Random Acts of Douchebaggery

I am a needy person.  I need a lot.  One of the things that I NEED is a cold diet coke at work.  It's essential.  The other day, we were out of Diet Coke at home (I usually bring my own can to work because it's so much cheaper than the vending machines...75 cents a can?!  Are you kidding me?!) and so I went to work without a can thinking I could get one from the vending machine at lunchtime. 

Around 11:45 A.M., I had a serious DC craving.  I needed the juice.  I went to the vending machine and found this huge soda stack in the hallway right outside the vending machine room.  I panicked and said a little prayer: "Please God, let there be Diet Coke in the machine.  I'll even take a Diet Coke with Lime."  My prayer went unanswered and no matter how many times I pushed the Diet Coke button, I got the same message "TRY AGAIN." 

I can't even tell you how many times I stood next to that stack of soda and wondered if I could just grab a can and leave the money next to the stack?  Would that be inappropriate? 

But, can we talk about the lazy ass vending machine guy?  Who would do this?  Who would leave an entire stack of soda right next to the vending machine for the whole day?  Plus, it was a Friday.  People need their caffeine on Fridays!  And why would you buy more Diet Coke Lime than Diet Coke?  That is so stupid.

The moral of this story is that, at 3:00 P.M., I had gone an entire day without soda and this stack of unvended soda cans almost brought me to tears.  The person who caused those tears is a total douche. 

On a side note, if the Diet Coke boxes were at the top of the stack, I totally would have grabbed one and left the money. 

Fashion Files: Pajamas in Public

I'm going to say something that a lot of you won't like.  I am completely against leaving the home in your pajamas.  Nothing makes me more disgusted than when I see people at the store wearing pajama pants.  No matter what condition you are in, I feel like you should always be able to change out of your pajamas and into some real clothes.  But, that's just me.  And I've never had a child.  So, maybe my feelings will change.

However, for now my stance is this: pajama pants are not public pants.  I mean, I don't wear my chemises as dresses, so why should you wear pajama pants out into the public?  And some of the pajama pants that I've seen in public shouldn't even be worn by adults in their homes.  I mean truly atrocious.  If Zubaz are more attractive than your pajama pants, do yourself a favor and have a pajama pant bonfire. 

The guy above, though, takes the cake in offensive pajama wearing.  Not only is he in pajama pants, but he's also in his dirty ass robe.  Gross.  How could you wear a robe out in public, sir?  Have you no self-respect?

Please, people, please, privatize your pajama collection.

Things I've Made: Pinterest

I've been making a lot of my pinterest pins lately.  I love the idea of being productive in the kitchen and creating things.  Truth is, though, a lot of the times I find that the pinterest recipes or DIY instructions need to be tweaked.  Especially DIY stuff.  I can't believe how many directions are left out.  Anyhow, here are the things I've made:



http://pinterest.com/pin/145100419214467230/

Rubber banded candle holders.  I actually found a lot of different online instructions about how to make these candle holders and all of them said it was super easy.  I found that it wasn't easy until I figured out that you needed to use thick rubber bands that were tight on the vase.  You couldn't have any rubber bands that were twisted, otherwise the spray paint would seep underneath the rubber band and you wouldn't get clean lines.  We used frosted glass spray paint and made straight stripes.  I won't post pictures of what mine looked like until after their grand unveiling at the wedding.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cheesy-Beef-Taco-Dip


Cheesy Beef Taco Dip was really, really good.  Like, almost too effing good.  Some tweaks were that I added a jalapeno to the meat, pepper, onion saute.  Once the meat, peppers and onions were sauteed, I put them in a crock pot and added the rest of the ingredients to let them melt.  I sprinkled red pepper flakes on everything in the crock pot to give it extra spice.  I have found that hot dip recipes don't work as well on the stove top as in the crock pot.  I think when you make something on the stove top there's a tendency to rush the cheese melting and then the cheese clumps when cooling.  Plus, the crock pot keeps everything warm.  I loved this dip, but I have a friend who made it and thought it was bland.  So, this could be a dud.

http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2011/02/grasshopper-brownie-bars.html

Grasshopper Brownie Bars were effing fantarriffic.  They were so good.  Even though there are three layers that you have to create, I didn't think the recipe was all that fussy.  And normally I am a spazz in the kitchen.  The fluffy mint part in the middle didn't set quite right on mine and it was a little bit melty when I put it on the brownies.  I think that when I make these again, I will put the brownies in the freezer after they are cooled to get them really cold so that the mint layer won't melt at all. 

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2009/09/football-kickoff-buffalo-chicken-dip.html

I wanted to LOVE this dip.  And I liked it, but it wasn't my favorite.  I think I cooked it too fast and so the cheese didn't melt right.  Plus, it didn't look appetizing.  My version of it looked barfy, which always makes things less appetizing.  I cooked all of this on the stove, but might try it again in a crock pot so that it stays warm longer.

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2012/03/mexican-stuffed-shells.html

Mexican Stuffed Shells are perhaps my most favoritest of all the dinners that I've ever made.  They were unbelievable.  I really spiced them up by using spicy taco seasoning, spicy taco sauce and spicy salsa.  It was a little too spicy, so I think maybe using a mild taco sauce would be best.  I could have eaten a million of these.  On a side note, Mike hates cream cheese and so he was skeptical of the recipe.  I kept telling him that cream cheese only makes things taste better, but he didn't believe me...until he tried them.  He was so happy when he was eating these, he looked like a little kid at Christmastime.

Storm Warning

The other night some major storms rolled through the city and from what I can tell, most people slept through them.  There were so many trees down in the city that I live in that several roads were closed until the debris could be cleared.  How do we sleep through that?

The picture above shows our neighbors large tree that topped over.  Part of it was on their car, but, luckily, it didn't do any real damage.  I was really bummed about this tree because every spring it gives off the most beautiful white flowers. 

The other thing that happened is our neighbors that I have previously RAD'd ended up with a tree branch through their windshield.  See...

Is it bad that I had mixed feelings of sadness and smugness?  I was sort of like, well, maybe if you parked in  your driveway this wouldn't have happened to you!

I was just really glad that we had no home or car damage.  That was a relief.  We were out of power in our home in the morning, which made getting ready for work an interesting challenge.  It started off with a candlelit shower and ended with me braiding up my still sopping wet hair into something that looked semi-decent for work.  I always think it's funny when the power goes out and you keep trying to do things that require power and are confused when they don't work.  For instance, I kept turning on lights and my first thought when the lights didn't come on was "The light bulb burned out!"  It was a great start to the morning.

The Fear

The full title of this book is The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe.  And it's awesome, but this review is coming from a political science geek.  Peter Godwin, the author, previously wrote a fabulous memoir called When A Crocodile Eats the Sun.  If you haven't read it, please read it.  It's my favoritest of my favorite books.  It's so moving and so well written that thinking about it makes me teary. 

If you read When A Crocodile Eats the Sun and become interested in the ongoing story of Zimbabwe's political situation, then consider Godwin's book The Fear, but be warned that The Fear is absolutely nothing like When A Crocodile Meets the Sun.  Where Crocodile is a complex story of family and loyalty, The Fear is journalistic and politicky to the point of making the novel boring if you aren't into politics.  The Fear is also disturbing and filled with true stories of the horrible crimes that Robert Mugabe committed against Zimbabweans after him and his ZANU-PF party lost the presidential election in 2008.  Mugabe lead Zimbabwe for years using fear tactics while he bled a once prospering country dry.  When Mugabe lost the presidential election in 2008, his campaign of fear was taken to a whole new level and the stories of torture from that period are unthinkable.

The Fear is insightful as Peter Godwin does a great job of highlighting the political struggle in Zimbabwe and showing the resolve of a country to free itself from a terrible dictator.  But, the book leaves you a little depressed because even though Mugabe lost the election, and his crimes are fairly well known, he still maintains some power in Zimbabwe.  Sad, right. 

My only complaint is that The Fear is not as beautiful as When A Crocodile Meets the Sun.  But not much in life is as beautiful as that book.

4/5 or 8/10 stars.

A Mountain of Corned Beef

In my Cleveland adventures a few months back, I was excited to try the "best" corned beef sandwich in the world.  Well, it certainly was the largest corned beef sandwich I've ever seen.  First, however, let's start with the "how did we get there?" portion of the story.  You know when you're visiting a new city and have no concept of the "maybe we shouldn't be walking alone in this part of the city" notion?  So, we knew that we were going to Slyman's Deli for lunch and knew the general direction of the restaurant, but decided to ask the hotel concierge whether it was close enough to walk.  The theory was, if we were going to be eating a pound of corned beef in one sitting, we should probably walk.

This was the conversation between Mike, myself and the hotel concierge:

Us: How do we get to Slyman's Deli?

Concierge: Gives us directions.  Should I call you a cab?

Us: Well, how far is it?  Could we walk it?

Concierge: It would be fine to take a cab, it won't cost much.

Us: But how far of a walk is it?
Concierge: Probably 30-40 minutes, let me call you a cab.

Us: No, we'll walk it.

Concierge:  Really, I think you better get in the cab.

Us: No, we're fine.  We walk all the time.

What we didn't pick up on was that he was trying to warn us that it was not a part of the city that we should be walking in.  Folks, we were scared for our lives on this walk and if you know what myself and Mike do for livings, you know we don't scare easy.  Word to the wise, take a cab to Slyman's Deli.

Onto the food.  Holy catfish, the food.  Take a look at this sandwich...

This sandwich is fairly unreal, and you're only seeing half of it.  My only problem with it is that you can't actually eat it as a sandwich.  No one's mouth should open that wide...ever.  So, instead I had to cut it up into more bite size portions.  Also, the bread was a little on the dry side. 

However, the corned beef was so freaking fantastic.  Not too salty and really thinly sliced.  Sometimes corned beef can taste like a salt lick, but Slyman's was the perfect amount of salt without going overboard. Although, there must have actually been a lot of salt on it because I wore that sandwich in my ankles for a few days afterwards. Slyman's may give you kankles is all I'm saying. The meat wasn't dry at all, but wasn't juicy as to make the bread soggy.  Which is a huge issue for Mike.  Mike detests soggy bread, which is why I always tease him that I'm going to make him bread pudding for dessert.  
 
In addition to the sandwich we ordered a basket of fries, which can be seen in the back of the photo.  These were also perfect.  They fried them to the point of crunchiness, which I love. 

Overall, I'm not sure the Slyman's corned beef is totally worth going out of your way, but it's always fun to say you've tried it.  Where else can you get a mountain of corned beef on a plate?

Snow White's Adventures - R.I.P.

Snow White's Adventures at the WDW is no longer.  They gave it the boots to make room for the new Fantasyland expansion.  The old Snow White's Adventures space will be turned into a princess meet and greet and in the new Fantasyland, there will be a roller coaster ride as a substitute for the old Snow White's Adventures called The Seven Dwarfs (I find it weird that it's Dwarfs and not Dwarves, but this is what spell check is telling me) Mine Train.  I realize that no one consulted me because they don't give a crap about my opinion, but I'm against this bold move. 

Snow White's Adventures was a classic Disney ride and now it's gone.  What did Snow White do to deserve this treatment?  Sure the ride was dumb and a little too scary for the young children that it was geared towards, but that doesn't mean it should get sent to the graveyard. 

In a tribute to a great ride, I will still review this one even though it's totally irrelevant.  First, Snow White's Adventures is scary.  Little children beware.  They do have warnings about this at the ride entrance and in the park maps.  There aren't things jumping out at you or anything of that nature, but there are a lot of dark portions of the ride with creepy music and the Evil Queen dressed in her hag disguise.  I think a 6-year-old should be fine, but kids younger than four might have some nightmares if you force(d) this one upon them. 

Riders are transported through the story of Snow White in a little wooden car.  Things start out smoothly with Snow singing about birds and lollipops and other crap like that.  Little does she know that the Evil Queen hates her face and wants to see her die.  The Huntsman warns Snow to run away and she does so into a forest of creepy, talking trees.  After the forest misery, she meets the seven dwarfs and shacks up with them so she can continue singing about rainbows and fluffy bunnies.  However, when the queen/hag comes knocking at her cottage door with a shiny red apple, Snow acts a fool and eats food from ugly strangers.  What a dumbass.  Snow goes to sleep until her prince comes and kisses her and we have happily ever after.  Clearly Snow's story is a great representation of life and love.

The end.  How could they get rid of this?  3/5 or 6/10 stars.  It wasn't fun, but it wasn't awful enough to be kicked from Fantasyland.  This might be worse than Horizons being booted from Epcot.

All Those Places You'll Go

Last night, my little brother graduated from high school.  How weird!  This is the best picture that I have of him getting his diploma.  The graduation ceremony is at the Cathedral of St. Paul, so it's not the best place for picture taking due to it's dark and Gothic interior.  Boo.

I went to an all-girls high school.  My brother goes to the all-boys military academy that is the "brother" school to my high school.  They have a couple of awesome graduation traditions that I love.  The ceremony is pretty standard.  Except the part where they tell you that we are in a place of worship and not to make too many loud and inappropriate noises during the handing out of diplomas.  Okay, no fun Sally!

Alright, so after the ceremony is over, they ask all the friends and family to gather outside for the class to march out.  Everyone gathers on the large Cathedral steps to wait for the class. 

The graduates march out, there are cheers and then the hats are thrown!

I love the sight of it.  At my high school graduation ceremony, we wore long white dresses and no caps, so I never got to throw one there.  Then I don't remember doing it in college and for law school, we had to rent those ugly ass octagonal hats, so there was no throwing there either.  This is as close as I get, I guess.

Once the hat throwing is over, the fight song is sung and the boys are allowed to smoke their "first" cigar on the Cathedral steps.  I'm sure that's what Jesus would do.

It was a fun night.  This fall, he will begin college at UW-Madison and I will forever make fun of him for being an honorary sconnie.  Here's a pic of me and the grad.  Please pardon the double chin.  Blech!