilty when I went grocery shopping on the way home. le sigh. but they are so pretty!

what’s left:
Wk 3: radishes
Wk 4: purple cabbage, and dill.
Wk 5: Non-spicy peppers, a cucumber, a zuchinni, swiss chard, beets, potatoes, lemon balm or lemon mint (?), and oregano.

I still need to get matt’s mom’s recipe for cabbage salad. The corn I started bringing to work to eat raw, so I’ll do that with this week’s corn too. I mean to use all non-spicy peppers in some kind of stir fry with chard, or to do a chili rellano dish. And spices? heck, gotta start using!

This week my big need is to use up chard and zucchini. probably will start making zuchinni bread, b/c it’s so very good. I should freeze some of the mint so I can have mojito’s all summer long. and the oregano would go very nicely in some kind of italian food, I bet…

Not a lot of BIG COOKING items left, but there’s a few to get through!

I DID THROW SOMETHING AWAY. my first toss. It was a bag of mustard greens. It hurt me more than it hurt them, particularly as they had begun disolving into goo. I’m doing awfully well, so I won’t beat myself up about it.

green curry

I made a green curry last night.

This is the recipe one of my sweet internet friends sent me:
1 can coconut milk
curry paste to taste (oooooohyum)
4 tablespoons veggie stock
1 tablespoon fish sauce (or soy sauce, or veggie fish sauce, if you can find it)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
basil (to taste)
veggies!

mix coconut milk, curry paste, stock, fish/soy sauce, brown sugar and basil (to taste) and bring to a boil. reduce heat and toss in veggies. simmer. eat. enjoy. good.

On the way home I tried to get curry paste and fish sauce — but I didn’t have time to go to whole paycheck, and I couldn’t find the paste at the regular grocery. so I fudged the curry part. I checked with the Joy of Cooking for a general idea (which included things like grated lime zest, chopped fresh cilantro, garlic, shallots, hot green chile, ginger, black pepper, salt, cumin, and cardamom) and ended up making a “curry paste” that included: cumin, curry powder, 1/2 of a jalapeno, a clove of garlic, pepper, spicy habenaro pepper stuff, cilantro, and lemon juice.

The rest of the recipe, well, I had to fudge it too! Ididn’t have fish paste so used a dash of soy sauce, and used white sugar instead of brown sugar. I used the whole stalk of purple/thai basil. And THIS divine dish is the result:

Thai Green Curry with Thai Eggplant

It is tasty!
it’s a little spicy, and strongly flavored with jalapeno, but still, yum.
I did salt the eggplant, too, b/c I’m scared of bitter eggplants. but I rinsed them off rather than squeezed with a towel. You know. I do what I can.

While I’m posting photos, here’s a pic. of the tasty bok choi saute I mentioned before:
Bok Choi sautee with Nutritional Yeast
SO GOOD.

weekend of daniels

friday I met linda and matt and we all drove up to albany for the 3D birthday spectacular. Dad’s bday is 7/11, daniel’s is 7/16, and dan aaron’s is 8/29 but because usually people are wrapping up the summer then we have a preemptive celebration all at once.

linda and kari. selfphoto 071505

Sat. we went to a Union Picnic at the Great Escape, it only cost $12 to get in, and we had picnic lunch and free soda all over the park! Amazing. it would have been reasonable at twice the price, really. We had a GREAT time, daniel didn’t puke on any rides either, and apparently LOVES rides. he turned 6 and we thought he would be too short to ride things, but apparently he’s roughly 50 inches tall could get on anything he wanted to. He only wanted to ride with Matt (his best friend in the world) though, so that was safe, at least.

my guys

sweet linda from texas had a good time too, yay! I love adopting/being adopted by people who love family time.


dan aaron, linda, and kari on line for bumpercars

I took a lot of pictures of the condor, because it’s so cool looking with lights and molded plastic. it’s not the funnest ride, but it looks awesome.
my love affair with the condor begins

on the ride home daniel totally crashed out.
sleepy ride home.
he had a melt-down when we got home, he was TOO TIRED to go to bed, and cried and cried and cried. But all in all, he had a GREAT time at the park, and esp. at splashwater kingdom. And ESPECIALLY playing with Matt, who as I mentioned, he LOVES.

he was so tired he didn’t wake me up until 8AM the next morning (phew!)
daniel wakes me up in the AM

Sunday we went to see sarah’s new house (beautiful! not too small!) and went swimming in her lake. then home for yummy birthday lunch (as displayed by matt and daniel)
matt and his incredibly colorful plate of food

and birthday party
yay! cake!

we figured out the daniels during dinner, it goes like this:

Daniel Claudius – my great grampa, and can you get much more eastern tennesee appalachia then Claudius?
DC Jr (on birth certificate, so we all assume it is also Daniel Claudius) – my grampa
Daniel Eugene – my dad
Daniel Aaron – my bro
Daniel James – my nephew.

dan aaron got 3(!) pairs of size 15 flip flops, so if there’s a shortage it’s b/c they’re all at his house. Plus, mom came over so the party was absolutely complete! yay!

everyone had a great time, and ryan is cuter than ever
ryan and kevin and a hat

drove off at 4:30 after I was plied with a box of my dad’s old cameras (like, some OLD cameras, I may inventory later in the week), a cast iron dutch oven from my great grampa’s chicken farm, and fresh mint from maggie’s window box. yum. more mojitos at my house! we got linda home around 8:30 and matt dropped me off by 9:15 – not late at all, considering we stopped a couple of times off the mountain (including once to cuz. john’s folk’s house to pick up a microwave) and went to nj via queens via nj. note to self: trips to and from queens are fastest on sunday evening, apparently.

What a great weekend. I’m super tired, but had a wonderful time. There are more photos here and here (courtesy linda)

CSA Week 5

Week 5

Wow, there was quite a haul this week.

The share includes:
Corn, non-spicy peppers, a cucumber, a zuchinni, baby bok choi, swiss chard, beets, potatoes, a GIANT bunch of basil, lemon balm or lemon mint (?), oregano, and thai eggplants

and what a giant bunch of basil!
me 071305

So for dinner I had a coworker over and we enjoyed chard (wk 3) sauteed/wilted with garlicy olive oil, cheese tortellini with pesto, and corn. SO GOOD.

And here’s my update on the weeks:

    Veggies remaining:

Wk 3: radishes
Wk 4: purple cabbage, little thai eggplants, dill, and baby bok choi. Oh, and a sneaky head of lettuce that was in my crisper drawer and that I totally forgot about! I was patting myself on the back for finishing all the lettuce in my lunch today, and then I opened the crisper drawer and my jaw dropped. I actually said (to myself, because I live alone) “Oh, HECK!.” I was so surprised.

    what I did:

I used the dill, thyme, and potatoes to roast with garlic, which turned out marvelously. I used a tad too much oil, but roasting whole unpeeled cloves of garlic with potatoes is my favorite trick. Just squeeze the roasted garlic out when you’re eating the potatoes! so good!

I made the roasted pine nut/parm cheese pasta with the arugua and radish greens, and this time I used whole wheat pasta, which matt still deemed hearty, but I think it was more eatable than the spelt for him. (dude’s not as used to whole grains as I am, I guess…)

The mint, now, I mentioned the mojitos. Yum.

As for

    what’s left:

Tonight I’m going to do a big saute with butter, baby bok choi, nutritional yeast, and soy sauce. and I’m saving the purple cabbage to make a cabbage salad that matt’s mom makes, it’s so good. sadly, though, she is out of town this week so I can’t get the recipe until this weekend.

the little thai eggplants are for a green curry. yum, but I have to find a recipe! I saved the purple basil when I made the pesto for the thai curry too, basil in thai food is so good.

the radishes I can eat with the last sneaky head of lettuce. gosh, I really honestly thought I was about done with that stuff.

I need to make some kind of dill/cucumber/yogurt dish. Dill is so good. If I had more time I’d make bread with dill in it, but that’ll have to wait until next week.

The chard I’ll do the wilty garlicy trick again, but I’ll add those new green peppers too. And probably serve with pasta and pine nuts (I LOVE pine nuts) as a main course instead of a side like last night.

Not too shabby. at all. Esp. as I was reminded last night as I picked up my share (when I met The Farmer! yay!) that this CSA is generally for about 2 adults and maybe 2 kids. And there is Just Me, versus a MOUNTAIN OF VEGGIES. hee.

me.

matt came over for dinner last night and after an exhaustive hour of cooking, we enjoyed whole wheat spaghetti with toasted pine nuts and wilted arugula sauted in garlic olive oil. Plus, appetizers were homemade guacamole and mojitos. yum.

he took this picture of me from his camera phone, and I really like it. perspective is distorted and that’s fun.

kisses for you!

Good to know.

in case it comes up, NJ regs clearly specify that swine food is NOT a solid waste:

N.J.A.C. 7:26G-5.4 Swine food
Pursuant to the Solid Waste Management Act, the definition of solid waste shall not include solid animal or vegetable wastes collected by swine producers, licensed by the State Department of Agriculture, who collect, prepare and feed such wastes to swine on their own farms.