Winter weather

I just looked out the window to discover that it is snowing, which is rather unusual down here in town, especially during the day. It looks like it is melting as soon as it hits the ground. It's quite overcast today. It actually looks like winter for a change.

He's back!

Remember the really intense guy from last year? We haven't had a meeting with him in ages, but he was there today and just as intense as ever. The delay from the alarm meant that he was able to beat us to the meeting and catch us before we were settled. *cringe* I'm glad it is over. The phrase "eye of Sauron" kept passing through my mind.

All clear!

Finally! We're going to be so late!

Do not leave the building

The PA system in the hallway is telling us to "shelter in place" and "this is not a drill." Unlike other sorts of alarms, like fire alarms or someone smelled something strange in the building alarms, this alarm just means we all should stay in the building and keep doing what we were doing. It's a pretty lame alarm. Of course, this would happen on one of the rare days when I have a meeting scheduled in another building. The meeting is at 3:00, so I hope they send the all-clear in the next 20 minutes or so. If not, I guess my coworker and I will get to call and delay the meeting a bit, or sneak out of the building. ("Oh, we were supposed to stay in there? Well, since we're already out, can we just keep going?" Eh, maybe not.)

A day of reading

I've been looking at a lot of weaving books lately, but wanted some fiction today so I read Soul Music, one of Terry Pratchett's Diskworld novels. As usual, it is very funny, but also makes you think. I am quite fond of the Death character, who features heavily in this book. (I think if I were to actually meet a personification of Death, I'd prefer the Sandman version, but this one provides me with much more entertainment.) If you haven't read any of the Diskworld books yet, you really should give them a try. I didn't read any of them until a year or so ago, and have quite enjoyed each one I've read. Each book is accessible on it's own, but there are many recurring characters to welcome you back each time you venture into the Diskworld.

Behold! The power of cheese!

Howard Tayler (of Schlock Mercenary fame (Go read it!)) noticed that I wrote an entry about his chupaqueso site and left a comment! Of course, it's not terribly difficult to figure out how he found me. I'm under no illusions that he is a regular reader of my blog. I think the only regular readers of this blog are related to me or went to school with me.

Of course, the problem now is that I am developing a desire for cheese but am still at work and unable to satisfy my craving. Last night, we broke into the wheel of cheddar that my parents gave us and used some in the soup, along with the remaining blue cheese left from the previous batch. This batch had a different character, partially from the difference in the cheese, and partially because we added some sauted mushrooms and didn't use any bacon. It was quite tasty, and makes me interested in developing more cheesy soups.

Soup's on again!

We didn't actually make soup last night after all, but there was still one serving left, which my husband graciously let me eat. (He fixed himself some oatmeal.) However, we still have extra vegetables in the fridge that we need to use, so we are making another pot tonight. I mean it this time!

Chupaqueso.com

Frying cheese for fun and profit

Someday, when no one is around to judge me, I'm going to have to try a chupaqueso. Just look at it in all of it's cheesy goodness. It's like taking one of my tortilla wraps and replacing the tortilla with a shell made of cheese. Dude!

Okay, I really need to eat now.

Hungry rambling

The soup was so successful that we are thinking of making another batch tonight. Besides, what else would we do with the leftover leek we bought? We did change the recipe slightly. Instead of filtering out some of the solids, we left all the vegetables in the pot and just gave it a few pulses with the immersion blender to make it a little more creamy. Yum! We don't have enough blue cheese left to make the second batch the same as the first, so we may try some sort of blue cheese and cheddar variant. Also, we have some spinach we need to use, so some of that might find its way into the soup pot as well. Eh, we might just make a soup that bears only a passing resemblance to the previous batch. It still should be tasty with a salad. (Hooray for bulk purchases of salad greens at Costco.)

I've been plugging away at work, trying to keep my focus on the task at hand, even if I don't find it particularly riveting. I'm going to have to do a major redesign of some classes in the near future, but I haven't decided if that is likely to be interesting, painful, or both. Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to dig out a house foundation with a teaspoon. *sigh*

I'm getting hungry. We better start that soup soon if that is what we're eating tonight. According to my husband, I get cranky when I'm hungry. He's probably right, but I'm generally too cranky to notice. Besides, it's hard to act cranky if there is no one else around, like when I'm sitting in my office writing a blog entry. When I was single and living alone, I sometimes would forget about eating supper and end up going to bed somewhat hungry, perhaps with a small snack, but now that I'm married and have someone else to interact with in the evenings my food-related moods are a bit more obvious. I'm probably a bit healthier now, having someone to point out that I should put down the knitting/book/loom or step away from computer/television/spinning wheel and have an actual meal, but I have to be careful that more consistent eating habits don't interact badly with the sedentary lifestyle of a computer geek. Once the days get a little longer, we'll actually be able to do something outside after work, so that should help.

Soup's on!

We've just started a batch of Blue Cheese Soup with Bacon, trying out a new recipe. It should be done shortly before tonight's Masterpiece Theater starts. We often cook something nice and eat off of TV trays while watching PBS on Sunday evenings. It's a nice routine.

We've had a pretty low-key weekend. Yesterday, we had some burritos at Dos Hermanos for lunch, did some grocery shopping, and went to the library. I came out with a big stack of books on simple weaving to get ideas for projects on my recently acquired rigid heddle loom. We spent most of today sitting next to each other on the couch while reading novels. We're such a wild couple. :)

Silly Blonde Joke

I seem to recall seeing this awhile back, but I doubt everyone has read this blond joke yet. It's worth a chuckle.

Australian Public Toilet Map

My husband sent me a link to Australia's National Public Toilet Map:

"The National Public Toilet Map (the Map) shows the location of more than 14,000 public and private public toilet facilities across Australia. Details of toilet facilities can also be found along major travel routes and for shorter journeys as well. Useful information is provided about each toilet, such as location, opening hours, availability of baby change rooms, accessibility for people with disabilities and the details of other nearby toilets."

I would suggest that we need one for the United States, but the ubiquity of fast food chains probably makes it unnecessary for all but the most remote areas. Of course, some in my family have been joking about the need for a restroom rating website... Hmm...

One quick Google search finds this restroom rating website, demonstrating once again that if you can think of a website, it likely already exists. It appears to be more for amusement value than actual reference, since it isn't exactly searchable.

Back at work

This afternoon, my manager came by to ask if I would mind not giving a "performance review" presentation later this month, since the powers that be have scheduled far too many talks in the time allotted. I had to think about it a little bit to decide if my initial reaction to agree was mainly because I would rather not get up in front of a crowded room and try to sell myself. Admittedly, that was a large part of it, but since I don't actually have much in the way of flashy, "promote me now!" sort of results this year, my manager and I agreed that there wouldn't be much use in me doing a talk this time. There are a limited number of slots in our center, so the impression is that only people who are seriously hoping to get converted this year should bother.

The nice part of this (besides getting out of prepping for a talk just after getting back from the holiday break) is that my manager wants to help me prepare throughout the coming year so I actually will have some nice "promote me now!" material when this time rolls around again. My last manager just left us all to our own devices, and assumed we would just claw our way to the top on our own if it really mattered to us.

We have a department meeting tomorrow morning. I'd better go to bed early tonight.

Yarn winding! Whee!

Before we left for our holiday travels, my husband told me he had ordered me a ball winder for Christmas, but it hadn't arrived at the time. We got back into town last night, so he picked it up at the shop this afternoon. I've been playing with it all evening, unraveling some old exploratory pieces I've been planning to reuse and turning them into neat, stackable cylinders of yarn. This is such a great gift! My man knows what I like. *grin*

Happy New Year!

I've been staying at my sister's place, my niece is delightful, and I need to get ready for church so I can't write much this morning. Anyway, Happy New Year!