Daynotes On A Budget, V6.0

 Yeah, I know, the kids these day call it "fusion".  I do think that perhaps they forgot the "con" that should be there.  But yes, I admit I've seen TV shows with things like this, my wife has an air fryer, and I need to eat low-carb thanks to diabetes.   So I've been experimenting, and yes, I know, your mileage may vary.  But here goes. INGREDIENTS: 2-3 pounds ground beef - leaner is better* Sliced American Cheese (or pick your favorite)** Onions*** Egg Roll Wrappers I brown my ground beef, seasoning as needed.  I usually use salt, pepper, onion powder, and Worcestershire sauce.  I've also used bullion.  But I brown the ground beef, sometimes *** adding chopped onions for flavor.  Once the ground beef was done, I set up my "roll" station.  I am not a professional, I'm using skills I haven't used in forty years.  But here we go.  *This is why leaner is better - more liquid makes the wraps less, well, structurally sound....

Yeah, I know, like everywhere else.  Today we're dealing with heat indicies over 100 - that is, once you combine the dewpoint, near 80, with the temperature, in the low 90s, so yeah, it's brutal.   Not sure how long our luck is going to hold out.  I live in the south metro of Minneapolis, and we have been pretty lucky for years.  Once, back shortly after we had kids, a large thunderstorm came right over our apartment, and damaged one of the fake chimneys.  The buildings had been set up to put large water tanks in these things to use gravity to power the sprinkler system - and so the destroyed chimney let loose a flood.  Fortunately, our apartment was not damaged, a few down the hall were - but we got lucky.   We have had some close calls, certainly, since then, but we have been lucky in that we have not seen any direct damage of any places we've lived.  We've seen plenty, but we have been lucky.   We are also fortunate in the p...

It's been one of those summers.   We've had a very wet spring - not as wet as some folks, but when compared to the last few years, we're pretty thoroughly soaked.  We've had regular waves of moderate storms roll through, some turn severe before or after hitting the local area, and we're, well, seeing lots of weeds.   The past few years have seen droughts, or very wet springs leading to flooding, followed by dry or very dry months.  We'll see what we see, but the continued rain is welcome, provided we get the dry weather to allow the crops to absorb the water and mature. The rest of my life is going pretty well.  I've found a real niche with my new employer, and having plenty of work keeps me busy.  There are challenges, which come typically from the nature of the work.  There's a limited number of people who can review requests for authorization, and there are quite a few people who need help, so I'm one part of the bottleneck.  I have t...

I got up this morning and got to work on a major construction project I've been fighting with for a month now, fired up to get going.  Resolved a few problems, then the day turned. I remember in the late 1980s the biggest perceived threat to our way of life was the various little militias grumphing around, trying to change this country to their needs.  Whack jobs and more who wanted to change this country. Then we did.  Whether or not it was done legally and under all proper rules, we'll never know, but it sure does look, these days, like the orange baboon has replaced all those small potato idiots with his small hands, smaller intellect, and greater failures.  And there are those who lack absolutely anything in the brain department follow him straight to hell.  Which is what came to Minnesota today. I've lived here my entire life, and I have known people who take utter leave of their senses and intelligence (that is, assuming they had any to begin with), and pu...

 My friend and another former Daynoter David Farquhar has a post up about Babbages , one of the three big software retailers (the other two being Egghead and Software Etc.) in the 90s.  My history with Software Etc. was, well, kinda brief.  Like many of my previous jobs. I had been in college, working towards a degree in Math, Computer Science, and Business.  Unfortunately, I had not been able to get into the classes I needed to finish my degree before I ran out of money, so I went to work at Wendy's.  I started out as a grill closer, which was where they started most of the guys.  I don't say this because I'm sexist, but because back in the late 1980s, it was pretty much assumed guys would have the upper body strength to clean the grill, the fryers (including the chicken pressure fryer) and other things.  Yes, there were women who could do the job, but working in Wendy's back in those days, a closing crew in our area was typically a manager, who was ...

Been a bit, and we've had a fair amount of stuff occur around here. Right up at the top, yes, I have another new job.  This is a good one, which starts next week.  It's a work from home job, pays more than the job which laid me off in January, and a job which I know how to do well.  It's also going to be a reunion with some former co-workers, so I'm looking forward to that.  I'm NOT looking forward to letting go of the Grocery store job I just got, but it's not something I am going to be able to do.  The physical demands of running around on concrete floors and dealing with 300-400 degree ovens and fryers just aren't something I can do at this time.  No, it's not the work, it's my body's reaction.   I was not aware of one thing which is a bit of a major issue.  I am an old fat man who takes blood pressure control medication.  This does mean I am also wearing what are called "compression socks".  These are basically knee-high socks w...

I'm starting a new job.  It's not one that's going to require what my previous job did, but that's OK.  Sometimes it's not about the work you do, but the income you have that will allow you to continue to maintain a few luxuries, like eating, living indoors, and staying sane.   My previous position was seated, which is yes, a joke.  I've had some jobs that involved sitting some of the time.  When in IT, I learned very early on that when I was supporting other people, it was my job to be visible.  Not just walking past someone's cube, but doing it slowly, stopping by, and, if their work permits, say Hi.  Not just because I'm that outgoing, which I'm not, but because I learned that there are quite a few people like me who might deal with a small annoying problem with a work-around they've figured out, but there may be an easier solution. One person whom I would regularly pass by and pass the time of day eventually mentioned an annoyance.  When ...