That's my Sharpie, bitch!
Love,
Me
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
I'm just THAT good.
I know I haven't posted in a while, and I totally have my Indian food post and a post about my vacation to put up, but this little gem was so good I had to put it up right away.
So the office I work in had this pot luck party at one of my coworkers's house. I signed up to bring up barbecue meatballs. Why? you ask. Because it's the simplest thing to make! Seriously, throw a bag of frozen meatballs and equal parts of barbecue sauce and grape jelly in a crock pot, set it on low before you go to bed and they are ready when you wake up. Easy peasey.
ANYWAY.
So we don't really use the crock pot much. Hardly ever, actually. My mom isn't much of a cook, and I've just started earning my kitchen wings. This means that we don't really have a way of carrying a crock pot to and from locations except by hand. I figure it won't be too bad, and I put one of those heavy duty trash bags underneath it should any sloshing happen. Great. I get everything situated on the floor on the passenger side of my car (that thing was HEAVY, by the way), and I'm off to work. I took it out and up to my office because you just don't leave food in your car for hours, and then when it came time to go to my coworker's house I took it back to my car and loaded it up, then of course had to unload it when I got there.
All of this loading and unloading, and it only sloshed a little bit, and it landed on to the bag. Sweet. So we get there, and there is TONS of food. Barely half (if that) of the meatballs were eaten, but that was sort of expected. So I had to load them back in my car on the way out.
Now, the house we were at was HUGE. I mean...whoa. And it had a huge circular driveway, which I conveniently parked at the end of. Now there was a smooth, cement part of the driveway that ran straight and to the back, and then the rest of the circle part was gravel. I parked on the end of the gravel. I loaded the meatballs back onto the garbage bag, got in the car, and started to reverse so I could back out onto the smooth cement part, then drive out (there were cars in front of me so I couldn't just drive forward).
I pushed gently on the accelerator, because I could see a Jeep somewhat close-ish in my rear view mirror and the last thing I need is to back into a parked car in front of my coworker's house, y'know? There was a little ledge I had to get over to get onto the cement, and that little bit of gas I gave didn't push the car over. So I pushed the gas pedal just a leeeeetle bit harder, still not enough. Finally, I gave it a nice tap, but the car SHOT back. I panicked because I thought the Jeep was super close and slammed on the brakes. In doing so, the crock pot heaved and meatballs and barbecue sauce flew out. (Turns out, the Jeep was still like 15 feet away. Go figure)
I saw the whole thing in slow motion. The lid bounced up and a tidal wave of sauce and meatballs poured out of the front, splashing the side panel, and getting all over the floor of my car. The bag couldn't save it. There was nothing I could do to stop it either, nothing but sit there and gape at the mess and think "....great." After about 10 seconds of staring at the pool of barbecue sauce, I quietly changed gears to "Drive" and went back to work, shaking my head the entire way back.
I parked, got out and went around to my passenger side and opened the door. It looked even worse from that angle. Sauce was dripping on the bottom of the door, even. I realized just how hopeless it was, cursed myself, grabbed my stuff, closed the door and trudged back to work.
So the office I work in had this pot luck party at one of my coworkers's house. I signed up to bring up barbecue meatballs. Why? you ask. Because it's the simplest thing to make! Seriously, throw a bag of frozen meatballs and equal parts of barbecue sauce and grape jelly in a crock pot, set it on low before you go to bed and they are ready when you wake up. Easy peasey.
ANYWAY.
So we don't really use the crock pot much. Hardly ever, actually. My mom isn't much of a cook, and I've just started earning my kitchen wings. This means that we don't really have a way of carrying a crock pot to and from locations except by hand. I figure it won't be too bad, and I put one of those heavy duty trash bags underneath it should any sloshing happen. Great. I get everything situated on the floor on the passenger side of my car (that thing was HEAVY, by the way), and I'm off to work. I took it out and up to my office because you just don't leave food in your car for hours, and then when it came time to go to my coworker's house I took it back to my car and loaded it up, then of course had to unload it when I got there.
All of this loading and unloading, and it only sloshed a little bit, and it landed on to the bag. Sweet. So we get there, and there is TONS of food. Barely half (if that) of the meatballs were eaten, but that was sort of expected. So I had to load them back in my car on the way out.
Now, the house we were at was HUGE. I mean...whoa. And it had a huge circular driveway, which I conveniently parked at the end of. Now there was a smooth, cement part of the driveway that ran straight and to the back, and then the rest of the circle part was gravel. I parked on the end of the gravel. I loaded the meatballs back onto the garbage bag, got in the car, and started to reverse so I could back out onto the smooth cement part, then drive out (there were cars in front of me so I couldn't just drive forward).
I pushed gently on the accelerator, because I could see a Jeep somewhat close-ish in my rear view mirror and the last thing I need is to back into a parked car in front of my coworker's house, y'know? There was a little ledge I had to get over to get onto the cement, and that little bit of gas I gave didn't push the car over. So I pushed the gas pedal just a leeeeetle bit harder, still not enough. Finally, I gave it a nice tap, but the car SHOT back. I panicked because I thought the Jeep was super close and slammed on the brakes. In doing so, the crock pot heaved and meatballs and barbecue sauce flew out. (Turns out, the Jeep was still like 15 feet away. Go figure)
I saw the whole thing in slow motion. The lid bounced up and a tidal wave of sauce and meatballs poured out of the front, splashing the side panel, and getting all over the floor of my car. The bag couldn't save it. There was nothing I could do to stop it either, nothing but sit there and gape at the mess and think "....great." After about 10 seconds of staring at the pool of barbecue sauce, I quietly changed gears to "Drive" and went back to work, shaking my head the entire way back.
I parked, got out and went around to my passenger side and opened the door. It looked even worse from that angle. Sauce was dripping on the bottom of the door, even. I realized just how hopeless it was, cursed myself, grabbed my stuff, closed the door and trudged back to work.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Nina Knows Naught About: Indian food
To clarify, I mean Indian, like, from India. Not Native Americans.
So yeah, I figured I'd keep the momentum going. I don't want this thing to slow down so I'm going to do up this post and make myself go get Indian food sometime this week.
I don't really have any idea what Indian food tastes like. I kinda made naan once, on accident (I was trying to make tortillas but failed). The big impression in my head is that Indian food stinks. I used to work with this girl who would bring Indian food to work, and when she'd heat it up in the microwave at lunch time it would leave this god-awful stench that permeated that entire corner of the building and the surrounding offices. Seriously gagarrific. So that has just helped me to stay far, far away from Indian food restaurants.
Okay, now what I really need from you guys is suggestions. What do I order? I don't think there are any readers in the greater Houston area that could suggest places for me to go, so I'll just have to Google it. Or ask my brother's girlfriend. She likes Indian food. She may even go with me. But yeah, suggestions would be fantastic.
So yeah, I figured I'd keep the momentum going. I don't want this thing to slow down so I'm going to do up this post and make myself go get Indian food sometime this week.
I don't really have any idea what Indian food tastes like. I kinda made naan once, on accident (I was trying to make tortillas but failed). The big impression in my head is that Indian food stinks. I used to work with this girl who would bring Indian food to work, and when she'd heat it up in the microwave at lunch time it would leave this god-awful stench that permeated that entire corner of the building and the surrounding offices. Seriously gagarrific. So that has just helped me to stay far, far away from Indian food restaurants.
Okay, now what I really need from you guys is suggestions. What do I order? I don't think there are any readers in the greater Houston area that could suggest places for me to go, so I'll just have to Google it. Or ask my brother's girlfriend. She likes Indian food. She may even go with me. But yeah, suggestions would be fantastic.
Friday, August 12, 2011
A Game of Thrones
FINALLY!
Okay, so now I've read the book, and let me tell you, there's actually other stuff besides sex! A lot of other stuff! I don't know why nobody ever mentions the other stuff because that stuff is way more interesting than the sex.
Yes, there is incest, and a 13-yr-old girl getting sexed, and rape, but when taken into context of the story it's not that bad. Also, the author does not mince words. A whore is a whore and a bastard is a bastard.
The story is told in the point of view of the characters. It's like a whole bunch of different individual stories woven together seamlessly to tell the bigger story. I like this style, because I get to know more about the main characters and it somehow makes it all the more personal, I guess.
Gah, I want to talk about ALL THE THINGS, but I am going to restrain myself. Just suffice it to say, it's a REALLY GOOD book! There are so many elements to it: knights and kings and queens and lords and ladies, honor, loyalty, deceit, betrayal, seduction, lust, love, family, bravery, cowardice, war. And there are dream motifs (look at me and my literary terms!), animal/nature symbolism... I truly believe there's a little something in here that most people will enjoy reading about.
OH! But it's not a story that you want to read to your child under 13, unless you're ready for questions like, "Mama, what does 'cunt' mean?"
Okay, so now I've read the book, and let me tell you, there's actually other stuff besides sex! A lot of other stuff! I don't know why nobody ever mentions the other stuff because that stuff is way more interesting than the sex.
Yes, there is incest, and a 13-yr-old girl getting sexed, and rape, but when taken into context of the story it's not that bad. Also, the author does not mince words. A whore is a whore and a bastard is a bastard.
The story is told in the point of view of the characters. It's like a whole bunch of different individual stories woven together seamlessly to tell the bigger story. I like this style, because I get to know more about the main characters and it somehow makes it all the more personal, I guess.
Gah, I want to talk about ALL THE THINGS, but I am going to restrain myself. Just suffice it to say, it's a REALLY GOOD book! There are so many elements to it: knights and kings and queens and lords and ladies, honor, loyalty, deceit, betrayal, seduction, lust, love, family, bravery, cowardice, war. And there are dream motifs (look at me and my literary terms!), animal/nature symbolism... I truly believe there's a little something in here that most people will enjoy reading about.
OH! But it's not a story that you want to read to your child under 13, unless you're ready for questions like, "Mama, what does 'cunt' mean?"
Friday, July 29, 2011
Good Bye
An hour and a half from the end of the last day at this office and they're making me do work.
What's up with that?! Don't they know I'M DONE?
Seriously, though, it's no biggie. Just some correspondence stuff. But it's annoying because it's stuff that should have been specified when I first got it DAYS ago. Which means I would have gotten it done and would be able to blog here without feeling rushed 'cause I gotta finish it before I move to my new temporary office.
Although, I could just hand this all off to Charlotte ....
Meh, then it REALLY won't get done.
It's kind of sad, this whole office closing deal. Okay, really sad. The Shuttle Program is done and my office is the first to disband. We're not needed any more. There are no more flights to operate and integrate.
This whole program closing thing has been kind of anti-climactic. It's like, there was the final launch, it landed, and now we're done. Sure, there have been some "parties," but no big community thing. Well, KSC had a huge thing, but not here. It's all been kept pretty in-house, so to speak. Oh well.
My desk here is cleared (well, except for this correspondence crap), my email has already been changed, and in just a little over an hour I will walk down to my new office and this position will cease to exist. There will be no fanfare, no big sendoff. It will merely slip silently into oblivion, only to be remembered by a small handful of people as they think back to their days in this office, a nostalgic smile playing on their faces.
What's up with that?! Don't they know I'M DONE?
Seriously, though, it's no biggie. Just some correspondence stuff. But it's annoying because it's stuff that should have been specified when I first got it DAYS ago. Which means I would have gotten it done and would be able to blog here without feeling rushed 'cause I gotta finish it before I move to my new temporary office.
Although, I could just hand this all off to Charlotte ....
Meh, then it REALLY won't get done.
It's kind of sad, this whole office closing deal. Okay, really sad. The Shuttle Program is done and my office is the first to disband. We're not needed any more. There are no more flights to operate and integrate.
This whole program closing thing has been kind of anti-climactic. It's like, there was the final launch, it landed, and now we're done. Sure, there have been some "parties," but no big community thing. Well, KSC had a huge thing, but not here. It's all been kept pretty in-house, so to speak. Oh well.
My desk here is cleared (well, except for this correspondence crap), my email has already been changed, and in just a little over an hour I will walk down to my new office and this position will cease to exist. There will be no fanfare, no big sendoff. It will merely slip silently into oblivion, only to be remembered by a small handful of people as they think back to their days in this office, a nostalgic smile playing on their faces.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Nina Knows Naught About: A Game of Thrones
Okay, the votes are in and the winner is A Game of Thrones! Thanks to all those who voted! I had a few people give me their votes without commenting, which is okay.
So up until very recently I had never heard of A Game of Thrones. Apparently, there's also a TV series based on the books, but I didn't learn of it until after I heard about the books. Everyone I've talked to who has either read the books or watched the series (or both) tell me that it's "so awesome" and "you really should read/watch it, Nina!!!!!!!11!"
Well, what is it about? All I ever heard was that there is Alot of sex in the book, and even more so in the show. Well, okay, I can deal with sex. Reading about sex is not that big of a deal. So I'm still cool with reading the book at some time in the future.
Then one of my good friends began to read it and tell me a little bit about it. Here's how that conversation went (I'm paraphrasing a bit, but this is essentially it):
Me: "So how is it?"
Him: "It's SO GOOD! You should definitely read it."
Me: "Okay. So tell me about it."
Him: "Well, there's Alot of sex."
Me: "I've heard, but that's not a big deal."
Him: "Well, it's not just like, normal sex..."
Me: ?
Him: "There's incest --"
Me: "Gross. Well, that's not too ba-"
Him: "And sex with children. Well, a child."
Me: O_O
"Like rape?!"
Him: "Well, it is at first, but then she kinda ... gets into it ..."
Me: "I suddenly don't want to read this anymore."
So for a while that's all I thought it was about. Which is strange, because when you read what's on the book, it doesn't seem as if there would be that kind of content:
Okay, so maybe the "barters his sister" bit gives some insight but still. I never heard about any of that other stuff when people talk of the book!
Anyway, it is now queued up in Google books so I can read it at work and still look like I'm doing something productive. Now I will find out what is so friggin' "awesome" about the book, aside from the child sex.
So up until very recently I had never heard of A Game of Thrones. Apparently, there's also a TV series based on the books, but I didn't learn of it until after I heard about the books. Everyone I've talked to who has either read the books or watched the series (or both) tell me that it's "so awesome" and "you really should read/watch it, Nina!!!!!!!11!"
Well, what is it about? All I ever heard was that there is Alot of sex in the book, and even more so in the show. Well, okay, I can deal with sex. Reading about sex is not that big of a deal. So I'm still cool with reading the book at some time in the future.
Then one of my good friends began to read it and tell me a little bit about it. Here's how that conversation went (I'm paraphrasing a bit, but this is essentially it):
Me: "So how is it?"
Him: "It's SO GOOD! You should definitely read it."
Me: "Okay. So tell me about it."
Him: "Well, there's Alot of sex."
Me: "I've heard, but that's not a big deal."
Him: "Well, it's not just like, normal sex..."
Me: ?
Him: "There's incest --"
Me: "Gross. Well, that's not too ba-"
Him: "And sex with children. Well, a child."
Me: O_O
"Like rape?!"
Him: "Well, it is at first, but then she kinda ... gets into it ..."
Me: "I suddenly don't want to read this anymore."
So for a while that's all I thought it was about. Which is strange, because when you read what's on the book, it doesn't seem as if there would be that kind of content:
A Game of Thrones
Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.
Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
Okay, so maybe the "barters his sister" bit gives some insight but still. I never heard about any of that other stuff when people talk of the book!
Anyway, it is now queued up in Google books so I can read it at work and still look like I'm doing something productive. Now I will find out what is so friggin' "awesome" about the book, aside from the child sex.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
6 months
My baby is 6 months old TODAY! I can't believe it.
I figure here is the perfect opportunity to introduce my son, AKA Nate, AKA thecutestbabyinthewholeworldandidon'tcareifyouagreewithmeornotheis.
When he was born, he looked like this:
And now he looks like this:
That last one wasn't really necessary, but I adore that face he's making. I could seriously just sit here and make this post all of my favorite pictures of him so far, but I don't want anybody asploding from cuteness overload.
I figure here is the perfect opportunity to introduce my son, AKA Nate, AKA thecutestbabyinthewholeworldandidon'tcareifyouagreewithmeornotheis.
When he was born, he looked like this:
And now he looks like this:
That last one wasn't really necessary, but I adore that face he's making. I could seriously just sit here and make this post all of my favorite pictures of him so far, but I don't want anybody asploding from cuteness overload.
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