recycling

in holding to the civil engineering code of ethics that i learned thru rote memorization, and in conjunction with the fact that we are living on an overpopulated island...i have been trying for the past 3 months to organize a recycling program at our office. after calling the town of islip, i was told to call the "recycling educator" who told me that since were renting space in a commercial building that doesnt pay town taxes i have to contact our building manager or garbage hauler. but due to the deadbeat landlord and his not plowing the parking lot after 4" of snow or the shoddy workmanship of our office remodel or the $22,000 of late electricity bills... i figured i should call the hauler.

after very poorly organized attempted meetings, i finally met with camille from winters brothers and arranged our FREE paper recycling plan. because of some slight miscommunications we received this lovely piece of junk:

it just so happens to be marked "property of the us postal service" and has priority stickers stuck on the inside. not to mention the dried crusty bits of trash, chunks of dirt, and horrid smell on the inside. fortunatly, it was about 5 times too large for our office and we traded it in for the smaller cleaner model:

well smaller atleast. but nothing a lot of lysol spray cant fix. but sarah helped me make little laminated signs for the top. due to the lack of resale value...corrogated cardboard isnt being recycled in islip but..paper and paperboard are! and i taped signs to clean trash cans around the office. soooo woo. even though the entire office has made fun of me for my enviro efforts. atleast im trying.

new chair

june 2nd 2007 i started my first "real world" job. and ive had the crappiest most uncomfortable chairs in the last 7 months. i switched my first one out after multiple attacks with wd-40 did nothing to stop the squeaking sound every time i breathed. my second attempt at chair picking left me with a slightly dirty old chair that forever leaned back far enough to induce vertigo. after moving offices i was stuck with an older dirtier chair that sometimes leaned back and wouldnt raise up above mid-calf level.

i finally suggested to my boss that i buy a gaiam balance ball chair as it is half the price as a "normal" office chair and is potentially posture-improving. i sit on a regular size balance ball at my desk at home occasionally but obviously it rolls around whenver i stand up. but minus the fact that the chair is missing a nut so the front bar isnt clipped in on one side... the chair rolls like a regular office chair, the back is the right height for lumbar support, and since im under 5'11" and 300 lbs... its the baby bear chair-just right!



inspired by lady smaggle:

• red scarf-h&m
• paisley scarf-from grammie
• shirt-victoria's secret
• tank top-somewhere cheap like rainbow
  
• jeans-macys sale department
• shoes-steve madden
  

ode to mercedes benz g500

[image from edmunds]

today i saw you driving and i watched you run a light
but since youre so damn rich...i guess its just alright

i cant afford an eighty-five thousand dollar car
and with the price of gas these days i guess youre, like, a star

15 mpg highway is the best that you can do
and in my subcompact i guess i get bout 42.

your car looks like a hummer with mini-a-turization
but since you paid two times as much, its par for this great nation

whether "just for men" or as a sweet sixteen new gift
please help us further emphasize the monetary rift

i hope you know that, yes, you are as important as you think
and when you crash into a ditch, ill drive on without a blink

bread failure

looks pretty with sugar on top. tastes like floury fruit chunks.



sunday night i attempted baking. usually quick breads turn out atleast edible, as do cookies and brownies. cakes however are a complete and utter failure enough of the time that i refuse to even make boxed cakes. in my usual fashion, i found a decent looking recipe: holiday cranberry apricot soda bread. it must have been something i copied out of a vegan/tofu type cookbook. which i have come to realize is just begging for a horrible result. besides the obvious cranberry and apricot, the recipe calls for chopped pecans, 1/4 C butter [additional tofu to substitute for the rest], and 2 T sugar.

after kneading and plopping onto a greased cookie sheet, the directions said to cut an X in the top to allow for expansion and sprinkle with sugar. during baking due to our overzealous gas oven, i had to cover the bread with foil to slow the burning to a crisp process. upon removal from the oven, the bread looked rather like an oversized muffin. if only it tasted as good. the best thing i can say about my most recent baking creation.. is that this picture looks a bit like one of those 3d magic eye things.



in other news: my zucchini plant continues to flower but due to the current lack of bees in the house...the blossoms then shrivel and die.

star trek

growing up, i used to watch star trek [the kirk and picard ones. not that crazy woman] with my dad. needless to say, i am ridiculously excited for the new movie coming out. besides the fact that its got karl urban [kiwi], simon pegg [hot fuzz], and john cho [harold], i enjoy anything action/scifi. i also hope the new star trek lives up to the hype...unlike the star wars 1-3.

however enthusiastic i am about anything scifi... i am 1000% not a trekkie and umm not this geeky by far.

giraffe wall

after much debate and waffling, i bought giraffes multiply from blik. comparison shopping showed that blik is slightly overpriced but has original designs that are artistic and classy. i must add that vinyl wall decals are a pain in the ass to put up but the end result is worth it without a doubt. even though it took me an hour before the season premiere of lost and most of the ad segments in between, my ocd paid off. in my opinion.

snowmen and octopi[?]

what do snowmen and octopi have in common? ...absolutely nothing.





our office moved to the hamlet of holtsville, which extended almost everyone's commute, changed our town jurisdiction to islip, and replaced our old crappy 3 story building with a newer crappy 4 story building. but i digress. after a recent snow, which i never would have fathomed was packable, we arrived at work to pass this guy in the parking lot. despite the sun and 30 degree temps melting his face a little, he still has a pretty sizable mohawk and is much happier than anyone else entering the building.



as another after work project, i free handed a pattern for an octopus and then basically stitched it together without having any idea if it would work. i saw how it would turn out in my head... and its not too far off. ollie the demented octopus has some leg spacing issues, but sits flat on the table as expected. i did intend for his 8 legs to be different sizes, both in length and width. according to kt, his eyes are a little frightening, but tilted the other way he looked angry and quite severe. only after sewing his legs together, wrong side out, did i remember what a pain in the ass turning fake fur right side out is. despite his odd technicolors, i think ollie came out rather darling.

fabric creations

while in joann's looking for matching thread, i happened upon the "DISCOUNT CLEARANCE MUST GO 90% OFF" table. after surpassing the sheer curtainesque fabrics and the kitschy polarfleece, i discovered faux furs and boiled wools in bright garish colors. while having a yard of each cut, i spotted behind the counter, what appeared to be an imitation sheepskin remnant. it turned out to be softer than kitten fluff and this site it inspired me to make my own version of a yeti. which turned out cute in the version where i forgot seam allowances and bear-ish in the second attempt.

i also made a monster shaped pattern that eventually turned into something resembling a green wolf. so i added a furry little tail which frank didnt enjoy so much.

pumpkin cake-cookie-muffin tops

as an avid pumpkin pie hater, i never thought about other foods made with pumpkin until going to school in maine. gooey greas-ily delicious chocolate chip pumpkin bread is quite common and i had my first piece freshman year. now having tried pumpkin pasta, roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin cheesecake, and even pumpkin pie spice, i find this versatile "fruit" to be delicious...except in pumpkin pie.

regardless, i found a quick and easy recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on allrecipes.com
that i abridged for my own mishmashed cookbook.

recipe:

• mix 1 teas baking soda and 1 teas soy milk and set aside
• mix 1 C canned pumpkin, 1 C sugar, 1/2 C vege oil, and 1 egg
• add pinch of salt, 1 teas ground giner, 1 teas cloves, 1 teas nugmeg, 2 teas baking powder, 2 teas cinnamon, 1 T vanilla, mix well
• add 2 C flour and 1 1/2 C chocolate chips
• drop T spoonfuls on cookie sheet and bake 350 for 10 min

amigurumi food

[edited 11/14 for picture reload]


recently i remembered that i do actually know how to crochet. having started an 8-5 job i am able to cook and watch tv and make random crafts after work in lieu of homework. after searching for crochet patterns online, i came across lion brand yarn which has free knitting and crochet patterns. loosely based on their patterns and my own "artistic vision" which sometimes is slightly nearsighted, i created an eggplant, a sad carrot, an ear of corn, a hardboiled egg, a very small tomato-looking-apple, and two cupcakes.

according to the very knowledgeable wikipedia, amigurumi has a "pervading aesthetic of...cuteness"


fortunately with my limited attention span for crafts and my american need for instantaneous gratification, these little critters take about half an hour to make. plus i can harass my cat or eat or chat about random things and not risk dropping a stitch that would waste days or months of progress.