MetaChat - 3-point Thursday update

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17 April 2008

3-point Thursday update →[More:]
1. Because of annual leave accruing to me, and Bank Holidays coming up, I am not in the office on a Monday until June. But my manager got arsey about it today because I work from home on Fridays and he didn't think I should have Mondays off after a work-from-home day. Oh dear, I said, I've already made plans for each Monday. He said he'd let it pass this time but I can't do it again in future. Don't see why not, I churn the work out.

2. Tonight is TV veg-out night - Project Runway followed by Idol.

3. I found a new lip balm that's just come out over here. Tis awesome, for sure and for once we have something here first that isn't available in the US. OMG! I have a lip balm that TPS doesn't have!!

post by: essexjan at: 11:36 | 39 comments

::shakes fist at essexjan::

1. Internet hasn't worked the past two nights at my house. Just nights- it works fine in the morning. Hopefully it was a two day fluke and everything will work fine tonight, because I need to be able to check on work at night.
2. Hoping my mineral makeup samples come today.
3. Need to figure out what I can eat protein powder in, other than smoothies and oatmeal. Might AskMeta.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 17 April | 11:44

1. I'm eating leftover charcoal-gilled Wagyu beef for lunch.
2. What else is there to say?

posted by mrmoonpie 17 April | 11:53

1. I have 5 weeks of vacation accrued, but for once in my life I don't have the foggiest idea what to do with it.
2. Fuck Ikea in the fucking eye.
3. Why is it nearly impossible to find qualified technical people to hire? I finally understand why it's so easy for software engineers to get work permits in industrialized countries - everyone is desperate for workers, it's amazing. I wish I had realized this years ago.

posted by cmonkey 17 April | 11:54

4. Canned spinach doesn't seem to exist in Germany and it's driving me nuts because I don't have a freezer to store frozen spinach in, fresh spinach is impossible to find, and I love spinach. I need to figure out how to grow my own on my balcony, I think.

posted by cmonkey 17 April | 12:01

1. Bored.
2. Beyond.
3. Belief.

posted by deadcowdan 17 April | 12:04

1. My office has blocked the Metafilter website, deeming it "Anonymous Proxy & Hacking". They have an overzealous blocking mechanism; I have already used up my good graces with them by begging them to unblock a major local news site that I can't survive 8 hours without. So I'll be spending more time here to get my fix.

2. I have lost 35 pounds since August and want to do another 10 or so, but the meager food plan is REALLY starting to wear on me.

3. I love love love my new job. People look at me funny when I gush about things that are normal to them (like how they actually vacuum the floors every night), but that's because I spent too long in a non-profit hell.

3.

posted by Melismata 17 April | 12:25

Lenny's Subs are awesome, but I've never been in one that wasn't staffed by slowpoke morons.
Baby's going through a separation anxiety thing. Fucks your sleep UP.
Thanks to Plutor's deleted posts script, I just heard the Most Unwanted Song, and goddamn but that's genius.

posted by middleclasstool 17 April | 12:25

1. Have to come up with summer work plan some time today. No idea what I want to do.
2. Jackhammer outside window is giving me a headache.
3. The boiling water I spilt on my foot a few weeks ago has left a big red scar. At least it's no longer itchy.

posted by gaspode 17 April | 12:29

1. I'm finally learning how to use Adobe AfterEffects, and it's a lot of fun. I'm supposed to be practicing moving and zooming-in on photos and documents and stuff, but instead I'm making Terry Gilliam-ish animations out of medieval paintings. Heh.

2. The partner and I are both playing hooky from work tomorrow, and are going to take my mom down to this place since the weather's supposed to be nice. (And then rain on the weekend... AGAIN)

3. I'm craving lemonade today, for some reason.

posted by BoringPostcards 17 April | 12:32

1) We just got internet back at work after a 24-hour outage. This doesn't sound so bad, except that we're a university that calls itself "The Electronic Campus". Things weren't nearly so efficient at "The Pen-and-paper campus".

2) It's murky rainy rain out.

3) I'm trying to forestall a migraine, but I suspect I'm losing this one. Bleagh.

Sorry to be so whingey today.

posted by lleachie 17 April | 12:45

1. t-shirt weather here for the first time in 2008
2. walking to post office real soon now to mail very large checks to IRS, oy!
3. had a good weekend. daydreaming and distracted.

posted by jessamyn 17 April | 12:54

1. Very little work to do today.

2. Avoiding what little word I do have today.

3. Browsing camera equipment for purchase. Shiny, shiny camera equipment.

posted by rhapsodie 17 April | 12:57

Very large checks?

posted by netbros 17 April | 13:41

1. courtesy of new braces wire (18-gauge!) and elastics, my head feels like a fault line.
2. work sucks. I've had one person with actual intentions of buying in the bookstore all day. Everyone else has been staying warm waiting for the bus.
3. I am also browsing camera equipment. I am torn between a 35mm f/1.4 prime, or a 17-55 f/2.8 image-stabilized zoom for ye olde 30D. I think the 35 makes more sense because a lot of my shooting is low available light, but I think the zoom would be useful by letting me go wider and because I don't have any zooms. Decisions, decisions...

posted by heeeraldo 17 April | 13:49

I wonder if you could put protein powder in pasta sauce, Teeps.

1. Getting nothing done at work because I'm thinking about all the things I have to do before I move and re-checking my to do lists.
2. Studiously not thinking about the fact that I have to say goodbye to my friends and family and sugar gliders very soon. (Gliders go with adoptive family on Saturday, ouch.)
3. Eating Doritos.

posted by Specklet 17 April | 13:52

1. My scraped knee is really getting gross. It's oozing all over everything and it hurts, too. Serve me right for drinking lots of beer and standing around wearing clogs in a dark backyard full of dog dug holes on Saturday night.
2. I have all this work to do and yet I can't, somehow, do much of anything. Must. Get. Motivated.
3. DITLO starts tomorrow and I'm finding myself actually kind of psyched. Woooo.

posted by mygothlaundry 17 April | 14:27

Jan, long weekends are the bomb, yu are gonna love it.

1) the kittens are sleeping out of their little den.
2) my fingers hurt due to guitar lesson.
3) I threatened my pinky, which kept trying to finger strings it wasn't supposed to, with a bath in cat shit. This amused my teacher, and my pinky seems to have listened.

posted by By the Grace of God 17 April | 14:39

1. The Grandbun will be in town this weekend. Yay!
2. Grandbun's single aunt (my other daughter) might, I say, MIGHT have a gentleman admirer. The signs point to it, anyway. Heh.
3. According to my spin instructor, Gianni Versace cologne is deadly to termites. You heard it here first, people.

posted by bunnyfire 17 April | 14:48

1: Went to pub after work for drinks with a friend.
2: A little tipsy and full of TMI!
3: Just cooked and devoured awesome mushroom risotto. So. Damn. Good. There's some left for tomorrow, which is awesome.

posted by TheDonF 17 April | 14:52

1. Making bread, I swear it.
2. Will have zucchini fritters for dinner. Mmm. And bread.
3. Putting off schoolwork. Again.

TheDonF, I made mushroom risotto a few days ago, and made fantastic risotto cakes with the leftovers. Drizzled 'em with some fancy balsamico. Wow.

posted by Elsa 17 April | 15:12

1. Things were all hunky dory until i updated firefox. Apparently help features for it don't work well outside firefox. i am discomboobled and i don't like it.
2. Starving.
3. All out of sorts.

posted by ethylene 17 April | 15:43

1. I'm wearing a dress today.
2. So I'm wearing my pedometer on my underwear.
3. I have about 9,000 steps so far. I wonder if a random person would think it's an insulin pump. Probably not.

posted by rainbaby 17 April | 15:56

How does one make zucchini fritters?
How many steps are you supposed to take a day?

posted by Specklet 17 April | 15:59

Specklet:

Very carefully. (Yes, Elsa, recipe, even though my mom made them)
10,000 or more.

posted by rainbaby 17 April | 16:01

Rainbaby: Yes, they will. Even when mine was showing on the waistband of my pants, my students thought it was an insulin pump...

posted by lleachie 17 April | 16:08

1. Used a hair straightener this morning without burning any part of my body (last week: forehead, week before: thumb, index finger)

2. Had lunch on roofdeck of work building

3. Just went back up to the roofdeck to lie down for a minute. It's nice up there!

posted by rmless2 17 April | 16:11

Specklet, zucchini fritters, just for you, but sadly with no measurements. I just make them by eye and by feel.

Shred one good-sized zucchini. (I use a mandoline, but you could use a box grater; cleaner cuts make the final product less watery.)

Beat one egg in a medium bowl. Optional: press in one clove of garlic.

Toss zucchini with seasoned flour, maybe three big spoonfuls of flour mixed with cumin, oregano, pepper, cayenne. Rosemary is a nice variation. Sometimes I put in a pinch of baking powder to lighten the whole thing.

Put a well-seasoned or non-stick pan over medium heat, and melt a sliver of butter (or oil the pan).

Mix zucchini with egg and a good bit of salt. (Here's where you can get creative, tossing in chopped scallions or minced roasted red pepper or whatever you like, though I usually leave them plain.) Toss until everything's mixed, then spoon into the oiled pan. Cook until golden brown, flip, and cook the second side.

If I'm serving a crowd, I keep two pans going, or I make a great big frittata instead, but you can keep 'em warm in a barely warm oven.

I like these for dinner with a salad and some bread, maybe a glass of wine. They make a good breakfast, too, though I often leave out the garlic.

I bet they'd be even better deep-fried or shallow-fried.

posted by Elsa 17 April | 16:12

I make zucchini fritters the same way and serve them with a quick tomato sauce.

Saute some garlic, fennel seeds, and crushed red pepper in olive oil. Toss in the juice from a large can of whole tomatoes. Simmer quickly until it's slightly reduced and glossy. Throw in some shredded fresh basil. Serve with zucchini fritters. Yum!

posted by mudpuppie 17 April | 16:30

mudpuppie, that sauce sounds sooooo gooooooood. Want.

posted by Elsa 17 April | 16:40

How big you make them fritters?

Thanks!

posted by Specklet 17 April | 16:42

Oh, three or four to a full-sized saute pan, but heaped up, not flat. So, say, as big as the opening of a typical coffee cup. Mine are usually oval; that's just how they splat down in the pan.

After dinner, I might come back with notations (or, y'know, complete changes) to the loose instructions I posted. I'll probably notice something I do every time but never remember. For example, now I'm suspecting that I start them in a hot pan, to keep them from spreading, then turn it down to medium.

posted by Elsa 17 April | 16:49

Okay, that's great! I like to think I'm a pretty good intuitive cook, so what you've given me is enough to go on. Yum!

posted by Specklet 17 April | 16:53

Okay, I'm eating the first batch now (mmm mmm mmm!) and I do have some notes, things I plumb forgot. Not necessarily for you, Specklet, but for anyone who isn't intuitive in the kitchen.

- nutmeg! With the seasonings, add a generous amount of fresh-grated nutmeg.

- golden brown? What was I thinking? Take these waaaay past golden and into a dark nutty brown, or they'll be a little raw-tasting and floppy.

- you can prop a lid gently over the pan to assure the egg gets cooked, but leave some room for steam to escape. And when you bite in and find they're creamy inside, don't freak: that's not raw egg. The zucchini's moisture keeps them creamy.

- speaking of which, if you plan to prep this in advance, keep the three components (shredded zucchini, flour, and eggs) separate until the last minute.

- sometimes I dice up cheddar and toss it in the mix, which is delicious: creamy inside, and the occasional crusty cheesy bit where it makes contact with the pan.

I so desperately want mudpuppie's sauce now. Putting fennel seeds on the list!

posted by Elsa 17 April | 17:39

• Interesting day at work
• I have blisters all over my feet
• I like hoppy beer

posted by Stewriffic 17 April | 19:00

1. Home computer is still out of commission.
2. My job is slowly boring me to death. There are much better ways to die than this, I am sure.
3. Hockey on the radio, while OK, is not nearly as much fun as hockey on TV. It's also a lot harder to follow.

posted by bmarkey 17 April | 19:40

1. Depressed
2. I have somewhere to live and it's getting warmer outside.
3. Depressed

posted by -t 17 April | 20:00

1. Had my physical today
2. Got a referral slip to have a mammogram
3. Had eye appointment today and ordered new glasses (can't wait to get them; first new glasses in eight years)

posted by deborah 17 April | 23:42

Remember what I said about my job boring me to death? Tonight I had to escort someone out of the building. While it is technically part of my job, it's the part I like least. Not that it comes up all that often, but when it does it gives me the willies. The guy tonight was pretty docile, which is good as he had at least five or six inches in height and maybe 50 or so pounds on me. Although to be honest, I'd be pretty useless if things got out of hand anyway. Anyone who's met me knows that I'm about as intimidating as a wet paper napkin.

Be that as it may, I have also had to physically remove people from the premises before. That really sucks. I feel bad having to do that, because it's always been people who weren't all that well-balanced, shall we say. Plus I just know that one of these times I'm gonna get the shit beaten out of me/stabbed/shot. Frankly, I'm too old to be doing this kind of crap.

posted by bmarkey 18 April | 00:16

Well, it's Friday here so:

1. Friday Prayers
2. Subway Weekly Treat
3. Might have to run some errands

posted by hadjiboy 18 April | 00:31

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