Yogi Berra noted that nobody went to Ruggeri's restaurant any more because it was too crowded. That's how I feel about going out to dinner around Valentine's Day. I don't have much of an opinion about VD either way; I do not participate in the craziness, I do not expect the men in my life to make gestures of any kind, much less big flower-and-jewel-encrusted gestures, and I tend to take the Twisty Faster view of it, that it's a big trade--baubles in exchange for access to vaginas, or, more to the point, access to a particular vagina. What it means, though, is that the restaurants are all clogged up with people engaging in this trade, which means I avoid it like the plague. The only drag of that is that Friend and I like to go out to dinner once a week or so, and lately weekends have been more convenient for that, but it's out of the question this weekend. (Chuck and I took the same approach to this.)
So I headed to Whole Paycheck yesterday, and got some tuna steaks, which I marinated in orange juice & peel, garlic, and fresh rosemary, a handful of shrimp (Friend likes shrimp), and three pounds of butter. And a bunch of other stuff, of course, because what's the point of a shopping trip if you don't haul 50 pounds of stuff on the el? I also braised some chard and collard greens with some pancetta and onions, and they were pretty tasty, too. I had bought a bunch of pancetta and I'd had the person slice it very thick, and then I froze it in approximately-two-ounce portions, and it has been extremely useful. Whenever I want a little of that bacony goodness, I just grab one of the portions and chop it up. It just occurs to me that I should have thrown a splash of balsamic vinegar into the greens, too . . .
And then I made up a recipe! Sort of, anyway, with some help from the chatline person at King Arthur. I was looking for a way to use the meyer lemons and make a cake, but with flour rather than almonds like the last time, and I wanted it to be very lemony, but I didn't want something that had a ton of fat in it. So I found a recipe (from KA, actually) that used buttermilk, and I reduced the butter, eliminated the buttermilk, and subbed lemon juice, water, and powdered milk, and used a lot of peel (about 10 grams--I ended up using the peel and juice of four lemons). I didn't have a mary ann pan (and had to look it up to figure out what it even was), but I suddenly remembered that I had a mini-bundt pan, and that worked beautifully. I topped the cakes with some whipped cream and raspberries and strawberries that Friend hauled over here from his freezer. The cakes were absolutely delightful; I suspect muffin tins would have worked as well (and were actually my first thought). Lemony and cakey and even a little chewy, because I buttered the tins very thoroughly. And, for once, I wrote down what I was doing, so I can actually make them again. I know! Who woulda thought!
Today I think it's going to be some venison steak, because I love me some venison steak. I have a head of cauliflower I need to use, and I'll see what grains I have floating around in the cupboard. And cookie-making needs to ensue, as well, so I can bring some to work tomorrow. I already mixed the dough; it's been chilling (literally) in the fridge since yesterday--I made a double batch. And I also bought a pineapple and two mangos, so I think I'll make a fruit salad, too, to take for breakfasts this week.
I think a lot of my food blogging is because work is still, as noted a steaming pile of stress. It doesn't affect me in some ways, but it does in others; one of the people with whom I work most closely isn't holding up his/her part of the work. Our old boss used to cover for him/her, or rope the person into line when I (privately) bitched enough about it, but the old boss isn't there any more, and Coworker is pulling the same old shit. Newboss is less tolerant--okay, not tolerant at all--and the rest of the team is getting really damn tired of the shit, too. It will come to a head sooner rather than later, I think, because Coworker thinks s/he can skate and it is just not going to fly. Newboss won't allow it or cover for it, and the rest of us are getting mighty tired of doing Coworker's work.
One thing that's been interesting to me is my own . . . complicity, I guess. I realized way back when that Coworker isn't able to do some of the things that would have been associated with his/her position--vital things, that really needed to be done--but also brought other strengths that we didn't necessarily know we needed. So, I took on some of Coworker's stuff--okay, a lot of it--which has worked out okay for me, because I've gotten experience that I would not otherwise have and some of it has been an interesting puzzle for me to solve, and I got my big raise as a result of it.
When Oldboss was around, I realized Oldboss wasn't going to confront Coworker in any meaningful way, and I recognized there wasn't anything I could do, short of quitting, and that I didn't want to do that. It was, after all, working out for me, even if it meant the labor distribution was somewhat unfair. When Coworker was getting too out of hand in some way, I'd bitch to Oldboss and get him/her to deal with it at least a little, and Oldboss also would cover for Coworker, in the sense of being present in the office when Coworker took many of his/her vacations and days off and whatevers. Newboss isn't willing to do that covering, and I'm finding that I'm actually rather relieved. I didn't like it before, but I liked Oldboss and there wasn't any way to really confront openly what was going on, other than my bitching about it, so I realized that and let it be. Now, however, it's coming out in the open, and I much prefer that, uncomfortable though it may be in some ways.
The other three of us on the senior management team are basically fed up with the whole charade, and Newboss is behind us on this, so it will be interesting to see what happens. Me, personally, I'm getting tired of people coming to me with things that are Coworker's responsibility--they do it because (a) Coworker isn't doing the thing, or is out of town or out of the office and/or (b) they know I'll get it done somehow. What Coworker doesn't realize is that it makes him/her look bad--people already questioned what Coworker actually contributes, and this isn't going to make answering that question any more pleasant for Coworker. The other thing Coworker doesn't realize is that I've been his/her biggest advocate, in some ways, pointing out the assets that may not be visible to everyone. Now, however, I'm sufficiently tired of my plate getting more heaped while s/he gallivants off somewhere, I'm less willing to come up with a cover story.
My main goal, through all of this, is to try to be clearheaded and fair-minded. I haven't been doing a great job at that, so far, but I'm working on it. I did realize that the thing that bothers me the most is that I get pissy and annoyed, and that's not a place I like to be. I don't like when I get that way--and my actions are my own responsibility. I don't care if it's "justified," it's not helpful or pleasant, either to experience or to be around. It's all a learning experience, I guess.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
I am arguably throwing away $30 tonight, and I am not usually so profilgate, but I simply could not face it. My tile-making class meets tonight--it was cancelled last week but will be made up, which means I haven't been there in two weeks as it is. However, I had to shlep to the other end of the city not just yesterday but today as well, as the temporary filling fell off again yesterday. This means I was up by 4 or so and out the door by a little after 5 am two days in a row. In addition by the time the class is over tonight, it will be bitter cold again, with multiple degrees below zero wind chill, and the trip home takes at least 40 minutes, on a good night with good public transportation karma, which I have not been having lately. (Today's episode: the bus on which I was riding this morning pulled over on Lake Shore Drive. We sat there for 10 minutes, waiting for the next bus, onto which we were all herded. Luckily I had left some wiggle room in terms of the buses I was planning to catch, but the driver never did explain what the problem was.)
And I just didn't feel like it. Work continues to be a steaming pile of stress, and it's been brutally cold this week, and whine, whine, whine. Somehow, coming home and sitting on the couch with a cat in my lap and working on getting on the outside of some wine just sounded like a much better idea. So far, I'm right about that. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out whether I'm just whining and I need to STFU and get on with whatever it is, or whether I really do need to skip whatever it is.
So, yes, I have hauled my sorry ass all the way to the other end of the city three times in the past week, and two of those three episodes have involved the asscrack of dawn. The dentist was a bit abashed today--but it's just the kind of thing that's going to happen with an inlay as big as mine is, so I saw no point in getting pissy about it. It also means that they'll make it a point to get me in as soon as the piece comes back from the lab rather than making me wait a month (which is when my appointment was originally scheduled). Meanwhile, I've also discovered that the culprit in the recent recurrance of the back pain was my winter boots. Last weekend, Friend hauled my new boots--purchased at the end of last winter, on sale, and left at his house--over here, and I've been wearing them all week, and my back pain and heel pain? Nearly non-existent.
What I really want is a couple of days off--to go hang at the tile studio and work on my stuff; to get a massage; to take myself out for a meal; to work out (I haven't been able to get myself to do that this week, either); to sit somewhere with a hot beverage and a good book. And somehow I'm going to figure out how to get that, despite the continuing pile of things on fire on my desk.
And I just didn't feel like it. Work continues to be a steaming pile of stress, and it's been brutally cold this week, and whine, whine, whine. Somehow, coming home and sitting on the couch with a cat in my lap and working on getting on the outside of some wine just sounded like a much better idea. So far, I'm right about that. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out whether I'm just whining and I need to STFU and get on with whatever it is, or whether I really do need to skip whatever it is.
So, yes, I have hauled my sorry ass all the way to the other end of the city three times in the past week, and two of those three episodes have involved the asscrack of dawn. The dentist was a bit abashed today--but it's just the kind of thing that's going to happen with an inlay as big as mine is, so I saw no point in getting pissy about it. It also means that they'll make it a point to get me in as soon as the piece comes back from the lab rather than making me wait a month (which is when my appointment was originally scheduled). Meanwhile, I've also discovered that the culprit in the recent recurrance of the back pain was my winter boots. Last weekend, Friend hauled my new boots--purchased at the end of last winter, on sale, and left at his house--over here, and I've been wearing them all week, and my back pain and heel pain? Nearly non-existent.
What I really want is a couple of days off--to go hang at the tile studio and work on my stuff; to get a massage; to take myself out for a meal; to work out (I haven't been able to get myself to do that this week, either); to sit somewhere with a hot beverage and a good book. And somehow I'm going to figure out how to get that, despite the continuing pile of things on fire on my desk.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Half a Tooth is Better Than
Remember that part where I got a temporary inlay on my tooth? Turns out it was a bit more temporary than planned, seeing as how it came off in my mouth today (while I was eating potatos, so it's not like I was chomping down on taffy or something). About a third of the tooth is completely gone (the inlay is going on top of some composite they put in, so it's not as though there's exposed nerves or anythinglThey're going to squeeze me in tomorrow morning at 7:10 am, which means I have to leave here at 5-something. However! Afterward I'll get to meet a friend who lives at the complete opposite end of the city from me and who also doesn't have a vehicle, so we rarely get to see each other in person. (Yes, I know, where did all this pollyanna shit come from?) I suppose I "should" be heading directly to work, but I do not care, and I know that neither Newboss nor my coworkers will care.
I did make the fougasse, and it came out okay--not great, but okay. The fillings were actually quite good--I put pine nuts in with the rosemary and pear, and I absolutely loved the flavor combination. The texture of the bread was off a bit, but all in all it was pretty good. For dinner I made beer-braised cabbage with venison ring bologna (which was unbelievably easy and unbelievably tasty); wild turkey breast, which was marinated in sliced Meyer lemon, garlic, and fresh sage; and some roasted butternut squash: serious yummage, plus lunch leftovers. Leftovers for lunch is one of my main goals, because I probably save $150 a month by bringing my lunch, and, more to the point, it tastes better (and is probably healthier, for that matter).
I've been trying to write this for a couple of hours now, and I can't seem to focus. The cat is bringing the cute, and I"m tired, and I need to get up at the asscrack of dawn, so perhaps bed is a better thought. After I lay out my clothes for tomorrow, anyway.
I did make the fougasse, and it came out okay--not great, but okay. The fillings were actually quite good--I put pine nuts in with the rosemary and pear, and I absolutely loved the flavor combination. The texture of the bread was off a bit, but all in all it was pretty good. For dinner I made beer-braised cabbage with venison ring bologna (which was unbelievably easy and unbelievably tasty); wild turkey breast, which was marinated in sliced Meyer lemon, garlic, and fresh sage; and some roasted butternut squash: serious yummage, plus lunch leftovers. Leftovers for lunch is one of my main goals, because I probably save $150 a month by bringing my lunch, and, more to the point, it tastes better (and is probably healthier, for that matter).
I've been trying to write this for a couple of hours now, and I can't seem to focus. The cat is bringing the cute, and I"m tired, and I need to get up at the asscrack of dawn, so perhaps bed is a better thought. After I lay out my clothes for tomorrow, anyway.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
This Week in Baking
Friday was an expensive exercise in shlepping. Two different bus delays increased by 50% the amount of time I spent on public transportation--and, given that my dentist is at the other end of the city, I was already looking at three hours on various forms of buses and trains. And the dentist visit cost $1400 (as Friend put it, there goes one of the chairs for my sunroom . . . which isn't quite the case, but close). My dentist is wonderful--I like him personally, and he has kept my teeth in my mouth--but dental care isn't cheap, especially at his level. (He teaches around the country, because he's at the cutting edge for various techniques, and he's one of the dentists for the Blackhawks.) It's worth it to me--the expense and the extended travel time--but I can see why it wouldn't be possible for everyone. And this whole adventure was expensive because he worked on two teeth and because one of them requires an inlay (rather than a crown, which he likes to avoid as long as possible). Oh well; mostly I"m thankful that I can afford it and that he's so good.
This week's baking is going to involve apricots and ginger. I've now started taking requests. My Newboss doesn't like fruit (don't ask; there's a long story there), which obviously eliminates a whole host of desserts, but s/he will be out of town for this week's management team meeting so I can ignore that restriction this week. BTart has provided some wonderful suggestions, and I'll probably end up doing gingerbread with apricots for Tuesday.
Today's experiment, however, is fougasse. I haven't made it it awhile, and of course I ended up combining several formulas (all from King Arthur, though one was from the Whole Grain book and the others were from the website), not least because I only had a little whole wheat flour. So, I used that in the preferment--which came up nice and bubbly and sour--and then threw in mostly all-purpose in the dough. I also threw in a little barley flour, just to finish the bag, and some high-fiber flour, and a handful of bread flour. For the fillings, I'm using dried pears, fresh rosemary, and maybe some chopped walnuts if I have any, and for the other I'm using apricots, candied ginger, and maybe almonds.
When you used dried fruit in something--cranberries, cherries, and blueberries are probably an exception--it's a good idea to soak the fruit in boiling water for 10 minutes or so. This is especially true for large pieces like apricots and, especially, pear halves. After soaking, I cut up the fruit with my kitchen scissors. Anyway, I used the soaking water in the dough as the liquid, figuring it would add a little more flavor. And I had to guess at the amount of yeast to use: the book used the same amount as the website formulas, even though the book's formula was for twice as much flour/fougasse. So I split the difference. It has a preferment, it'll be fine, probably.
I have no idea whether this is going to work, but I've decided my motto is, "It probably won't suck too badly." And, hey, if it does, I start over. I have the freedom and absolute privilege of being able to do that; my family won't starve if I fuck up the bread or the stew.
I'm not entirely sure why I've been doing so much baking for my coworkers lately. Part of it is that I have more time to do so. Part is that I have some new recipe sources and new ingredients sources, and I like trying new stuff. Part is that it's a way to provide some comfort to my coworkers, all of whom have been stressed out by all of the changes we've been dealing with for the past five months (and which continue)--who doesn't like baked goods? Part is that it's something I very much like to do, but I can't eat all of it myself (even with Friend helping). So? More baking.
I was emailing yesterday with one of my oldest friends (*waves toward Boston*) and she said something I hadn't realized about myself, which was that I'm not afraid to have things not work out. Which is probably true, at least with my baking--and I see what she means. It does give me a certain freedom, though admittedly I really do hate to fuck up. I guess it's what comes from learning so many new things over the years--new careers, new skills, new crafts. As I've noted here, when I was in pastry school, and now in my tile class, I don't expect to be very good at new techniques, and of course making mistakes is a great way to learn new stuff, if you have access to a person or information that helps you figure out how to fix something.
But, really, these mistakes don't have consequences except possibly some spoiled ingredients. Where I do get nervous is at work, where there really isn't as much room to fuck up. Not because my bosses are viscious taskmasters or something--and, once again, I'm privileged there, too--but because I'm managing a huge budget practically single-handedly. I don't like that; it means if I do fuck up, there's no one to find my mistakes, and that could be a big problem. Reality is, I DID make a moderately large mistake a couple of years ago (I overestimated third-party payments for one of our contracts), and no one caught it. I eventually did, and I tried to explain it to multiple people, but it kinda went over everyone's head, which just made me more nervous. I'm not saying I should have been disciplined or yelled at or something, and no one lost his or her job because of my mistakes, but it did affect our financial picture. To this day, it bothers me that no one really understood the mistake, but the part that really made me nervous, and still does, is that it means there's no one there who is going to catch my mistakes.
And I'm going to make them--everyone does. So, what I end up trying to do--for me, as well as for anyone else--is to try to establish systems of some kind that make it easier to identify problems. Last year I came up with this elaborate budgeting mechanism/workbook, complete with formulas and links and such, and very few people really get how cool it is. (Okay, yes, I'm bragging a little there.) But it is cool--and, more to the point, it makes the methods I'm using to allocate costs transparent and relatively easy to follow, which means other people can follow along and find my fuckups. Not that anyone actually does, mind you, but they could. It also helps me, so it's a win, but I sure would like it if someone would pick through it and find my mistakes.
Our organization has adopted this new financial management software--two years, actually--and everyone keeps touting how wonderful it is. I remain unconvinced, but I can't tell whether it's because it really doesn't do what I need done or because I'm stubbornly stuck on My Way of Doing Things. The new controller--whom I very much like--and I have been discussing it at some length, because the organization wants people to use it. I, of course, keep pointing out the ways it doesn't work for me, while still allowing him/her to show me how I'm wrong. So far, that hasn't happened. The other advantage to my systems is that they're easier to manipulate--it's easier to change a scenario and see what that does to the budget, which is really crucial when there's a lot going on.
Anyway, one of the things I've figured out about myself is that some of the things I do best--this kind of systems development, and the analytical part of it--are things that, if done well, are basically invisible. It's like facilitating a meeting: if you're doing it well, then the meeting runs well, but the facilitation is invisible and things go smoothly. Which, really, is sort of amusing, given the reputation I have for having a large personality. (I always tell people that I act taller than I really am--and people routinely estimate my height at two to four inches taller than I am--and I never wear heels.) The same is true for my spreadsheets and other tools like that: if you design them well, then they're easy to use, and people aren't fighting the tool to accomplish a task.
Okay, enough blather. Time to check the fougasse dough. I'll take pictures if I remember.
This week's baking is going to involve apricots and ginger. I've now started taking requests. My Newboss doesn't like fruit (don't ask; there's a long story there), which obviously eliminates a whole host of desserts, but s/he will be out of town for this week's management team meeting so I can ignore that restriction this week. BTart has provided some wonderful suggestions, and I'll probably end up doing gingerbread with apricots for Tuesday.
Today's experiment, however, is fougasse. I haven't made it it awhile, and of course I ended up combining several formulas (all from King Arthur, though one was from the Whole Grain book and the others were from the website), not least because I only had a little whole wheat flour. So, I used that in the preferment--which came up nice and bubbly and sour--and then threw in mostly all-purpose in the dough. I also threw in a little barley flour, just to finish the bag, and some high-fiber flour, and a handful of bread flour. For the fillings, I'm using dried pears, fresh rosemary, and maybe some chopped walnuts if I have any, and for the other I'm using apricots, candied ginger, and maybe almonds.
When you used dried fruit in something--cranberries, cherries, and blueberries are probably an exception--it's a good idea to soak the fruit in boiling water for 10 minutes or so. This is especially true for large pieces like apricots and, especially, pear halves. After soaking, I cut up the fruit with my kitchen scissors. Anyway, I used the soaking water in the dough as the liquid, figuring it would add a little more flavor. And I had to guess at the amount of yeast to use: the book used the same amount as the website formulas, even though the book's formula was for twice as much flour/fougasse. So I split the difference. It has a preferment, it'll be fine, probably.
I have no idea whether this is going to work, but I've decided my motto is, "It probably won't suck too badly." And, hey, if it does, I start over. I have the freedom and absolute privilege of being able to do that; my family won't starve if I fuck up the bread or the stew.
I'm not entirely sure why I've been doing so much baking for my coworkers lately. Part of it is that I have more time to do so. Part is that I have some new recipe sources and new ingredients sources, and I like trying new stuff. Part is that it's a way to provide some comfort to my coworkers, all of whom have been stressed out by all of the changes we've been dealing with for the past five months (and which continue)--who doesn't like baked goods? Part is that it's something I very much like to do, but I can't eat all of it myself (even with Friend helping). So? More baking.
I was emailing yesterday with one of my oldest friends (*waves toward Boston*) and she said something I hadn't realized about myself, which was that I'm not afraid to have things not work out. Which is probably true, at least with my baking--and I see what she means. It does give me a certain freedom, though admittedly I really do hate to fuck up. I guess it's what comes from learning so many new things over the years--new careers, new skills, new crafts. As I've noted here, when I was in pastry school, and now in my tile class, I don't expect to be very good at new techniques, and of course making mistakes is a great way to learn new stuff, if you have access to a person or information that helps you figure out how to fix something.
But, really, these mistakes don't have consequences except possibly some spoiled ingredients. Where I do get nervous is at work, where there really isn't as much room to fuck up. Not because my bosses are viscious taskmasters or something--and, once again, I'm privileged there, too--but because I'm managing a huge budget practically single-handedly. I don't like that; it means if I do fuck up, there's no one to find my mistakes, and that could be a big problem. Reality is, I DID make a moderately large mistake a couple of years ago (I overestimated third-party payments for one of our contracts), and no one caught it. I eventually did, and I tried to explain it to multiple people, but it kinda went over everyone's head, which just made me more nervous. I'm not saying I should have been disciplined or yelled at or something, and no one lost his or her job because of my mistakes, but it did affect our financial picture. To this day, it bothers me that no one really understood the mistake, but the part that really made me nervous, and still does, is that it means there's no one there who is going to catch my mistakes.
And I'm going to make them--everyone does. So, what I end up trying to do--for me, as well as for anyone else--is to try to establish systems of some kind that make it easier to identify problems. Last year I came up with this elaborate budgeting mechanism/workbook, complete with formulas and links and such, and very few people really get how cool it is. (Okay, yes, I'm bragging a little there.) But it is cool--and, more to the point, it makes the methods I'm using to allocate costs transparent and relatively easy to follow, which means other people can follow along and find my fuckups. Not that anyone actually does, mind you, but they could. It also helps me, so it's a win, but I sure would like it if someone would pick through it and find my mistakes.
Our organization has adopted this new financial management software--two years, actually--and everyone keeps touting how wonderful it is. I remain unconvinced, but I can't tell whether it's because it really doesn't do what I need done or because I'm stubbornly stuck on My Way of Doing Things. The new controller--whom I very much like--and I have been discussing it at some length, because the organization wants people to use it. I, of course, keep pointing out the ways it doesn't work for me, while still allowing him/her to show me how I'm wrong. So far, that hasn't happened. The other advantage to my systems is that they're easier to manipulate--it's easier to change a scenario and see what that does to the budget, which is really crucial when there's a lot going on.
Anyway, one of the things I've figured out about myself is that some of the things I do best--this kind of systems development, and the analytical part of it--are things that, if done well, are basically invisible. It's like facilitating a meeting: if you're doing it well, then the meeting runs well, but the facilitation is invisible and things go smoothly. Which, really, is sort of amusing, given the reputation I have for having a large personality. (I always tell people that I act taller than I really am--and people routinely estimate my height at two to four inches taller than I am--and I never wear heels.) The same is true for my spreadsheets and other tools like that: if you design them well, then they're easy to use, and people aren't fighting the tool to accomplish a task.
Okay, enough blather. Time to check the fougasse dough. I'll take pictures if I remember.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Shovelday
Wow.
I did, in fact, go outside (if I get ambitious, I'll post pics eventually). The thing that was so weird is that there were spots where there is no snow at all--and a couple of spots where the street is completely blocked by 10-foot-high drifts that go from curb to curb. Cars are buried on one street and the street is clear a block south. At one point, I was walking down the middle of a main artery (Sheridan, for those of you out here) and there were no vehicles in either direction. The drifting is in part because I'm so close to the lake; the park space on the lakefront is windswept, but the street that goes along the park is blocked. I did make it to work today, and there is a big buttload of snow out there. In a lot of places, they're going to need front-end loaders rather than plows, because the streets are too narrow and there's just too much snow.
Weather like this--or like heat waves in the summer--amuses me in the ways it brings out responses in people. So many people are so insulated from weather--by heat and by air conditioning--that they whine incessantly. I am, of course, also insulated: I'm sitting on my couch, with a TV and a computer and warm-enough clothes; I am not huddled in a drafty hut watching the snow blow in through the cracks in the logs. I will take a hot shower tomorrow morning, and I do not have to go outside to pee. I can afford warm clothes. So, yes, it's not like I'm living off the land here.
But so many people with whom I work basically go from their houses to their cars to the office building. One of my old bosses didn't even have a warm winter coat because he was never out in the winter weather for more than a couple of minutes. Those of us who actually expect to be walking a few blocks, or standing on a corner waiting for a bus, or standing on a platform waiting for a train, tend to dress for it. It IS winter, after all.
Remember that central office person who's been giving me a pain? As of today, the person is no longer with the organization. I don't know for sure that s/he was pushed rather than jumped, but the suddeness of it suggests a shove rather than a leap. A part of me has a certain amount of compassion, because I believe that person was in over his/her head and was being asked to do things that were beyond his/her competencies, and I like the person personally. At the same time, the fact that I've mentioned it here, multiple times, gives some idea how annoyed I've been. The person really wasn't able to do the job that needed doing, which has been making my job more difficult.
Anyway. My dentist texted me at 4:30 this morning (after calliing me at 9:45 last night) to let me know that he was still snowed in and I shouldn't shlep to the 7 am appointment today, and then his office called to reschedule for tomorrow at 8:30. I was supposed to have a vacation day, but instead I scheduled an acupuncture appointment for the afternoon and just took a sick day instead. I need some vacation though, and soon.
I did, in fact, go outside (if I get ambitious, I'll post pics eventually). The thing that was so weird is that there were spots where there is no snow at all--and a couple of spots where the street is completely blocked by 10-foot-high drifts that go from curb to curb. Cars are buried on one street and the street is clear a block south. At one point, I was walking down the middle of a main artery (Sheridan, for those of you out here) and there were no vehicles in either direction. The drifting is in part because I'm so close to the lake; the park space on the lakefront is windswept, but the street that goes along the park is blocked. I did make it to work today, and there is a big buttload of snow out there. In a lot of places, they're going to need front-end loaders rather than plows, because the streets are too narrow and there's just too much snow.
Weather like this--or like heat waves in the summer--amuses me in the ways it brings out responses in people. So many people are so insulated from weather--by heat and by air conditioning--that they whine incessantly. I am, of course, also insulated: I'm sitting on my couch, with a TV and a computer and warm-enough clothes; I am not huddled in a drafty hut watching the snow blow in through the cracks in the logs. I will take a hot shower tomorrow morning, and I do not have to go outside to pee. I can afford warm clothes. So, yes, it's not like I'm living off the land here.
But so many people with whom I work basically go from their houses to their cars to the office building. One of my old bosses didn't even have a warm winter coat because he was never out in the winter weather for more than a couple of minutes. Those of us who actually expect to be walking a few blocks, or standing on a corner waiting for a bus, or standing on a platform waiting for a train, tend to dress for it. It IS winter, after all.
Remember that central office person who's been giving me a pain? As of today, the person is no longer with the organization. I don't know for sure that s/he was pushed rather than jumped, but the suddeness of it suggests a shove rather than a leap. A part of me has a certain amount of compassion, because I believe that person was in over his/her head and was being asked to do things that were beyond his/her competencies, and I like the person personally. At the same time, the fact that I've mentioned it here, multiple times, gives some idea how annoyed I've been. The person really wasn't able to do the job that needed doing, which has been making my job more difficult.
Anyway. My dentist texted me at 4:30 this morning (after calliing me at 9:45 last night) to let me know that he was still snowed in and I shouldn't shlep to the 7 am appointment today, and then his office called to reschedule for tomorrow at 8:30. I was supposed to have a vacation day, but instead I scheduled an acupuncture appointment for the afternoon and just took a sick day instead. I need some vacation though, and soon.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Snowmageddon Rising
Okay, so maybe they were right about this one.
If you can see out my front windows--which is difficult to do, because of the snow clinging to the storm windows and screens--you can see that the cars are nearly buried and that the street has no tire tracks. There are some footprints, but not even a lot of those. Apparently some of the public transportation is running, but everything is really buried. The most recent "special weather statement" notes that lake-effect snow is moving through the area: "INTENSE SNOWFALL WITHIN THIS BAND AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH WILL DROP VISIBILITIES TO ONLY A COUPLE HUNDRED FEET. SNOW FALL RATES OF UP TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE AS THIS BAND MOVES SLOWLY EASTWARD." Being half a block from the lake has its down side, too. And Lake Shore Drive is closed. So, yes, staying indoors with the cat on my lap sounds like a fine plan, though I admit that part of me wants to at least go outside and trudge around the block, just for the experience. And I sort of wish I'd put together a preferment of some kind last night just to bake something today.
More likely, though, I'll fire up the DVD player or my Netflix instant watching thing and just make the cat happy.
Which would be fine. The ways in which work is stressful keep changing, which makes it interesting, in some ways, but also provides the sensation experienced by randomly shocked rats (or so I suppose). The good news is that the new boss is proving to be excellent. Very different set of strengths than the old boss, and, in some ways, ones that are more suited to my own style and inclinations. I don't want to sound disloyal--I really like my old boss quite a bit, and I'm very excited that s/he just got a new job. But--you saw that coming, didn't you--the new boss is better suited to the particular politics in play at the moment. OldBoss would not have gotten along at all with the new Big Boss, and, more to the point, would have had a hard time doing what the organization as a whole wants done right now. So, really, we're probably all in somewhat better places.
I must add that BigBoss makes me nervous, though. S/He has a style of operating that I don't like any more than I liked the style of the last person in that position, even though the two of them are very different in oh so many ways. On the other hand, as with the previous regime, my current boss does a fine job of protecting me and valuing my contributions and using my skills, so I will find a way to live with it. I also think that Newboss is doing, and is going to do, a better job of utilizing me, so that's actually kind of cool. We'll see.
And we'll see whether my mouth gets me in trouble. I'm getting increasingly impatient with a coworker (two, actually; one is at the central office), so I'm trying to regard it as an exercise in patience and such, but that is really not one of my best things. Actually, that's not quite accurate: I can be extremely patient in many circumstances. Where I get impatient, however, is when someone will neither lead nor follow nor get out of the way--when, in fact, someone gets IN the way, and then bitches about it. That makes me kinda nuts. The other person isn't holding up his/her end of the workload, IMHO, though s/he thinks s/he is; my feeling is that you shouldn't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.
When push comes to shove, though, the Top Chef rule is what matters: cook your own food and don't worry about someone else's dish. The problem here is that I'm trying to do that, but we need those to people to do specific things and they're not doing them, which makes my job harder. Which is where my impatience and peevishness come galloping into the fray.
Ah well; lessons in buddhism, I suppose.
Meanwhile, though, it's time to make some more tea and settle in to watch something; I don't know what yet, but it pretty much doesn't matter. Or maybe that walk around the block first?
If you can see out my front windows--which is difficult to do, because of the snow clinging to the storm windows and screens--you can see that the cars are nearly buried and that the street has no tire tracks. There are some footprints, but not even a lot of those. Apparently some of the public transportation is running, but everything is really buried. The most recent "special weather statement" notes that lake-effect snow is moving through the area: "INTENSE SNOWFALL WITHIN THIS BAND AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH WILL DROP VISIBILITIES TO ONLY A COUPLE HUNDRED FEET. SNOW FALL RATES OF UP TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE AS THIS BAND MOVES SLOWLY EASTWARD." Being half a block from the lake has its down side, too. And Lake Shore Drive is closed. So, yes, staying indoors with the cat on my lap sounds like a fine plan, though I admit that part of me wants to at least go outside and trudge around the block, just for the experience. And I sort of wish I'd put together a preferment of some kind last night just to bake something today.
More likely, though, I'll fire up the DVD player or my Netflix instant watching thing and just make the cat happy.
Which would be fine. The ways in which work is stressful keep changing, which makes it interesting, in some ways, but also provides the sensation experienced by randomly shocked rats (or so I suppose). The good news is that the new boss is proving to be excellent. Very different set of strengths than the old boss, and, in some ways, ones that are more suited to my own style and inclinations. I don't want to sound disloyal--I really like my old boss quite a bit, and I'm very excited that s/he just got a new job. But--you saw that coming, didn't you--the new boss is better suited to the particular politics in play at the moment. OldBoss would not have gotten along at all with the new Big Boss, and, more to the point, would have had a hard time doing what the organization as a whole wants done right now. So, really, we're probably all in somewhat better places.
I must add that BigBoss makes me nervous, though. S/He has a style of operating that I don't like any more than I liked the style of the last person in that position, even though the two of them are very different in oh so many ways. On the other hand, as with the previous regime, my current boss does a fine job of protecting me and valuing my contributions and using my skills, so I will find a way to live with it. I also think that Newboss is doing, and is going to do, a better job of utilizing me, so that's actually kind of cool. We'll see.
And we'll see whether my mouth gets me in trouble. I'm getting increasingly impatient with a coworker (two, actually; one is at the central office), so I'm trying to regard it as an exercise in patience and such, but that is really not one of my best things. Actually, that's not quite accurate: I can be extremely patient in many circumstances. Where I get impatient, however, is when someone will neither lead nor follow nor get out of the way--when, in fact, someone gets IN the way, and then bitches about it. That makes me kinda nuts. The other person isn't holding up his/her end of the workload, IMHO, though s/he thinks s/he is; my feeling is that you shouldn't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining.
When push comes to shove, though, the Top Chef rule is what matters: cook your own food and don't worry about someone else's dish. The problem here is that I'm trying to do that, but we need those to people to do specific things and they're not doing them, which makes my job harder. Which is where my impatience and peevishness come galloping into the fray.
Ah well; lessons in buddhism, I suppose.
Meanwhile, though, it's time to make some more tea and settle in to watch something; I don't know what yet, but it pretty much doesn't matter. Or maybe that walk around the block first?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Snowpocalypse Now
I feel like I'm in the middle of that scene in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (yes, the one with Burl Ives and Clarice the girl reindeer) where the snowman says, "And then it hit." And you see things blowing all over the place. That's what it looks like here. My back window is completely snow-covered, despite the fact that it's on a covered porch (covered by the upstairs neighbor's porch, that is). The wind occasionally reaches 50 mph, apparently, which means some blocks are really difficult to traverse. I'm not particularly a weather weenie--not least because Friend gave me an old pair of his snow pants, which, given the disparity in our sizes, means they fit very comfortably over multiple layers of my clothing--and I even admit to being a little fascinated by things like this weather, but this is pretty brutal.
This weekend's cooking and baking adventures: wheat rolls; yet another attempt at an apple upside down cake (and this one's a winner); a variation on a whole-grain cinnamon roll (back to that one in a minute); and a venison stew, made with carrots, onions, garlic, celery, red wine, balsamic vinegar, some slow-roasted tomatos I had hanging around in the freezer, a can of tomatos, and, let's see, some fresh sage, a few cloves, a splash of regular vinegar, a splash of molasses, some maple syrup (I was experimenting with some sweetening), and I browned the meat in pancetta. It simmered for about five hours, and is extremely tasty and I think I've overcome the inherent dryness/toughness of venison. The cinnamon bread was from a KAF recipe for "cinnamon spiral bread"--a coil of bread put into a round pan. I decided to cut it into individual rolls, and fill it with apples, raisins, and cinnamon. But I think there's a problem with them; I"m not sure whether it's me or the formula, but it seemed to have way too much oats, and it really didn't raise much. They weren't inedible, but they weren't very good, either. Last night I made a cake with still more of the meyer lemons, and it came out pretty well; I'd make it again, though I'd decrease the temperature and increase the (already long) baking time.
Meanwhile, though, we're getting a bunch of snow--so much that the building where we work decided to close down tomorrow, meaning my company is closed, too. In some ways, that's a total pain for me: I have a dentist appointment early Thursday morning, and I had been planning on taking a vacation day on Friday, but, at the very end of the day, one of our funding agencies returned a budget and need some changes by Friday. If I get get it done Thursday afternoon, all will be well, but otherwise I'll have to change the vacation day. There were other things I wanted to get done this week that also won't happen, but this particular item is really necessary for reasons about which you do not care. (Trust me on this.)
But still--snow day!! I realized that most weekends or planned days off I start to fill with activities of one kind or another: chores, or baking, or cooking, or something. Because this came unexpectedly, I have absolutely nothing planned. I'll work out, maybe watch some movies or TV, maybe sit on the sun porch and drink tea and read with a cat on my lap, and that's it. I'm supposed to meet Brazen Tart for dinner, but who knows whether the restaurant will even be open. I presume we'll make the call tomorrow.
I've been putting the food channel on lately, when I have a desire for background stuff, so I have stumbled across "Worst Cooks in America." I find it absolutely fascinating, in a train wreck kind of way. "Chopped" kinda makes me nuts in a different way--mostly because I've yet to see an episode that I liked. "Iron Chef" is okay--I like that the focus is much more on the food. But no matter the show, if it's a competition, there are a few sentences you're sure to hear: "I just have to execute perfectly." "It's anybody's game." "I could go home for this." "I was really worried about the time." "You really got a wonderful smokiness (or some other adjective) out of that (food item)." Personal stories about how much this means. Dramatic pauses and dramatic music as time fillers, rather than a focus on the damn food.
The reality is--so to speak--I don't care about that shit. Of course you have to execute perfectly. Of course anyone could go home at any time; that's the fucking point. Questions about someone's "soul" are completely irrelevant; make good food for me and I don't care about your inner life. Show me the fucking cooking! (Which is what I like about Iron Chef and the later rounds of Top Chef.)
Anyway. I"m fading fast, so you'll have to add your own pet peeves.
This weekend's cooking and baking adventures: wheat rolls; yet another attempt at an apple upside down cake (and this one's a winner); a variation on a whole-grain cinnamon roll (back to that one in a minute); and a venison stew, made with carrots, onions, garlic, celery, red wine, balsamic vinegar, some slow-roasted tomatos I had hanging around in the freezer, a can of tomatos, and, let's see, some fresh sage, a few cloves, a splash of regular vinegar, a splash of molasses, some maple syrup (I was experimenting with some sweetening), and I browned the meat in pancetta. It simmered for about five hours, and is extremely tasty and I think I've overcome the inherent dryness/toughness of venison. The cinnamon bread was from a KAF recipe for "cinnamon spiral bread"--a coil of bread put into a round pan. I decided to cut it into individual rolls, and fill it with apples, raisins, and cinnamon. But I think there's a problem with them; I"m not sure whether it's me or the formula, but it seemed to have way too much oats, and it really didn't raise much. They weren't inedible, but they weren't very good, either. Last night I made a cake with still more of the meyer lemons, and it came out pretty well; I'd make it again, though I'd decrease the temperature and increase the (already long) baking time.
Meanwhile, though, we're getting a bunch of snow--so much that the building where we work decided to close down tomorrow, meaning my company is closed, too. In some ways, that's a total pain for me: I have a dentist appointment early Thursday morning, and I had been planning on taking a vacation day on Friday, but, at the very end of the day, one of our funding agencies returned a budget and need some changes by Friday. If I get get it done Thursday afternoon, all will be well, but otherwise I'll have to change the vacation day. There were other things I wanted to get done this week that also won't happen, but this particular item is really necessary for reasons about which you do not care. (Trust me on this.)
But still--snow day!! I realized that most weekends or planned days off I start to fill with activities of one kind or another: chores, or baking, or cooking, or something. Because this came unexpectedly, I have absolutely nothing planned. I'll work out, maybe watch some movies or TV, maybe sit on the sun porch and drink tea and read with a cat on my lap, and that's it. I'm supposed to meet Brazen Tart for dinner, but who knows whether the restaurant will even be open. I presume we'll make the call tomorrow.
I've been putting the food channel on lately, when I have a desire for background stuff, so I have stumbled across "Worst Cooks in America." I find it absolutely fascinating, in a train wreck kind of way. "Chopped" kinda makes me nuts in a different way--mostly because I've yet to see an episode that I liked. "Iron Chef" is okay--I like that the focus is much more on the food. But no matter the show, if it's a competition, there are a few sentences you're sure to hear: "I just have to execute perfectly." "It's anybody's game." "I could go home for this." "I was really worried about the time." "You really got a wonderful smokiness (or some other adjective) out of that (food item)." Personal stories about how much this means. Dramatic pauses and dramatic music as time fillers, rather than a focus on the damn food.
The reality is--so to speak--I don't care about that shit. Of course you have to execute perfectly. Of course anyone could go home at any time; that's the fucking point. Questions about someone's "soul" are completely irrelevant; make good food for me and I don't care about your inner life. Show me the fucking cooking! (Which is what I like about Iron Chef and the later rounds of Top Chef.)
Anyway. I"m fading fast, so you'll have to add your own pet peeves.
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