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Wednesday, June 06, 2007

I wish recipe's came with warnings

Tonight I made Blackened Snapper. The recipe told me to heat an iron skillet for 15 minutes or until gray. First of all, the family iron skillet is maintained by husband and he takes great pride and joy in the lovingly maintained black color which is created by regular special salt and heat cleanings. So the recipe raised some minor concerns of scorching the skillet but like most issues between myself and husband, I simply assume to do as I wish and he will fix it later.

I followed the recipe exactly, cooked curved side down of fish for 90 seconds, remove from heat and cook a remaining 3 minutes. It was upon removing from heat that I realized I was standing in a very thick gray smoke cloud. It is interesting to note my fire alarm did not go off. I guess its time to check the batteries. Again, I'm hoping husband will read this shortly and take necessary action. Then again, some things like this may require some consistent reminders, or one short alarmed cry for help when he comes home from work tonight. Then I'll proudly offer tonight's meal with a short explanation of the remaining smoke by saying, "read my blog".

Friday, June 01, 2007

4pm Friday's

4 years ago my boss invented 3pm Friday's. Come in at 8am and leave at 3pm. It runs from the first weekend after Memorial Day through Labor Day. A gift for the hard work everyone does throughout the dark season. It lasted 2 years and shifted to 8am - 4pm with 1/2 hour lunch. It didn't take many long to realize this was only a 1/2 hour early release from our typical 9-6 days with 1 hour lunch. Personally, I'm fine with the schedule because it typically provides a Friday late afternoon at the beach with People magazine. Also, I tend to work 10 hour days so this is a nice reprieve.

Today is the 1st 4pm Friday of 2007. I actually left at 4:30pm. I was in a meeting from 2-4 where everyone spoke Spanish and translated the occasional comment (I think our guest was told I speak conversational Spanish but it’s not true, I only pick up occasional words). Then at 4pm I felt the need to finish projects I had told my Hong Kong office I would do. But then Christine left, and Sandra & Jaime started packing up so I neglected to send the projects and left. Lesson - just leave at 4pm.

Its raining so I came home, ate some Lay's Bar B Que chips and channel surfed using my laptop's direct TV internet connection b/c it’s faster then using the TV guide. This took 30 minutes, nothing interesting on yet so I made dinner - Angel Hair pasta with white sauce and spicy shrimp. I settled down with my laptop, dinner and wine to read Pink is the new blog while downloading an earlier episode of The Office (The Coup). The episode has such a humiliating ending for Dwight; I really don't think I can watch it again. Now I remember why I didn't download it after the first watching.

Moving on to the porch with Laurie Notaro's new book "there's a (slight) chance i might be going to hell" with water and a clove. She's such a fantastic author. In the past, her books have all been about her life but this is fictional. I love it. I had to leave the porch b/c the rain just got really splashy. I left a chair in front of the door for husband to put away when he comes home. He thinks I'm absent minded but really I'm just lazy.

Now I'm blogging and listening to Chris Cornell's "You know my name". I'm now moving onto to the evening's entertainment of Will Smith in Enemy of the State.


edited to add:
I just realized the employee manual provides two 15 minute breaks per day. Therefore, this 4pm business is just a consolidation of an 8 hour day.
Friday 8am - 4pm (1/2 hour lunch) = 7.5
Monday - Thursday 9am - 6pm (1 hour lunch, two 15 minute breaks) = 7.5