Wednesday Randoms

Turn On The Water!

Before I get random, allow me to blow off some steam from a most stressful day. Why do I need the water turned on?

(Buckle up, I feel a rant coming on)

Because I spent the ENTIRE day putting out fires! One after another. Luckily, I was able to stomp them out before they engulfed the entire building, but these fires were like the Whack-A-Mole game at the arcade. Once you smacked one down, another one popped right up. I needed two mallets. 
Part of the 'House Rules' of this blog is not to delve into work details, but this week is pure chaos. A bonafide hot mess. Stress turned-all-the-way-up-and-blowing-out-the-speakers- if you needed a visual.

I thought by waking at 5:30am to the blaring sound of Outkast's 'Hey Ya', the day was destined to be great (alrightalrightalrightalrightalrightalright) That's really putting the glass half full. The week before school starts is a notorious landmine of problems and last minute people coming out of the woodwork wanting everything done at the snap of a finger. Not gonna haaaaapppen.

Last time I checked, Hogwarts wasn't on my resume and I don't possess any powers of wizardry. So when myself and the rest of the staff deliver the harsh reality that when you wait until the last minute and- your procrastination does not make it our emergency- people react with the biggest shocked face of their life.

I seriously looked up at the ceiling in my office a few times today, looking for the hidden camera in the corner, swearing I must be being taped for some prank show. No cameras to be found. Some of the phone calls that came in- I swore someone was creating a 2011 Jerky Boys edition of me at work. Un-be-lieve-able. I wish I could go into details but in a public forum, I must make the wise choice. If you really want to know, call me. I'd be happy to reenact some of the happenings of my day- complete with voices, accents, hand gestures- everything. This performance would be Oscar worthy, I promise.

I do love my job. 90% of the time it's smooth sailing, but that 10% that happens certain times of year, oh boy, do I get hammered from all sides.  I got home from work and Brian Williams and Nightly were just ending... sigh... couldn't even watch my fav news show. So I ate a few cookies and started blogging like mad. Because that solves everything, right?  : )
Oh and that vacation... it can't come soon enough! 

Okay, time to shut off the water and pay respect to the greatest day of the week known for its randomness- Wednesday!

• Got myself and my friend at work some fancy chocolate cupcakes from Whole Foods. I'm more of a salty snack person, but who can resist a delicious cupcake with a crazy mountain of chocolate frosting on top? Not I
• Do cookies and french toast count as dinner? They did tonight.
• Can anyone explain why a supposedly rational person would drive their car through rushing flood waters in the middle of a hurricane? Don't ever underestimate mother nature, like those few unfortunate people did this past weekend.
• Still not sure how I feel about the whole Michael Vick situation, with his fat pockets and $100 million deal. I'm pretty close to the biggest animal lover you can find (well, one who still eats minimal meat, but whatever), but he went to prison, and while it's debatable how truly remorseful he is, how long will everyone continue to vilify him?  Should we judge him simply for the job for which he was hired? Professional athlete and role model pretty much go hand in hand, so now he has to lie in the bed he made. I don't agree with what he did one bit, but how many times can something be rehashed? I'd be anxious to see how forgiving the masses would be if the Eagles won the Superbowl with him at the helm...
• US Open tennis #loveit
  
• This is the cutest!!!  Take a look at that link and tell me that's not the cutest thing ever.
• One of my neighbors (someone I really don't know) has OCD. Like, crazy OCD you'd see featured on some A&E show. It's fascinating to watch. It all about rituals and repetitive actions with this person. What I've witnessed is 5-10 trips walking back to a car that was parked and locked- only to check the doors again and again to make sure it's locked. Scary.
• Fall is in the air! When I have to turn the heat on in the car for a minute in the morning, I know the festive fall season is right around the corner. Once school starts (and I'm again battling the school buses on the road), it's a fast downhill ride right to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and my favorite... Christmas!!! I won't get all Christmasy on you the last day of August, but the minute that turkey dinner is cleaned up and over with, it's 100% Christmas excitement for me!

See, blogging is so cathartic. What started out as a major rant from a terriblehorriblenogoodverybadday has ended on a festive Christmas note!  Yay  : )


Bonus W.R. Question:
Think of the last person who you really knew that died. You have the chance to give them 1 hour of life back, but you have to give one year of your life. Do you?

I'm going to play selfish on this one and say nope. 1 hour is nothing.

I need two mallets, please

Rained Out

Thankfully, most people I know came out of this hurricane unscathed. Not to say there wasn't some hard work being done in basements into the early morning hours, but my sister's house in Philly stayed dry, as well as my parent's house both here and at the beach. From my 8th story perch, the rain was no issue for me. No loss of power either.

Manayunk is a mess, as it always is after a big storm like this. Water is so damaging. I'll be mindful to check the flood zones when I invest some money in a real house someday.

A weekend stuck inside left a lot of time for... internet browsing! My favorite thing. This time I logged a considerable amount of hours on www.tripadvisor.com I love this site and it's been so helpful on many of my trips. I try to give back and provide reviews after I return from my travels to help others out.

You can guess what this means. That vacation I've been debating, mulling over, going back and forth and back again since February? I'm thisclose to making it happen. I'm not going to reveal my proposed destination, but I've worked up an itinerary and set the email alert for the flight fare. The more I read up the more excited I get. After a really busy August at work, this would be the perfect reward for the end of September. Nothing is definite, but we shall see...

We d ne s da y Ra n do m s

Not sure what's up with that headline. Looks like Wednesday Randoms got a little shaken up... can't imagine why... it's been such a calm week so far.

• Right right. Eathquake! Let's get it out of the way right up front. Cool, unexpected, eerie, and a ton of other things. Media overload, news reporters trying with all their might to mask their disdain as the same clips played overandoverandover. My grandpop turned 91 yesterday, so when I called to wish him a happy birthday, I asked what he thought of the little shake up... he was apparently resting at the time and thought "someone was trying to break in the house" Gotta love it.
• Speaking of natural disasters, I really hope this hurricane veers east and misses us. Another weekend of rain is the least of our worries. These storms can tear up the coast and wreak havoc. I so loved the years I vacationed on the Outer Banks... please stay away from there! Oh yeah, and stay away from Rehoboth Beach too. Thanks.
• Is it me, or does Moammar Gadhafi (or however you spell it the 7,000 different ways) look like a crazy cross between Carlos Santana and Ice-T?  Come on, I'm so right on this!

• I can not wait for the 4-day weekend I have coming up at the end of September. I'm getting the urge to go somewhere! Always wanted to take off [x] number of days and just book a random trip the night before, just for the sake of spontaneity. Pick a place where the weather is good and the deal is too good to pass up- and just go!
• August is such a blur. The most busy time of year by far at work, and I honestly can't recall what I've done the past 3 weeks. If Outlook didn't timestamp everything and have the ability to categorize sub folders within sub folders... I would be sooo incredibly lost.
• Tennis time. US Open 2011 starts next week! NY isn't that far. I have to go to see one of these majors. Wimbledon is my dream, but I'm not sure how much of a reality that is. I certainly can't get any closeups of Roger from halfway up a stadium. When my current TV kicks it, I'm going all out and getting a 52" high def LCD. I can so see myself doing something like that. I've never been a crazed sports fan, but I WILL rearrange my entire schedule so I can watch a big match. (Excited!)
• I've seen a few stories lately on the local news where pathetic excuses for human beings people have faked a cancer diagnosis and held fundraisers and other events to raise money... to keep for themselves! (What!?!) Mental illness is the only excuse I can come up with to justify someone even considering a move like this. If karma is real, these people better start running NOW... and fast!
• Fall is just around the corner. Which means... it will soon be time for Pumpkin everything! Coffee, pie, bread, muffins, scones, ice cream, bagels, pancakes. It's all so delicious. I'm a big, big pumpkin fan. Now you know, the 'pumpkin' taste we all know and love is really the sugar and spices, not the actual flavor of the inside of a real pumpkin. Long ago, during a pumpkin carving extravaganza I decided to eat the stringy inner parts, thinking it would taste like the pie I so loved... nope! You can thank the clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar added in for all that signature pumpkin yummyness.

 As an added W.R. bonus for readers, I've Googled

"What is a random question to ask someone?"

Keeping in the spirit of all things random, on the most sacred random day (Wednesday), I'll pick a question from the list and answer it.

Here goes.

You are walking down the street on your way to work. There is a dog drowning in the canal on the side of the street. Your boss has told you if you are late one more time you get fired. What do you do?

Easy. The dog wins- without a second thought. Fire me.

Back at it

After a little bit of a hiatus with all this hot weather... I'm back

With fall being my favorite time of year for outdoor activity, I needed a push of motivation to get me back on the program. Motivation of this sort comes with a date on the calendar and a swipe of the credit card. That's all it takes- and I'm ready to go.

I opted not to do the 1/2 marathon. Ehh just wasn't feelin it.  I'm not sure I have enough time to properly train and the one I chose is in the burbs and much more exciting... ready?.....

A Halloween themed 13K

 (blackandorangeblackandorangeblackandorange)



I love Halloween and 8.07 miles sounds a whole lot better than 13.1! The registration fee was also $80 less. I'm not about paying a high price for all that sweating and physical exertion. This is totally doable, won't require tons of time dedicated to training, and will keep me following a schedule as we head towards the holidays, my favorite food season of the entire year!

I tend to hit my stride at the 3-4 mile mark. Maybe that's why 5Ks never did the trick for me. 6-10 feels just right. Enough to keep me in shape and not cut into the rest of my life. Double the laundry and showers, you can't escape that, but at least the runs won't go much beyond an hour+.  I want to keep it where I enjoy it. I didn't run XC in high school all those years because I hated it. If it becomes work and like a chore, you're in danger of turning something you really like into something you resent. Not a good thing.

So it's back on the plan... only 2 months to go  :)

A little Sunday cooking

So the beach didn't happen this weekend. I'm definitely not driving 2.5+hrs if I see the thunder cloud and lightning bolt on the mobile weather app. Good decision on my part, as we have yet another rainy Sunday. I made it out for a decent run this morning before the skies opened up. Early morning activity always supercharges my appetite, so with laundry, Job1 work, and other tasks to catch up on, I wasn't going to let the rain hold me prisoner. Time to cook!

I've previously mentioned on this blog my love of Italy, especially the food, since traveling there last year. I'm not really a pasta person- never have been- but the stuff I had there was melt-in-your-mouth fabulous! Having really good, authentic food in the actual country will create an instant food snob of anyone going forward (guilty). I talked about making my own pasta from scratch several times, and well... today I did it! As always, thanks to my Canon EOS Rebel XS 1000D for the lovely pics.

 I literally Googled "how to make pasta from scratch".  No fancy stuff here. I get my ingredients and tools all ready.




                                                                  
                                                                    
 This is an image widely seen on any cooking show.  I'm unsure of the significance of the whole 'mound of flour with the egg mixture in the middle', but something about it screams authentic and old country... I'm a wannabe authentic, but definitely not old country.

Next was the fun of kneading the dough. There is a technique to this, and it took about 5 minutes for me to figure it out. The website I was using was not technique-specific.

                                                                 

Floured up the counter and rolling pin and got to work. I finally bought a rolling pin recently after a laborious effort involving Christmas cookiedough from scratch and a pint glass serving as a makeshift rolling pin (effective, but not recommended).

My goal is to flatten this to 1/8", so I keep rolling...heavy on the flour.

After your dough circle is flattened to the desired 1/8", your supposed to roll it around the pin and slide it out, so you have a cylinder of dough prime for cutting.

I use my favorite 'murder knife' (kidding) to slice the dough. It's slightly thicker than I want, but I'd rather this than everything breaking and falling apart after all this effort. Angelhair, this is not.

In the pot it goes, 3-4min for an Al Dente result

Finished result! A little sauce made in my food processor with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, garlic, and pepper, as well as some sweet basil from my own plant. It certainly had the fresh taste you don't find from the box pasta, but it was a little too firm for my liking. I have a whole bunch drying, so I'd adjust the cook time accordingly next round. Not bad for less than an hour of work. I'll save this effort for my next dinner party. I'm not doing all this on a weeknight after getting up at 5am  : )

Wednesday Randoms

Came up a little short on the creative headline. Nothing's worse than trying to outdo yourself and failing... soooo it's back to the original. Until I come up with something brilliant (just you wait)

Another crazy day at work has my mind going in a million directions. Perfect time to get random, as I have a feeling I won't be in peak writing shape after going out to dinner later...

• Let's start with some politics. Michelle Bachman, how about hiring some fact checkers before you go blabbing your mouth to a large crowd wishing Elvis a Happy Birthday on the anniversary of his death. And not just a quick mention, you belabored the point. I'm a little hesitant of quoting a movie unless I'm sure I'm spot on. Fingers crossed this woman gets nowhere near 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
• Now on to sports. Jim Thome, a Phillie once upon a time, reaching 600 home runs. Not bad for 40. See, people can stay out of the doping club and still achieve great things.
• Food! Talenti Caribbean Coconut Gelato. Get some. You'll thank me. Coconut anything is a dream come true. http://www.talentigelato.com/
• Pretty sure I'm seeing a beach trip in my crystal ball for this weekend. Wanted to do some sailing before the summer's end. We shall see. You know it's a good weekend when you're shaking sand out of the floor mats of your car on Monday morning.
• I'm incredibly envious of this guy's job. I'd do this for free
• Check this out for a solid California wine http://www.wilyjack.com/  I'm partial to the Zinfandel.
• I've posted some of his videos on Tumblr and follow him on Twitter, and Daniel Tosh is my kind of funny. A little more tame than Dane Cook, who delivered a funny yet raunchy set when we saw him at the Hard Rock in Vegas.
  
  A few Tosh good ones
  Simple delivery equals funny
  
  Love it
  
  That's all the randomness I got for today. See ya next week

New Spot

After a 5am wake up and a mentally exhausting day, I needed a run. Bad. With the sun finally shining after two days of rain, there was no way I was treadmilling it at LA Fit. Give me the outdoors!

I suddenly thought of a park less than 2 miles from me. Last year when I drove by it was still being created or renovated or something, but I figured it had to be finished by now. When I drove up I was pretty excited to see it was all ready to go, and I had the place alllll to myself!


Well, almost.

There were 3 people riding horses. (Odd? A little. I did grow up in Worcester though, so seeing this type of thing is nothing new) However, I really had to watch my step running around all those paths  : )

Did 5K and ran back around after I was finished to take the pics (Thank you Android for some great looking pics). This place is really well hidden and off the road, and a little bit scary to run around by yourself, even if it is 5:30 and the sun is shining bright. Nothing makes you run faster than the thought of someone popping out of the woods, that's for sure. The surroundings were lovely, and as I ran through the open fields and wooded areas the fragrance of honeysuckle would hit me in waves (deep inhale!) There was even a butterfly garden they planted in the back of the trail, complete with stone pavers in the shape of a huge butterfly. It's one of many township parks, and very well maintained. Glad to see my tax dollars at work.

Not many butterflies hanging out there today

Scenery- not too bad

Tempting to stop running... and just stand and stare. Beautiful!

Always have to check out the stream

Very excited to discover a place which has been sitting around the corner for the past year. I get bored of the same surroundings after a while. My favorite time of year to run outside is quickly approaching, and this park should be great for some September/Fall running. I need to get it all in before winter sneaks up and forces us to run the road to nowhere (the dreaded treadmill) for 4 months.



Wow, tomorrow's Wednesday already. The masses are anticipating a brand new, fabulous edition of randoms! (thunderous cheers) Oh, I know you are. I'll make sure I'm well rested so I can bring it.