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Thursday, April 30, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Floaty and Fruity
My boss has been laughing at me. Every time he turns the corner of my cube wall to come to my desk, he never knows what kind of Asian freaky food or whatnot he will be greeted with each day. I like to keep him on his toes. What made him really investigate was a jug of flavored water I started bring in to take the place of my moratorium on coffee.
There was recent TV coverage on a college in Minnesota encouraging their students to drink more water in lieu of drinking colas in their lunchrooms. They introduced a colorful water bar of clear urns filled with filtered water, ice and sliced fruit. The students are now drinking 150 gallons of water a day.
The Inspiration...
Well, I remembered a similar thing in the Philippines where we would grate cantaloupe to mix with ice, water and sugar to make a flavored drink during the summers. I decided to take that happy memory and recreate it for work. My goal is to successfully drink 3 liters of water a day (via flavored filtered water and hot jasmine green tea). My increase in sleep precludes me from using coffee as a crutch to jumpstart me in the morning. Besides my coffee intake throughout the day was easily an extra 800 calories a day with the cream and table sugar. Now I don't have to add sugar to my drinks and if I do, a packet or two of Splenda is fine. Instead of grating the fruit, I am cutting them into chunks so I can have them for a snack when the water has run out. Clever, eh?
The Result...Cantaloupe and Watermelon Infused Waters
Two Fridays in a row I have gotten home very late from being at the art center after work. I worked as a bartender during the swing/jazz band concert last Friday and hung out with my buddies this Friday. Once I shower and ready for bed about 1.5 hours later, it is around 2:30am on Saturday. My bladder wakes me up around 6am and my body decides it doesn't have a care by going back to sleep until between 1-2pm. I KNOW! Crazy isn't it?
I shopped at the Asian store this afternoon for fresh produce which I've already prepared for my lettuce wraps tomorrow. I've sliced into thin strips cucumber, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, scallions and snowpeas. I will arrange some on a Boston or bibb lettuce leaf, top with bean sprouts and some hoisin sauce I watered down just a bit to drizzle easier. Roll everything up in the lettuce and you have my version of an Asian lettuce wrap. The hoisin sauce makes it extra yummy.
I will leave you my breakfast pear to ponder. This always happens when I use the apple slicer on my pears. It's like a flower with a...a..stem! Yes, that's it. Wink!
Fruit Bloom
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There was recent TV coverage on a college in Minnesota encouraging their students to drink more water in lieu of drinking colas in their lunchrooms. They introduced a colorful water bar of clear urns filled with filtered water, ice and sliced fruit. The students are now drinking 150 gallons of water a day.
The Inspiration...
Well, I remembered a similar thing in the Philippines where we would grate cantaloupe to mix with ice, water and sugar to make a flavored drink during the summers. I decided to take that happy memory and recreate it for work. My goal is to successfully drink 3 liters of water a day (via flavored filtered water and hot jasmine green tea). My increase in sleep precludes me from using coffee as a crutch to jumpstart me in the morning. Besides my coffee intake throughout the day was easily an extra 800 calories a day with the cream and table sugar. Now I don't have to add sugar to my drinks and if I do, a packet or two of Splenda is fine. Instead of grating the fruit, I am cutting them into chunks so I can have them for a snack when the water has run out. Clever, eh?
The Result...Cantaloupe and Watermelon Infused Waters
Two Fridays in a row I have gotten home very late from being at the art center after work. I worked as a bartender during the swing/jazz band concert last Friday and hung out with my buddies this Friday. Once I shower and ready for bed about 1.5 hours later, it is around 2:30am on Saturday. My bladder wakes me up around 6am and my body decides it doesn't have a care by going back to sleep until between 1-2pm. I KNOW! Crazy isn't it?
I shopped at the Asian store this afternoon for fresh produce which I've already prepared for my lettuce wraps tomorrow. I've sliced into thin strips cucumber, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, scallions and snowpeas. I will arrange some on a Boston or bibb lettuce leaf, top with bean sprouts and some hoisin sauce I watered down just a bit to drizzle easier. Roll everything up in the lettuce and you have my version of an Asian lettuce wrap. The hoisin sauce makes it extra yummy.
I will leave you my breakfast pear to ponder. This always happens when I use the apple slicer on my pears. It's like a flower with a...a..stem! Yes, that's it. Wink!
Fruit Bloom
.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
And AGOL Created Many Suns...
Hey Everybody! Just quickly checking in when I should be sleeping. This is the third night in a row I have been up late. The first two were spent creating pins out of polymer clay. Here's the process if you're so inclined to be insane:
1) Roll clay in sheets using dedicated non-food pasta machine. Repeat a few times.
2) Fold clay and press together to desired thickness.
3) Stamp clay with image.
4) Trim excess clay. [Ouch..cut myself with clay blade.]
5) Bake clay and then let cool. [Ouch..burned myself.]
6) Paint clay using acrylic paint and dry.
7) Rub metallic rub-on paint on stamped image. [No fingerprint left!]
8) Spray two coats of gloss sealer, letting dry in between. [Try not to get high on fumes...]
9) Adhere pinback using extremely strong glue [...without sticking your fingers together. Eek!]
I left the task of putting them into small cello bags and sealing with them with thin metallic ribbon to my project partner Sharon. What's all the fuss? Today is "Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day" and we will be handing them out to the kids who are participating. There are about 30. I decided that Sharon and I could tout ourselves as Smile Ambassadors and talk about maintaining a positive attitude at work and they, too, could be Smile Ambassadors for the day by wearing the pin. I know -- you're getting cavities.
Photos taken from my cellphone camera - pardon the quality...
Tonight I completed my mid-year review while dyeing a pair of pants black again. Thanks to my obsession with detergent, they have grayed a bit. This is one of the little issues that plague the AGOL. Sigh.
I've been desperate to post so here it is for now... Did I mention the "passports" I designed for the kids to take with them throughout the day to be filled with stickers and stamps from the speakers/classes? Nites.. xxoo
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1) Roll clay in sheets using dedicated non-food pasta machine. Repeat a few times.
2) Fold clay and press together to desired thickness.
3) Stamp clay with image.
4) Trim excess clay. [Ouch..cut myself with clay blade.]
5) Bake clay and then let cool. [Ouch..burned myself.]
6) Paint clay using acrylic paint and dry.
7) Rub metallic rub-on paint on stamped image. [No fingerprint left!]
8) Spray two coats of gloss sealer, letting dry in between. [Try not to get high on fumes...]
9) Adhere pinback using extremely strong glue [...without sticking your fingers together. Eek!]
I left the task of putting them into small cello bags and sealing with them with thin metallic ribbon to my project partner Sharon. What's all the fuss? Today is "Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day" and we will be handing them out to the kids who are participating. There are about 30. I decided that Sharon and I could tout ourselves as Smile Ambassadors and talk about maintaining a positive attitude at work and they, too, could be Smile Ambassadors for the day by wearing the pin. I know -- you're getting cavities.
Photos taken from my cellphone camera - pardon the quality...
Tonight I completed my mid-year review while dyeing a pair of pants black again. Thanks to my obsession with detergent, they have grayed a bit. This is one of the little issues that plague the AGOL. Sigh.
I've been desperate to post so here it is for now... Did I mention the "passports" I designed for the kids to take with them throughout the day to be filled with stickers and stamps from the speakers/classes? Nites.. xxoo
.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Talisman
This morning had me remembering a childhood habit of making the sign of the cross right before I left the house for school. It is a Catholic thing, I guess -- maybe more of a thing to keep your safety in mind as you move through the world.
I was trying to think of what I would do since I no longer believe in making the sign of the cross, not with the true conviction of a believer or the 10 year old child I once was so long ago. Don't get me wrong, I believe in a Higher Power. I just don't believe in a middle-person between me and my Source...
The reason for my dilemma was that I was leaving the sanctuary of my apartment for the first time since Friday night. I had spent a majority of the day and good part of the evening at my aunt's helping her with her new Cricut craft gadget I mentioned in a previous post. Work was not too far from the day either. I logged in the morning before I left and late afternoon to give my approvals for requests in the afternoon. No, it was not a full day off.
Any plans I had for the weekend I scrapped in lieu of getting more sleep, doing chores and achieving peace. It worked and was in danger of getting disrupted yesterday when I ran out of ingredients to make good food. I was saved by a quick order from a national pizza delivery chain. Thirty minutes later, I was enjoying my veggie pizza. My Chinese place doesn't deliver and I wasn't about to leave my apartment to break the peaceful spell.
So what did I use or do when I left the house today? Star Trek. Okay, not quite. I just used the words "shields up" before I walked out. Like in most anything in the world, the only thing that can protect you is you. Your luck is not improved by things like a rabbit's foot or by not stepping on a crack. In today's case other people's energies didn't bother me as it normally would after a long weekend without physical human contact. People who normally suck the life energy out of me to catch up on weekend happenings never materialized or stayed long. Only you can attract the universal forces that can keep you safe.
I am my talisman.
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I was trying to think of what I would do since I no longer believe in making the sign of the cross, not with the true conviction of a believer or the 10 year old child I once was so long ago. Don't get me wrong, I believe in a Higher Power. I just don't believe in a middle-person between me and my Source...
The reason for my dilemma was that I was leaving the sanctuary of my apartment for the first time since Friday night. I had spent a majority of the day and good part of the evening at my aunt's helping her with her new Cricut craft gadget I mentioned in a previous post. Work was not too far from the day either. I logged in the morning before I left and late afternoon to give my approvals for requests in the afternoon. No, it was not a full day off.
Any plans I had for the weekend I scrapped in lieu of getting more sleep, doing chores and achieving peace. It worked and was in danger of getting disrupted yesterday when I ran out of ingredients to make good food. I was saved by a quick order from a national pizza delivery chain. Thirty minutes later, I was enjoying my veggie pizza. My Chinese place doesn't deliver and I wasn't about to leave my apartment to break the peaceful spell.
So what did I use or do when I left the house today? Star Trek. Okay, not quite. I just used the words "shields up" before I walked out. Like in most anything in the world, the only thing that can protect you is you. Your luck is not improved by things like a rabbit's foot or by not stepping on a crack. In today's case other people's energies didn't bother me as it normally would after a long weekend without physical human contact. People who normally suck the life energy out of me to catch up on weekend happenings never materialized or stayed long. Only you can attract the universal forces that can keep you safe.
I am my talisman.
.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Days That Don't Begin with S
I am breaking my bedtime by posting. Naughty Sprinkles.
It was supposed to be my day off. Relax, sleep in late and spend time with Tawny. My co-conspirator at work, Bridget, was already scheduled to take Monday and Tuesday off to extend a long weekend with her son. He was sick last Friday and then she caught the bug. She was still sick yesterday and was asked to work from home today so she wouldn't spread her cooties before my boss left for his vacation tomorrow. I had no choice but to show up in case she couldn't work at all. Just as well, Tawny had to accompany her husband to his medical tests all day.
Sacrificing a scheduled day off to put back in my vacation bank is not necessarily worth not taking the time off. I need it; however, my sense of duty of doing what is right reared its stupid head yesterday and today! Looks like I may have to tell my aunt tomorrow that I may not be preparing our lunch with her and we may need to postpone our project until the evening. Bridget will text me tomorrow morning to let me know how much involvement may be required of me. At the very least, I will have my laptop with me and if need be, I would be 20 minutes away from work.
Sometimes I feel other people are taking huge blocks of time off but me. I have been taking one or two days here and there. Look, not asking for your sympathy -- this blog is also my mental therapy to dump what is on my mind...
My old chum Sam called me this evening to ask if I had visited our high school reunion site. The e-mail notice for our 20-year reunion had come weeks before but I had not formally checked it out. It is set to take place in Wyoming the weekend after I get back from Los Angeles in July. We'll see. Even though I was one of the most active students at school with clubs and events, there are only a handful of people I am interested in speaking with and catching up. I already have those people in my facebook and cell phone. Does that sound bad?
I lived in a place where mediocrity thrived and uniqueness and being exotic was "different". If Sam is anything to go by, not much has changed. Do others feel this way? I know my friends feel this way about where they grew up. Are we unique in our feelings? or just feel that way within our circle? Not many of my friends followed what was expected of them, other than being productive and loving citizens. They are also creative and innovative. The talent pool they represent barely swum thanks to life's interruptions like marriage and children. That's another post.
What I'm trying to say is that I am tired and I want days off or vacation days on days that don't begin with S.
[Yes, I am long-winded!
:::sticking my tongue out:::
to Angie and Tawny]
.
It was supposed to be my day off. Relax, sleep in late and spend time with Tawny. My co-conspirator at work, Bridget, was already scheduled to take Monday and Tuesday off to extend a long weekend with her son. He was sick last Friday and then she caught the bug. She was still sick yesterday and was asked to work from home today so she wouldn't spread her cooties before my boss left for his vacation tomorrow. I had no choice but to show up in case she couldn't work at all. Just as well, Tawny had to accompany her husband to his medical tests all day.
Sacrificing a scheduled day off to put back in my vacation bank is not necessarily worth not taking the time off. I need it; however, my sense of duty of doing what is right reared its stupid head yesterday and today! Looks like I may have to tell my aunt tomorrow that I may not be preparing our lunch with her and we may need to postpone our project until the evening. Bridget will text me tomorrow morning to let me know how much involvement may be required of me. At the very least, I will have my laptop with me and if need be, I would be 20 minutes away from work.
Sometimes I feel other people are taking huge blocks of time off but me. I have been taking one or two days here and there. Look, not asking for your sympathy -- this blog is also my mental therapy to dump what is on my mind...
My old chum Sam called me this evening to ask if I had visited our high school reunion site. The e-mail notice for our 20-year reunion had come weeks before but I had not formally checked it out. It is set to take place in Wyoming the weekend after I get back from Los Angeles in July. We'll see. Even though I was one of the most active students at school with clubs and events, there are only a handful of people I am interested in speaking with and catching up. I already have those people in my facebook and cell phone. Does that sound bad?
I lived in a place where mediocrity thrived and uniqueness and being exotic was "different". If Sam is anything to go by, not much has changed. Do others feel this way? I know my friends feel this way about where they grew up. Are we unique in our feelings? or just feel that way within our circle? Not many of my friends followed what was expected of them, other than being productive and loving citizens. They are also creative and innovative. The talent pool they represent barely swum thanks to life's interruptions like marriage and children. That's another post.
What I'm trying to say is that I am tired and I want days off or vacation days on days that don't begin with S.
[Yes, I am long-winded!
:::sticking my tongue out:::
to Angie and Tawny]
.
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