Hum A Few Bars

I've been spending a lot of time working on the house, and we're really making progress on a couple of projects around here. It's been great, and hopefully we'll get out of the transitional phase real quick and into the completed project state.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned how my bank didn't exist out here, and it was going to cause some trouble if I started prolifically using my debit card. Luckily, I haven't, but I went ahead and started a new account at Chase Bank, and will be closing the old one shortly. Once I put in my paychecks, I'll be back up to what I left New Jersey with, after the costs of replacing my window and paying for my gym membership.

I had an appointment at UPS today. I took a tour of the facilities and generally got given the new-guy rundown, as part of a group tour. I have an appointment in two weeks at 5 am to interview. Why 5 am? I know from their ads that they're specifically looking for Preload and Twilight shifts. They've also spoken of a Driver Helper position, which pays about 150% of the Loader/Unloader position. This is an on-call position, however, and is from between 8 AM and 6 PM-- so day and Twilight Shifts are a no go if you also want to be eligible for this position. I'm going to take the Preload shift, which is 3 AM to 9 AM. Furthermore, if you get rehired in January, your selected shift becomes a year-long lock-in, and with school becoming a possibility in the spring, I need to adjust to employment that won't interfere with classes.

UPS also provides tuition reimbursement to the tune of 3,000 dollars a semester ;)

The other night I got completely absorbed in a video game after dinner. I don't really mind (I should have been working on the house), but I really enjoyed getting immersed in something. I spent an hour on a single level. I was playing Star Wars: Force Unleashed, which is a really sharp game where you play as Darth Vader's apprentice, unravelling the untold story that takes place between Episodes 3 and 4. Basically, the apprentice is raised by Vader to think his ultimate goal is to assist in deposing the Emperor. Vader fakes his death so that the Emperor won't see what's coming, and tells him to motivate the Emperor's enemies to distract him and his spies. Unwittingly, this leads to the Apprentice creating the Rebel Alliance. In truth, the Emperor was behind it from the beginning, and training and motivation of the Apprentice was a long con to get all the various rebels out in the open.

Anyway, this one level. Inside a half-built Death Star, in a cargo bay, you fight several waves of storm troopers... but its not that simple. Scout Troopers, which are snipers, sit in very difficult to get to spots at the top of the room. Basically, if you don't break line of sight or change direction every couple of seconds, you get shot in the head with some sort of super laser that knocks you back a few yards and takes out a big chunk of your health. This is the beginning of the end, the knock backs. The knock backs can create a ruthless chain that results in your inability to do anything to prevent your impending death. "Jumptroopers", which are Stormtroopers equipped with fucking jetpacks, have rocket launchers which also knock me back. Finally, there are Purge troopers, which are twelve feet tall, black clad troopers that have got to be some sort of brainwashed Wookies or something. They've got shields, and dont take much damage unless you stunned them first by either hitting them with lightning or throwing a car at their head (both of which are more common than you'd probably believe.) These guys will grab you by the shoulders and throw you at something, or shoot a blue arcing rocket at you, which, go figure, knocks you back. Your started with the super easy tasks of fending off the snipers, jump troopers, storm troopers, storm troopers with laser turrets, two purge troopers, and an AT-ET walker. Defeat the AT-ET, and you're greated with an AT-AT. Defeat the AT-AT and you're greeted by SIX purge troopers and a dozen heavily armed storm troopers. That room alone was harder than defeating Darth Vader and the Emperor...

Another Day, Another Bother

It's been a whole week. And what a week it's been...

Thursday and Friday of last week were productive, with around ten applications and resumes going out over the two days. Friday I went out with one of the girl's from work and her crew of photobuddies. It strikes me as odd that even in a new town I'm falling in with a crowd of Grad students. Utterly baffling how I can never quite find the appropriate age group. Not that I'm concerned. On the first Friday of each month most of the local galleries open up new exhibits and we went gallery-hopping, which is probably the A.F.A version of a bar crawl. We went to a "bootleg exhibition", which is like a normal gallery show but usually in abandoned real estate, rented for a night, and common professional presentation concepts, like podiums, risers, frames, mats, are all thrown to the wind. More than a few sculptural pieces rested on cardboard boxes. The display itself is a work of art, in a counter-culture sort of way.

Saturday I had work at the Bungalow, and being the first there, I opened up. Though, I transposed a digit in the security code and got a nice visit from the police officer. All ended well within a few minutes though, an we opened up to a day of business that was slow but eventually built itself up into something good. I forgot to pack a lunch (trying to save as much of what little money is coming in) so I went across the street to a strikingly popular hole in the wall. Turns out this place serves u some of the best burgers I've ever had, and while the price tags are big compared to most burger joints, the portions are big enough to make up for it. The girl I shared the shift with, Haley, needed to get out of hers for Sunday and I eagerly took the shift. Despite the rocky start to the day, I was pretty excited since I had made plans to take two extra shifts (one for the next day, another for this coming Tuesday) and had a pretty good day. I finished reading Invisible Man and soon thereafter moved onto The Great Gatsby.

Sam and Steph had left for Danville, Illinois, where both sets of parents live, and spent the night there. It was that night at around one in the morning when I woke up to the sound of a car alarm; my car alarm. I turned on lights and went outside with the dogs, but found no one, and since the driver's side of my door was opposite of me, I couldn't tell that anything had been done. I turned the alarm off with my keys, which I found underneath a heavy cookbook. I presumed the book had set off the alarm.

When I woke the next morning, I showered, shaved, packed up my laptop and some books to go open the store and enjoy a quiet day keeping the shop. What I found when I went out to the car was that the alarm had been set off legitimately by someone punching a large hole in the window. They neglected to take anything, as breaking the glass set off the alarm, and they ran. I had to call someone else to cover the shift (so, new expense + not making the money for that shift) and spent the next few hours with the police/insurance company. Once they left, I spent a few hours cleaning up the car and the driveway. Then I went inside and wasn't able to find the clear plastic that I was told was there, and would be appropriate for use patching up the window. This was failure number two. Then, I decided to clean up the house, to be productive to renew my spirits. Failure numero tres (that's three, in Spanish) was when the circuit broke when I turned on the vacuum plunging 80% of the house into sort-of darkness (it was sundown), and then when the roommates didn't pick up when I reached out via cellular phone to find out which circuit needed to be flipped. When I did find out, it had become total darkness and so I descended into the basement with a candle in fairly typical horror movie cliche. This was not before I tried to clean up the yard, which went nowhere because there's a fair amount of aimless debris that I can't get rid of, but isn't being used. for anything. And I also tried to make dinner, but the stove wouldn't light, because apparently that's ALSO on the overburdened circuit...

Oh well. This is a problem we're working on fixing (the overburdened circuit).

I finally got a callback from the insurance company on Tuesday. First I was told I had no deductible. Elation ensued. At the end of the phone call, she corrected herself: I have a hundred dollar deductible. I called one of the partner agency's on the list the next day, first thing, and had new glass in my car by five pm the next day. I went to the Herron Grad Student's Senior Thesis show and was pretty impressed by the work from most of the students. Some of it was a bit of reach, but overall they put on a great show.

Another Day, Another Dollar

Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.
-William Dement

This weekend was a pleasant double work weekend. I had the pleasure of waking up, going in and spending the majority of both days at work, and read something like 500 pages in the process. Also, managed to sell a few pieces of furniture that the boss has been trying to get rid of for a while. Unfortunately, I ended up buying lunch and dinner on Saturday... spent more money than I wanted to in the process of working a shift that pays less than I'd like. Too big a percentage went down the drain but I've made sure that the menu for this week includes portions large enough for lunches/leftovers.

Sunday, Steph made a Thai Green Curry and a whole mess of rice. It smelled great, and had a good taste, but is missing something. Monday night I adopted a new recipe for Pollock with Eggplant for Chicken. The chicken took longer to cook, but the eggplant came out great and tender. Unfortunately, the unexpected longer cooking time of the chicken screwed up my time table and the pasta was cold by the time the chicken and eggplant were well done, and you shouldn't have to get a microwave involved the first time you serve a meal.

Tuesday I drove an hour into a nearby city called Seymour. There's a church in Seymour that's looking for a cook to feed their kids during their daycare program. I came in, was given a brief tour, filled out my application, and should hear back in a few weeks. On my way into the city, I also saw that the local applebees was hiring and, despite the distance, went in to apply. They told me to come back two hours later... Conundrum. Forget the opportunity, go home and immediately turn around, or do something stupid for two hours. I chose the latter, and slept in my car for an hour and then caught up with Crystal on the phone. I went in and applied, spoke with the manager, and got past her as a screener. Tomorrow night, her boss will go through the applications and I should hear something within a week. Hopefully, it's something good.

Today I went to the gym. Ran for an hour, lifted for half, came home, had a big, healthy lunch and then... the dogs got out. Full stomach, exhausted legs and I had to sprint three blocks to go capture them. Luckily, as soon as they got eye contact and heard my voice they followed me home, but it made my stomach lurch. Steph went grocery shopping, and got back around sevenish. Unfortunately, with brisket on the menu tonight (a four hour event) and fresh focaccia bread to boot, we're eating leftovers because dinner won't be one until two hours after writing this... that is to say, eleven PM.

Tomorrow: Rock Bottom Brewery, preparing Chicken Cordon Bleu and Spinach and Rice Soup, and getting Drywall!

My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
-Steve Jobs

I've been mentioning the meals I make each evening because those meals are my job. It's what makes staying out here, looking for more work, with only the Bungalow job actually bringing in a positive value to the bottom line, a possibility. It's the major circumstance that determines the condition of the bottom line, at the moment, and I take a modicum of pride in it.

Tuesday night's meal was Maple Pork Chops with Baked Red Potatoes. A blend of milk, half and half, and heavy cream used to coat pork loin chops in oatmeal. I double coated these, because alot seemed to come off, and probably could have triple or quadruple coated considering how much came off later. Lightly fry these, and then sautee with onions and garlic. After the onions are soft, mix in apples (rubbed with a little bit of brown sugar), sliced mushrooms and maple syrup. Sautee again, and then remove chops. Add a little bit of half and half, simmer and reduce to make a sauce.

It turned out great. It was filling and full of flavor. Sam said she could eat it once a week, and not be upset; not a possibility, given the higher than normal amount of sugar. But it is an impressive, hit dish.

Last night I made a crustless spinach quiche. I used Egg Substitute to lower the cholesterol, and replaced the three cups of Muenster tasked by the recipe with 2/3 Feta, 2/3 Italian Mix and 1 cup mild cheddar. This combination can probably be improved by a more precise blend of cheeses, I wanted to go mostly with Feta, to lower cholesterol and improve the health benefits overall, but the shopping list was not specific enough on the quantity, so I only had 2/3 of a cup of Feta. The recipe turned out great, and because of the contents (spinach, cheese, egg), the nutritional value is very high if you're someone who gets real exercise. Veggies, protein, dairy... I was glad I spent a good two hours at the gym yesterday, because that meal was a strong way to top it off.

Tonight I made Cranberry-Walnut Stuffing with a whole Chicken. Unfortunately, certain visitors ate my cranberries, despite express instructions, so I made Walnut Stuffing with a whole Chicken. It was not as good. But it was still good. Whatever.

So, I friend told me today that, under a good economy, an experienced individual will apply to an average of 70 jobs before finding success... this made me feel better.

A Series of Things

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.
-George Burns

I fell asleep Thursday night to the sound of whining, screaming or crying children. I woke up to the same. So, I left for the Gym first thing. Now, when I left Sam was here. When I returned, she was not. At first , I didn't consider this important and went upstairs to do something that involved wearing headphones and not listening to children. Evidently, they had been served a lunch of bologna sandwiches, barbecue potato chips and a casserole made of egg noodles and cheddar cheese. A good 30% of this was in the rug when I came home, and this also helped to keep me upstairs.

We had plans to go grocery shopping Friday afternoon, and I expected Steph home to take Sam to work at about 3. This did not happen. As a matter of fact, I was only apprised of the full details of the situation at 7:30 when Steph came home and explained that Sam had gone to the hospital for a heart flutter and was being kept their overnight. Not having the ingredients to make anything, I went down the street and bought two slices of pizza, saving the one or two frozen meals for the next night, as I expected to come home late.

I got up early Saturday to be at the Bungalow at 9:45. I ended up arriving about 30 minutes before, got a cup of coffee and read my book in the parking lot. One of the guys at the coffee shop informed me that the owner of the Colts also owns the original manuscript for On The Road (which I was reading at the time), which is called The Scroll, and is a scrapped together single roll of papers on which Kerouac wrote the book from start to finish.

The job itself seems to be the easiest I've ever had. Jenny takes a relaxed approach to floor sales that makes it very relaxed, the store has a constantly influx of new items to inspect, and very little that needs constant cleaning, unlike Cedar Hill. I also found out that it is not, as I previously thought, one thirteen-hour day per week, but both days on the weekend for a total of thirteen hours. Saturday, 10-6, Sunday 12-5. This is nice because it gives me something to do both days :) I also found out that day that Jerry thought and D&D was Saturday and had to ask Jenny to give him a call as he would have arrived at an empty house sorely dissapointed. The day went well, I enjoyed my co-workers and enjoyed a sunset drive home.

Sunday morning I slept in, showered, and immediately started cooking. I started with Bacon Cheese PullAparts, which are a classic, then proceeded to make a big platter of Banana Pancakes and Blueberry Pancakes, which are very difficult to make without a proper skillet. They all tasted good, but looked silly and were frequently a bit overdone. Followed next by a fruit platter with a strawberry fluff dip, and finished up with Caribbean Cruise Stuffed French Toast which. are. awesome.

The game itself was fun. Everyone in the group is less experienced than I, so there was a bit of a conflict between my character, who is a man of little words, and me, helping the other players master their characters. Ultimately, everyone enjoyed themselves and based off how many people have already sent back their character updates they're pretty into it.

Apparently most of the players are broken in some form of another. Chris recently had some serious surgery, Jess was feeling sick and almost didn't come, Freita struggled with a headache and there was some complex, clandestine pharmaceutical interaction that ultimately lead to half the party enjoying a pain killer of one kind or another, and the other half enjoying booze. The last fight moved slowly, but was a great deal of fun.

The alarm clock seemed to turn itself off for Monday, and I slept til 11:30. I worked to get my room more organized... it's a small space, and there is stuff, so I need to figure out how to make the two cooperate. I did some research, and started reading Neuromancer, which is next on my list. I had written a cover letter to a Veterinary Office in Seymour regarding a Clerical position, but whe I went to attach my resume and reference letters, it got stuck in an infinite loop and the browser lost the cover letter I had written in the body of the e-mail. I had to do it again later that night, but ultimately got the application in. While Sam was at work and Steph was in the basement I went to play Force Unleashed. I haven't played in two weeks, because during the day Zion was playing constantly or Sam was watching TV. I wouldn't want to interrupt Zion's gameplay, nor Sam's TV watching... even though she doesn't pay much attention to what's on the screen. If I watch TV, I watch it on Hulu now, because it's replayable and because Sam likes to watch bad tv. She likes Ghost Whisperer, A Haunting, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Ghost Hunters, and Destination Truth, most of which are... bad. B+ at best. She dislikes House, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Royal Pains and Glee (despite having worked as a caberet singer.) Oh, she also hates The Office. K... Luckily, they have a DVR. Which is fine until the DVR can't multitune to all the programs on a Monday Premiere Night and drops the two hour House Premiere and BBT.

I've decided that when we finish the basement (the floor is done, yay) I'm going to forego an alarm clock and simply have a 2-4 cup coffee machine with a timer right next to my bed. I'll use the sweet smell to awaken me rather than the inauspicious vibrations of my phone.

Fever Dreams

Money can't buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.
-Spike Milligan

Saturday and Sunday passed without anything eventful. They were relaxing and entertaining, and mostly spent waiting for Monday to come.

Monday came and I spent the morning placing follow-up calls to the establishments I applied at on Thursday. They all told me to call back at various times in the afternoon, effectively killing my plan to go to the gym. I did this, and in more than one case got told to call again for someone else. Bottomline: two need to be called again, two have filled their needs, but openly acknowledge the frequent incompetence of servers and will contact me if anything opens up. If my employment depends on someone else's incompetence than I should have a dream job any minute.

I also checked the university listings for jobs. A university job would be the best due to the following: 1) Health Insurance. Great when you have options between death and debt. 2) Free Credits and Credit Discounts. Three free credits (one class) and a third off all other credits. Tres) Its spanish for three. 4) Its on campus! Campus has people. And books. And people. And Other Things.

So, the university listings showed two things that were new and I was actually qualified for. Parking Lot Attendant and Data Entry. I applied for both (one goes through the university system, the other was a university posting that had to have an emailed resume). The Parking Lot Attendant job got an immediate referral past the screeners and to the hiring manager, and has remained there since (four days) like the other position I was referred to back on 09/01. Now they both sit on no-mans land, Interviewing has not started and I have not heard anything yet. Lame. Nor have I heard a reply from the e-mailed resume. University=Bureaucracy=Moves slower than a dead cow.

Tuesday meets with an altogether different experience. I over slept by something like three hours, and within being up for three hours, had to lay down again. Throbbing headache, lightheadedness, loss of appetite and loss of balance. I thought I was down for the count and was feeling really poorly. But! I got a pie from mom in the mail. It easily made my week, and is in the freezer. I'm saving it for Saturday when I will have the late evening to myself and can enjoy it with a big cup of coffee and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Yesterday (Wednesday): Was a recovery day. I felt better, but still with a slight headache, after waking up and stayed on housework and the like most of the day. I continued my re-organization of the cabinets and drawers, made the menu for the next week and got staple groceries (full grocery shop is tomorrow). I made Chicken Fajita Pitas which were great flavor, really filling and not too complicated. However, everything seems to cook slower here! The grill takes five minutes longer than I expect it to, water takes forever to boil, etc. I know the pace out here is supposed to be more leisurely than the east coast but that can't translate to the molecular level. If it did, people out here would live longer. Though, a scientifically slower metabolism would explain the generally doughy physique of no limited part of the population.

Today I set about working things again. I prepared dinner early in the morning and let it cook all day, I did some paer work, checked up on applications, filled out an online application for a local place that is opening up as well as set an appointment with UPS for a month from now to get a part time job working their peak season. I was really disappointed when I realized that my appointment wasnt for tomorrow, but a Friday in October. Oh well.

Tomorrow I return to the gym for the first time in a week, having been thrown off by one thing or another, and on more than one occasion, my own rationalizations and excuses. I'm paying for the membership, I need to go more than once a week. I actually should go almost every day. Rather than allowing myself to play mental tetris with the things I need to get done in a day, I'm going to focus on establishing a routine, because the tetris thing... she ain't working out so much.

We have the circular saw! The floor is going down! Then the drywall! PROGRESSSSSSSS.

Yataaaa!

No human thing is of serious importance.
-Plato

Welcome to the weekend, true believers!

Wednesday was a pretty good day. I had been reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein before I went to bed each night, but was going to bed at hours where I was reading 7-10 pages before falling asleep. I got about ninety pages into it and decided I needed to be finished, it being a relatively short book, so I spent the first few hours of my day in this way. I really enjoyed the book, though about half of each page was spent explaining how miserable characters were, so only so much narrative actually went on and at a dreadful pace. It's pretty interesting how different the movies the movies became from the source material. I made sure to wash, dry and iron my interview suit. Prepared for battle.

I made turkey baja burgers for dinner with homemade potato wedges for dinner. Ultimately, a great experiment. Served the burgers on sourdough english muffins which was a great alternative to buns. They're a little healthier and the flavor is better.

Thursday was great. Battle stance from minute one. Shower, shave, shirt and shoes, prepared to go. Left early, to great benefit, as the interview got moved up a half hour the morning of. I came prepared with resume and reference letter, which impressed. My interviewer seemed more nervous than I did, and ultimately, I landed the job! The pay isn't great, and the hours are too few. Regardless, pay is pay, and the experience in the industry will give me a chance to meet some people that might be useful in the long term. Moving on, I filled out applications and left resumes on file with four grills and bars in the area immediately surrounding the Bungalow. I'm really hoping to hear back from one of them, and will do some follow up calls this week.

Feeling pretty accomplished on Friday, having landed a new job and feeling good about my opportunities, I spent the day relaxing. (Ok, I probably haven't earned it as thoroughly as I could have, shh). I watched the second season of Chuck on Hulu, did some writing and spent a few hours in the kitchen. Spanish flank steak came out good, though the lime drizzle was not a good flavor for some. I made Chicken Tortilla Soup from scratch, and while it was too spicy for Sam, I think it came out great. The kidlet only ate the chicken out of it, but he's a midwestern child... complex flavor isn't really part of the tradition out here.

Adjacently Related Thought: Children remain the world's best birth control. Particularly, other people's children. My family's children I actually like. There's some primally vested interest in them, and they're annoying, but in a way that's endearing. Other people's children fall into one of three categories: jumping around, making noise, or asleep. Will points out, astutely, that this can be expanded to function for the majority of man kind. I shunt this observation from my memory, because I cannot wrestle with the ensuing desire to strangle just about everyone.

In the land of other people's children, the sound-cancelling headphone reigns supreme!