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Jan. 22nd, 2008 @ 04:49 pm Sadness
:(
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Phunbaba
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Nov. 11th, 2007 @ 04:10 pm Soup #1
First of all, I got some awesome responses to my soup query from Friday. If anybody else can think of anything good, I'm all ears!

I picked up my thermos this morning. I can't think of the brand, but it holds 16 oz of liquid, has a shoulder strap as well as a handle, and it's stainless steel with blue detail! It's pretty and I'm excited, especially since it cost $13.

So I came home and started on my first soup project. Since money was a pretty major issue this week, I wanted to begin with something I knew I already had all the ingredients for, which is a black bean soup from this cookbook I've had forever that was assembled by the National Jewish Women's Council (it's called "The Cook Book"). I soaked the dry beans, then started cooking them...and inexplicably, they burned. And when I say burned, I mean each and every one of those damn things was a tiny, hard, carbonized pebble. And the whole house smelled like burned beans. If you've never smelled burned beans before, consider yourself lucky. It was terrible.

But it ended up being fortuitous, because I moved on to another plan, which was the traditional "everything soup." I have to write this down now, because I'll be pissed if I forget it.

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Phunbaba
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Nov. 10th, 2007 @ 09:45 am Recipe Request
So I'm buying a thermos this weekend, which is super exciting because it means I'll be able to have hot soup every day. The problem, of course, is that I have exactly zero good soup recipes. It doesn't have to be simple or uncomplicated, but I do prefer that the ingredients be fairly non-exotic and relatively inexpensive.

Email your favorite soup recipe to me! ebwatson@gmail.com

Yay soup!
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knitting
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Nov. 5th, 2007 @ 08:20 am The end of something else altogether.
So I sit here on my last day at my job, last day before my new job, and I'm slightly panicky because the coworker I've been training for the last two weeks, and is far from ready to take over for me, has been ordered to focus on her normal duties today, in a cruel twist of fate. I need her here, dammit! I have never before left a job so unprepared for its next victim before, and I have a strange sense of disconnected open-endedness. I'm trying not to give a shit, though, really.

Anyway, I really like most of my coworkers so this is a pretty bittersweet day for me. It strikes me as incredibly touching then that today's xkcd is so very fitting.
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Phunbaba
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Nov. 1st, 2007 @ 01:51 pm (no subject)
We had so much fun on Halloween this year! Work was actually a blast - we had a costume competition and over half the employees dressed in costume (this is a pretty big deal for this crowd). (WARNING: This post is image-laden.)

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Phunbaba
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Oct. 29th, 2007 @ 07:55 am I'm sold
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Phunbaba
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Oct. 22nd, 2007 @ 03:19 pm Here we go again...
Let's see if this works any better:

Scanning checks for the Gifts & Donations department at Southern Methodist University full-time for the next four months. No dress code, encouraged to wear headphones since the work is so monotonous. Very little human contact, just the mild threat of tendonitis from performing the same motions over and over. Do this for $18/hour, with 40 hours of overtime in December and January. Oh, and a full week off for Christmas.

Four to six months of this should be good. (Actually, that's all it'll be, since this is just a temp job anyway.)

Wish me luck.
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Hired!
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Oct. 20th, 2007 @ 04:32 am (no subject)
Chuck's grandfather just died. He's flying down to San Antonio in a few hours. He'll be gone for four days.
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Phunbaba
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Oct. 15th, 2007 @ 08:57 am Way to get right to the point.
"In civil law, life isn't priceless. A certain amount of death or injury is considered reasonable if preventing it seems unreasonably expensive."

Ah, Joseph Reiner, Esq., author of my Torts textbook, God bless you for saying what we've all been thinking for years.

I'm beginning to see why tort law is so damn popular.
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Phunbaba
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Oct. 10th, 2007 @ 02:52 pm Clever Halloween Costume Ideas
Old Testament God

REQUIREMENTS:
* Omnipotence

Smite at random.
Smite for fun.
Smite for smiting's sake.
Spread locusts.


New Testament God

REQUIREMENTS:
* Tolerance for everyone who is exactly like you

Forgive all.

Except Jews, Muslims, Gays, Communists, George Clooney, witches, left-handed people, Buddhists, Hindus, the roster of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks, and the woman who says, "You have no new voice mail messages" on your cell phone.

Smite them.
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Phunbaba
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Oct. 1st, 2007 @ 09:03 am My 30 Day Experiment
So because I'm kind of a masochist, I'm planning on spending no more than $30 on myself for food for roughly the entire month of October. I will be chronicling the entire process on the following blog:

www.onedollaroneday.blogspot.com

I appreciate your comments.

Wish me luck!
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super grover
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Sep. 18th, 2007 @ 10:08 am Ha ha ha.
Current Location: work
http://www.omg-law.com/
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Now Hiring
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Sep. 13th, 2007 @ 01:30 pm Jacked from [info]monica
1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.

2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.

3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.

4. Post the top ten results, and ...


1. Planner
2. Legal Secretary
3. Auditor
4. Management Consultant
5. Federal Agent
6. Economic Development Officer
7. Corporate/Commercial Lawyer
8. Building Inspector
9. Lobbyist
10. Politician
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Now Hiring
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Sep. 13th, 2007 @ 09:24 am I'm SO SMART
Current Location: work
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: None
Tags: , ,
I got a 100% on my "Critical Thinking" test! Yaay! I'm a critical thinker!

The average difficulty level of a question on that test can be summed up by the following ACTUAL test question:

Events that lead to a certain effect are considered a(n):
a) reason
b) argument
c) cause
d) opinion

NOT joking.
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Tricorder
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Sep. 10th, 2007 @ 08:17 am Bad Feeling
Current Mood: nervous
Tags: , , , , , , ,
Have you ever walked into a situation and immediately felt uncomfortable being there? This happened this morning when I walked over to my coworker's desk, and he was sitting there staring at his desk incredulously. Before I could ask what was wrong, he informed me that this was not how he'd left his desk on Friday; not only had things been gone through and rearranged, a huge stack of information he'd been working on last week had been completely removed. When he unlocked his computer, he discovered that someone had tried many times to log in and were unsuccessful.

With all the whispers of a big layoff coming (rumors partially substantiated by the "letting go" of our top salesman), I'm fairly convinced, as is my coworker, that this is likely to be his last week here.

It's getting pretty scary. This place is collapsing like a flan in a cupboard.
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Phunbaba
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Sep. 7th, 2007 @ 02:18 pm Does this Rock or Not?
Current Mood: bouncy
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Why WIC Rocks

1) They were nice to my kids. The play area in the waiting room was great.
2) They were efficient, organized, and helpful.
3) They did not ask probing, annoying, or offensive questions.
4) Nine free gallons of milk a month. Eight free cans of juice concentrate. A free jar of peanut butter. A free pound of beans. Two dozen eggs. Two pounds of cheese. And a cute nutritional instructional video called "Zobey Looks for a Rainbow."

Why Checking My Email at Work Does Not Rock

1) Family members send me scathing, annoying, disorganized, and/or lame emails that disrupt my entire day.

Law & Order marathon this weekend. If anyone can save me, Jack McCoy can.
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Phunbaba
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Sep. 6th, 2007 @ 08:49 am (no subject)
Current Location: work
Current Mood: irritated
Tags: , , , , ,
After four pages of the 150-page Mod entitled "How the Law Works" the author breaks to say: "You're beginning to see that the US legal system is complicated." In spite of the fact that the author is completely right, I still feel that 150 pages is insufficient to explain How the Law really works.

In other news, my company is collapsing like a flan in a cupboard. Employees are fleeing like rats from a sinking ship, and I'm beginning to think maybe I should jump on the bandwagon myself. I know, bandwagons are evil. And I know still that if I stick it out, it's entirely possible that nothing will happen to my position and I'll still have it for as long as I want. But the truth is, I don't know if anyone can do anything to make me not loathe this place. Are there, in fact, any changes that could be made by upper management to give me a sense of loyalty or even vague interest in the future of this company? I just don't know.

I do know, however, that if someone were to come to me and say, "Hey there, if you were interested we might have a six month contract position with a law firm/legal department of a major corporation that would get you some experience, pay you comparably, and would be over cleanly just before you move to San Antonio, how about it?" I'd be all over that like a bad suit.
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Phunbaba
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Aug. 23rd, 2007 @ 09:16 am And by the way
Why is everyone so hell-bent on stereotyping people? Why must every single person in this world fit into some confining category that predicts their every move? Why does there have to be some magical "profile" to fit everyone, what the fuck ever happened to someone just being a person, who makes their own decisions, and can surprise people? Are we so desperate for control that we absolutely have to cram everyone in our lives into this little mold of what we think they should be? Some people do it by race, some by astrology, some by gender, some by hair color. Why does everyone have to be easily defined? Why can't we all just be people?

Anyone who has bothered to get to know my husband beyond the initial meeting (which is always a little weird, admittedly) knows the strength of his character, the love he has for his family. To my knowledge, they know where his humility lies, his self-sacrifice. They know that he sees straight to the core of almost every situation and isn't afraid to be honest (even if he has to be a little cruel). Once a person is my husband's friend, they don't want to stop being his friend.

But hey, sure. Meet him for the first time, see that he's a gamer and he likes to drink beer and play pool and hear the jokes he tells about his laziness. See the way he obsesses over the stereo equipment and talks for hours about the "console wars." Then assume for the rest of your life that he's a slacker, or a thug, or an asshole, or whatever the fuck else you want to think. Just don't fucking talk to me about your surface observations. If you didn't bother to dig a little deeper, then you have no right to say anything to me about your bullshit concerns. Get off your high fucking horse and do some god damned research before you start mouthing off.

GOD. I'm so fucking angry.
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Phunbaba
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Jul. 27th, 2007 @ 01:01 pm Found Dog


I was so pissed when Chuck told me he wanted to take care of this dog for a couple days until we found his owner. I was so pissed when he put down one of our towels for the dog to sleep on, and when he used some of our nice bowls to feed him. I was so pissed that the dog was scratching on the door and whining ALL NIGHT LONG.

So why, now that a neighbor has agreed to take him in and take care of him, do I feel so fucking sad?
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Phunbaba
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Jul. 16th, 2007 @ 08:26 am (no subject)
1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random. Whatever you like.

2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.

5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

Here are my questions from [info]quixotic:

1. what is the cutest thing your children have done in the past week?
Last night, I was doing some crunches while we were watching a movie, and my daugher ran over to me to see what I was doing. I told her I was exercising, so she lay down next to me and started trying to mimic me. She got tired really fast, and after she'd done about three, she said, "Are we done YET?" and I said "Yes, you are." She said, "YAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!" and ran away as fast as she could. Also, my son looks/acts EXACTLY like Curious George.
2. what color of highlighter is your favorite?
You know, I've never really thought about it. But now that you ask, I guess I usually go for green first. I know I don't like yellow or pink.
3. grocery bags -- paper, plastic, or other?
I like the feel of paper bags better, because their heftier and sturdier and stuff, but I really miss the handles and flexibility of plastic. That said, I don't actually think I shop at places that offer paper bags anymore.
4. if you could know any one detail about the future right now, what would you want to know?
That's a good question. I'm scared of that kind of knowledge. So I guess I'd like to know if the last three Spider-Man movies are going to suck balls.
5. if you were forced to live in a country other than the united states, where would you live? England.
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Phunbaba
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