A glimpse into office life

I've been eyeing this book that's been sitting near the communal copier at work for some time now. It's called "Voting," and I figured that, being one of our books, it was probably a pretty basic overview of the history of voting. It is. It also turns out, it's not one of our books, but one published by Rosen Publishing, so I'm not sure why we have it. Anyway, it's taken me 3 weeks to swipe this book, because of the creepy McCreep who sits in the adjacent office, who stares at everyone when they walk by. Creepily. Today was the day.

Skimming through this book, I'm regretting how uninterested in history I was when I was in school. My knowledge of history is blotchy at best, but I'm going to try to make up for that now. My first impulse was to memorize the presidents, so I printed out a list of the US Presidents from Wikipedia. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the first President of the United States was actually John Quincy Adams! I had accidentally tossed the first 5 Presidents into the trash. Sorry guys, it's not because I'm unpatriotic.

This is just a start, but I'm hoping that brushing up on my history will make me somewhat of a better person... or at least help me out with trivia.

Back to work...

Hell train

I'm not going to try to entirely dissect the suckiness of the L train, but yesterday I had one of the worst 2 hour commutes ever because of it. Not a morning commute, I was coming back from the most obscurely located Regal Cinemas in the Battery Park area. Anyway... First, I waited for the E train to move for 15 minutes, but this was only because I was at the WTC stop at the beginning of the line. Fine. The other people on the train weren't complaining, they were sleeping in plastic bags. Then the L train was shut down from 8th Ave to Union Square, so I had to take the slow M14 bus because my knee hurt too much to walk it. Then it was a 25 minute wait for a Brooklyn bound train. Wow, I got a seat on the crowded train, things are looking up! But no, who comes on board but a pregnant woman, an old lady with a cane, and a woman struggling to hold a baby. Sigh. I got up. Then I had to transfer at Bedford to get another L train to get to the G train. I don't even need to explain the G train. This is purely a cathartic post for me, but this picture pretty much sums up how I feel about the L train. It was in both the Gothamist and Williamsburg is Dead blogs, so they can both take credit for it:

Feed me... or 100 kids

A little bit of a more charitable post...

I got this bag for christmas from a woman (whose kids) I babysit for, and it took me a little while to warm up to it, mostly because it's predominantly white, and I am messy. It's called a "Feed 100 bag" and for the $30 bag, $10 of the proceeds are donated through the UN World Food Program to provide 100 nutritious meals for kids in Rwanda. You can buy them at Whole Foods, or you can check it out/order it here: http://www.feedprojects.org/shopping_product_list.asp

I figure with non-plastic bags rising to fame, this is a better way to go about it. I know those "this is not a plastic bag" bags sold on the street are a whole lot cheaper, but I think this is a pretty good gift all around.

Observation

2 posts in one day, heck yea. I'm getting the hang of this, sort of... it was only a week ago that I accidentally started "following" my own blog. Whoops.

I was about to email my boss to request a few days off in the coming months, and I realized that there are 2 Friday the 13ths in a row! February and March!! What!!! And I'm taking them both off, though not for superstitious reasons.

A salute to caller ID

I've been screening my phone calls at work lately, and it's the best thing decision I've ever made. I'm not allowed to tell you where I work because of a new Corporate blogging policy that just came out which forbade any employee from mentioning the company name anywhere in a blog. Or, if I do, I have to write an elaborate disclaimer saying that my words do not reflect the ideas, thoughts, bullshit, blah blah blah etc, of my company. You all know where I work anyway, so whatever. I was going to post the policy, but just realized it's about 3 pages too long.

I digress... Phone calls. Screen them. I no longer have to handle calls outside of my department inquiring about publishing dental health memos in our magazines. No, I am not interested in attending your comic book conference at Fordham University and now I don't have to tell you so. I don't deal with comic books. My name is not Lisa McClusky, and you'll find that out once you listen to my poorly recorded voicemail message. Yet you Still left a voicemail. No one named Lisa McClusky even works here. I know that because I wasted my time looking her up in the company directory. My name is also not Tracey, and I do not owe money on my American Express Bill because I don't have an American Express credit card.

Thank you, thank you, caller ID.

Oh yea, and, Obama.

Out with the old

2009 is the year of trying new things, right?! Unfortunately, once I try something new that I love, it prevents me from trying other new things. I'm working on it... Anyway, if you haven't been to these two places, check 'em out.

Life Cafe in Bushwick. First off, you get to pass the Boar's Head factory on the way, and who wouldn't want a walking (outside) tour of the place that manufactures the most delicious deli meat there is? There's also a creepy wooden Santa hiding behind a fence somewhere along the way. Second, and this is big for me to say, best cheese fries with gravy, ever? Maybe. Delicious. Third, stop in on a Friday night and give a big tip to the friendly server. Lastly, have enough consecutive drinks so that you think you're extremely smart because you know all the answers to the Trivial Pursuit game... then take a moment to realize that it's the Junior edition. Here's the link: http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=41647&neighborhoodid=0&cuisineid=68

For any of you who are offended about the Boar's Head factory being a landmark for me, the cafe has a lot of good vegetarian options. So there.

Second place is Maggie Brown's in Clinton Hill. Worth the longish walk from the frequently malfunctioning G train. Ride your bike if you feel so inclined. They have the best breakfast burrito ever (yes, ever) with the option of substituting tofu scramble for the eggs. Any brunch place that allows you to add avocado to any dish is also OK by me. Here's the link for them: http://www.maggiebrownrestaurant.com/

I promise my next post won't be about food. I know I can come up with other things.

Cooking with wine in 2009

There was a short article in the New York Times yesterday referencing a British poll that concluded that our spending habits (poor or otherwise) come from our mothers. How about eating habits? I can't believe that I went 25 years without ever trying brussel sprouts simply because my mom hated them. My dad loves them, but he can only successfully cook spaghetti and stir fry, and we all know who the boss in my family is. I could go on a psychological rant about my mom being withholding, but I know I'll probably want my kids to be unaware that mayonnaise exists.

Most of you (all 2 of you who might check this blog) know that I have wacky food obsessions and abnormal cravings. I've said this before, but If I ever get pregnant, I'm going to be the fattest person ever. Obviously, this week the food obsession is brussel sprouts.

Here's the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Roasted-Brussels-Sprouts/Detail.aspx If it's been a while since you last had them, give it a whirl. Mark Bittman suggests adding some garlic in his recipe.

This isn't my attempt to turn this into a food blog. I can't compete with Meghan: http://cookingdrinkingswearing.blogspot.com/ , but I have cooked almost every day this week and I'm enjoying it.