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Wednesday – 22 March 2017
Testing out connectivity between WordPress, JetPack, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+

Nothing to see here, Citizen. Move along.

Tuesday – 21 March 2017
This entry can be filed under “Some People’s Children…”

While doing renovations last year, our company added a cafeteria to our facility. The company that ran it couldn’t always keep up with the demand, so they are no longer here. Yes, this means that we have a largely unused space, but that’s another story.

Our Facilities Manager has done an outstanding job of coordinating with a number of local food trucks to have them fill the void. Today, we had a new-to-our-location truck, Bandera Brisket. They had walk-ups not only from our company, but from some of the other firms in the building, as well.  They didn’t know what the turnout would be, so they didn’t come loaded for bear. And they got SLAMMED. They showed up a little before 11:00 AM and, by the time I went out (12:20 PM-ish), they were out of many meats and some sides; I was the 5th or 6th person in line when they announced this.

The guy in front of me turned to me started complaining about “I came out here for brisket, but if it’s all gone before I get there, I’m going to be upset.”

SIDEBAR:
I understand having your heart, mind and taste buds all set for “Food X.” Been there, done that. I also understand that if you wait too long to go and get something, you might find that it’s already gone.

After the people in front of us were gone, he went up to the window and asked whether there was brisket. There was about 1/3 lb, which he got…
AND THEN proceeded to go on a diatribe about “If there hadn’t been any left, and he’d wasted his lunch time waiting for nothing, that he’d be mad…” Blah. Blah. Blah.

Let’s set the record straight on a few things:

1. There is no requirement for us to have food trucks here.
2. There is no requirement stating that you have to eat at the food truck, if one is here.
3. The vendors didn’t know what to expect and it would have been foolish for them to come out here – for their first time – with a truck full of meat that didn’t sell.
4. Put on your big boy pants and be happy that you have SOMETHING/ANYTHING to eat. Find a meat, ask them to cook it, pay for it, move on.

To me, these things all seem like easy concepts to grasp.
Maybe it’s me.
Maybe it’s Maybelline.

Either way, this comes under #firstworldproblems and it annoyed annoys me.

And, in the interest of full disclosure: I wanted brisket. I wound up getting their ribs – with a savory dry rub – and they were delicious.

Okay, rant over. We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Tuesday.

Friday – 17 March 2017
There are a lot of good things about today:

• It’s Friday. That, in and of itself, is a great thing.
• Salt Lake Comic Con FanX kicks off today.
• The sun is out (at least it is in SLC).

But, far more importantly, it’s the second most important day in March (third, depending on when Easter falls): Green Lantern Day!

On Greenest Day…

Of course, there are those (uncreative types, I’d say) who would say that it’s simply “St. Patrick’s Day.” And that’s fine; I’m alright with sharing the day.

Whatever you’re celebrating, I hope that your day is fantastic!

Namaste.

Thursday – 16 March 2017
Another Thursday begins here in the Land Behind the Zion Curtain.

Don’t nobody bring me…

Let the word go forth.

A month or so ago, I was introduced to a lovely/horrible game (read: “time sink”) called GeoGuessr by my friend, Denise. (Not sure whether to give her credit or blame for this…) Do you like pictures? Do you like maps? Do you like figuring out where on a map a picture is from? This is the game for you.

Thanks to this game, I have now discovered a place, in The Phillipines, where I either want to be buried or have my ashes spread:

C’mon, with a name like this, who wouldn’t want to be buried/have their ashes spread here!? No one. Well, maybe not “alt-right” supremecists, but that’s a discussion for another time and forum.

I think that the only thing that could possibly be better would be to either be buried with these or figure out a way to make them work with cremation/ash spreading:

I found them in a grocery store in southern Utah many years ago. Apparently, they still make me laugh.

Namaste.

Friday – 10 March 2017
Another work week comes to an end.

It was a pretty good week, in all. Things happened. Stuff, too.

I neglected to post – or, rather, elaborate on – something from last week: Sara! and I went to dinner at Table X, as a belated Valentine’s Day outing without Team DiVa.

Table X describes itself as:

We’re a restaurant run by three chefs. We’re going to prepare you thoughtful, honest food without the fussiness of fine dining. In fact, we’re going to give you a new casual dining experience, altogether. Again and again.

We had encountered these chefs’ cuisine last year, at a pop-up dinner done in conjunction with Utah Opera’s production of Tosca. That – along with the idea of there being a new casual dining restaurant both outside of downtown Salt Lake City and not too far from our home – informed Sara’s choice on places to try. The restaurant seats about 230 people, has an open design, and has an air that combines a modern look with a touch of industrial design.

For dinner, we selected the Chef’s Tasting Menu, comprised of five (5) courses:

• Red Beet Curry
• Cabbage Toast
• Scallops,
• Christiansen Farm Berkshire Pork, and
• Pecan Tart with homemade Pecan Ice Cream

Let me start by saying that I was leery of a couple items on the menu: the Beet Curry and the “Cabbage Toast.” I am not a fan of beets, nor have I been since I was very young. And the idea of a “cabbage toast” was… intriguing, but set me a little on edge. However, as the Prince song said:

…but it was Saturday night,
I guess that makes it alright.
I said, ‘What have I got to lose?’

The curry was served with cauliflower florets. It was flavorful and not at all what I expected. Sara! commented that it as most likely because they were not pickled beets (like from a can), which I abhor. I happily ate the entire course.

Next up: Cabbage Toast. This was a house-made sourdough, topped with a kelp cream/butter and a red cabbage jam. My first thought, upon hearing “jam” was of a pulped, processed spread. I was wrong. This was… simply… cabbage. And it was excellently prepared; I ate almost all of it.

The next course was scallops. I was all-in for this one, as I love scallops, yet never seem to order them when we’re out. (That, and the fact that I have some issues with getting seafood in a landlocked state.) The scallop – singular – was topped with a small portion of ham. Added bonus: Sara! isn’t a huge fan of scallops, so she gave me at least half of hers. (WIN!)

Course Four was the pork loin. Again, I was happy to try this. And I wasn’t disappointed. It was served with celeriac and red cabbage. It was tender and juicy and just seasoned enough to extract and enhance the flavor of the meat. NOTE: At the beginning of dinner, Sara! asked if she could make a couple of substitutions, because she doesn’t eat pork. For this course, they brought her the Winter Vegetable Stew. It was presented with the vegetables in a bowl and the broth in a separate ramekin, poured at the table.

For the final course: Dessert! This was a slice of pecan tart, presented with house-made pecan ice cream. It was the perfect finish to the meal. Sweet. Sticky, yet somehow slightly crumbly. Just right.

In all, I was quite happy with the meal, the atmosphere, and the service. Our waitresses, Rikki and Haleigh (“HAY-lee”), were attentive and responsive to our requests. While not on the “let’s do this every week” I would gladly recommend dining there.

Stray Toasters

• If IKEA Did Superheroes
• A Letter To My Daughters: Always Be Present
• By way of Sara!:  Children prefer to read books on paper rather than screen
• The Get Down: Part II, by way of my friend, Rob
• Warner Brothers has released a new poster for the upcoming Wonder Woman movie:
  
• The NASA 2017-2018 Catalog of Free Software Is Now Available
• This Woman Reimagined Disney Princesses As Badass Feminists and It’s Truly Inspiring
• Atomic Blonde first look: Charlize Theron goes on the attack
• By way of my friend, Denise:
  • Powerful Video Shows Why Ghost In The Shell Whitewashing Has Real Consequence
  • Carly’s Cafe: Experience Autism Through Carly’s Eyes
• Windows Server on ARM: It’s Happening

Namaste.

Friday – 03 March 2017
I will preface this with a deep cleansing breath and by repeating “I love my job…”

Current mood:

I’m going slightly mad…

I received an email from a co-worker this morning that the thermostat in our server room was beeping. That’s our warning that there’s something “not so right” with the cooling in there. Oddly, we didn’t hear anything from our monitoring company – granted, we might not have hit the temperature threshold for them to start freaking out and calling us.

I called our HVAC maintenance company, informed them what was going on and asked to have someone dispatched. The two usual technicians were already out on calls, but there was another tech who was available and would head out. He got to the office before I arrived. He has (theoretically) been working on the system for the better part of the day.

I went looking for him about 30 minutes ago, to get an idea of an ETA for completion.  He was coming down the hall, another tech with him. His response:

“Four to five hours. I haven’t even [taken] that part out yet.”

My jaw almost hit the floor. Four to five HOURS.

I know that he needed to flush some gases from the system before he could get that part out and possibly even get the replacement part(s), but I don’t know that it takes almost EIGHT HOURS to do that.

So, I guess I’ll just… be here… on a Friday night… working… while he gets this completed.

Yay.