Takoyaki Journals

What a rollercoaster morning. I packed a delicious lunch (sage roasted chicken with glazed turnips and apples) got in the car, and Kate Beaton was on the radio!! I was so excited. I made viking hands.

And then I got to work to find out that the phone conference with the customer this afternoon...it's not a phone conference, we have to go there.

My coworker who's also in the meeting came by while I was making oatmeal, and I was so surprised that I poured all the water into the oatmeal packet. Luckily I had another packet at my desk, so all was not lost.

Shoot me now. This audit sucks.

I was talking to soranokumo  the other night, and we somehow got on the topic of school, and what did you learn that was actually useful for you in the real world. I thought about it some, and my answers surprised me. I mean, yeah, taking Japanese in school obviously got me into the auto industry. But other than that.

I'd say #3 on the list is Art. The art classes I took in High School, and that one Web Design class I took with twigcollins in college were some of the most valuable things I ever did in school. I make one classy Powerpoint. No, really! I know how to use fonts and effects, how to use clip art and such without looking completely dorky. How to layout the text so it's clear and easy to grasp. That sort of thing. And the same thing comes into play in designing work instructions and checksheets.

#2 is Essay Writing. Specifically the kind of essays you write for high school AP classes and tests. I wouldn't say that I really learned a lot about effectively analyzing or anything like that. But writing like it's a surgical strike, get in, make a point, get out because you have no time to do anything else... That's really important for report and e-mail writing. Make your point, and make it clearly.

But #1 is easily Bullshit. That is by far the most important skill I learned in school.

Oddly these are almost all things I picked up in High School, other than the one web design class.

So, what did you learn in school that helps you in your job, or life, today?

Oh! Before I forget. The most important thing I ever learned in my entire life was from my mom when I was in the seriously annoying 'Why?' phase as a kid. Whenever I asked a question she said, 'I don't know, let's go find out,' and took me to the library.

I've mentioned before that my American coworkers and I are terrible to each other. Today was no different. We had a huge powerout at work, and couldn't get on the generator, so we sat around on the surface plate and talked a bit. One of the guys launched into joking about how hot and sexy he is, and I rolled my eyes.

But it made me think about a time last week where we were talking about cell phone apps, and someone mentioned the metal detector/stud finder app the droid has. I said "Oh I have that!" and the manager said, "That's why your phone beeped when you come in the room."

Oh if ONLY I had been quicker on my feet I would have held up the phone to him and showed the lack of response.

So I figured now was the time to use the joke. So I pulled up the metal detector app and held it near my coworker.

The Damn Thing Went Off.

I forgot we were both sitting on the steel surface plate.

Once I explained the beep we all died laughing. Oh well, I don't mind the joke backfiring as long as it was still funny. (and god it was funny.)

QC Mgr: You know why you can't steam the leather seats? It attracts ticks.
Me: Seriously?
Coworker 1: Yeah. Weird.
Me: I've heard of a chick magnet before, but never a tick magnet.
Coworker 1: That's what I am, a chick magnet. So you better chain yourself down.
Me: I think your polarity's been switched.
Coworker1: XD *high five*

Manager: This isn't hard! It's like a crossword puzzle!
Me (thinking): I dunno, I think crossword puzzles are hard, I can never finish them.
Manager: You find the word, you circle it and move on! It's simple!
Me (thinking): That's not a crossword, that's a word search!!

.....is it time to go home yet?

One of the things I like to do at work is go look at the bulletin board in the hallway. Sometimes you find fun things to do, like the Women in the Outdoors day. Mostly people are trying to sell cars, or daycare services. Months and months ago someone posted a 'Free Kittens' paper on the board. When I was thinking of getting a cat, I thought about it. But the rest of the sheet saying 'Some are litter trained' scared me off.

Today someone has taken a blue Bic pen and scratched out 'Kittens' and written in 'Cats' above it. Well, it HAS been months.

(this is still not as good as the 'wedding dress - never been worn' that was posted when I started working here)

Me: I rescheduled that review meeting to next week.
QC Mgr: Oh, was that supposed to be today?
Me: It was a half hour ago.
QC Mgr: ....Nobody came?
Me: Nope.

I do not like days when my primary motivation is to not get yelled at by the boss because his project is not going well.

Bad Thing:
The economy has officially hit work. We're going to have to cut 1/3rd of our production in January. I'll still be going in to work every day, as far as I know, but people on the line won't be, and will either have to use vacation time or not get paid. This is way worse than the worse rumor that had been floating around. And there's still no word on what February and March will be like. Usually by this time of year we know what the general forecast for the entire fiscal year is going to be.

Now, I don't think my company is in danger of going under, and I don't think my job is at stake. Being a Honda supplier puts me in as good a position as I could possibly be. So this is officially Worrying. But not yet Terrifying.

Good Thing:
I got my flight to Oregon fixed! I'm really looking forward to seeing exgentlemen and ideographer in a week and a half! It's been way too long. I bought my tickets back in July, at which point they were Columbus to Salt Lake City to Portland. This week when I went back to check they were (get this) Columbus to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Salt Lake City, and...Salt Lake City to Salt Lake City....with a 164 hour layover in Portland. Oh, and the flight OUT of Salt Lake City left BEFORE I arrived. I called tech support, which was in India, and got nowhere slowly. So then I wrote an e-mail, and within a few hours had a reply that I am now flying from Columbus to Atlanta to Portland. Yay!

Bad Thing:
Season One of Merlin is OVER! *sob* At least it didn't end on a gigantic cliffhanger. And it's official that there will be a second season.

Good Thing:
TNT's 'Librarian' Movies. They're great, silly, Indiana Jones fluff about a secret society of Librarians that guard the world's mystic treasures. The dialog is surprisingly good. And in the first one Bob Newhart has a fight scene! I caught part of the third one, which made me Netflix the first one, and now TNT seems to be doing marathons of them.

Odd Thing:
Sticky Fingers Scone Mix is made of Win. All you have to do is add water, and drop spoonfuls onto a baking pan. And they taste great and have just the right consistency...just like the ones flidgetjerome fed me in London. Every time I find some in a grocery store I stock up, because they're kind of hard to find. But they had them at my local Kroger! HOWEVER the mix they had was Eggnog flavored. Which is not bad, but rather odd for a scone.