[ via beer planet ]
Doug & I hit the bookstore after lunch today, and we gave the stores "3 for the price of 2" table a run for their money (not to mention my club card.) Since I'm taking the bus more and more, it gives me opportunity to read again! I'm enjoying being able to dig back into things -- but may have to dust off my library card and start borrowing books.
(Though, I did have the idea of starting a lending library at my workplace... shouldn't be too tough, right?)
My choices were:
(Though, I did have the idea of starting a lending library at my workplace... shouldn't be too tough, right?)
My choices were:
- Waiter Rant, by The Waiter - a book from the author of a blog by the same name. Though flying incognito previously, he's since been outed/outed himself as Steve Dublanica. I need my fix, since he's been only lightly blogging while doing press since his book was released.
- I am not myself these days. A memoir by Josh Kilmer-Purcell - I'm very excited about this one, as I've heard Josh on the Fest of Fools podcast and read some of his magazine pieces.
- The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester - so years ago I worked at Barnes & Noble and was responsible for the New York Times Bestsellers section. I was proud, but it involved a lot of applying and peeling those discount stickers you see on the covers... this book was on the list back then, but now I think I'm ready to actually read it. :)
- Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain - from Waiter Rant at the front of the house, to what happens in back. I've heard good things, and am very interested in checking this one out.
When I walk to the coffee shop near work, I hit the crosswalk button five times. The rhythm and sound of it just kind of sound right.
When I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I assemble it with peanut butter on the right slice, and seedless strawberry jam on the left (after a quick knife wipe on the clean slice.) It is part of a lunchtime routine, just the way that I make a sandwich.
When I kick off my shoes, I tend to kick the right off before kicking the left off. I don't even think about it, it just happens that way.
I occasionally notice these patterns in my life. When they are spotted I wonder, "Do I do things this way just because that's how I do them, or because I'm actually unable to do them another way? Does Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder stealthily creep up on you, or does it hit you like an anvil from the sky?"
My fears are alleviated when over the next few days I reverse my sandwich making order -- not even cleaning the knife between dips, I kick off that left shoe -- even though it requires thought, and I push that damn crosswalk button once -- and stop.
When I make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I assemble it with peanut butter on the right slice, and seedless strawberry jam on the left (after a quick knife wipe on the clean slice.) It is part of a lunchtime routine, just the way that I make a sandwich.
When I kick off my shoes, I tend to kick the right off before kicking the left off. I don't even think about it, it just happens that way.
I occasionally notice these patterns in my life. When they are spotted I wonder, "Do I do things this way just because that's how I do them, or because I'm actually unable to do them another way? Does Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder stealthily creep up on you, or does it hit you like an anvil from the sky?"
My fears are alleviated when over the next few days I reverse my sandwich making order -- not even cleaning the knife between dips, I kick off that left shoe -- even though it requires thought, and I push that damn crosswalk button once -- and stop.
Indulging my love of miniature food, I created these delicious Mini Chicken Pot Pies this week. I made the filling by draining almost all the liquid from two cans of chicken noodle soup, mixing in some cornstarch to slightly thicken it, adding a big clove of chopped garlic, some chopped cilantro, and replacing the soup's soggy carrots and celery with some briefly-sauteed fresh carrots and celery.
These all went into custard cups and ramekins that I lined with refrigerated pie dough. Another section of dough to cover the top, with a few venting cuts, and into the oven for a half hour at 425F.
They came out extremely hot -- even after resting for 10 minutes. But damn, were they delicious!
Check out more photos of my Mini Chicken Pot Pies.
mindless lulling drift
shed your chains of apathy
just take your first step
I've felt a little creatively adrift lately. It happens every few months. The only way to get back in the program, of course, is to get back in the program. Write something -- even if it's a snoozer, cook something -- even if it doesn't work out, share something -- even if it might not be interesting.
shed your chains of apathy
just take your first step
I've felt a little creatively adrift lately. It happens every few months. The only way to get back in the program, of course, is to get back in the program. Write something -- even if it's a snoozer, cook something -- even if it doesn't work out, share something -- even if it might not be interesting.
Howdy, blog buddies!
Life takes strange turns, and sometimes you just have to hold on and put yourself in the hands of the universe. I've decided to stay at my current job, after the universe flexed its muscle and told me to stay put. It's been a rough month on many fronts, but I'm confident that this is a good decision for me & Doug.
My introspective period usually comes around in the winter, looks like it came a bit early this year! A little inward exploration is never a bad thing.
I'm back at work now -- and it feels good part of the community again, letting the thin barriers I've been stringing up fall away. Investing in projects and outcomes again instead of letting the quiet distance creep in.
To escape the madness we headed out on a short vacation with my parents over a long 4th of July weekend -- a cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada, Mexico. We had a lot of fun -- took an ocean kayaking excursion, drank a bunch, took over a piano bar, had some hit-or-miss dining experiences, and read an entire book.
Taking a week off of Hunk du Jour was a good idea -- I just need to be tougher about sticking to the vacation. It's easy to drift into thinking about the Facebook application rewrite, lining up interviews, editing down and publishing the unfortunate interview that has been sitting in my folder for a half year (J, if you're reading -- it's the source of much guilt.) I'm lucky to have a few fantastic friends and cohorts that have been helping out with posts in the meantime.
Take control -- jump in -- thrash around -- figure stuff out. (It won't figure itself out for you.) Much love -- I'm in a good place, regardless of how this reads.
Life takes strange turns, and sometimes you just have to hold on and put yourself in the hands of the universe. I've decided to stay at my current job, after the universe flexed its muscle and told me to stay put. It's been a rough month on many fronts, but I'm confident that this is a good decision for me & Doug.
My introspective period usually comes around in the winter, looks like it came a bit early this year! A little inward exploration is never a bad thing.
I'm back at work now -- and it feels good part of the community again, letting the thin barriers I've been stringing up fall away. Investing in projects and outcomes again instead of letting the quiet distance creep in.
To escape the madness we headed out on a short vacation with my parents over a long 4th of July weekend -- a cruise from Long Beach to Ensenada, Mexico. We had a lot of fun -- took an ocean kayaking excursion, drank a bunch, took over a piano bar, had some hit-or-miss dining experiences, and read an entire book.
Taking a week off of Hunk du Jour was a good idea -- I just need to be tougher about sticking to the vacation. It's easy to drift into thinking about the Facebook application rewrite, lining up interviews, editing down and publishing the unfortunate interview that has been sitting in my folder for a half year (J, if you're reading -- it's the source of much guilt.) I'm lucky to have a few fantastic friends and cohorts that have been helping out with posts in the meantime.
Take control -- jump in -- thrash around -- figure stuff out. (It won't figure itself out for you.) Much love -- I'm in a good place, regardless of how this reads.
This is the motley crew we were hanging out with yesterday at the 2008 Seattle Pride Parade. Brandishing signs telling parade-goers just how hot they were (Governor Christine Gregoire had quite the laugh over our cat-calling), we seemed to make friends with many of the groups that passed us by.
One thing that I enjoy seeing every year is how diverse our own community is, and how you'll see the Dykes on Bikes, the Goth community, the rugby jocks, followed by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, then the United Church of Christ, and a bar float full of dancing binkies. And (at least on our stretch of street) they all seemed to get the same warm and accepting welcome from the crowd.
There's much debate about what the pride parade should and shouldn't be -- yesterday's parade lived up to the one yardstick that I came prepared to judge it by, it was worth watching.
Afterwards we were exhausted from the heat and the cheering, so instead of joining the crowds flowing towards the Seattle Center (and the refreshing International Fountain) we hopped a bus home and relaxed with a cocktail and our neighbors.
I posted my 2008 Seattle Pride Parade Photos this morning, and might be a smidge hung over from the festivities yesterday... and in comparison to many, we took it pretty easy!
If you haven't seen this video, I highly recommend watching it. It's the TED lecture from Jill Bolte Taylor, who also was interviewed on Fresh Air last night by Terry Gross. It's a really powerful story from a fascinating woman. (Hang in there - it really picks up about halfway through.)
- This morning the nice lady at the mini mart asked me if I've lost weight. I'm taking it as a sign that this week is going to be awesome.
- Saw Get Smart over the weekend with a small gang of friends and really enjoyed it. According to star Steve Carrell, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson smells like strawberry shortcake, and has incredibly soft lips.
- I love miniature food... I can't help myself from ordering it. This weekend the mini food craze continued with breakfast sliders at Linda's Tavern on Saturday morning and turkey burger sliders at Ruby's Diner on Sunday. (Mental note: skip the garlic fries at Ruby's next time.)
- We watched Rory O'Shea Was Here on DVD from Netflix, and quietly cursed their stupid decision to eliminate the "profiles" feature (which is what probably let this awesome movie percolate up to the top of Doug's queue.)
- After a four-year break, got second place in a poker game with old LJ friends Lena, David, and Matt -- we were celebrating Daniel's short return to Seattle before running back to lawyer life in New York.
- After the poker game, Daniel and I went to go get fancy keys made at the Shoreline Fred Meyer. Ten minutes of terror ensued as half of the store's employees attempted to unwedge Daniel's one-and-only copy of his apartment key from the clutches of the evil key-cutter. Charming employee Sam kept us distracted, though.
- Apparently you can get a "line" of 6 super-mini-Cinnabons on the east coast. (And we've already covered my unhealthy obsession with miniature food.) Daniel and I were saddened to see that the scrumptious bites were not available at Northgate, so we made due splitting a normal 'bon.
Opportunities present themselves, and you have to make a leap of faith every so often.
This has been a roller coaster of a week, and I'm doing my best to keep my stress in check and emotions level. I'm having to start saying goodbye to some amazing friends and coworkers, as I am leaving my current job as a software engineer in Bellevue, WA. The seperation is bittersweet, but I'm leaving for an incredible opportunity that I'm very excited about.
...and I'm not really going to talk about that yet. But rest assured, it's pretty sweet.
What I will say is that I'll be working from home, and be immersed and involved in two things I get an incredible amount of joy from -- technology and blogging.
My last day at work will be on July 3rd -- and since I've only cried twice I'm really going to try not to break down anymore on the job (damn you Ben!). On the 4th we'll be leaving the fish under the care of a house-sitter and taking a quick cruise to help celebrate the occasion and have a little fun before I dive into work again.
There are bound to be some fun photos of that when we return, and on the subject of photos -- my old-school Village Theater photo set on Facebook is turning out to be a big hit! Be sure to check it out if you want to see what I looked like a decade ago (when my two jobs consisted running around as a cafe server all day, then running around all night backstage as a crewmember.)
This has been a roller coaster of a week, and I'm doing my best to keep my stress in check and emotions level. I'm having to start saying goodbye to some amazing friends and coworkers, as I am leaving my current job as a software engineer in Bellevue, WA. The seperation is bittersweet, but I'm leaving for an incredible opportunity that I'm very excited about.
...and I'm not really going to talk about that yet. But rest assured, it's pretty sweet.
What I will say is that I'll be working from home, and be immersed and involved in two things I get an incredible amount of joy from -- technology and blogging.
My last day at work will be on July 3rd -- and since I've only cried twice I'm really going to try not to break down anymore on the job (damn you Ben!). On the 4th we'll be leaving the fish under the care of a house-sitter and taking a quick cruise to help celebrate the occasion and have a little fun before I dive into work again.
There are bound to be some fun photos of that when we return, and on the subject of photos -- my old-school Village Theater photo set on Facebook is turning out to be a big hit! Be sure to check it out if you want to see what I looked like a decade ago (when my two jobs consisted running around as a cafe server all day, then running around all night backstage as a crewmember.)
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