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Monday, August 30, 2004
Work ... Work ... Work
I know I haven't posted anything in what seems like forever. Just wanted to make sure to let everybody know: Yes, I'm still alive. :)
Work has just kept me very busy. I am covering vacation relief for a few of my employees and at the same time I'm trying to manage all the schools, their start-up dates and delivery needs. For anybody who doesn't know I work at a local dairy company as the Customer Service Supervisor. It just has been absolutely crazy with all the schools coming back from their vacation breaks and needing deliveries again. It's absolutely impossible to keep track of who is doing what and who is starting when on top of covering other people's regular jobs since they are on vacation.
At this point I am just trying to get through this week. After this week and Labor Day everything should be fairly fine. Well, not as crazy as right now anyway I'd hope. :)
Just bear with me as I am trying to keep my sanity. I'll post as time allows. Had another 11 hour day today and it's only Monday.
Well enough complaining for right now, gonna watch a movie now.
Posted by Hanna at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, August 23, 2004
Joanne's Visit
Had a busy day at work today. I got up this morning and decided to go in and have a really good attitude about everything, be relaxed and just be in a good mood. Well, it lasted about 10 minutes or so. It was a really hectic morning and one thing seemed to happen after another. So I guess I'll try the whole "positive attitude" thing all over again tomorrow. Maybe I'll have better luck then. :)
On a happier note my best friend Joanne booked her flight for her visit in October today. She is coming over from England to see me October 21-November 1. That means she will be here for my birthday (Oct. 24) AND Halloween. Yay. :) I am very excited and can't wait for her to arrive. We always have so much fun when she is here. I wish she lived closer. *hint hint* :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Sunday Night Nostalgia
Not much later I found myself looking at classic "Schlager" tunes (German/Austrian oldies). I was looking at Peter Alexander and Roy Black CDs. Listening to some of the Peter Alexander songs brought me way back to when I was a little kid and used to stay at my grandparent's place and my grandfather would put on the record player and we would listen to those songs. It was strange listening to those songs again and remembering all these things that I thought I had long forgotten.
It's weird how sometimes a single song can transport you back years and years. All of a sudden I was 8 years old again staying over at my grandparent's place, drinking tea with lots of honey and listening to oldies tunes.
Oh the good old times. :)
Posted by Hanna at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Friday, August 20, 2004
Bitte ein Bit
And finally this work week has come to an end. It actually went by pretty quickly, I guess cause I was pretty busy the whole week.
Tonight after work we went to a local German restaurant. The restaurant has been around for quite a while but has recently come under new ownership. There was a big article in our local paper about it so we decided to try it. It's called "Helga's" and has a ton of different German beers. Mike had a Bitburger (their slogan line is "Bitte ein Bit" which translates to "Please a Bit") which I have never seen around here. Besides beer they also have authentic German food. I had Wiener Schnitzel (breaded veal cutlet) and Mike had Käsespätzle (a type of "pasta" mixed with cheese). For dessert I had Black Forrest Cake. It was all very yummy. Definitely a place I'd like to go back to.
The good thing was that they gave us huge portions so I still have lots of leftovers. I am going to recreate a dish that my mom used to make with leftover schnitzel. You put ketchup on it and sliced cheese, then bake the schnitzel so the cheese gets bubbly and melts on top. It's absolutely delicious. :)
Well enough about German/Austrian food, hope everybody has a good weekend. :)
Posted by Hanna at 09:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Christmas in August ???
As I went through the mail today, guess what I saw ? A CHRISTMAS CATALOG !!! Can you believe it ? Can you believe companies have the nerve to send you a Christmas Catalog in August ? I just think that's crazy.
Don't get me wrong. I *LOVE* Christmas, I really do but I think you have to draw the line somewhere. I think it's bad enough that all the stores have Halloween displays in July but sending out a Christmas catalog in August is insane.
Here's the link to the company that sent the catalog. I have to admit they have some really nice stuff and I will probably save the catalog and look through it when it gets a little bit closer to Christmas. I am just totally bewildered by the idea that anybody would want to send out a Christmas catalog in August.
What do you all think ? :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Tea + Math = Not a good Match
For those of you who don't know I am a huge tea freak. I absolutely love tea, could drink tea any time of the day and night and have a whole collection of different teas at home.
Well the other day an ongoing project I've had in my head for a long time now (do you ever plan to do something for a really long time but never really get around to it ?) popped back up in my mind again. I've been wanting to reorganize my tea collection. Right now all my tea is scattered in a little wood basket in our kitchen. It's loose tea that is usually sold in little bags (usually around 4 oz.) So I have been thinking there must be a better way for me to organize this. You are really supposed to store tea in airtight containers so it keeps fresh and does not get stale. So I have been thinking I better do something with all this tea so it doesn't go to waste.
Then maybe a week ago I had the enlightning idea. I found a website that sells little spice cans. I thought they would be perfect for my tea plus they are stackable so it would be great to keep them organized. I was in heaven and couldn't wait for the little spice cans to arrive.
Well tonight they came. I even convinced Mike to go to Staples and buy some labels so I could make some cool labels for my tea. :) (see I am a nut when it comes to that stuff *g*) So everything was great for a while. I sat down to make my labels on the computer, printed them out and was all excited to complete my project.
That's when the problems started. The spice cans I bought are supposed to be 4 oz. The bags of loose tea I have hold 4 oz. So technically that shouldn't be an issue at all. Right ? Well WRONG ! I had to realize that somehow 4 oz. are not 4 oz.
I actually needed two of those 4 oz. cans to fit one bag of my 4 oz. tea. That of course threw my calculations completely out the window and I had to order a whole bunch more of those spice cans.
So who out there can explain to me .... in a Hanna-friendly way .... why 4 oz. are not 4 oz. ? Mike tried to explain to me that it has to do with volume. He said it's the same concept as in "What's heavier ? 1 pound of feathers or 1 pound of steel ?" I guess the feathers would take up much more room than the steel. Even though I understand that I am still not convinced about the whole 4 oz. issue. Math was never my strong suit. :) Can you tell ? ;)
Posted by Hanna at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Where were you when the lights went out ?
Yesterday (August 14) marked the one-year anniversary of the big blackout that affected a huge area in the Northeast last summer. On the left is a picture of New York City at sunset without the usual light display. I actually missed this blackout as I was in Europe (visiting my parents in Austria) at the time. So for those of you who were affected by it last summer, this question goes out to you - "Where were you when the lights went out ?"
Oddly enough we had a small power outage yesterday in our neighborhood to mark the one year anniversary. Weird isn't it ? The power was out from 7 a.m. until about 4 p.m. or so. It's really strange to have no power. You don't even realize how dependent you become on it. No internet, no lights, no microwave, ..... very weird.
The kids on our street were playing outside and obviously bored. All our neighbors decided to mow their lawn and wash their cars. It was a funny sight.
I actually got around to writing two letters. I am sure my pen pals will be happy about the power outage. :)
Shortly after the power came back on, we had to leave for New York to go to a baseball game. We were lucky and it was only drizzling a bit here and there during the game. A little after 10 pm when the game let out it started to really pour. The remainders of Hurricane Charley made their way up the coast and reached us around that time.
I am very glad not to live in Florida. Some of the pictures of the damage done by Charley were really heart-breaking. My thoughts and best wishes go out to all the affected families down in Florida.
Posted by Hanna at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Friday, August 13, 2004
It's all about the cats
While aimlessly surfing the web for a bit tonight did I stumble upon a really cool website. Welcome to Catster. :) It's basically similiar to the concept of Friendster if you are familiar with that. (creates a social network of friends and friends of friends letting you meet lots of different people) The only difference is that it's not for people but cats. Now how cool is that ? I am of course in love with the site since I get to look at all the cute kitties. So anybody that has a cat make sure to join Catster and link to my two cuties Oliver and Dinah. :)
Let the fun begin. :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Dinner + Some Shopping
Had an ok day at work today. We got office lunch (our company is nice enough to give us a free lunch once a month) from a local pizza place. I got my favorite as usual - Hawaiian Pizza. Anybody else crazy enough out there that likes pineapples on their pizza ? I have to confess I got addicted to it when living in California. I absolutely love it. :)
After work I met up with my friend Sharon and we went to have dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. After dinner we walked around the mall for a bit and then proceeded to the Christmas Tree Shop. For those of you who don't have those stores - they are absolutely amazing. They have a ton of home decorating items along with all sort of other stuff (some furniture, pots, pans, plates, stemware, even some food, ....) for really great prices. I ended up getting a hurricane lamp for $3.99, three sets of writing paper for $2.99 each (I was so excited I was almost jumping up and down - I guess it's easy to make me happy *g*) and a big piece of wall decoration for $3.99. It basically looks like a window with a view of a country road. I plan on hanging it on a wall at work since my department is in the basement and we always complain that we wish we had a window. :)
Gonna watch "50 First Dates" now. I loved that movie when I saw it in the theatre but Mike hasn't seen it yet so we rented it on DVD. Movie time. :)
Posted by Hanna at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Look how cute :)
Isn't that the cutest kitty ever ? I received that picture in an email at work today and it really made me smile. Cats can be so damn cute. :)
Was an alright day today after starting off as a bad morning (had to give out 2 warnings today). The day turned out to be alright after all. Went out to TK's (our favorite bar and hang out place in town) after work and stayed there until now.
Tomorrow Mike is taking the day off to go to a baseball game with a friend. I am still gonna be at work but it's alright. I got to take 1/2 a day off last week Friday to go shopping so it's only fair. :)
Posted by Hanna at 10:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack