~Off Topic Thread~

[Jeraly 4]

Bleh - just had an e-mail from my mum saying that I got a letter from the DVLA saying I need to renew my car tax. Now this isn't my previous car that I sold taxed etc. It's the car that I SOLD a year ago after it failed its MOT. I declared it SORN as well so I have no clue why they want me to renew the tax on it - grr Have sent them an e-mail but how dumb

[*julez* 124]

Today Griff and I drove up to Niagara on the Lake in Canada. We ate lunch at The Olde Angel Inn, where Griff had real (yes, real!) sausages with onion gravey and mash, baked beans in tomato sauce and peas & carrots. He was in heaven! I went for the fish & chips, which were OK. We washed it down with two pints of Harp. Refreshing!

The we stopped at this shop called the Scottish Loft and bought some tasty treats. A large jar of small chunk Branston Pickle ($7.49 egad!) Tunnocks Tea Cakes, Custard creams, Victory Vs, 3 CurlyWurly, Digestive Biscuits and some Hobnobs. All together we spent $25 Canadian, which was worth it!

We later popped into another shop, where low and behold, they had pork pies!!! Griff had only been lamenting earlier this morning how much he misses pork pies, so we bought 2. Have yet to try them, so hopefully they're close to the real thing! Quite a few shops also sold sausage rolls and cornish pasties. But you can only eat so much fresh food, so we'll have to go back for another visit soon. Its only an hour drive and its such a lovely town, that its well worth the visit.

[Jeraly 4]

Sounbds gorgeous Julez I did notice from your facebook status that you had had a good time

[Gareth's Girl 0]

those things look super yummy. I've had a bit of a baking addiction recently. It's great to have a proper oven again, I didn't have one for sooo long. And I gave myself a joining the union present - a kitchenaid mixer. Omg I love it. it's just a plain white one, the cheapest of all of them, the lovely coloured ones are wayy more expensive for no reason.

So far this week I've made cornbread muffins, 2 loaves of bread, banana bread, oh yeah, and I got a slow cooker and made some pulled pork. God, I need a job.

I've been doing lots of baking too...I guess the fall weather here brings it out of me.

Yesterday I made 3 dozen cupcakes...1/2 chocolate and 1/2 yellow cake, all with fudge frosting. I got a can of the Duncan Heinz cake decorating stuff but I'm not very good at it...the ones I did make look like #######. Oh well, no one gives a shiz when they taste good.

Also made a few loaves soda bread (two white, one whole wheat), a shepard's pie and likely something else for my par-tay tomorrow.

Congrats, Robin, on your NOA1!!

I am happy to report that the sale of my former resince will be closed today at 1:30 PM! Wooohooo!! I'll only own one house!!!!!

Yay...congrats on getting rid of one of the homes. Please keep the other...I think I know a lot of people who will be living in refridgerator boxes soon.

Congrats Robin! Congrats to Julez!! And have a great vacation, Charles!!

I haven't been on here for a week and I feel like I missed a lot. It has been a weird week in the Gareth's Girl Household....I interviewed for at UC Davis in their Geology Dept and got offered the job right away which was super fantastic and totally awesome. However I have now been dealing with the prats at my current job. I gave them two weeks and they got upset and wanted me to give them till November 3rd. I can deal with the comments and attitude, but the owner's son and brother-in-law are tettering pretty close to the line of sexual harrassment which everybody seems to think is ok (I guess they figure I don't count as an employee since it is my last two weeks so they can be gross and ghetto all they want). I am so done with them now and am almost ready to make today my last day....that or punch one of them in the face. Whatever....I am excited about my new position at UC Davis....I have been trying forever to get on there and now I am. Yeah!

Congrats on your new job!!! It sounds like you really need a change of scenery. I'd hate to work with/for jerks like that. Good luck getting through the next few weeks.

Thanks! I hope I don't lose my temper. They are totally morons and I don't really think understand the serious legal trouble they can get into for some of the comments and behavior they are allowing. Idiots.

If you lose your temper...what do you have to lose at this point? It's good not to burn bridges, but when it comes to someone being unappropriate towards you I think it's ok to burn that one.

Well...I lost my temper today and walked out after completing half my shift. Left my supervisor a letter of resignation as of today due to recent unacceptable behavior. My boss (who is also the owner of the company I work for) walked down to my office threw a golf tee at my head and gave me a dirty look. Have no idea why he did it at all. I packed up my things and left. I have never dealt with such immature, unprofessional behavior in my whole life. It is just mind boggling. Oh well. That is behind me now. At least I can start my new job sooner. I will be starting there on Monday. I am looking forward to that

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

threw a gold tee at you? Now that is just bizarre! Sounds like you are best out of there

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Ginger - in my last job before I moved I was temping so I was only in the position for 2 1/2 months yet had the area manager of Avon Fire and Rescue absolutely loving me (I got champagne as a leaving present ). My job there was very vague and I had little instruction - I was just kind of told what was wanted/needed and asked for my opinion/suggestions.

My strategy was always to make it up as I went along - if something didn't work, I tried something else. If I got really stuck, I asked, and if no-one could answer me then I figured no-one cared enough for it to be done in a specific way Training my replacement was really fun - she freaked out at how many little bits there were to do on a daily basis and didn't think she could do it and I taught her my strategy - she totally didn't believe me until she saw me working through things!!

I guess what I am trying to say is that maybe the freedom is a good thing - generally if you are left to your own devices then you are trusted and there is no specific way things need to be done - otherwise surely that would be requested from the off!? You'll do great

Basically I've been making it up as I go along. Just nervous when it is so important to the company...I don't want to do anything to cause any more problems than my company already has!

Working tomorrow too...blah. Anyways, I get paid double time...which will be nice when the paycheck comes. I'm a bit behind on some of my student loan payments so this will help me be current.

[Gareth's Girl 0]

threw a gold tee at you? Now that is just bizarre! Sounds like you are best out of there

Sorry....typo....he threw a golf tee at me

threw a gold tee at you? Now that is just bizarre! Sounds like you are best out of there

Sorry....typo....he threw a golf tee at me

And it was extremely bizaree.

[*julez* 124]

threw a gold tee at you? Now that is just bizarre! Sounds like you are best out of there

Sorry....typo....he threw a golf tee at me

threw a gold tee at you? Now that is just bizarre! Sounds like you are best out of there

Sorry....typo....he threw a golf tee at me

And it was extremely bizaree.

Definitely bizarre. You did the right thing.

[*julez* 124]

Sounbds gorgeous Julez I did notice from your facebook status that you had had a good time

It was a really fun afternoon! And the pork pies were decent. Not like in the UK, but close enough to satisfy the craving.

[Jeraly 4]

Hmmm now I am jealous!! Although I have just made a minestrone soup which smells gorgeous Just need to heat it up for a bit when Jeremy comes in and we're good to go

GG - that is a really weird thing to do - not only that but the guy owns the company?! I mean - how can he run a company when he treats people so badly?! At least you have your nice new job to look forward to *and* you know that even though they wanted you to stay longer, now they are screwed - at least for a little while

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Saw Stereolab last night at the Vic here in Chicago. What a show!! Best gig of the year by a mile. The spirit of Neu! was in the house.

[Stinky Monkey 1]

I cant beleive that Pizza Hut in the Uk have changed their name to Pasta Hut

Does anyone know if they are doing that in the states as well

It seems ridiculous to me

[Jeraly 4]

Are they really?!? That seems a bit... odd...

Maybe it is to try and negate the fast food image because of the huge healthy eating kick over there?

[Stinky Monkey 1]

It seemed odd to me to

They interviewed the CEO and he admitted that pasta sales are only 5% of their sales, so it makes not sense to me

why fix something that is not broken and everyone will still call it pizza hut, and the logo is the same just the word change

waste of money if you ask me

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Hey all -- still here in Connecticut. It's been kind of a mixed bag out here. On the one hand, I've had some great meetings and a really exciting roundtable that my center convened in New York last week. I also got a chance to road trip it up to Maine with my mom on Thurs-Sat -- I had a job interview of sorts with a think tank up there and it looks like I will be an adjunct researcher with them soon, so more work coming my way. The foliage was so amazing and the weather was just perfect -- New England in the fall is almost heart-stoppingly beautiful.

However, some bad news. My lovely, wonderful, cranky and adorable cat Hugo died on Friday, when I was in Maine. Yes, he was elderly (17 in August) but up until the day before he died he was still running around and eating like a horse. We knew the end would be coming soon, but it hasn't made it any better for us who are still around to mourn him. He had kidney failure, which hadn't been the case on the last visit to the vet's in June. In fact, they had pronounced him healthy, if a bit fragile. Hugo couldn't walk on Friday morning, so my dad took him to the vet. It turned out his kidneys had failed, and he had developed cancer. He wasn't yet in any pain, but the best thing was for him to be put to sleep.

Hugo was born the day I left for college. He was the only surviving kitten (of two) that my sweet, sweet cat Peeper ever had. He was stubborn and cranky, loved spiral ham and cheese, ate broccoli and bread with gusto, put the fear of god in dogs far larger than him, once befriended a silver fox, considered lounging in and pouncing out of flower beds the height of fun. He was gigantic -- at one point nearly 22 pounds and nearly all muscle. He was one of those black and white tuxedo cats, and he hated all orange marmalade cats on principle. He came running every time I opened the fridge, even on the day before he died, the last day I saw him. I gave him some chicken, and he looked up at me with the sweetest expression afterwards. I said to my mom, "Doesn't he look just like he did when he was a kitten?"

I was a child when he was born. Now I'm a woman with two marriages under her belt and two transatlantic moves. I've loved and lost and been hired and fired. And every time I came home, there was Hugo to greet me. He trusted me more than anyone else, and I tried never to let him down. And even though I'm an atheist, I like to think there's somewhere warm and fun and sweet that good animals go. And I'm sure Hugo's there with his mommy now, eating spiral ham and sunbathing in a choice bed of daisies.