Since it's been a couple of weeks
Thanksgiving has come and gone. I had much for which to be thankful :) J came in as planned. As unplanned, we played *tons* of video games, heh. On Thxgiving day we got an "early" start (read: soon after waking) and cooked alllllll day. It was well after dark before plates laden with the product of our labors were ready to be devoured. Fare consisted of sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, green beans almondine, stuffing, giblet gravy (from a J Family recipe, moderately tweaked to suit), mashed potatoes, cornish game hens, corn bread, pecan pie and lemon meringue pie...all homemade and from scratch. All in all, I'd have to say my faves were the sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy and the pecan pie. A wee goof in spatial orientation rather messed up the birds, I'd say. They *might* have been wonderful if silly me had put them in the roasting pan breast-side up as instructed. Underdone the first go-round, I don't think they fully recovered. Still tasty enough the first night, but for leftovers? Not so much. Ah well. I'll have to work on that :) The stuffing was mighty tasty but could use a little experimentation, I think. The cornbread was from a mix (okay, the one lie about all from scratch :P ). The lemon meringue pie was also mighty damned tasty and lemony, but could stand a little practice :) I can't take credit for the works as J was pretty much the ringmaster, though the whole thing was a team effort. All in all, a marvelous success, I think.
Then more video games. And more. And more. J kicked the everluvvin shit out of a horde of monsters in God of War. I watched and played WoW, leveling my noob human warlock a dozen levels in 2 days. J's flight left on Sunday at 6:30ish AM (I might be off an hour there), resulting in her cab arriving at 4:30 AM. Too tired to stay up, but up too late to sleep before departure we did the only thing that made sense...continued the killing frenzy :) So her cab came, she left, and I meant to do nothing more than sleep, sweet sleep. Alas, it occurred to me that were I to sleep I wouldn't wake till late in the day, effectively wrecking my internal clock the day before I was to fly out to DC for the last day of my gig with my old employer. So I did the only thing that made sense...continued the killing frenzy :) After 2nd, 3rd, and umpteenth winds I managed to keep myself up late enough to reset my clock, passed out, and voila, it was fly day.
Caught a cab, caught a plane, got put up in a swanky corporate suite at a posh hotel, and went shopping. Picked up the WoW Battle Chest since my free trial was ending and added more titles to the PS2 collection...Simpsons, Star Trek, Destroy all Humans, and a Resident Evil 3-pack. Inspected the living shit out of the bedding for bedbugs, played WoW, passed out. Checked out at 7:30 AM, grabbed some breakfast, went to work, baggage in tow (yay for traveling light!). It was an all-day love fest :) Got to see all my fave peeps back at the office, oriented the EA re: several other projects previously not discussed, had lunch with one of the directors, hung out for a few minutes with the ED, and I was done. On discussing the billing with the HR director I got a very pleasant surprise. I was expecting to bill for significantly less than the 8 hours I originally planned since I spent so much time not meeting with the EA. Au contraire! Per her instructions, I'm to bill from the time I got on the plane here till the time I get off back here. Sweet! My one day of consultant's pay miraculously turns into slightly more than 3! *bounce* (had I known that when buying video games....)
All of that makes yesterday my first day off with no obligations waiting on the other side of it. So I did the only thing that made sense ;) Kill! Kill! Kill! Blood makes the grass grow!
Today was ever so slightly more responsible. I slept in till a little after 1. Picked a recipe. Went grocery shopping. Started laundry. Did the prep work for tonight's experiment. At the moment the veggies are slowly simmering until disintegration, maybe another hour or 2 to go there. After time, time to make a roux, add the oysters and shrimp, and voila! Gumbo! It'll be my first attempt at such, so I'm not sure I'll be excited about the outcome, but it'll be a good starting point from which to experiment in the future :)
I'm taking December off. There's a couple of nice checks on the way in with which I can pay some bills and feel ahead for the first time in a long time, and maybe, just maybe, a car is still in the works during December. If not, c'est la vie. If not, I might even entertain just dispensing with the job search until the evils of winter have passed, then get whatever comes along, replenish the funds, *then* get the car. Who knows? I change my mind as often as my socks it seems.
Can't forget Prague, either. Nope. *That* will certainly get me in a saving frame of mind :)
And that is that. I plan to catch up on long-missed friends pages and emails over the next few days. For now, it's time to simmer and slaughter ;) Love to all of yas.
Then more video games. And more. And more. J kicked the everluvvin shit out of a horde of monsters in God of War. I watched and played WoW, leveling my noob human warlock a dozen levels in 2 days. J's flight left on Sunday at 6:30ish AM (I might be off an hour there), resulting in her cab arriving at 4:30 AM. Too tired to stay up, but up too late to sleep before departure we did the only thing that made sense...continued the killing frenzy :) So her cab came, she left, and I meant to do nothing more than sleep, sweet sleep. Alas, it occurred to me that were I to sleep I wouldn't wake till late in the day, effectively wrecking my internal clock the day before I was to fly out to DC for the last day of my gig with my old employer. So I did the only thing that made sense...continued the killing frenzy :) After 2nd, 3rd, and umpteenth winds I managed to keep myself up late enough to reset my clock, passed out, and voila, it was fly day.
Caught a cab, caught a plane, got put up in a swanky corporate suite at a posh hotel, and went shopping. Picked up the WoW Battle Chest since my free trial was ending and added more titles to the PS2 collection...Simpsons, Star Trek, Destroy all Humans, and a Resident Evil 3-pack. Inspected the living shit out of the bedding for bedbugs, played WoW, passed out. Checked out at 7:30 AM, grabbed some breakfast, went to work, baggage in tow (yay for traveling light!). It was an all-day love fest :) Got to see all my fave peeps back at the office, oriented the EA re: several other projects previously not discussed, had lunch with one of the directors, hung out for a few minutes with the ED, and I was done. On discussing the billing with the HR director I got a very pleasant surprise. I was expecting to bill for significantly less than the 8 hours I originally planned since I spent so much time not meeting with the EA. Au contraire! Per her instructions, I'm to bill from the time I got on the plane here till the time I get off back here. Sweet! My one day of consultant's pay miraculously turns into slightly more than 3! *bounce* (had I known that when buying video games....)
All of that makes yesterday my first day off with no obligations waiting on the other side of it. So I did the only thing that made sense ;) Kill! Kill! Kill! Blood makes the grass grow!
Today was ever so slightly more responsible. I slept in till a little after 1. Picked a recipe. Went grocery shopping. Started laundry. Did the prep work for tonight's experiment. At the moment the veggies are slowly simmering until disintegration, maybe another hour or 2 to go there. After time, time to make a roux, add the oysters and shrimp, and voila! Gumbo! It'll be my first attempt at such, so I'm not sure I'll be excited about the outcome, but it'll be a good starting point from which to experiment in the future :)
I'm taking December off. There's a couple of nice checks on the way in with which I can pay some bills and feel ahead for the first time in a long time, and maybe, just maybe, a car is still in the works during December. If not, c'est la vie. If not, I might even entertain just dispensing with the job search until the evils of winter have passed, then get whatever comes along, replenish the funds, *then* get the car. Who knows? I change my mind as often as my socks it seems.
Can't forget Prague, either. Nope. *That* will certainly get me in a saving frame of mind :)
And that is that. I plan to catch up on long-missed friends pages and emails over the next few days. For now, it's time to simmer and slaughter ;) Love to all of yas.