Twist of Lemon

These are so horrible, and like when you accidentally drink bad milk, it is a sort of “ugh this is terrible taste it!” moment.  Thanks a lot Mentos!

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This is very well done, but NSFW.

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I know what quite a few people may find in their stockings this year.

Well so yeah, it was Mr. Bitter’s birthday yesterday and he is still waiting for your gift gentle reader.  Well not actually, and thank you to those who have sent good wishes [you know who you are].  I have been meaning to post for the last few days, but things have been busy, and last night when I had a breather I just plain fell asleep.  Fun times.

Work has been very interesting and is looking to get much more busy in the next few weeks.  I really enjoy the people I work with and the challenges of my new position.  This week has been tough since we have both the MDA and the IMS in auditing us and one of our customers just called to set up a supplier audit for June.  And my boss is having me do an analysis of how much needs to be done to meet our planned quality system implementation.  I don’t feel like I have time to get much done when I get home either.

So what did this birthday mean to me?  Feeling older and really, really thinking about how much I would like to raise a child.  When Brain graduates and becomes employed again, I know what I would like to do with the extra money.  I am thinking baby fund.  Wish me luck!

Random crap.

It has been a serene past few days. Well in a sense. Friday at work was just weird, since it seemed like my time was just being eaten up by other people. There are too many nebulous tasks that need to be done. The plant itself is running fine, but is way behind in program development. There is the feeling that everything will just work until it doesn’t and then the fire fighting has to start. I’ll ask someone who handles fixing a particular piece of equipment when it needs repair and am told “Oh Larry handles that.” Then when I ask who else can fix it I am told, well no one. And I am thinking, well if Larry gets hit by a bus do we just have to close down shop then?!? We really need to get training and preventative maintenance programs in place so we can avoid future problems not just react to them. I guess that is what they hired me for isn’t it? Gonna be a long road, but hopefully rewarding. Oh and I am taking some sort of “strengths finder” training next week. It is a prerequisite to taking any other career development courses that the company offers. I had to do an online assessment of my strengths and they were as follows [their one word definitions, mine in parenthetical]: Learner [love to learn], Input [inquisitive], Relator [need to know more about people you already know...share etc.], Strategic [ok I am just gonna tell it like it is...Manipulative is what i think this means] and Achiever [drive to get things done]. So I convinced my trainer/ally/only other person I have met that thinks like me at work/friend Cheryl to sign up for the class as well since she has not taken it and the others signed up are all in some sort of accounting roles. Four hour training course with accountant types…I need another critical person [with a personality] in the room or I will definitely go mad.

So where was I oh yeah, lot of time working on fires on Friday at work and not a lot of time working on long range goals. But I managed to get a computer into that old lab and networked so my staff can stop entering test results on paper and, well, as I told one of the lab techs, “Welcome to the 20th century!” The lab is probably too small for a LIMS system, so I don’t think it will ever make it to the 21st century.

Friday night Brain and I went out to see my folks and play some Pinochle [OMFSM I spelled that correctly first try! Woot!]. We stopped on the way to bring them their favorite pizza, from Latuff’s in Plymouth, only to find they thought it had gone downhill since the last time they had it. End of an era I tell you! The upside is my car still smells like very tasty pizza, but not overwhelmingly so. We had a great time with the folks and playing with Mercury. I really think when Brain and I get the old house sold and a new one bought, and Mercury back with us, the folks will be getting their own dog. And some disturbing news too, looks like Mom has to have a needle biopsy for a lump found during her last checkup. I am really hoping it is benign. I know my father came to terms with his cancer very quickly, since he figured he would develop it ever since his father died of his, but I don’t know how he or Mom would cope with her being diagnosed with cancer. Or how I would cope for that matter. Over the last few years I have come to appreciate my folks more all the time, and I want a lot more time to spend with them. That is one reason I am glad Brain and I are settling in the Twin Cities for awhile.

Saturday was sort of Anniversary celebration. Brian and I went over to Wayzata to try a place called Patrick’s Bakery and Bistro. Mom had mentioned how she liked some of the pastry from there, and as we are missing our Daube’s fix, we decided to check it out. We even had lunch at the bistro. Brian had a burger [figures doesn't it?] and I had a chicken pot pie puff pastry thingie. But first off I had the French soup! And I highly recommend it! It was outstanding, even if it was served hotter than hell. The service was great, but the room is loud, it might have been where we were sitting in it, but we couldn’t even have a conversation with each other, and there were only about 10 other diners in the joint. Other than the soup the food was alright, but nothing to rave about. We then hit the bakery case and bought a little of everything to take home. And over the course of the day we have decided it is only ok. So if you are in the area try the place out by all means, but don’t make a special trip. To cap off the celebration we watched the last Torchwood episode of the season and the first Doctor Who episode of the season. And I am super happy to see Catherine Tate on Doctor Who again, she brings a much needed touch of laughter back to the show. And after that last Torchwood we needed the funny [and that is all I am gonna spoil - sorry Mary].

So I am thinking today that I should be posting more on the blog here, and I am wondering what to post about.  There is always work, but there isn’t always a lot of exciting things to talk about on that topic.  When I started this site I had the idea that I would post some book reviews and some recipes as well.  Well I figure I might just as well post reviews of books and stuff in blog form.  Besides reading a lot, what else do I like to do I wondered, how about eat.  I like to eat and I have sort of made it a goal to try new restaurants at lunchtime.  So be prepared for reviews of restaurants in the NE Minneapolis area.  Just so anyone who actually reads this knows what to expect, well in general-like.  BTW thanks to Sue, Mary, Rachel and Fran for reading and keeping in touch!  Y’all are wonderful!  Oh and be prepared for more getting to know you posts [aka Answer Me Damnit!].

OK kids, you know I work in the food industry. And really you don’t always want to know how your food is made. Now don’t get me wrong, every place I have worked has done a great job at food safety and quality. But tonight I saw [for the second time, but I just had to have Brain watch it] the production of hotdogs on How Its Made. It looked like something out of a 1950s horror movie. Two words sum it up I guess: Meat Batter.

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Well tonight I asked Melby to go to the mall with me to look for clothes for the new job. My dress code is going to be business casual. Why do they call it casual? I mean really, at the job I am leaving I get to wear jeans and a T-shirt, that seems like the definition of casual to me. And it is a business, so why can’t we call that business casual and be done with it? But now I have to wear slacks and decent dress shirts. So that required a trip to the maul. Dave decided to come along too, as he needed some new slacks as well. I tried on about fifteen pairs of pants before finding two styles that seemed to fit fairly well. I also picked up a few shirts. So after the trials of shopping we decided to go out for dinner. We ended up trying a newer restaurant in Rochester called Avocados. We had a rather nice time, the chairs were comfy, the food was tasty and the chocolate banana soufflé was absolutely terrific!  The menus need some correction though, as Mel and I had fun finding typos, like the “stwaberry” daiquiri.  All three of us had a tasty meal and good conversation.  It is going to suck not seeing those two as often after the move.  Who else would end a perfect evening of shopping and dinner with a trip to whip shitties in the K-Mart parking lot?

While I am an Anglophile I don’t discriminate against the American hotties.  If you haven’t seen the show Pushing Daisies on ABC you are really missing out.  I know the strike has only allowed us to see nine episodes of this fun, interesting and creative show, but if you can, try and catch them online.  Lee Pace plays the character of Ned, who can bring the dead briefly back to life without dire consequences.  I think I am enamored of his voice as well as his good looks.