Gasp! ...A Blog?

So there was this one time that I used to blog every day. It was amazing and I always had something to say. Remember this one time? Yea, I can't either. Because I have only blogged once in A MONTH!! That is almost enough to put me in jail or something. I don't understand. I guess it's just that at the end of the day [when I end up doing most of my blogging], whether it be a boring-on-autopilot day or one full of crazy stories and definitely blog worthy, I get home and just kick back and doze off. Please explain this to me. I don't even know where I last left off on my previous blog! [*Opens in a new tab; thanks IE7!*]

Alright so here's updating on the last blog and I'll do a real blog after.

As far as the returning-drinks-for-free-ones goes, we haven't had much more of a problem since my last blog [13 days ago; shame shame shame]. About a week ago I had a woman bring back two 12oz hot drinks a few hours after getting them saying that instead of one shot in each, there was two in one and none in the other. They were obviously only missing the initial "Whaaaaat the..?!" drinks and we remade them for free. And yesterday I had a man bring back a 12oz eggnog latte, say "Can I trade this for a new one?" and claim that it was "too thick." I suggested cutting it with milk to make it not so thick and he agreed to give it a shot. I brought the finished drink to him, he gave me the money for it and drove off. Apparently he just didn't want his old one anymore. But those are the only two semi-remotely "want a free drink" post-blog scenarios.

Our work party went pretty well! Only three people didn't show up [which apparently was a great turnout compared to previous years] but it was due to the weather [which I will get to in a minute]. We ate our appetizers, played bingo for prizes [everyone got a prize, but we played to see who would get prizes in what order and such] and then drew numbers to see who would get the extra three prizes [sorry to those who didn't go, but that was part of the party!]. My bingo prize was a make-up utensil set with different brushes for liners, blush, shadows, and lashes, a mirror, a cute utensil cup to put them in, and a little traveler bag for them all. Mind you, I wrapped all the presents and remembered which most of them were and I spotted that one when it was my turn. Cheating? I don't think so. Plus, I needed a brush for my eyebrows. I'm sorry; I am NOT going back to the pre-sixth-grade bushy caterpillars perched above my eyes, and I needed a brush for trimming and making them look pretty. I was doing the world a favour by picking out a gift I knew. And I was also one of the three that won prizes out of the second round of prizes [NOT cheating to win!] and of the three left, I knew what two of them were and I already had two in the house [a 20 Questions handheld game--lost in the tree room-- and a Hangman handheld game--on the back of the toilet with Yahtzee!] so I picked the third one and it ended up being a set of massager tools [the wooden ones with wheels and such]. Kailey wanted one so I gave her one I already had, a reflexology roller bar that came with a reflexology kit I got at a bargain price at Borders. After games and gifts, we had spaghetti [delish!] and Secret Santa exchange. The girl who had me couldn't make it, and the girl I had couldn't make it either; par! So I watched everyone else open their gifts and I brought mine back to the stand for the recipient to pick up when she worked next [still there, Miss Caitlin! Get your butt to work PRONTO!]. We left shortly after the gift exchange and called it a night. Pretty fun little get together! I got my gift from my Secret Santa [Jeena!]: a delicious candy cane, cream colored slippers, and green plaid pajama bottom! A-MAZING! Have been wearing them every night!

I haven't been drinking my Americanos lately because I'm feeling more of a juice / water [I know!] / non-espresso thirst. I've been drinking Cranberry-Grape XS Energy Drinks on ice and they are pretty fricken good. Well, the first half of the drink is; the second half is all watered down and non-carbonated. Nasty! And I did try a new drink: an Italian Cream Soda made with our fruit smoothie mix instead of syrup, at the suggestion of our manager. Verdict: amazing!

Andrew and I opened our main Christmas presents early, as you already know, but we thought about it and all three of our schedules [his, Sam's, and mine] would conflict on Christmas Eve Eve, Eve, and Day, so we opened our presents and stockings last night [I KNOW!!]. I got lots of fun goodies including lots of socks, FIVE... count 'em... FIVE seasons of TV on DVD [Lost 1-3, The Office 4, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 3], tons of one of my favourite candies [Rafaello--a coconut and almond treat!], lots of knick-knacks, TONS of colored Sharpees [both thick AND thin tips], a sweet centerpiece vase with candle holders going around it, a dual paper cutter [a slider cutter as well as a guillotine side], and a sweet hat! With my Elliptical Machine in my room and Chi Straightener on it's way here, I'd say it was a pretty successful Christmas!!

Moses and Murphy got treats and toys in their stockings and they have been tearing up everything ever since! Murphy got a winter jacket that should have fit him but doesn't velcro like it should [my baby's growing up so fast!] but he wears it like a vest and love-love-LOVES it! And I'm not just saying that like the owners of those silly toy dogs that dress up in tutus and such; he actually enjoys being in coats and sweaters [as long as they aren't too big].

I rebooted my computer system the destructive way [don't know why it sounded so scary before, but it really seemed to help out everything! No more viruses, thank you!] and everything is smooth again. But when I tried to comment someone on MySpace TWICE and started to blog on here but couldn't unless it was on the HTML setting on my phone, I got kinda ticked. Which is why I am on my computer doing this [I also wouldn't want to be using that tiny little keyboard to type all of this... no thanks!].

I almost had a chance to blog a huge blog while I was waiting in my car at a red light tonight. Let's get into why this was almost possible. A week and a half ago on a Saturday, it started snowing. I can't remember the last time it truly snowed in our area, but it was so long ago that everyone was freaking out and calling it a "BLIZZARD!" I worked a 4am-10am and a 4pm-10pm that day, allowing for the morning customers to say, "Nah, it won't snow!" and allowing for the evening customers to literally throw snowballs into the stand while I make their hot cocoas. It was an odd day. I drove home on the boulevard, providing for a basically straight shot with no scary turns in the fresh snow. The next morning, I had Andrew drive me with his truck because it had snowed about eight inches and none of the roads were plowed. I think our town needs to get its act together and get prepared for these kind of weather changes. It was forcasted as a snow storm and when it came, no one was ready. Then all of a sudden, all stores in the three surrounding towns are sold out of snow shovels, ice scrapers, and snow toys. There are chains on every other car, people sliding around on the slush in the intersections, and me in my low-clearance 2001 Nissan Sentra scraping the middle pile of waste in the lanes where the tires don't ride and barely making it into the work parking lot because of the nasty "sidewalks"; thanks construction workers for conveniently working to tear up everything and cancel all work a few days before the storm was even predicted. Thanks.

So anyway, my big thing was having to go to stores for everyday things like groceries or batteries or what not because A.) Christmas shoppers are nut jobs on crack, B.) apparently this town is the shopping hub of the county and everyone in the world decides to start driving all at once to go to the exact spot I need to go to, taking the exact back roads and everything, and C.) the extreme weather provides for idiots who think they can either drive like it's completely sunny and snow-free or drive like there is five feet of ICE everywhere and go one mile-per-hour on a busy street, blocking all traffic because he or she is a pansy. I went to get a regular customer a gift today and was going to go to GoodWill to get some books [because I've been into reading more and more lately] and I had to go to GoodWill first because the line to turn into the place I was going to get the gift at was the same line to turn to get to... guess where? ...WalMart.

WalMart. Now there's a blog of it's own. Did you know that out of the top ten richest people in the entire world, numbers five through ten are all Sam Walton's grandchildren, who didn't do ANYTHING BUT GET BORN?!?!?!? They are worth BILLIONS of dollars because of their grandfather, make up HALF of the top ten richest people in the world, and they didn't do diddly squat. I can hardly afford my bills and my outrageous Christmas shopping, and they can wipe their asses with gold-plated toilet paper. Not fair to those who actually have to make a living. Whatever though. I wouldn't complain if I was a Walton. But then again, I would have a live-in masseuse who would be massaging my lower back because the left side is hurting so incredibly fiercely that yesterday during my 12-hour shift, every 20 minutes I had to stop what I was doing, hold my back, and breathe deeply.

Anyway, so I went to GoodWill and got a ton of books! Of these is a cook book, Alive [the book before the movie], The Lovely Bones [which I've heard nothing but good things about], and basically a bunch of either murder mysteries or comedic romances. I'm reading The Lonely Girls Club right now about a group of girls who know a secret about their murdered headmistress and 20 years later it risks exposure. I am about 3/4 of the way done and I still don't have a clue who killed her, but there is a little bit of sexual tension, and if I had a period of time where I had no other obligations or tendencies to fall asleep [not due to the book], I wouldn't be able to put it down!

After here I was going to swing by and get pizza and go home, no big deal, right? Yea, everyone on the roads is still stupid. I saw at least four different heavy duty SUVs and trucks with old and rickety people driving and an adult in his or her late twenties to late thirties in the passenger seat. This is not okay with me. There is an age where you should stop driving and OLD is where it's at. Get someone else to drive you, ESPECIALLY if that someone else that could be driving is sitting in the passenger seat!

Ahhh! Oh, and the main point about me grumbling about weather and traffic was to explain that I had to go to Haggen to get some parsley for my Salmon Bites that I was going to make for my family's Christmas Eve get together [and I just realized I might not have enough tortillas... go me for being prepared!] and on the way TO the store, I passed a row of 15 vehicles waiting for a green light to leave Haggen. When I went to LEAVE the store, I ended up in that same line waiting for ten minutes for the light to change. The line ended up going around the curve and back up into the Haggen parking lot by the time the light changed to green. And only seven cars were allowed through at that light change. Stupid idiots with the traffic controls.

Ugh! Well, I'm about burnt out on blogging right now. I didn't blog about going sledding / tubing and I didn't blog about Christmas bonuses or the fact that we now own Twins and I am super excited to watch it all the time, but maybe I'll get into it next time.

But probably not. I need to go make some Salmon Bites and if I don't have enough tortillas, venture out into the world yet again. Cross your fingers and wish me luck!

A Listy Blog

This is a little unacceptable; not blogging in over two weeks?! Let's see if anything new and exciting has happened.

Work:

Work has been pretty alright. I have been working so much and covering so many shifts that two weeks ago, I finally got three days off in a row [like I'm scheduled to have every week] and it was pretty amazing. I am in the middle of another three days off in a row and it is filled with errands and fun things to do.

We did, however, run into a little bit of a problem scenario with customers trying to rip us off. At PacSun, the policy was to always make sure the customer was happy. If he or she threw a bitch fit because we wouldn't return their dirty and worn sneakers without a receipt or a box, we would end up giving them some kind of credit for it and they would get their way. Last Sunday around 7:00 in the morning, a man walked up to Jackie's window and his wife pulled up beside him in the car. He shouted, "We made it!" which doesn't really make any kind of logical sense to shout out to complete strangers. He ordered himself and his wife two 24oz hot mochas. Jackie rang them up because they were at her window and I made the drinks at my station. Note, I made them exactly how I make any of my 24oz hot mochas. I have constantly been trying to produce the best tasting coffee drinks and compared to how I was doing it in the past, I have definitely found a way to combat the bitter taste of the weirdly-timed and un-fixable espresso shots. By not leaving a whole lot of space between the time you pour your shots in and the time you pour at least a little bit of steamed milk in, the shots will not lose their rich flavour. With 24oz coffee drinks, three shots go into each one. With two heads on each machine, you can only pull four shots at a time. The two drinks required a total of six shots, meaning there was going to be another time gap between the time I put the four shots in until the time the last two shots were added to the cups. I stirred the two shots in each drink to melt the chocolate, added a splash of milk to each to prevent the bitter taste from arriving, and pulled two more shots. I finished the drink like normal and handed them to Jackie to give to the customer. I started cleaning my utensils so that everything would be ready for the next customer and I saw the customers drive away. Jackie asked me, "Did you see that?" "What?" "They started making out through the window." Mind you, this couple was in their 40s and extremely unattractive. To each his own, I guess, but PDA is something I am not really all about and it grosses me out to see people going at it. "Good thing I didn't see it," I say back and we went about our business.

About a half an hour later, the man backed his car up to my window [odd enough as it is] and said to me, "I need to talk to you about those mochas you made about a half hour ago." "Alright..." "They were completely undrinkable!" "...I'm sorry, what?" "The coffee tasted bitter, the milk was completely burnt, it was absolutely disgusting, and I want my money back." Knowing that this man's claim was completely false, I offered [like we always do] to remake the mochas for him. "I don't want another disgusting drink, I want my money back!" I tried to calm him down and explained, "I'm not sure exactly how to do something like that but I will give my manager a call and see if she can walk me through it." I walked to the back, picked up the phone, called Honora, and explained the situation. She said to just pull the correct amount of cash out of the drawer and give it to him, writing down on my shift report AND the complaint log what happened with the dollar amount logged. So this is what I do. I pulled out the $9.07, handed it to him, and said, "I'm sorry about that," to which he replied, "Call it a learning experience," and sped off. Jackie asked me what was going on and I told her what happened. She said, "Are you kidding? He handed his wife the drink through the window and she started chugging it. Then he got in the car and she chugged it as they pulled away."

The thing that bothered me the most was his final comment, "Call it a learning experience." Because, apparently, I don't know how to make coffee or something.

Honora called back a couple hours later to find out what ended up happening. I told her everything, including what Jackie said about his wife drinking the drink as she sped away, and she asked if I had taken the drinks back. "I didn't know I was supposed to!" She said that if it were more than 1/4 gone to never give a refund and that we're not supposed to do refunds anyway. I told her what he said before he sped off and she said, "WHAT AN ASSHOLE!!" So I was upset over the whole situation all day and about eight hours later or so, I got a call from Jackie, who was doing a double, saying that another man wanted a refund. Turns out, he got a drink for his wife, brought it home to her, and she didn't like the way it tasted, so they came back and demanded a refund. A few days earlier, something happened to Kailey when a customer ordered a blended mocha and after drinking a lot of it, came back for a refund because they didn't like the ice cream base.

So we are going to seriously crack down on these refunders and kick 'em in the nuts. "In the nuuuuuuuuts!"

And my drink of choice right now has been an Iced Americano with white chocolate powder, hardly any ice--just enough to make it cold, and about 3/4 of an inch or so of cream. Oh, and Toddy shots. Heaven.

Our work Christmas Party is going down in a little over a week. I wrapped all the gifts last night and it's looking like it's going to be a splendid time! I can't wait to see what happens!


Home:

So Andrew and I both got our big Christmas presents early. I have been trying to use the elliptical every day but knowing how HARD it works my body out even on the easiest level makes it hard to keep getting back on it! I love love LOVE using it and I am so so so super thankful that I have it, I just need to MAKE myself get on it every day. It is such a wonderful thing to have and I am so lucky to have one!

Andrew's plasma cutter has provided for some extreme motivation to work on his car projects more and more. He cut up an old tool box that he blew up on the 4th of July and is making a decorative mantle piece with trees, a snowman, and a sleigh. It is looking really good! I love that he is so crafty. He also started up again with his glass etching and he etched a picture of Murphy onto a glass cup for me. What a craftster!

My computer has been experiencing some extremely annoying things, like my virus protection claiming it's out-of-date, pop up windows for virus protection that I did NOT click on, slow loading speeds, the keyboard not reading up correctly to the monitor [typing this blog has been a real trial this time...], and many many many instances of frozen programs. I don't get it! Looks like it's time to reboot the system YET AGAIN! Good LORD! If I have to keep doing this, the motherboard is going to be fried and I won't have a system LEFT to reboot! Ahhh! Someone who knows a LOT about computers and this kind of thing should seriously come help me out. I'll hemp them a cool necklace in return. Or make them pizza bites.

I have been trying to read more and more and with the huge book selection at my folks' place, I will grab a random book and start reading it. The one I was first trying to read was the one I started on my flight back home from California, the book with Jennifer Crusie and some other guy writing together. I still couldn't get into it and I just KNOW it's because it's not just her writing. Ahhh! So then I picked up a book at my folks' place called Carrie Pilby and it has been a slow read so far. It's about a girl who is completely anti-social and her therapist has been trying to get her to change her ways, so it's a book I can relate to, without the therapist part. There was a part in it where he has her make a list of things that she loves and after she does, he tells her to pick at least one thing a week and make it happen. Last night, I made my own little list but didn't include family, friends, Andrew, or animals, because those would be on there without a doubt and I make these things happen almost every day! So far I have the following things:

-Floating in water
-Taking backroads and listening to soft music
-Spaghetti
-Pink clouds
-Blankets
-Reading a book I can't put down
-Giving someone something they really wanted
-The moment that I'm done cleaning
-A freshly rebooted computer system

My list is so odd compared to hers:

-Cherry soda
-Street sounds
-My bed
-The green-blue hue of an indoor pool
-Starfish
-The Victorians
-Rainbow sprinkles
-Rain during the day (makes it easier to sleep)

The therapist also says something about always having five things that you are looking forward to. I've heard something like this before, but more like "having one thing in the next week that you are looking forward to." Either way, I am looking forward to:

-Christmas and giving everyone their presents
-The work Christmas party and all of it's food and fun
-Seeing a movie with Jeena!
-Working on Christmas Eve and Christmas
-Going to the casino for my birthday this year

But most importantly, I am looking forward to eating something because I am STARVED and am in need of sustenance. Plus, I can't stand this keyboard any longer, I want to put all my files onto discs and reboot my system, and I want to finish the book I'm reading and start another one.

...and I want an Iced White Chocolate Americano, STAT!

Some Disturbing Images

I'm sick of MySpace. No, it's not drama. No, it's not spam or anything. It's the advertising. I understand that the media has a huge hold over what people these days consider "fat" or "overweight," but literally, EVERY SINGLE PAGE I LOADED had an advertisement of some weight loss program of sorts:
































So basically, I'm annoyed. And disgusted. But the most disturbing image of all came in my Junk E-Mail folder today:


...wow.

Lead the Way

So I actually have something to blog about! Being a Lead Barista means taking care of business, especially when that business requires $50 paid-outs and dealing with phone calls from corporate offices. With the paid-out situation I am thinking of, I got a back-room "build-a-cabinet" for our manager that she wanted so that A.) there would be more room for storage, and B.) so that the fax machine wasn't seven feet up on a shelf, no exaggeration. So I got it, the ClosetMaid 2 Door Organizer:




No big deal. I pretended it was an elliptical and followed the instructions TO THE TEE. I separated the wood pieces and the tiny accessory bits in alphabetical order according to the instruction booklet so that when the time came to use piece F on wood part B, I would know what it meant. I started hammering and piecing together everything and when it came time to do Step Four, I started scratching my head.


Does anyone else notice something weird about the placement of the magnetic squares verses the knob hole on the cabinet door to the right? I laughed because I am assuming that the designer of this instruction booklet thought he or she could save time by just somehow flipping the other image before adding the magnetic square, but forgot to before sending it to the printers. So I drilled the hole for the left cabinet door and did the same for the right cabinet door.

...the exact same.

I ended up with a drilled hole in the wrong spot on the cabinet door. I shouldn't have laughed at the drawing because I ended up putting it basically in the exact spot it showed. So much for following the instructions TO THE TEE. Thank goodness it was on the inside. No one's going to notice a hole on the inside of a cabinet door... right?

...right?




So after fixing this hilarious mistake, I make my way to Step Five.


I didn't mess this one up; this is probably because it actually came with pre-drilled holes for the knobs.

And now to Step Six.


So I thought I was missing this huge piece of wood called "G" but apparently everyone in the world but me knows that the back of a cabinet is simply a thick piece of paper NAILED to it! Oh, and did I mention it's an un-even piece of paper? It's like this on both sides:


Perfect. So I nailed it as best as I could--paper to wood-- and then went to put the cabinet doors on, only to discover that I accidentally put the bottom part of the cabinet upside down [LIKE AN IDIOT] so that the wood side was facing up on the inside and the finished side was touching the ground. That meant that A.) there were no "holes" for the "hinges" to stick into, B.) I had to flip it over, and C.) this meant taking out some of the nails... that are in PAPER. So I ended up ripping the paper, unscrewing the bottom part, flipping it over, and re-nailing it as best as possible to the piece of wood. Still was un-even, but now had rips in it. No one looks at the back of a cabinet...

...do they?

After fixing my mistake [which I came to realize was shown correctly in the image on the booklet... surprisingly], I put the cabinet doors in and took a look at my masterpiece:


After fixing my mistake and the mistakes of the designer, and putting it together EXACTLY how it was described, the doors didn't end up being level and now look like horseshit.

I was so proud.

At least now we can use the fax machine without being on a rickety ladder. Oh, that is if you make sure to plug in the phone line CORRECTLY when you move it down and not sit there for at least a half an hour dialing the vendor's number and wondering why it's not going through [oops!].

Yay me!

As for the second situation described earlier, I got to work today to learn that our computers were down, no credit, debit, or gift cards could be processed, and only one register was working for cash only. After talking to our manager for about 45 minutes, I finally understood what had happened but couldn't understand how to fix it. We went through stuff with the modem, the back computer, both registers, rebooting and re-plugging in all of them, and after all of that, ended up with the conclusion that no register should be touched so that it could "think" and fix itself.

Free drinks for everyone.

Finally, around 3:30 in the afternoon [a half hour before I'm supposed to leave], I get in touch with our corporate systems guy and tell him what's going on. We walk through stuff on the computer and he tells me he'll call me back. A DIFFERENT guy from the same corporate system place calls and asks what's going on. I talk to him and he says to call corporate to get a password from the CEO.

...from the CEO.

So I call and talk to the CEO's assistant, she says she'll call me back with the password [after trying like five different ones with different combinations of CAPS LOCK and regular], and I get another phone call from yet ANOTHER guy from the same corporate system place asking me what's going on. This guy talks me through everything and we get it fixed completely. All we had to do was delete some files and restart the computer again. Sounds simple, right? Well, it really did help to delete those files because they were

45 GIGABYTES IN SIZE!
I don't know if you know anything about computers, but my entire computer is about three times that. So it was like deleting 1/3 of my computer's entire file storage capacity. I only have about 57 GB of used space on here... and I have a LOT of stuff on here. How ridiculous is that?? So as my shift ended, we fixed the crisis and ended the day of free drinks.

Yay me!

After work I swung by Sears to check out the ellipticals. I tried them out, talked to the lady working there about different features, and decided on the Nordic Track E5 Si, which is going on sale on Black Friday:


The one on the right. No big deal. And Andrew's going to get his Hobart 250A Plasma Cutter:


No big deal.

So now I've got two days off and then I'm working Thanksgiving, Black Friday, doing a double Saturday and Sunday, work Monday, and have the 2nd off. These two days HAVE to be the most relaxing days EVER. I will have to take a long and hot bubble bath, play lots with the dogs, spend all of Wednesday with Andrew doing something extra fun [his day off too], and eat lots of junk food. I'll have it to remember during the work week.

Happy Shopping, ya'll! [And P.S. ... I found this neat website, BFAds.net, and yes, they have Black Friday ads already. Might be where I got the price for the soon-to-be-"my" elliptical. Might be where I looked at WalMart's ads EARLY, before they were even posted on the WalMart website. No big deal].

Eleven Days... An Update?

Eleven days is a long enough break from Blogger. I'm not quite sure why I haven't blogged sooner, but let's see if I can't update on what's going on in my life.

Andrew and I "exchanged" Christmas gifts early because we couldn't wait to tell each other. I am getting him this bad boy. It's a Plasma Cutter and it will make working on his cars super easy and fun! And he's getting me a Chi straightener and an elliptical. I'm gonna look secksi with super straight hair! Yay! And this way I'll actually get back into shape because, as you may have guessed, I still haven't gone to the gym.

Surprised? Thought so.

Andrew also bribed Sam with some delicious burgers so that he could have his Christmas present early; it worked. We now have Mario Kart for the Wii on the video screen at all times. Let me tell you: using the wheel is way harder than it looks. Over-correcting is something that you have to avoid! Something that you have to practice... until 2:00 in the morning... every morning.

Work has been okay. Made an organized binder to help keep all ordering, cleaning tasks, specialty drink recipes, and other miscellaneous stuff in a neat place, hired a new girl for the weekend graveyard shift, and I requested my birthday off [21, here I come! I don't really care about drinking, but you WILL see me at the casino! Cha CHING!!]. Learned how to make a blended flavoured lemonade, found out that we are going to need some new flavours in stock, and learned a sweet new drink: the Black and White Mint Macchiato. I haven't tried it, but I made it with Rochelle and she loved it.

How to make an iced one:
-Use the regular amount of Peppermint Syrup for whatever size drink you are making.
-Add ice
-Add milk
-In a separate cup, mix about 3/4 the amount of Chocolate Sauce and 3/4 the amount of White Chocolate Powder.
-In this cup, add espresso shots and stir thoroughly.
-Pour espresso/chocolate mixture on top of the iced drink
-Enjoy!

I don't understand the concept of a stacked Macchiato though. I mean, a lot of people order it that way, but--coming from someone who hasn't tried it--it doesn't sound all that appetizing. "Hello sip of syrup! Hello milk! Hello coffee! Hello syrup!" etc. I would rather have it all mixed and be saying, "Hello Heaven!" ...but that's just me.

I haven't tried White Chocolate Sauce yet, so I don't know if it's as appetizing with that substituted for the White Chocolate Powder. Actually, I don't really try all that much stuff. I'll just drink hot or iced tea, hot or blended chai, or a blended Caramello Mocha with Toddy shots. No switching it up, ever.

...Is that really all that has happened in eleven days? I know I got sick and am now feeling better, I got a tea pot and have been drinking tea regularly, got a food chopper and a food slicer, and a refresher of chips [Spicy Nacho Doritos and Hickory BBQ from Lays]. That's it! Have a good day!

Rebuttal

So in a nice way, someone commented on my last blog saying I had turned into a "snobby barista." By all means, everyone has their own opinions and freedom to express them to me and to anyone else without recourse, but I just want to set the record straight.

I am not a snobby barista. I am not a snobby person. I am super nice, loads of fun, and 99% of the time have an energetic and upbeat attitude [minus the 1% because nobody's perfect]. I enjoy my job soooo soso much that I can't even explain it so that anyone can fully understand. It's not about the money; if it was, I wouldn't be there. Yes, on an okay day when you add the minimum wage and the tips made, I would have made more than my previous job, but weekly I am scheduled 16 hours less here than there. With my rent going up $200 and my phone bill going up at least $20, the wage decrease and loss of hours kind of prove that it's not about money.

The only stresses at my job are when there is a shortage of something, be it cups or flavours or what have you. When you have to improvise and make alternative suggestions and decisions, especially when it's busy, it's kind of stressful. But with the recent promotion and comparing it to corporate bullshit at PacSun, the stress level is slim to none. If I had any gray hairs, the color has been reversed with the change in stress level.

I still am excited to go to work everyday [and would work everyday if I could because it's so fun and I thoroughly enjoy it] and I get excited to make the customers' drinks, regardless of their attitudes and behaviours toward me. My all time favourite is still making Iced Americanos when you pour in the cream-- so beautiful! I have been working at measuring the exact amount of milk to steam based on drink size, extra or less shots, whipping cream or not, etc. And I've been working at making it so that there are no left-overs with blended drinks. Perfecting what I love is what I do...

...and that's not something a snob would do, right?

The only reason that I blog about the weird customers is just that: they are w-e-i-r-d!!! I won't write a blog about the nice customer that opens up and tells you his or her life story and everytime they pull through you chit chat for at least ten minutes before making their drink [that you know by heart because you actually care about personalizing the experience as much as possible] because it's personal. If someone is a jackass and extremely rude and I want to vent about it, that's when I open up a New Post. This doesn't mean I'm a snob. A snob would be rude back to the jackass, and regardless of how rude the customer was, I would never EVER be rude back. Fight fire with love.

Not a snobby thing to do, right??

I just figured I would voice a response that wasn't snobby to show that however I seem to be on the Internet is not how I am in person, let alone in the window of the stand. I am blogging from a car on the way to our corporate meeting and am getting sick. Didn't help that I ate the stick of my lollipop and now have a disgusting taste in my mouth. ...I'm done.

3 Customer Stories + 1 Promotion

Today I made $10 in tips. It's not like it was an abnormally slow day [pretty slow, but not as dead as some days] and literally, Shelley and I SPLIT $20. I guess it's kind of a good thing that we only have one machine to use because we would be wasting our time cleaning it near the end of every shift. I did get an interesting phone call today when it was semi-busy [aka "when we had a customer"]. It was from our manager asking if I wanted the Lead Barista position.

Exhale. The wait is finally over!

Basically it means that both Shelley and I [the two leads] will get $1.00/hr raise and after 60 days will get $1.50. I'm not sure if it means TOTAL $1.50 over what we're making now or if it's an ADDITIONAL $1.50 after 60 days, totalling $2.50. ...I've barely been at the stand 60 days. A little over two months and I get a promotion. Hard work really does pay off.

That and being one of only two people who applied for the two open positions.

The promotion also means that we will have more responsibility when it comes to ordering things, making decisions, keeping people on top of getting tasks done, etc. This way, we aren't constantly running out of everything. We are now almost out of Mango Jet Tea. Ahhhh!

There wasn't much activity today, other than receiving the promotion and being asked to go down south on my day off tomorrow to train with the other Leads. Yesterday on the other hand was slim pickins as well. There were two weird customers and, coincidentally, they were my first two of the day:

Customer Story 1: A 4-door sedan pulls up with four Mexicans inside. I greet them and ask what I can get started for them. They pause, look at each other confused, and then turn to me and say, "One Frappuccino." [A.) Am I wearing green? Am I the only one that didn't get the memo that "BigFoot Java" now meant "Starbucks"? If you want a robot-made "Frappuccino," go to Starbucks. If you want a delicious and delectable blended mocha, come to BigFoot Java and order it right. B.) When you order, be specific! When I hear "One Frappuccino," am I just automatically supposed to make the perfect size and the perfect amount of shots and add or not add whipping cream because I'm psychic? Like I said before, "Certified Barista" does not mean "Mind Reader."] So I have to pry details out of them. I ask, "What size?" "Sistine," [just like the chapel; sorry]. There is a pause and I ask, "Is that the only drink?" "No..." They look around at each other confused again and say, "...One Frappuccino." Once again, I have to pry details. "What size?" "Uhhh.... sistine." "Okay so we've got two 'Frappuccinos.' Anything else?" Once again, they look at each other confused and the person behind the driver peeks his head between the driver's seat and the side of the car and says, "One Mocha." And again with the details. "Do you want it hot?" "Yis." "Is this a 16 as well?" "Yis." "Okay... is there a fourth drink?" I don't even have to say what they did, and then I hear, "One Frappuccino." "Is it a 16???" "Yis." "Okay, so we have three 'Frappuccinos' and one hot Mocha, all 16s. Right?" "Yis." So I get the blender out, put the chocolate into it for the Frappuccinos Blended Mochas, put the chocolate into a 16oz. hot cup, and pour some milk into a pitcher to steam while I pulled the shots for the blended drinks. The passenger who ordered the mocha said, "Mis. Mis!" I walked over to the window and he said, "Is that hot?" "Yes..." "I wanted a cold one." It took everything I had to not scream in his face. "Okay, do you want it on ice or do you want it blended?" "Blendid." So now I have all four drinks being made in the blender. I poured them into the cups, lidded them, whipped three of them, told the customers the total, handed them two of the drinks, and they asked, "Is this the mocha?" Ahhhh!!! "All of them are the same." They all furrowed their brows as I exchanged the rest of the drinks for their money. Good lord!

Customer Story 2: An Asian man pulls up to the other window shortly after this car leaves. I walk over to it [other side of the stand that my register and the functioning machine and fridge are at] and take his order. "Iced Latte." Easy enough, but I have to pry a little. "What size?" "Trip... uhhh... a 16." "Did you want to make it a triple?" "Yea." So I have a triple 16 Iced Latte. No big deal. I made it, lidded it, rang it up, walked across the stand to his window, and told him his total. He then asks, "Can I get some Marb Reds?" Now that I'm done getting everything ready for you, you ask for more? Just ask at the beginning!! So I had to go get the cigarettes [opened a new carton from the back], re-ring the items, walk over, and tell him his new total: $10.36. He hands me a $10 bill and I ask, "Do you have 36 more cents?" "No. Do I have to pay it?" OF COURSE YOU HAVE TO PAY IT!! "Yes, I still need 36 more cents." He shuffles around and says, "I don't have anything else." I say, "We can take debit or credit cards too," and after a minute he hands me a card. Of course he doesn't tip and I'm not surprised because A.) I made his drink perfect, B.) I got him his cigarettes after he DIDN'T order them at the beginning WITHOUT being rude or anything, and C.) it took everything I had to not scream at him about the 36 cents. Sarcasm anyone?

Oh, there was a Customer Story 3 from today that I just remembered: I took this girl's order, "A 5-shot Americano with Sugar Free White Chocolate and whipping cream." I asked for the size and if it was hot or iced. "20oz. Hot." So I made it. I wanted to double check that she DIDN'T want cream and DID want whipping cream so I went to the window while I stirred in her shots, asked if it was correct, and she said, "No cream, yes whip cream, but it's iced." Honestly, she watched me make her entire drink HOT and waited until the end to say that I got the type of Americano wrong, AKA she changed her mind and blamed it on me for not reading her mind. Jeena said that the girl had done it to her before as well with another drink. Do people get off on this kind of stuff?

Who cares. I am not making coffee for anyone but myself between now and Thursday morning at 4:00am when I cover Tana's shift. And I might not even have that because my throat hurts. I drank water all day at work today to no avail. Time for some soup and a TV show, no? Lost comes tomorrow [first two discs of Season 1] so I might just watch a movie to not get into the middle of more than one thing. We finished the Harry Potters in three days, so that won't be interrupted.

Whatever. Soup time.

Americano Asshole

Today went by incredibly fast. The first two hours were super slow [of course, when I'm by myself and don't have to split tips] but after that it was mayhem! Normally this would be a welcomed change, but since I broke one of the fridges, and one of the espresso machines is broken, we had one machine and one fridge to split between the two of us [new girl--Jackie--and myself]. It was as bad as making Thanksgiving dinner in a 5th wheel with extended family crowding around. Ahhh!!

It didn't go that bad actually. There were a few moments when all the pitchers were dirty, both blenders were covered in blended mocha residue, the counters were splattered with cinnamon dust and spilt espresso, one of the portafilter heads didn't grip when necessary and its contents of coffee grounds went all over the espresso machine tray and counter, and the wind was blowing full force through the stand windows like a centralized tornado. Other than these moments, it was okay.

I see a definite improvement in Jackie's skills. She brought in the little study sheet I made for her and after a bit of quizzing, I came to realize that she had in fact been studying. I hadn't made an Iced Creamcicle until MAYBE my 20th day working, and this was about her 8th, so she definitely has the knowledge; if we had both machines working and both fridges functioning, it would have been a pretty easy day.

Our manager said the guy who comes to fix everything is going to come next week. So until he decides to show up, we will have to continue with the sharing of the machine and the fridge. This guy should really put some effort into fixing our stuff sooner. Kailey said that he hates coming to our stand because it's a very long drive for him [understandable; I wouldn't want to go somewhere 2-3 hours away from home to fix things if I didn't have to!] but if he isn't coming up sooner because he doesn't FEEL like it, then I think we need to get a new Mr. HandyMan because apparently our stand is the one with the most problems.

...a lead would know how to fix a lot of the espresso machine stuff if hired and trained, but it is now three days past the "due date" for turning in letters of consideration, eight days shy of a month from when I turned mine in, and yet no calls or word of anything. Ahhhh!!

Whatever. If it gets fixed, then our problems are solved. It wont be super crowded during extremely busy mornings [when we will only get about $35 in tips each on a GOOD day, compared to the Everett stand girls that make at least $100 each in the mornings] and it will be a lot less stressful feeling like you are in someone's way.

Today I was making a couple drinks for this regular guy who comes through. He always shouts at me, "12 OUNCE AMERICANO. BLACK." and then ignores me until the time comes for me to exchange the drinks for his money. I make his drink every morning shift I work and it's always the same, "12 OUNCE AMERICANO. BLACK." So I'm making his drink, along with the drink of his buddy in the car, and I hand the drinks over. The Americano squirts out the lid opening a little and I offer some napkins. Instead of saying either "yes" or "no," this is what he says:

MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T FILL IT UP AS FULL THEN.
Well, if you don't want it as full next time, maybe you should tell me. Just because I'm a "certified barista" doesn't mean I have a degree in MIND READING, YOU INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLE!!

...Sorry.

I then had a regular come through [it's sad that I don't know many of the regular's names but I do know their drinks... this one in particular is three espresso shots over a teaspoon of honey and stirred with a splash of cream, with the occasional drink for his wife, a 16oz. mocha with an extra shot] who is ALWAYS very nice. The regulars usually are, which is fortunate because there is almost guaranteed an asshole every 45 minutes who really pisses you off. It was great timing for him to pull through though; going from an a-hole to a friendly face is a pretty quick mood transition.

I didn't have a chance to make myself a drink today, other than the pre-made tea I had in the back fridge in my sweet pitcher [that batch wasn't all that great, but I didn't want something super sugary and un-healthy that early in the morning], so it was kind of nice when at the end of my shift I made myself a delicious blended chai. We ran out of the powder the other day and miraculously got some in, thank goodness, or else I wouldn't have had this delectable beverage. We also ran out of liquid chai, Hazelnut Syrup, hot cup sleeves, and 16oz cups not that long ago. The chai and sleeves have yet to be received, with Hazelnut being borderline gone again and the 16oz cups a few rows shy of being out.

...Lead Barista, anyone? Anyone?

Since I got an excellent night's sleep last night [due to my amazing new sleep mask! I recommend everyone at least try one; I slept less than six hours and this morning I thought I overslept!! Ahhh!!], I am waiting to nap until later, and maybe even just go to bed a little early and get MORE good sleep! I am getting a blog in [always a good thing to do], waiting an hour for Andrew to come home, eat burgers, watch a movie, and play with the dawgs! All in all I'd say it's been a good day.

Except for the Americano Asshole, who I hope burned his hand with the squirt of hot drink that came out because I didn't psychically know to not fill it up to the regular spot.

A Short Time Off

I am 40 minutes away from leaving for work. Yes, my "weekend" and long-awaited time off is over and it was very much appreciated. I can say without a doubt that I was productive. On Tuesday after a morning shift, I decided to go to T-Mobile to have them fix my phone. Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning were Internet-less on my phone, and if you know me, you know what this means. So I go in to get some help, the employee calls up the support people, hands me the phone, and walks away to help another customer and to go talk to his buddies at the next store over; and he's getting paid for this, mind you. Hmmm! Anyway, the guy on the phone walked me through some stuff and I finally got the Internet back on my phone. Yayyyy!! After this I went to visit Carrie at PacSun, but she didn't seem too interested in my company [I know, right? Who WOULDN'T be interested!] so I went home.

After visiting with Andrew before he had to leave for work, I napped good and hard and woke to an actual wanting to wash the dishes. I spent over two hours in that kitchen... TWO HOURS!!! I found some nasty things in there that I do not want to remember, but the point is that it is spick and span! ...and it's actually STILL clean because I've been doing the dishes right after they are used [like we are SUPPOSED to so that 2+ hours of dishwashing doesn't have to happen], so that's a relief.

After cleaning I listened to a voicemail I got from Shelley at work saying that our paychecks were in [FINALLY!!!] but our new manager said we couldn't get them until tomorrow because that's the day that they were dated for. I have ALWAYS gotten my check early at BFJ! Ahhh!! I went to Target for paper towels and a new bra because:

MURPHY ATE MY BRA!!
I'm having a hard time remembering what I say in my previous blogs, but if I already mentioned it, pretend that I haven't. I woke up to the sound of nibbling one morning and come to find out, Murph Man found the spot on my bra in between the cups absolutely irresistible and ate the whole section up. Boy was he in TROU-BLE!! It was a blessing in disguise though because I need to punish him more so that he learns to listen, so we now moved his pen into the bedroom so that he has a couped up--but still roomy--place to sleep with no fear of losing any more articles of clothing.

Anyway, I went to Target looking for those two items and I ended up leaving with those, a new black hat [that I can wear to work], a new black fleece [on SALE that I can wear to work], and some pepperoni and a can of croissant dough for more pizza pinwheels. On my way out, I called the stand to see if anyone had gotten their checks yet, which they had, and I pulled through and got my check. I wouldn't put it in the bank until the next day though, so I'm only being a half "bad girl."

Wednesday morning Andrew and I hopped into my car, put the dogs in the backseat, and took a fun little road trip to Seattle so that he could get HIS paycheck [lame that he has to drive all the way there to pick it up!]. The dogs love love LOVE to ride in the car, so it was fun for everyone. We deposited our checks, dropped the dogs off at home, and went grocery shopping.

Costco took a little more out of our wallets than we imagined, but I think that's a given when you go to Costco. We got buns, burritos, cheeeeeeeeeeese, ketchup, tuna, some other miscellaneous items, and above all else: boneless skinless salmon in cans. It was a WAYYY better deal than at the regular grocery store, and I had all the other ingredients for Salmon Appetizers at home, so it kind of worked out well for everything. We went to Haggen next and picked up some milk, lettuce, Ranch, and a head of cauliflower and went back home to unpack.

My mom and grandma stopped by and visited for a while. My mom got real heated about politics and other current issues and vowed that she would be at the street corners in Mount Vernon educating everyone. It was a good time!

After this, Andrew cooked up some burgers, I cleaned the living room, we watched Can't Hardly Wait. We then put in the first half of The Lives of Others, took a nap, finished the movie, and called it a night.

Thursday morning I woke up to let the dogs out, made 10 tortillas of my salmon treats, put them in the fridge, let the dogs back in, and went back to bed. We woke about noon-ish and had a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon. We watched Goodfellas [pretty good!] and then went to the store where Andrew bought me a sleep mask. I've been wanting one for the days where I go to bed early for my 4:00am shifts and it's still semi-light out, and he got me a pretty one with stars and moons on it. I tried it out on the couch snuggling with the dogs and it worked pretty well keeping the light out! It was comfortable [silk and cotton!] and had an adjustable strap. I wore this on my forehead without thinking, got 90% done cleaning my room, and Andrew's mom and husband stopped by to visit for a bit.

I was still wearing the sleepmask.

She told us about this place in Washington [I guess there are a bunch around, but I'd never heard of it] where you put your car in neutral and you coast uphill. I tried to find it online but no one will give out the directions on how to get there. Kind of cool but I still wanted to know!

After they left we put in 3:10 to Yuma and once I saw Ben Foster [Russell from Six Feet Under], I couldn't take the movie seriously. I fell asleep after devouring a delicious slice of ice cream and then we called it a night.

This morning I finished cleaning my room, sliced up some salmon appetizers and my cauliflower head for work, and sat down to blog. So the kitchen, living room, and my room are all clean, as is most of Andrew's room because we didn't want Murphy getting into anything. Most of my time off was spent relaxing and watching movies. I think I'm going to take some time off from working so much, enjoy the three days off I'm scheduled, and keep on relaxing and watching movies.

14 minutes and I'm off to work! I'm going to put two Netflix movies in the mail, get the dogs ready, and then get to work where a blended chai has my name on it.

Overtime and Under Slept

So today I worked again. Surprised?? Last week [Sunday thru Saturday] I worked about 56 hours. I'm not sure if I'll get overtime pay because it was split into two pay periods, but here I am, done with day 17 of 18 straight days and I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to a day off. I plan on sleeping a LOT, cleaning [ugh], and playing with the pups.

Yesterday was the end of Daylight Savings and after pulling a 4:00am-10:00am shift, having six hours off, and working a 4:00pm-10:00pm shift, I unknowingly got an extra hour of sleep. I guess that's a good reason to use your phone as an alarm clock: it automatically updates for Daylight Savings. I felt bad that Jennelle had to stay an extra hour, but it was nice to feel a little bit more rested than I expected to. I freaked when I saw the clock in the kitchen read 4:30am instead of 3:30am and I thought I was late. Ah!

I didn't think it was going to be a super busy day because Saturday's morning shift wasn't too bad. I even had time to re-arrange the freezer and the fridge so that all the milks were organized by date [it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you need to grab a gallon of milk from the back fridges to grab the one that expires soonest, does it? Apparently it does because no one knows how to do that. Re-organizing made it easier to see which ones expire soonest!], all the frozen smoothie mix was arranged so that each type of fruit was next to its mate instead of having some strawberries on one shelf and some on another making it impossible to find the flavour that is hidden in the back behind another over-stocked flavour, and I had the time to organize the pastries by type and in alphabetical order. At PacSun, I tried to get everyone to fill a shoe display immediately after it was sold; that way, every style is available for choosing and I didn't have to grab 20 displays when I did my checklist. It made it way more efficient! I told the new girl [Jackie] that she needed to fill them as soon as she sold them, and I've told other employees that it makes it super easy for whoever is supposed to do the pastries if it is done throughout the day, and Jeena today told me she had been doing it all her shift. That makes me extremely happy! Yay!

My point is that I had time to do all that on Saturday morning before we got an end-of-the-shift rush and I left for my six-hour-break. The evening shift was super slow, which was a welcomed change, and then I arrived in the morning to a steady flow of customers. Poor Jennelle wasn't feeling good and napped until just before Jackie got there. I made her some tea though; tea always helps.

...and then it got busy.

It was nonstop all morning with no time to even make ourselves drinks to keep us going. And to top it off, as mentioned at the end of my ridiculously short and abrupt blog I previously posted, I broke one of the fridges under the espresso machine. I literally opened it and the door FLEW OFF!! I guess I don't know my own strength or something. So all day we had to share one fridge. I had the machine over the working fridge and that meant that the new girl would have to open it when I was making drinks. Not really anyone's fault but my own, but it sucked for both her and I because it was just awkward.

It was busy all morning and then Shelley arrived for my relief and she looked like a zombie. She wasn't feeling well and I offered to stay late and let her go home. She got her relief to come in early so she didn't have to stay a long time, but I still felt bad. She didn't want me to stay late because I had been working so much, which is understandable, but if you don't know me and you don't know this already: I would work every single day, any hours, for a year straight if I could. I need the money and on my days off, I just sit around and am not productive most of the time.

But I ended up leaving maybe a half hour late, headed home, rested with Andrew for an hour, and went to the 12:30pm showing of Zack and Miri Make a Porno. It was pretty funny but there were two things that I'd like to say about it:

A.) They work at a coffee house. The very first shot is Seth Rogen making someone a coffee drink. He steams the milk, pours it into the mug, and hands it to the customer. He doesn't stir, and he doesn't clean off the steam wand.

B.) I don't know if it's because I go into a movie thinking it's not going to be that great or what, but when it's over, I'm not thoroughly impressed. Yes, it was a mildly funny movie with a few "Oh my GOD!!" moments, but I could predict everything and summarize it in one quick sentence. I won't though, because I don't want to ruin it for someone who wants to watch it, even though it always happens to me.

Afterward I wanted to take Andrew to lunch at El Gitano [¡Es muy delicioso!] but neither of us were hungry enough to do that. We decided to get Alfy's stuffed crust pizza later on, considering it'd be about the same amount and we would have lots of left overs, which wouldn't happen at a restaurant. We went home and I tried a new recipe for Pizza Pinwheels:


Ohhh they were good! It definitely got me exited and in the mood for some Alfy's later on! We put on some episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and relaxed. I then took a good long bath, a rinsing shower, and we went to get our pizza. First we swung into Fred Meyer and got some chips, dog treats, ice cream, and an electric shaver for Andrew. We then got our pizza, went home, and put in some more episodes. We have two discs of Schindler's List and weren't in the mood to watch half of a super long movie one night and half another.

By the way, I am an extreme advocate for signing up for Netflix. Seriously, we ALWAYS have something to watch, can add basically anything and move the order list around to suit whatever we want to watch sooner than others, it has recommendations on ratings you give movies you've already seen [we have watched some really good movies based on our recommendation list!]... it's simply a really good deal!

Anyway, I went to bed, woke up in the morning and headed to work, where Shelley and I found a treasure hunt for 25 pictures of Katie hidden around the stand. We found all but one, and that was Caitlin's job on her very first 4:00pm-10:00pm shift by herself. She has both Shelley and my numbers in case she needs anything, so we'll see if we get phone calls.

This has by far been my most fulfilling blog in a couple weeks, but I am still tired and am wanting to lean back and watch something [should I start X-Files again, even though I put the first season of Lost on our request list and moved the first two discs up to the top of our list? ...I think so. I am craving a Scully and Mulder fix]. So here are a few pictures to tie you over:

Murphy and me in costume:


Andrew in costume:


Accidental art in my Chai [do you see Murphy too?]:

All Hollow's Eve

So this is my first attempt at blogging from my phone. I am literally sitting in a chair, in a doorway, waiting for the chiblins to come a callin'. I opened up my last blog post because I didn't finish it last time and I realized that nothing would have made any sense. My apologies for the abruptness.

Since that post I have successfully watched an entire movie without konking out. This is a moment for the record books, people. It was, in fact, a Quentin Tarentino film [like Reservoir Dogs] but this time I figured out what to do: sit straight up and don't lean!!! No leaning back, forward, or to either side.

The movie was Pulp Fiction and it was absolutely amazing. If played in order instead of how it is laid out, it wouldn't have been as good. Fun to figure out how everything went.

...Now I'm typing from my laptop and it's November 1st. I can't seem to finish a blog for the life of me! I can't do ANYTHING anymore! I can't clean, cook, blog, keep in touch with people... it's nonsense! I have been working nonstop and have been so tired because of it. Next Tuesday will be the beginning of three days off in a row, so I guess we'll see how that goes. I'll most likely continue the trend of not being able to do anything but sleep. Goodness!!

Last night [Halloween] was a blast! Andrew stood by the bushes in the front in his outfit and people couldn't tell if he was real or fake. Some of the kids wouldn't come up the driveway [haha!] and some of the teenagers are going to have nightmares because he scared them so bad. He got my mom pretty good too when they stopped by to say hello.

Murphy snuck out when I opened the door for a trick-or-treater and took off down the road. I finally caught up with him and put him in time-out big time!

I am so tired and I have so much to say. Maybe I'll go into detail in the next blog but A.) today was the start of the new schedule, B.) I alphabetized the pastries so they are super easy to find, and C.) I broke the fridge door simply by opening it; it flew off like it was nothing. I'm working 4-10am, 4-10pm, and then 4-10am again. I'm going to take a nap now.

Sorry I'm so lame at blogging lately.

Why is it that my body goes into hibernate mode 15-20 minutes into a movie? I swear! I haven't seen a movie all the way through in maybe... a week and a half?? Last night was Reservoir Dogs. I started watching it last night with Andrew and ended up falling asleep at the same part I must have fallen asleep to wayyy back whenever I attempted to watch it before. The night before was Crank. Yes, that one may have been because Jason Statham is in it; I cannot STAND that man! I don't know why! He just annoys me with his scraggly voice and that "accent" that he is attempting to pass off is almost as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard [*cringes*]. I only made it five minutes into Crank, and although this "actor" is the lead role, it looked like a pretty dang good movie.

Jason Statham: Just another stupid ol' nincumpoop! Stupid, terrible, and that he acts makesmesick!

And I'm done. My point being that I my ability to not watch an entire movie all the way through is driving me nuts because I am truly missing out. Now I have to wait until I'm fully awake to watch the movie and FORCE myself to stay awake. It might be because I'm working every day and am tired afterward because my job is super strenuous.

...SUUUUUUPER strenuous. [*Cough, cough*].

I think the most strenuous thing I've done at BigFoot Java was probably today when I lifted three boxes of cups up a ladder. I know, right? I should be getting paid what some consider a "labourous wage."

Whatev, I'll just keep my fingers crossed for the Lead Barista position; Shelley and I turned in our letters very early after the meeting and Jeena has until the 5th to turn hers in. After this, Honora [manager] will do phone interviews, decide who to promote, and have all the new Lead Baristas go down South to one of the other stands and have a full-board training day with instructions how to order everything, fix every machine, yada yada fun fun! I really really really hope that I'm one of the Leads at the stand. If Jeena turns in her letter, I'll be the newest employee of the three being considered. But then again, I have managerial experience and have proved that I can BUST ASS at work and that I care.

Just trying not to get my hopes up, which is hard.

Today at work, Shelley and I were helping customers, chit-chatting, and all of a sudde, I looked at my watch and I had ten minutes until I was supposed to be off. How crazy is that?!

Let's Make This Together

First off, I have to let loose about the events from yesterday mid-afternoon. A woman pulls up to the stand [yes, I am still working the million days in a row and I'm totally cool with it] and asks if we can make her an Eggnog Latte, but "extra hot." I tell her that we can't steam the milk hotter than 130° or else it gets ruined and she gets pissed. "The other stand will do it for me!" she claims. So I suggest cutting it with milk [this doesn't really make sense now but it did then haha!] and me steaming the milk hotter and mixing it so that the drink would be hotter and she starts to get really upset. Shelley comes over to see what this woman's deal is and the woman tells her that the other stand will heat it up extra hot for her. Shelley says, "Well, I'll heat it up extra hot for you, but the taste changes and it's not recommended." The lady huffs and puffs and says she's going to the OTHER stand that will do it for her.

So, our curious minds decide to see what actually happens if you steam eggnog over 130°. Turns out, it smells like nasty-poo and it starts to curdle, leaving chunks floating around inside the sick sewage waste. I'm glad that's what that woman likes to ingest.

While we are doing our little "experiment," a regular pulls up and wants a blended chai with a little bit of eggnog. No big deal, except I was starting to clean the counter by the register, had things all over in the way, and I ended up knocking over the blender before I had a chance to finish the drink:


Gross! So I had to clean up EVERYTHING including taking all the ice out of the bin, scrubbing down everything inside, and filling the ice back up, mopping everything, making sure there wasn't vomit everywhere... Gross.

I just thought that was kind of funny. An Eggnog Massacre in the span of five minutes.

After work I went grocery shopping with money I don't have to make rollups that I've never made before. My first attempt was with Salmon Appetizers. And by the way, their little "Ready in 15 min" thing is NOT true! Let me explain why...

Well, Step 1: Combine everything in a small mixing bowl. I softened the 8oz. package of cream cheese and put the parsley on top.


I then realized that this bowl is going to be too small, transferred to another bowl, and started with the salmon bit. "Remove any bones." Here's why it took forever! Do you KNOW how many bones are in a can of salmon?? I had no idea!! There were bones that looked like slivers, some that looked like eyeballs... it was sick! So I finally finished.


The de-boned salmon...


...and the bones!!
Yuk! So I then added my delicious salsa! [No big deal, I probably added a bit too much because me likey!! Yum!!].


I then stirred and stirred!! Oh, and I didn't put cilantro or cumin in because the only cilantro I could find in a little spice jar was almost $8.00! No THANKS! I'm sure it makes it that much more delicious, but until I have all the money in the world to blow on spices, NEXT!


Step 2: Spread it all out! This picture shows my fourth tortilla getting spread [don't flag this post!], and the three already rolled and plastic-wrapped [new verb?].






My finished tower [I ended up using all ten tortillas; probably because I added more salsa haha!]:


And hardly anything left over to go to waste:


I then put everything in the fridge and made something I could snack on right away!




Delicious! The carrots in there actually weren't too bad! I then slept a good sleep, woke up, sliced five of my tortillas for an at-work snack, and I'm pretty sure next time I'll try to roll NICE AND TIGHT! Some of the pieces were a little open but that's okay; I'm still going to devour them!


Th-th-th-that's all folks!

The US Flag is Going to HECK!!

Good LORD what a day at work! I laid out my outfit last night so I could justify sleeping in an extra 15 minutes. I was up at 3:15, dressed, dogs out and in, bagel toasted and cream-cheesed [new verb?], and out at my frozen car at 3:40. Wearing three sweatshirts over my double-layered top with a magnificent scarf and super cozy wool glove/mittens was a good idea; why does it have to be so cold out?? Don't worry, I warmed up at work and my rolled up pants and sock-less flats equalized my body temperature.

This new girl [Caitlin(?)] is amazing! She picked up incredibly fast and was making hot, iced, and blended drinks YESTERDAY! It was super helpful having her make the drinks; it was semi-busy yesterday and I didn't get stressed out. So I got to work at 3:48 or so, bagel devoured, set my stuff down, clocked in, got my tea in my mug, and was ready for my day. Jenelle [graveyard that I let off] stayed late unintentionally and was there until the new girl came in at 5:00. Jenelle told me that one of the machines had funky shots that were taking forever to fill, so I decided we wouldn't use that one for the rest of the day. The last few Sundays weren't super busy, so why should this Sunday, right?

...Right?

Jeena slept in and got there around 7:00 [an hour late], which was okay because we were super slow. At this point I had horrible heartburn [like I did all day at work yesterday!] and it was to the level of making me sit down and try to think about anything but vomiting. I did some research [no, not at the Kortlever-Thompson-Brandrup Research Center, but on my T-Mobile G1 I have named Gerta] on "heartburn causes" and look was at the top of the list at this About.com page:

Coffee, tea, and other drinks that contain caffeine

Good LORD! I have just been fueling the fire... LITERALLY!! I bet God is just laughing at me thinking, "You thought you were doing your body good by drinking all that tea; little did you know..." I told Caitlin that my insides felt like a bong, my esophagus being the neck of the bong, flowing fire and scorching water up and down, to and from my stomach, the bubbling and gurgling round part ...and my belly button is where the stem is. So I dumped out the little bit of tea I had left and filled it with... wait... don't panic:

WATER.
Don't worry, I only drank half of it before I dumped it and had the new girl "practice" making a hot liquid chai cut with milk and no hotter than 120° and "accidentally" pour it into my mug.

Jeena got there around 7:00, like I said, and it was super duper slow, We literally were up on the counter moving all the syrup bottles, straw boxes, Jet Teas, soy boxes, etc. and cleaning the shelves underneath [ga-ross!!].


Once we got both shelves done it was clear that we wouldn't be doing any cleaning for a while: the rush came. We used both machines for steaming, register #2's machine for the shots, and as soon as we were done with the shots we moved to the other counter to make room for other people making drinks. It got to a point where Caitlin and Jeena were making the drinks and I was cleaning up after them, wiping the counter messes, washing all the pitchers and blenders, keeping everything stocked, etc. It wasn't stressful at all and it was nice to just "pick up" after people instead of stressing about how fast you are making the drink or whatnot.

I heard a woman rattling off an order to the new girl and I came over to help.

Customer: "Can I get three Lil' Foot hot chocolates but NOT in the Lil' Foot cups, a 20oz. French Vanilla Latte, and I have another complicated drink so I'll just wait until you're done."

The Lil' Foot cups are there for a reason: for the Lil' Foot drinks! All kids drinks are super cheap because they have to have the other cup. The drinks are 12oz. So this woman is trying to get away with having the cheaper price for three 12oz. "warm" chocolates. Rude.

So I came over to help with the complicated drink.

Customer: "Can I get a 20oz. hot chocolate with some Vanilla in it, but can you use HALF-N-HALF instead of MILK, and can you add three shots of espresso to that?"

"20oz. Vanilla Mocha Breve" would have been sufficient, but once again, she is trying to get the hot chocolate price for the more expensive drink. Whatever; bottom line, she sucks.

Later on after the new girl went home, Jeena was helping a customer and I asked if I could make anything. She said that they ordered three Lil' Foot Strawberry Sasquatches ["strawberry smoothie"], so I made them. I reached for the Lil' Foot cups and Jeena says, "They have to be in the normal cups."

My eyes got wide and I looked from her, to the car, and back to her. This woman has returned in a different vehicle with her husband or what-have-you driving. Fine, whatever, have your clear cups, butthole. I ask if there is "Ha-whippin' Cream" and I heard the lady say, and Jeena immediately repeat to me, "Yes but one has to be on top of a flat lid." So I do this and hand Jeena the drinks. The mom then says, "The whip cream has to be UNDER the flat lid!!!" Good LORD! So Jeena takes it back and I look at her with the "I'm-not-dealing-with-this-woman-any-longer" eyes and she offers to finish. Handing the drink to them, the woman requests, "Can you cut the straw?"

I'm done with this family.

After they leave, I have a customer order a drink:

Customer: "Can I have a DOUBLE 16oz. Iced Latte with a little bit of chocolate, but can you put it in a 20oz. cup and fill it with a lot of ice but not too much?"

..."20oz. Iced Mocha with only Two Shots." If you are reading this and don't know how to order your drink without spattering out a bunch of nonsense, just ask your barista what it would be called and NEVER say anything BUT that AGAIN!! It's just embarrassing to yourself.

2:00 rolls around, my relief is late [which is fine; I don't have plans after work, like usual], and the phone rings. I thought I might get a break from dealing with odd people for the rest of the day, but I suppose I was wrong.

Customer on Phone: "Hi. My name is Tom. I'm a retired Navy Veteran who went to Vietnam FOUR times! I drive by almost every day."
Me: "What can I help you with?"
Customer: "Well, like I said, I come by almost every day..."

I was anticipating a bad drink was made and he wanted a free one or something... I was not anticipating what actually happened:

Customer: "...and your flag is tattered. Your United States flag is going to HECK!"
Me: *Silent* "Well, I can let my manager know and she can make it a priority to get that fixed."
Customer: "I'll be driving by and monitoring to see when it updates."

Good LORD! I'm going to heat up some pizza and try my hardest NOT to think about stupid people.

Sex and the City: The Movie: The Review

So basically I've seen every episode of Sex and the City multiple times. I don't think I'd call myself a "die hard fan," but I thoroughly enjoy the show. I didn't watch it when it was on air on HBO [should have forked up the coin for it; HBO has some pretty dang good shows!], but I do own the whole series [collector's edition, thank you!] and have at times watched more than one season in a single sitting. You couldn't help yourself either if there was a television series that was actually fun to watch and one of the main characters had YOUR NAME!

I've been with the girls through their ups and downs and their men and women, and I was looking forward to seeing the movie! I was supposed to see it with Carrie but she went on a girls' night Cocktail Pre-Movie date with her other girlfriends instead. I was then supposed to see it with my sister, Kels, but that fell through too. Either I'm a drag to be around or fate wanted it to be like it's been all along: comfy, cozy, snack, blanket, big-screen.

The movie came and went in theatres and released on DVD when I was in California. At the same time in California, my folks' MVP account at Hollywood Video ended, providing a rent-less existence. I started up Netflix and put the movie on the list, moving it to the top after I finished watching the series just one more time. Finished the series Monday, got the movie Wednesday, just watched it this afternoon [Friday], and my verdict:

Didn't expect much else.
Would a fan really and truly say that they didn't expect much? Traitor!! ...right? No way!! When has a television show actually unveiled an after-series big-screen movie that actually hit?? Especially one that is released many years after the end of the series! The X-Files Movie wasn't that great and in that case, I can consider myself a "die hard fan." With the x-Files movie being a dull addition to the saga, I expected the SATC movie to be the same and I was right.

So we've got Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda picking up "right where they left off... 4 years later." Bullshit! I've read a bunch of movie reviews and one of them literally hits it square on the nose:

...At the end of the series, Miranda had mellowed out substantially and learned to enjoy a quieter family life. From the moment the movie begins, she is back where she was at the beginning of the series - anal, overworked, and impossible to satisfy. Then, in the middle of the movie, she's running around with the girls...

...and making fun of her life with Steve. The comment she made about going to the aquarium with her husband and son, really annoyed me. Like that was all so lame and childish, and spending your time at Fashion Week is much more important. Samantha's situation was even more frustrating to me. The character is 50. In real life, the woman portrayed in this movie would be a joke: an ageing, loudmouthed, overeating, Botoxing, spoiled brat with a little dog in tow. I always loved that at the end of the series she finally made such a big step with Smith and let her emotions flow with him. It seemed that after going through cancer and connecting with this man, she had finally stopped being the self-centered, wacky Samantha, and matured a little. In the movie, that all just goes out the window. ..."

Miranda has always been the one to voice her opinion. Sure, she's the one that kind of lets loose with the whole "You're crazy to get married!" comment, but it's also not like her to hold in her opinions elsewhere. She doesn't say anything when Samantha shows up "fat" [aka "not bulimic." How the HELL does SJP get that fricken SKINNY! It's skinnier than bones!] and with Steve, she calmly just flows away.

Charlotte hasn't really changed, but you don't really see her being that super mom that she was supposed to be. Miranda seems more like a super mom than Charlotte, and that's saying something. She doesn't really do or say much in the movie really, but she's there to be there I suppose.

And Carrie. Good LORD! Something happened to her face to make it lonnnngggggerrrrr [didn't think it was possible but I guess I was wrong]. Anyway, I suppose she was a lot like she normally was but whatever.

It just seemed very "fake" to me. Fake acting, fake jokes, and dumbed down for a newer audience. And like the same review says later on:

...I hated the Steve storyline. The Steve from the series would not have done that to her. It was just a way to play out the Carrie/Big storyline, which I hated. Sorry to say there is little I did not hate about this film. It was so empty and useless, and so superficial. ...

Steve really WOULDN'T have done something like that to Miranda, despite how "rude" she treated him. At the end of the series, she was literally giving sponge baths to his mom. It was just weird to see such a switch and imagine Steve doing what he "did."

And kind of off topic but still same, how is forgiving someone for cheating the same as forgiving someone for being rude to them? Miranda has to let go of the fact that she can't trust him not to cheat again, and Steve has to let go of the fact that Miranda might not "love him for better or worse." It doesn't really seem the same. I know I couldn't forgive someone for cheating. I just couldn't. ESPECIALLY if it was sex. The fact that the other person heard the voices in their head, knew what would happen, and do it anyway... it's just throwing everything away. Knowing that my hypothetical boyfriend willingly stuck his penis inside someone else and yet he claims that he still loves me and he's "sorry" and I should forgive him? ...if that EVER happened, I would NOT forgive because I could NOT forget.

I think that's my biggest fear.

Not with Andrew or anything, but just a straight up betrayal. A friend doing something to you, family member taking advantage of you, co-worker, whomever it may be. That just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about.

Anyway, it was fun watching an addition to the show I have come to love and thoroughly enjoy watching, even though it was a watered-down version of what was "expected" by "die hard fans."

...Now to work on formatting more of my sister's pictures. Ah! Get me my tea pitcher, a back massager, slippers, and some good easy-listening music, please.