h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You are a lucky girl! Nice to see you happy Terri

Its lovely to hear things are going so well for you Terri.

Looking forward to hear how Ks interview went.

Yes.

Fingers crossed, sending your way.

zdt

K didn't get the job he interviewed for last week... but his old co-worker from a previous job works for a company he'd like to work for very much and hasn't got the teching experience to get. She referred his resume to the hiring manager in that department and maybe that will work out well. Cross fingers! And thanks from both myself and K for pulling for the both of us during this whole debacle.

More good luck wishes to both of you then

Thank you!!

I hope you all had a decent weekend (preferably a lovely one). Mine was nice and relaxing. Friday night K and I had an Italian dinner and then met some old co-workers of his for a couple of drinks. He'd spent Thursday night here at my place, and that was nice as well. We dog/ condo-sat this weekend as well, ran some errands (like grocery shopping, etc). Hung out Saturday with T and his new girl friend and a friend of theirs, watched the MST3K version of "Manos, the Hands of Fate" at my place. Nice and relaxing stuff.

Bought myself a couple of used CDs, a Sparks anthology and a Pulp CD from '95, I forget the name of the album but it's the one with "Common People". And I got the DVd "Big Fish". So, retail therapy has helped with the new job stress as well. The boss says he's going to hire an "assistant" for me, if he does, I think I can handle hanging around at this gig for a bit.

I induldged in some retail therapy myself tonight. I bought some nice fuzzy socks. Soft as soft can be.

Will send email soon talking about Mom, but must head to bed at the moment as I am severely sleepy.

JEllen

Not ignoring you, PC....just not as hootoo active as usual.

I'd heard mixed things about Big Fish, but I'll put it on my list. I'm not a major fan of Tim Burton, though.

The Pulp album was 'Different Class'. I've been listening to some early Fall albums recently - especially Hexenduction Hour and Live At The Witch Trials.

I've got a bit of winter blues at the moment - I really didn't want to come back to work after xmas. Still - it will pass.

btw - did you ever finish Midnight's Children? And do you still need recommendations? I've just started Anthony Burgess's Malayan Trilogy, having recently read the first vol. of his autobiography.

I've had the winter blues for weeks now. It will pass for me as well, but it sure is a drag. And I understand fully well not wanting to return to work after the holidays- I started a new job smack in the middle of them and it's only compunded the whole thing. (Though it's a fair bit less depressing than unemployment would be!)

I've gotten about halfway through "Midnight's Children". It's an excellent, fascinating read, but I suddenly find myself with less reading time and an inexplicably diminished attention span. Probably due in part to the aforementioned job stresses and SAD.

"Big Fish" is a little less "Burtonish" atmospherically than some of his stuff (I'm a fan, incidentally, although not a *huge* fan), but it's clearly a Burton film. I found it very entertaining- the acting was fairly remarkable for Ewan MacGregor and Billy Crudup, and Jessica Lang was brilliant. I thought it was poignant and cried like a baby: even my boyfriend (who wasn't a boyfriend yet, at the time) got a little wet in the tear ducts. If you hate it, you can read me the riot act.

I'll keep recommending things as they come to me... and do keep the book recommendations coming, even if it takes me a while to catch up. I think you have excellent taste.

Oh, I just remembered I had promised to share my "recipe" when I'd prepared the butternut squash chowder. I made it yesterday, and we're having it for dinner tonight, with a freshly baked baguette. Here's the recipe:

Butternut Squash Chowder:
1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 cup carrots, diced
1 small zucchini, peeld and cubed

1 red bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 cloves (or more to taste) minced garlic
1 cup celery, diced

1/4 cup vegetable stock powder
1/4 cup freshly minced thyme
1/4 cup freshly minced rosemary
1/4 cup fresh basil (whole leaves, or minced)
2 Tbsp. paprika (I used the sweet Hungarian stuff)
freshly ground pepper to taste
Olive, sesame, or other cooking oil


Steam the squash, sweet potato, zucchini and carrots until tender, reserving the water.

Sweat onion, celery and garlic in oil until tender. Add red pepper and herbs and saute until fragrant. Puree the steamed veggies to desired consistently (I left mine a bit lumpy), then add water and steamed veg to the stock pot. Stir all ingredients until well blended, then simmer over low heat until hot.

Viola! It turned out quite tasty. You can use more or less of the herbs depending on your taste.

"Consistently" should read "consistency". I'm consistently a poor typist, and should always use the preview button.

Oh good I found the recipe
Got to try this

Since it's winter, I think it would be entirely justifiable to finish it off with some cream.

Gotta try this, yes, \i reckon cream also, sod the calories, sod the cholesterol, winter needs extra! if Yoda can happily grow extra fur coat and get fat, so can i.

Anyway, my Viking just walked out so i need comforting

zdt

I had contemplated adding some cream, but decided against it. If anyone else tries it, with cream, let me know what you think.

I also want to add that I had forgotten how much stronger the flavor is when using fresh herbs... next time I'm going to use less thyme and rosemary- just a tablespoon or so of each should do it. It was good, but with a very pronounced thyme flavoring.

The Penguin Killer emailed today to let me know he's staying in Mexico for at least another week. Woo hoo!

Terri, do you mean Viking fella walked out for a few hours to chill out, or that he split for good? *Hoping it is the former*

Things settled down for Terri, Ellenthe last post on her page sounded ok.

Glad things settled down for Terri: they invariably do, she's a reasonable, steadfast sort of person and has an uncanny knack for weathering the storm unscathed.

Had a nice, calm evening myself; K and myself had fish sticks for dinner and watched "Elvis Stories" and "The Rawhide Terror", both from my personal stash. Of course, they've got him packing up in the warehouse back at the old job, so he was exhausted. Being around sleepy people makes me sleepy as well, the end result being both of us asleep by 9:30 last night!

Can't talk about too much else just now, I apparently still have lurkers spying upon me and waiting to attack at any given moment. Sorrel and I have discussed how annoying it is having people you don't trust and don't wish to deal with nosing into your personal journal, but on the other hand, it's actually kind of flattering that the boring minutiae of everyday life is so fascinating to some people. How sad I feel for those people. But as of yet, I'm not quite ready to stop posting because of it.

Oh, and as for the job sitch: it's tolerable, and there are good aspects. It's close to home, I can still wear jeans and the like, and my schedule is 7:00 to 4:00. The disadvantages, besides the fact he miscalculated when converting my salary to an hourly rate and is underpaying me a little over $1.00 an hour, are:
(1) being on salary means if I don't leave on time or take my lunch (hasn't happened yet), I am doing what I call "charity work". I don't like that.
(2) I am not all that interested, although I am very familiar with, automotive electrical systems and their repair. So, the work can get boring at times.
(3) the building is barely heated, and has no aircon. I am usually comfortable being chilly, but when it's really cold I'll freeze in here... and come summer, I won't be able to bear the heat- I can't handle anything above 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, that's the skinny on the new job. Feel free to offer perspective, advice, and comments. If it starts getting too personal, I'll ask you to send an email. To avoid giving the lurkers too much to, as Sorrel calls it "perv on".

Back to work, three more hours to go!!

Hi everyone,
one of your friendly lurkers here I hope to have time to chat tonight as things are pretty quiet here at work tonight. Returned to work on Monday but only had time to lurk. Such a shame I don't have more time on-line
PC, hope the job situation improves for you and your loved one.
Not my best time of year either but weathering it well so far. February is usually the worst month for me. I keep trying to plan happy things for that month so I won't dread it so much. Got married in Feb last year so have our first aniversary to look forward to

Hiya, Meg! You're definitely one of the welcome "lurkers". I understand having the time to read at work, but not post- I actually can access hootoo from work now, but can't always reply at the time.

Thanks for the well wishes for K and me on the job front: it's much appreciated!

As for you, I hope that this February will prove an easier one for you. I can't believe it's been a whole year since your wedding... where does the time go?! A first wedding anniversary is definitely something to look forward to... and many, many more happy anniversaries too!!