Culinary Delight

It's no secret I like food. I like to taste food & I like to just enjoy food. So, what's up for dinner tonight? You don't even wanna know, buddy. Here's a picture of the main ingredients I have to work with today:
So as you can see, I have carrots, spinach, chicken & dumplings, chicken noodle soup, potted meat, & saltine crackers (or soda biscuits as one person called it, lol). I had to pull a couple things from the fridge, but this is what I ended up with (and it was good, too):

New Schedule

So I'm soon to be working new hours at my job since one of our lead officers is leaving. She is to train me on doing reports for medical & safety inspections, etc. later this week or next. As such, I'll be taking over her hours during the week, which means I'll have the weekend off.

That's something which got me thinking, though. Lead Officer, leaving. Hrm -- she works 5 days a week, semi-short shifts, but always available during the busiest times of the week. I'll be trained to do special inspections & reports, like any other officer, but I'll be taking her shifts. I know that I do not currently have the expertise concerning our client which she has, but that can only come in time, with experience. I'm certainly putting in the effort & neglecting everything for my work, so that doesn't worry me much.

But am I being groomed & set into a path for later down the road? One which basically no one else really wants, because either they're lazy or don't care about the job? This could potentially be a great career boost, but I'm taking it all in one day at a time right now. I can't afford to read too much into things, but I have to keep my attitude going strong & stay disciplined.

Everyone else wants me to "loosen up" a bit, but it isn't going to happen. Not the way they are, set in their ways. I'm taking lessons from a pretty good employee, and I'm definitely going to use everything she teaches me to get a step ahead. The only thing to concern myself about is that I don't step on any toes along the way. Of course, the better employee with all the right connections made is going to come out on top regardless. If things were on a scale of dress code, I would probably be at the top of the list for normal employees -- I'm likely the only person who has their uniforms pressed & in near complete attire (policy doesn't mandate wearing a tie at this location).

The easiest trap to fall into is getting set into one's ways. After a while, the "shine" wears off & I'll just be any other employee. Wrong.

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. —George W. Bush

He said he wants a Pepsi!

For some reason I never posted this. From memory:

• 2x Broken vertebrae
• 1x Broken right clavicle
• 1x Ruptured adrenal gland
• 1x Severed ear
• 1x Major laceration to hand
• 1x Sharp head trauma
• 1x Blunt head trauma
• 1x Concussion

..and an EMT on a helicopter shouting, "He said he wants a Pepsi!"

True story.

Job opportunities

I used to work in the retail industry, selling furniture. After a catastrophic car wreck, which left me with major back surgery, I resigned from my job. After a year (and then some) of recovery time, I went out on the job hunt. It took about 3 months before I landed a reliable offer. I had three botched offers along the way, though. The first two were in the hospitality industry, pushing pencils & paper. I got the jobs, talked my way into them & everything, only to be told the next day before coming in that they changed their minds. It was a pretty sorry thing to do to a person. The third dealt with risk management & my lifting restriction. I kinda said too much & it really came back to bite me.

I finally found someone who was smart enough to hire me, though. My new job is to be an "Ambassador of Customer Service," though that is not exactly what comes to mind with my new profession in the private protective sector. Anyways, the training was mentally exhausting -- non-stop informal lectures & heavy note-taking for three full days. Hardly on par with BLET, but nevertheless it was intense. I haven't had to experience something like that since high school & if I had paid that much attention then, and given that much dedication to school work, I would be sitting on a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina, hah!

So, yeah, things are going good right now. Oh, as some may know, I was also extended an offer to join the moderator team for the website Wowhead -- a community database website for World of Warcraft. I'll talk more on that some other time. They have a truly wonderful administration team, <3

So, I got a phone call yesterday at work & then again this morning. The local library wants me to come in for an interview this week. I said that I would love to talk with them, but honestly my current job is my #1 priority above all other things right now. I could probably swing this ~20 hour per week job with the scheduling help of my supervisor, but I'm not really sure I want to do that. It may look as if I'm not interested with my current job, but at the same time I don't want to "close any doors" at another job, just in case something unexpected were to happen.

I wonder if I should call & cancel the interview/appointment this Thursday. It would be a waste of their time if I'm not interested in keeping the job right now. At the same time, I really would love some more information about the job before I outright declined it. I'll probably call tomorrow & cancel, but I don't like turning down a potential offer.

Upcoming Works?

So I get lots of ideas & not all of them come to fruition, but last week I had a couple great ones. The first is yet another article, talking about riding skill & mounts. I got this idea when trying to come up with a lot of new ideas. So, the Topic of the Week about Riding Skill & Mounts (link at the end) is working out great so far. It goes hand-in-hand with my second idea -- a primer for the Beginners' forums, introducing players to all the aspects of transportation available in the game, including mounts! Oh, better remind myself to include the famous "Tram!"

Anyways, what happened was I realized that, upon posting the latest TOTW, I ran out of future topics! When I first started the TOTW column over a month ago, I planned out 4 topics in advance & wrote them out, everything all at once. Since then, I have gotten a new job & been very busy with that.

Last night, I came home after a 10-hour shift & eventually fell asleep on the couch, totally forgetting to post this week's TOTW. Ack! So, when I woke up this morning, about 45 min after, I remembered it! I got sidetracked, but luckily I had one ready which I worked on some last week. So, it's published & up -- go read it!

Ah, well speaking of which, I need to go get a shower & get dressed for work today as well.

Japanese peanuts & Craisins

So I was eating some Ocean Spray craisins earlier which were pretty good. So, I'm about halfway through the pack when I got a pack of Japanese peanuts. Let me teeeeell you, these things are good. There's just something weird about them, though...

PRODUCT OF CHINA
PACKED IN THE U.S.A. BY:
AMERICAN IMPORTING CO., INC.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414

So, I'm totally mystified -- my question to you is this:

If you buy a bag of Japanese peanuts to eat, but it says on the back they are a "Product of China" & imported to Minnesota, are they still Japanese peanuts?

Last thing to note is that if I die in the next few days, will it be lead poisoning or food poisoning?