Missing In Action? I think so...

Hmmm... Last time I checked in was August.  A ton has happened since then and I've not gotten around to blogging about the stuff I'd care to share with the rest of the world.  I am going to make the effort to get better about that.  I hear you dancing in the streets now...  LOL!  I'll try to post things chronologically too, since that's just the way I roll...  Smooches!

This Week's Office Kitchen Etiquette Saga

Sent: 157p Wed 6/23

Greetings!

We’re experiencing a rash of ants and some flies over the last number of days which has been reported to our property managers and we’re waiting for an exterminator.     In a number of instances the last day or two, staff have put a lunch bag or groceries to store under their desks and within a very short time an army of ants has invaded the food.    To avoid attracting them, please clean up any food that has been around your area and avoid leaving any dishes/food/beverages/soda cans overnight.  It might help also to take a Lysol wipecloth and wipe down your desk each day before leaving.  In the meantime, I’d suggest not leaving lunch bags or groceries on the floor unless you don’t mind sharing your meal with these critters.

Thanks!
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Sent: 1033a Thur 6/24

Do you know if you've left anything in the fridge that SMELLS or has EXPIRED?  I don't, because I can't find anything in there.

The fridge is NOT HAPPY and has filed a formal complaint.  The lucky department on duty this week is the Secretariat (plus our very own volunteer Alex Lopez!).  Because the fridge is on overload and emitting an unfriendly scent, we will do a PURGE on Friday late afternoon.  Please mark what you want kept, take home what you don't need to keep here or throw away what's expired/overripe.

And since we are a larger staff group these summer months, please try another way to store your lunch items.  Simply put, LARGE SHOPPING BAGS do not fit!  To help all of us find our lunches within the lunch hour time frame, please just to bring what you need for each day's lunch.

Thanks.
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Sent: 907a Mon 6/28

Thank you to ALL who participated and worked so hard in cleaning out the refrigerator on Friday.  It took many to bring this fridge back to useable form and it’s very much appreciated.  I’ve never seen so many bottles of salad dressing!    Special thanks go to Joanne, Alex, and Adam and all the supporting cast who were dedicated to this effort.  Let’s all support their efforts by continued to keep the inside clean and to minimize the clutter and mess that builds up.

Refrigerator space is limited so please be considerate:   

In the summer, over 45 people could attempt to store a meal in the refrigerator on a daily basis.  Please store only daily meals (rather than weekly) in the refrigerator. 

For those using salad dressings, please have only one bottle of dressing stored at a time or use a tiny Tupperware cup to bring in enough for the day’s salad.

Avoid putting large grocery bags (plastic and cloth) inside the refrigerator.  Now that cloth grocery bags are more common, they are used for all types of storage and become unsanitary for putting alongside food items in the refrigerator.   (For your own health safety, wash or wipe out your cloth bags frequently to avoid bacteria building up inside, as reported in last week’s news.)

Set an Outlook reminder to take home any leftovers that are yours every week.

If your food has spilled, please take a moment to wipe it up to avoid others from needing to scrub later.

Because we’ve had spottings of flies and ants (and even a few mice!) these last few weeks, please don’t leave dirty dishes; utensils; glasses; mugs around your desk area and keep storage of food/drinks, grocery bags etc., to a minimum.   If your desks get sticky from drinks/candy or have crumbs from food items, please use a Lysol wipe to clean.   All this attracts critters and triples the chances of the rodent problem spreading through the office rather than keeping it within the kitchen area.

Thanks again to the Magnificent 7 – or how many it took to clean last Friday!
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Sent: 9:47a Tuesday 6/29

Dear whoever finished the coffee, didn’t make more, but left the empty pot on the hot burner:

This is a bad idea.
In the future, if you finish the last drop of coffee in the pot, please brew more.
If you don’t know where to find it, please ask me. I will show you.
If you don’t know how to make it, please ask me.  I will teach you.

At the VERY least, please do not put an empty pot on a hot burner.
We do not want to burn down our kitchen during placement season & travel cycle.
That would be bad.

Thanks for your attention and compliance.
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Sent: 1153a Tues 6/29

Ok, around 11am a pot with only about 2 ounces of coffee in it, once again was sitting on a hot burner.  Is there someone that is not seeing these emails?
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Sent: 345p Wed 6/30

Okay Neighbors!  --  (includes All Staff:   Full-time; Summer; Night; Day; Temporary; Interns!)

Here is a bulleted list from a concerned Bethesda YFU citizen only minutes ago regarding how (s)he found the kitchen:

·         The coffee pot, yet again, had ¼ inch of coffee left in it. The machine was still turned on and the pot was sticking to the heating pad.

·         The tables were littered with crumbs, a couple of patches of dried sauce (or it could have been dressing).

·         Cutlery and crockery were left dirty in the sink and on the bench and the sink had salad and vegetable clippings left in it.

What happens next  ?? --

If necessary,  we’ll be conducting mandatory trainings and a test on kitchen etiquette, scrubbing, cleaning and food preparation given by the Master Chef himself Alex Lopez!!  He won’t let you get away with a CRUMB!    Or, we will require a check-off for everyone who goes to get a cup of coffee – yes; we want to avoid that.  Next is to install a roving kitchen camera – catching someone in the act of failing in kitchen KP duties, again something to be avoided.

Even though we have a team to clean up, it’s not their full-time job.   The expectation is that every individual will clean up after themselves to avoid any one person spending more than a minimal amount of time cleaning at all.   If there are people identified who are not doing their share, they will need to contribute mightily to the “Kitchen Kitty “, a donation box which will be established.  The message is – please keep this common area clean; safe and be considerate of your coworkers!

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My comments:

I am glad I don't drink coffee.

If we had a Kitchen Kitty, we wouldn't have crumbs, drips, bugs, or mice.  Just cat fur.

I think I know who the main culprit is, but I can't prove it.

I do usually store stuff in the fridge, but with the increased staff right now things are disappearing.  So I'm not.

Other than that, life is dull.

UPDATE:

Sent: 1011a Wed 6/30

As you’ll notice, the men’s and women’s restrooms on the first floor are out of order, both missing an important ‘piece’ in their usage!   Our restroom keys will work on the 2^nd and 3^rd floors.   At this time, the property managers are not sure when the 1^st floor will be back in working order so please feel free to use upstairs. 

Gone Fishin'

We had a fantastic time.  We arrived at the dock around 6a.  The boys were so excited. I'd made two dozen sandwiches, brought Little Debbie's, Gatorade, water, chips...  There was a ton of food.  My father brought beer for himself and Mr Blondie.  We weren't sure how big the boat really was but when we got there, there was plenty of space for all three coolers, the bag of misc stuff, and us.  They had a mini-fridge, a microwave, and even a stove inside the cabin.  There was a sofa sized bench and a couple chairs as well.

I pushed everyone to put on sunscreen, informed everyone (including the boat staff) of the vast quantities of food and beverage, and sat down on the bench in the cabin.  It was still a little cool and my head was splitting.  I took a decongestant and some Excedrin, then laid down.

I think I fell asleep around 730a, for about an hour.  My head was still unhappy when I woke up.  I'd missed the catching of the first two fish.  They were pulled in by MrBjr#3 and MrBjr#4.  Then MrBjr#2 pulled the next one, and Daddy pulled the fourth.  Then the next fish caught a line.  I really didn't want to fish, just observe and photograph.  However Mr Blondie talked me into pulling one in, so I did.  Here's proof...

Ewww...  They all wanted me to kiss the fish.  I refused.  Apparently it's good luck or something - I didn't care.  Not happening.  As I dropped the fish in the cooler, it decided to clamp it's mouth around my thumb.  Ouch ya bastard!  Can't wait to see you on the grill!  It only left a mark and didn't break the skin. At this point I figured out that my head just wasn't going to behave, so I hit the migraine meds.

Somewhere around 1030a, I fell asleep again.  Something about being on the boat just put me right to sleep.  The rocking on the water, the rumble of the engine, maybe my headache or the fact that we were up at 4a.... Whatever it was, I was out cold.  Next thing I knew, it was 1230p.

They had caught a few more by then, and had dug into the food.  The coolers kept everything nice and cold, and there was still plenty of ice, so everything was yummy.  The boys were making bets on which rod would catch the next fish and how big it would be.  It was all we could do to not say 'that's what she said!' at every opportunity.

We rolled back into the dock around 2p with 11 fish.  The max was 12.  The were all between 19 & 24 inches long.  The boys had never caught fish that big before.  The boat staff put the fish in a wheelbarrow and we took it to the guys on the dock who clean them.  You better believe I was going to have no parts of that.  If we couldn't get them cleaned by someone, they were going back in the water.

By 3p we were back on the road, heading to see Mr Blondie's fam 130 miles away.  We really did have a great time.  The boys actually seemed to enjoy each others company.  It was really nice.

Left to right: MrBjr#4, Mr Blondie, Daddy, MrBjr#2, MrBjr#3.  Plus me in the middle.  :-)

Gone Fishin' With Da Boyz

Mr Blondie, three of his four kids (all boys), my daddy, and me are going fishing.  The second youngest of the boys leaves for Parris Island on June 1, and we thought this would be a good way to get everyone together for something special before he leaves.  The oldest has to work the Brad Paisley concert at Nissan Pavilion (I refuse to call it Jiffy Lube Live.  That's just stupid.) and couldn't get out of it.  So we chartered a fishing boat and are going fishing.  We get on the boat at 6a and will be out until 2ish.  I'll have plenty of sunscreen!

Mr Blondie's little sister is also in town.  Her husband just got back from Iraq and they have a new baby, so we're going to see them on Sat eve & Sunday.  The boat and the 'Rent's place is 130 miles apart, and we live in the middle.  If I'm not on a boat, I'll be driving.  Whee!  I know I'm going to need a nap at some point, just not sure when I'm gonna get it.

Regardless of whether I get a nap or not, we're going to have a great time.  As long as I don't have to touch a fish...

Mr Blondie's New Toy

So the Blue Chariot of Fire (aka the Taurus) is on it's last legs.  It's got 130k miles on it, the a/c hasn't worked in over two years, and it needs some major front end & engine work.  So we got him this:

He is a very happy camper.  He's never in his life had a vehicle that he bought for himself.  He went from borrowing his father's truck, to a mini-van with car seats.  So this one is for him. 

Mark & Sean in Tysons!!

Mark Levin and Sean Hannity were in Tysons Corner at the Barnes & Noble for a book signing Saturday morning.  They started at 9a.  We'd been to one of Mark Levin's book signings before.  We'd arrived about 4 hours early, and there were already about 200 people there.  So this time we figured, since both Mark and Sean would be there, we'd really  need to get there early.  At the same time, I was at the theater the night before.  Getting up before dawn was not a happy thought.

I did set the alarm for 4a.  We managed to get out of the house about 445a.  When we got there, there were only about 50 people in line ahead of us.  Yay!  We pulled out the folding chairs that we brought, and made ourselves comfortable.

Last time, the mall staff was just plain evil.  It was pouring outside and we weren't allowed in the mall.  It was so bad that everyone was talking about emailing the mall management.  I did, and I'm sure most other irritated people did too. This time, the front of the line started at the lower level entrance to B&N, so the first 75 people or so were actually inside the building.  As long as we kept it more or less single file, they were fine with it. 

We chatted a bit with the people in line around us.  Tho I think after about 15mins I was asleep.  Mr. Blondie woke me up at one point and sent me to one of the mall benches where I promptly fell asleep again.  Around 8a he called me - wrist bands were being handed out and he wanted to take the stuff we didn't want to carry back to the car.

Around 845a Mark and Sean arrive.  They came in the same entrance where our line was, so we got to see them, shake hands, try and get pictures...  Sean shook my hand and I said, "Thanks for being here, Mark." He politely corrected me and went on his way.

Did I really say that?  I've seen them before.  I know which is which.  I felt so stupid.  That's a true blonde moment if I ever saw one...

Catching Up... Or Not

I am surprised how much I miss Forever Plaid.  I still wake up with the songs going thru my head.  I know this will pass, but it's still sad.  And happy. And sad.

I attended the design run for show #3 last night.  It's a really cute show.  Some of the characters are a stitch.  There is a girl in the cast, probably 9 or 10 years old that is just adorable.  She kept bringing me props to look at and chatting away.  This will be a fun group.

Now if I can just survive the next two weeks.  We move in to the theater on Sunday morning, not Monday eve like I originally thought.  I got home last night just before 11p, but it took me an hour to wind down.  I am wiped out this morning.  I sat in the car in the parking lot for 10 mins before coming in to work.  Gah.  I thought I was catching up on my rest, but it seems like my schedule is catching up with me.  I've still got to get the plot done, I'm going to see DC United play tonight and Saturday, and I still need to keep my day job. Knock on wood - I haven't had a migraine (that wasn't hormonal or weather related) in 2 months.  Yippee!

Needed Rest & Yadda Yadda Yadda...

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed not having to be anywhere after work this week.  I've gotten a lot of rest, tho I'm not entirely caught up.  I have no plans for tomorrow during the day either, so it'll be a nice lazy day.  Mr. Blondie will have the Benz - he's going to his parents for the annual Landscape The 'Rent's Yard Day festivities.  Because of the show, I am unable to attend.  So I'm going to be chillaxin'.  Me, the kitty babies, laundry, maybe cleaning, snacking, napping...  Ahh...

I did, this week, discover the love that is Euro Motorcars.  All they sell are Benz's and Stupid Cars.  My check engine light came on the same day I received the notice for my emissions inspection.  Yay.  On advice from a buddy I headed to Germantown to Euro.  I contacted his service adviser, and the next morning I was dropping my car off.  I showed him what my extended service plan was and he got a twinkle in his eye.  Apparently the plan I bought thru Carmax is one of the best out there.  <happy dance>  They gave me a free loaner, and I headed to work.

Now it's been a long time since I've had to make that commute on 270.  With no traffic, it should take 20mins to get from Route 118 to River Road.  Leaving Germantown at 8a, it took an hour and a half.  I usually get on 270 at 189, and even with traffic it takes less than 30mins to get to River.  Heh...  At least the loaner they gave me was a Benz.  Not as fun as mine, but it was comfy. 

Turns out there was some fuel exhaust valve thing that was malfunctioning.  This would have greatly affected my emissions inspection.  There was also a part that MB was recalling that needed to be replaced, so they did that too.  Instead of costing me $200, it was just my deductible.  Yippee!  The whole process was a breeze, the service was fantastic, and they even washed & vacuumed my car.  Blondie is happy.

Ooo! I Can't Wait!

Mark and Sean together at Tyson’s!
630 WMAL welcomes Mark Levin and Sean Hannity to Barnes and Noble at Tyson’s Corner, Saturday, May 8th 11am-4pm.

Mark will be signing his brand new book "Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated," and Sean will be there to sign his new bestseller "Conservative Victory – Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda." Mark’s book signing of his wildly popular "Liberty and Tyranny – A Conservative Manifesto," drew thousands to Barnes and Noble. Put these talk titans together and one can only imagine how large this event will be. Make plans now to join us. Be listening to 630 WMAL and log on to wmal.com for additional details.

POLAR BEAR PLUNGE

Yup, we did it.  And here's proof.  What an awesome day.

Click here: Our Polar Bear Plunge for Special Olympics

Am I REALLY Doing This??

Yup.  I am participating in the 14th annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge to support the Maryland Special Olympics.  I've done it the last few years, and this year is no different.

I know, you think I'm crazy.  Well I am, but really Mr. Blondie is the crazy one.  He thinks jumping into the ocean in the freezing weather is fun.  He doesn't need a reason to do it.  But to get me to do it, he had to find a really good reason.  'It'll be fun!' just wasn't, and won't ever be, enough.  So he finds this.  Knowing that I have a soft spot in my heart for Special Olympics, he talked me into it.

We've done it a few years now, so we are getting better at being prepared for what to expect.  The first year we did it, they ended up with almost twice as many participants as they had planned for.  Each year it's gotten bigger and bigger.  This year is no exception.

However, the weather this year is a little different.  The past few years the temps have been in the upper 30's, low 40's and lots of sunshine.  Last year there was a bit of a breeze to deal with, but we all survived.  Tomorrow they're expecting the high to be 25 degrees, 10 mph winds, and a 50% chance of snow.  Yippee...

I know I don't sound very enthusiastic, but this is nothing compared to what those kids and their parents deal with every day.  When you come out of that water, and see a bunch of kids standing on the hill cheering and screaming and having a blast, you remember why you're doing this.

Ginormous thanks to all of you who donated on my behalf.  Every penny goes to support the Special Olympics, and when you see what the kids get out of it, you'll know it was worth it.  Go here to get an idea.

Anytime You Want To Turn Your Brain To Mush...

Isn't he beautiful?  Me want.

I'm actually trying this blog thing...

Well, here's my attempt at a blog.  It'll be about anything and everything.  I may not post every day, or every week, but when I feel like it (and have the time) I will.  This is mostly meant for my amusement and sanity.  It may give you some insight to what it's like to be involved in the tech side of community theater, or it may make you laugh, or it may irritate you.  Whatever it is, it's my little corner of the internet.  Take it or leave it.  Smooches!