Up for air…
I’ve been doing the standard ‘work yourself silly’ startup stuff and it’s been a lot of fun, but I now have several days off for a much needed vacation (off to Disneyland) and I’m very grateful for the break.
My new job as a field engineer at SocialText is a lot of fun, I’m learning tons of cool stuff and am surrounded by very smart, interesting people. Sadly it doesn’t leave much time for other pursuits. Actually, looking back on the last few weeks, I have been doing some non-work things, they’ve just mostly been away from the computer.
For one, I’ve taken up dancing again… this time I’m doing hip-hop. It seems odd that dancing is helping my darned foot to get better, but it actually is… so I’m not complaining. Hopefully soon I’ll get to go back to Ninja School but until then I gotta admit there’s something really fun about putting some funk in my day.
We went over to visit with some friends for Thanksgiving so I had another occasion to make my Sweet Potato Bread Pudding. As always, it was a big hit. I still have a hankering to brine and cook a turkey, I think it’ll have to wait a few weeks until folks aren’t all turkey’d out.
After looking over our family’s spending habits again, I decided to try again to find ways to get us to eat at home more often. I really like cooking… although I never did like the cleaning part, and cooking seems to be the first thing to go when other priorities intrude on my life. A few years ago we decided to try to eat at home more often by using a personal chef. The chef came, made really yummy food, then put it in the fridge to be microwaved. Guess what? Really chi-chi well-cooked food, when microwaved… tastes like microwaved food. Ah well. But there’s a new game in town – Fresh Prep Kitchens – there, I discovered that I really really like preparing food when someone else is cleaning up after me… It’s a neat idea – you put together the food the way your family likes it (not so much onion, extra garlic, etc.) and freeze it for future cooking. Then you defrost it, cook it up, and serve it. It’s a grand way to save time and still cook yummy food. The atmosphere is fun and the family has really loved most of the foods I made. It’s not cheap, but not really that expensive either, considering that the food is included and their portions are generous.
But what about knitting? Well. As I mentioned, I’ve been really busy. Actually, that’s a major understatement. But yesterday, while visiting with my friends at Thanksgiving, I did cast on for that cat bed I’ve been threatening to make for so long. After all, I knew that Lyssa was going to be there working on some crafty project and I didn’t want to feel left out. Victoria is hard at work on a fuzzy soft hat, and we just bought some nifty yarn for Devon and I to make a present for his teacher. Teachers really like it when their students make things for them, so it’s worth the extra effort of sitting in a chair with a wiggly six year old boy waving around a couple of very sharp, fat, long sticks. I mean… what could go wrong?
KNITTING