Feet First

The new shoes rock, in case anyone wondered. They cannot completely overcome the effects of 9 to 10 hours a day on my feet, and they cannot fix my poor little hammer toes (my toes, except for the big ones, all curl under a little bit, which means I get calluses in odd spots on my toes, and the nails split sometimes), but they rock. I also have my Ott light, although I have not yet assembled it. And! I have two grocery bags full of cans--tomatos (Muir Glen, which I particularly like and which were on sale) and beans--and I didn't have to shlep them on the el, thanks to a friend with a vehicle. I also might have health insurance. I got a letter from BigCompany today, and they're willing to insure me, for $337 a month, as long as they don't have to cover anything having to do with the fibroids ever, any "dysfunctional uterine bleeding" for two years, or anything having to do with HPV, ever. I need to get some specificity on that, because I need regular pap smears, like every woman on the fucking planet, and they had better be covered or my health care costs are still going to be outrageous, and I'm completely fucked if I ever get cervical cancer, which, given the HPV, is not out of the question.

I'm still not completely taken with the New Person at work. Bossman thinks she can be trained, and she's capable of doing things, but she still has an unfortunate tendency to stand around. She said today that she doesn't want to force herself on the guys, because she's afraid she'll slow them down, but I encouraged her to keep bugging them for something to do and pointed out that once she knows how to do the things they teach her, then she'll be a help rather than an impediment. This was said while she was helping out with the plain mini croissants for BT's restaurant. Though NP had stood around watching me roll full-size croissants (until Bossman came back upstairs and suggested she help me), she asked if we wanted help with the minis as we were about to start them. I said sure, if you want to. She stuck it out for the two pieces of dough destined for plain croissants, but there was a brief lull before we got to the chocolate--Bossman had to run downstairs for something--and she took off. It's like she doesn't want to work past 3 or so, and she'd rather just leave. Okay, honey, go ahead, but that means you're kind of useless when it gets busy around here.

I spent a bunch of time with the website guy today. I'm determined to get our website up by the end of the month. I've also noodged Bossman enough such that we're going to have an anniversary special each month--it's 40 years since his dad bought the place, and I suggested he revive one old product each month. He's pricing the stuff with X dollars and 40 cents, which I thought was a nice touch. I'm going to spend tomorrow writing web copy (I'm caught up on croissants) to get things moving along. I also lit a fire under Johnnie today. We need some cake pictures, and I told Johnnie to go ahead and make up some dummy cakes, anything he wanted to do. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. I also offered to help him prepare for the CMB (certified master baker) exam in March--turns out the materials are all in English, of course, but his English isn't great. I offered to loan him my Spanish-English dictionary, but he said his sister was getting one for him, he thought.

Oh--and I was interviewed yesterday, at some length. Turns out a journalism student from the nearby university had contacted Bossman about coming in to the bakery, because she had to write about someone or interview someone at his or her job. She'd thought she was going to be interviewing Phil, and, indeed, was talking to him when I came in yesterday, but after chatting with me a little apparently decided I was either more interesting or easier to talk with than Phil (I suspect the latter more than the former; I don't think she speaks Spanish). It was entertaining in its way. I doubt it'll be published anywhere; it's just a class assignment. Telling my story--or a chunk of it, anyway--to someone all at once is an interesting exercise; it certainly helped remind me just how wild last year really was (as though I'd forgotten somehow . . .). I asked her to send it to me once it's done, and I hope she does that.