Do Laminatrices Dream of Electric Sheep?

Despite my desire to do so, I cannot watch baseball, first, because My Team isn't on television where I live, and second, because they seem to lose if I do watch them (e.g., when they play Atlanta or Chicago, i.e., when they are on TBS or WGN, or when they are on ESPN). However, i do know that (a) they are tied with the Mets for first place in the NL East, (b) they are winning right now, (c) the Mets are losing right now, and (d) there are two games left in the season after tonight. Apparently things are in such a state in the National League that several rounds of playoffs may be necessary before the NL playoffs begin, to determine the winners of various divisions as well as the occupant of the wild card berth. All this to say that I cannot call my brother tonight, even though my sister-in-law had her knee replaced this week, because he is a Mets fan, and a call cannot occur until the situation is clearer, viz., until it is determined whether I may taunt him (the gods frown upon premature taunting).

I spent today fantasizing about having a comma in every paycheck, not least because it's been awhile since i've seen one. Indeed, the fantasy included not just a comma, but paid days off and an increase in the numbers to the right and, perhaps, even to the left of the comma. I know better than to think that a request for additional information is grounds for dancing on the worktable, bathing in the spiral mixer, or submitting my resignation, but the laminatrix definitely dreamed of giving up lamination, except in the privacy of her own kitchen and without a dough sheeter. Oh, to laminate for friends only, rather than for the teeming masses! I have to say that, if I do get an interview at this place, I will make sure to point out that one of the benefits of hiring me is that they get a trained, professional pastry chef in the bargain, and I do so love to share my knowledge, albeit in edible, rather than audible, form.

Speaking of sharing knowledge in audible form, I thought i was going to leap across the table and stab Woody today. Mike was working with Woody today, and Woody just went on and on and on. Lordy. He might bring me some geese, though, as he's going hunting this weekend.

We also have a new woman working with us, an intern from the same school that Woody, Mike, and Brad attended. She's young and thin and vaguely hipsterish, what with her Chuck Taylors and all. (Hey, I got me some Chucks, too, and I love 'em, except not to work in, because they have absolutely no support whatsoever; might as well walk around barefoot on concrete all day.) Tuesday, I was treated to repeated views of her ass crack, as her jeans kept slipping down when she bent over or crouched. Wednesday, she was wearing a very tight, old, thin yellow t-shirt and a black bra; I'm sure the men with whom I work were as able as I was to discern her precise proportions. Yesterday and today, she theoretically had her hair held back in a ponytail and topped by a cap, but trust me when I say the cap was merely decorative and most of her hair was in the "hanging down all over the place" arrangement rather than in the "tied back or covered in some way so it doesn't get into people's food" arrangement. It was kind of funny, in a don't-bring-that-near-my-croissants kind of way, in that the hair elastic and hat were nods in the direction of hair containment without either of them doing that job and, apparently, without her wanting that job done. (Which I find a little bizarre: Not only do I not want to find one of my hairs in the food I'm preparing, I don't want to have my hair in my face or in the flour or in the crap with which I work all day. It's really much more convenient to get it out of the way and covered, much as I like to have it flying around all over the place in other settings.)

No laminating tomorrow: tomorrow is the Day of Tarts for the Store (which I kind of enjoy, if you want to know). The plan is pear and almond; the orange-cardamom-caramel apple ones that I tested the other day; and, if there's time and blackberries, sous bois tarts. We had an order for two large sous bois tarts on Wednesday, I think, and I went ahead and made them, along with four other large ones, figuring we might sell one or two of those. Or, all four of them, by yesterday, apparently. I'm not sure that Bossman has figured out yet that, unless I get help as good as Lole provides, the tarts will be gone when Lole leaves, as I won't have time to make them AND do all of the croissants. And I figured out, when it was way too late to do anything about it, that we're going to be short of the miniature plain croissants we send to the Brazen Tart's place. Bossman took an order for 50 for tomorrow, and I went ahead and filled it, even though I wasn't certain we had enough, I didn't have any more laminated dough today, and I am not laminating anything tomorrow. Whatever.

Update: Phillies win, Mets lose, which means the Phillies are in first place by a game, with two games left to play this season. Bossman is rooting for the Mets to get into the playoffs, only so they can play and beat the Cubs, whom he hates, for a reprise of sorts of 1969. Bossman is an old-school White Sox fan--always has been--and would root against the Cubs, no matter what. His two favorite teams, as he says, are the White Sox and whoever is playing the Cubs.