April 27th, 2010
What europeans think of the US
November 16th, 2009
Restroom etiquette – the ladies at my work need some education
There should be some kind of etiquette or protocol around restrooms, and that memo apparently missed the office I work in. I typically use the following rule: always leave a buffer stall between myself and the next person. If you can, leave more than one buffer stall. You see, there are seven, yes SEVEN, stalls in the office restroom I’m subjected to all day long. Many times, thankfully, it’s empty. However, more often than not someone will arrive while I’m in a stall. And very often, more often than makes sense, the stall next to mine will be taken by that person. Seven stalls, only one occupied, and the person will choose the one next to me. And oftentimes I’m in the farthest stall from the door, so they have to pass a whole lot of empty stalls to get to the one right next to me. And this happens regularly enough to warrant a blog post.
It’s pretty simple protocol:
- If you can choose a stall that’s at least one stall away from someone, take it. Give your coworkers some buffer. The more buffer the better.
And while we’re here, also:
- Don’t talk on a cell phone in the stall. That’s gross.
- Preferably don’t talk to me while I’m in a stall. That’s awkward.
There are many pages online about bathroom etiquette. Here’s one of my favorites, although targeted at a mens restroom instead:
http://blag.xkcd.com/2009/09/02/urinal-protocol-vulnerability/
And articles:
http://www.ehow.com/about_5453318_bathroom-stall-etiquette.html
http://ryanswing.blogspot.com/2009/02/public-bathroom-stalluranal-etiquette.html
And other office workers in the same boat:
http://www.unleashyouranger.com/content/view/84/31/
http://www.johnsjottings.com/archives/2003/06/26/a_note_on_bathroom_etiquette.html
At least I’m not alone.
October 9th, 2009
My cat hates Fleet Week
My cat doesn’t mind the vaccuum. Most loud noises for that matter (motorcycles, trucks, bubble wrap and plastic bags). She’ll let me brush her and clip her nails. However, she has absolutely no tolerance for Fleet Week: particularly the loud Blue Angels flying over or near our house. Or even rather far away.
She low walks to the middle of the house, or under the bed. By low walks, I mean she slinks with her belly to the ground away from all windows. And she will act like this for hours. Initially, before we knew what was going on, we thought she was ill and she almost had a vet trip. (Luckily we figured out why she was acting so weird when a plane went over the house — she was acting like that to the distant sound…)
Anyway, my cat, she hates Fleet Week.
September 29th, 2009
Loud, noisy, eaters: they simply drive me crazy
Since I was a kid growing up and learning to eat quietly with my mouth closed (you know, have manners), I’ve had a problem with loud, noisy, eating noises – when people eat with their mouths open or finish off their chewing with that smacking sound due to finishing off their food or drink with an open mouth, smacking their lips several times. And also methodical chewing, that too drives me crazy if it’s loud. I am not bothered by noisy eaters if they eat with their mouth closed, or even by my dog eating with his mouth open (they can’t help it!) – I am specifically bothered by open-mouth eating. So much so it makes me feel incredibly angry and actually sick to my stomach, and I obsess about it until it’s over practically unable to think about anything else until it stops.
This aversion to noisy eaters has been the case as long as I remember. I couldn’t stand sitting next to my own dad at the dinner table growing up (loud methodical forceful eater, like attacking each bite). I had a best friend in high school who would finish off each mouthful with the loud smacking noises.
During times of stress it drives me even more crazy. For instance, I have a co-worker who sits four cubicles away (not that close), and I can clearly hear eating, every single bit of food. Mouth wide open from the first to last bite, licking fingers (quite disgusting knowing of all the germs in this place). This chewing and other related mouth noises is so loud it echos off the walls, quite seriously, and it continues for nearly 3 hours every day. This co-worker is a slow and noisy eater — and it drives me nuts. I have another co-worker who sits across the row who licks fingers and eats with her mouth wide open (and when eating lunch with her I can see every piece of food actively being chewed and bits flying out). Oddly enough she is a highly social person who goes out to fancy restaurants with large groups of friends all the time — I can barely imagine what some of them must think. And there are several others in my office – this problem is far and wide if my co-workers are a realistic cross-section of society. I seriously want to jump out a window when I hear these noises. Such as right now. From probably 30 feet away all I hear is “smack, smack, smack” and its echo off the office wall. And I cannot escape from it since I hate headphones at work and I have constant coworker interruptions anyway. WHY DO THEY EAT WITH SUCH DISGUSTING DISREGARD FOR THE REST OF SOCIETY?
I realize this is probably OCD or something, and I also realize it will sound crazy in itself to most, but I also wonder if anyone out there shares this problem and has solutions. I’m losing it (hence actually blogging about this). I’ve ordered a pair of earplugs that “dim” noise (I still need to hear at work, which is why music headphones aren’t an answer either), and will report back on how these work in the small chance someone else finds this post. Any natural solutions (supplements to calm nerves, etc?) Vitamin D is helping, but not enough it seems. Ideally I’d like to improve this without the need for prescriptions or therapy – but this is getting so bad I think I may even consider that too. Trying to ignore it just doesn’t seem to work at all.
UPDATE: The earplugs help a little, but I can actually hear my co-workers eating (the one 40 feet away) even with the earplugs in. That’s how loud it is! And it has gotten so bad that I actually feel physically sick to my stomach. I hate listening to music while working, but it might be the last resort…
UPDATE 2: Some links to others with this problem. Some of these people feel exactly the same way, it seems.
http://www.flowingpens.com/blog/?p=56 [This is so bizarre - the post is so similar. And it's a small bit of relief to see there are others out there (comments) who feel the same way, to know I'm not a lonesome crazy person.]
http://www.shaolintiger.com/2004/11/25/pet-peeveschompingstfu-noisy-eaters/
http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/social-relationships/3368-pet-peeve.html
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080129054457AAbdLwe
http://www.facebook.com/pages/i-cant-stand-noisy-eaters-argghhhh/128426002735
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53988474450
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2009/aug/06/table-manners-chewing-noise
Is it “selective sound sensitivity syndrome” aka 4S or misophonia?
http://www.chat-hyperacusis.net/post?id=580711
http://www.chat-hyperacusis.net/post?id=1691348
http://www.hyperacusis.org/page9.html
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45861
http://www.aitinstitute.org/sound_sensitivity_types.htm (near bottom)
July 17th, 2008
The staycation: overrated
Lately, News has been reporting about the latest craze of the “staycation“. Or the “holistay“. Due to gas prices and reducing ones carbon footprint, people are staying home this summer to save money or “go green”. Well, I’m proud to say that we’ve been ahead of the craze by many years. I was staycationing back when it was called ‘being poor’. So my bleeding edge staycationing was not for the above mentioned reasons, but due to poor-ness or too damn lazy or indecisive to buy tickets and set things up. And I’m here to say the staycation kinda blows. At the end of your week or two off work, you feel like you’ve done nothing. You go back to work feeling like you never had any vacation time. You go a bit stir crazy. It just feels like a long weekend. And yes, even if you do turn off the computer and neglect errands or don’t take on annoying projects like deep-cleaning the carpet or something.
So they suck. That’s about all I have.
February 23rd, 2008
Peanut butter cream cheese pie – super-low fat, and freakin’ delicious
This is an adaptation of a recipe from the fine folks at Bell Plantation, who sell the always great powdered peanut butter. I changed the amounts quite a bit, so it tastes completely different – but what goes in is the same. I also had to try it twice to get the preparation right (there were no directions on how to prepare it, so I really screwed up the first time).
Anyway, here goes. This is my favorite dessert, and is very low fat (around 3.5 grams for 1/8 of the pie).
Ingredients:
- 1 keebler ready crust, reduced fat
- 1 cup of PB2 (powdered peanut butter (review) , order it here))
- 16 oz of fat free cream cheese (2 blocks)
- 8 oz of fat free cool whip (1 small tub) — or substitute with something healthier (fat free sweetened condensed milk?)
- 1/8 cup splenda (omit if substitution has sugar)
To prepare:
- Warm the cream cheese up in the microwave until it’s soft. I think I put it in for a minute or two at medium heat. (check it after a minute, and continue if needed)
- Once soft, use a hand mixer to start whipping up the cream cheese.
- Slowly integrate the PB2 while whipping the cream cheese.
- Once fully integrated, add the cool whip.
- Blend until fully mixed.
- Dump into the crust.
- Chill in the fridge.
June 18th, 2007
welcome to what I eat…
I hope to use this blog for a couple of things. Just over a year ago, I changed my ways by exercising more and improving my diet. We went through all our cupboards, got rid of the junk, and started reading food labels before purchasing anything. I went on the hunt for new recipes and new grocery finds that would keep the meals somewhat interesting – I didn’t exactly want to eat steamed chicken and vegetables 7 days a week!
I watch the interwebs for new products, snacks, and so on that are relatively healthy – and search the grocery stores for them. But then I frequently forget where I find things! (Safeway, Albertsons, Whole Foods? Trader Joes is easy to remember 
) So this blog will help me remember, and might help someone else out there. Please note this isn’t a list of stuff I eat all the time — this blog isn’t a “diet” to follow or anything — many items are things to eat on occasion.