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?]: