Saturday, February 07, 2004
I learned to use the espresso machine today! Darin first showed me the opening procedures for the shop then showed me how to make espresso drinks. I made a number of Lates and some capucinos, a couple of Chais, and one steamer, one hot chocolate. It was fun. All of my shots were good, and I got it to where I was doing about 17-19 second shots each time. I also did really well with steaming the milk.
I did manage to make two messes, one worse than the other. The first was with the drink mixer, i made a small mess of a drink all over the counter. but that wasn't too bad. The second was with the white chocolate syrup. I was pouring the remains of one bottle into the new bottle, I didnt take out all of the spout (I didn't realize it was two parts!) and I ended up getting syrup all over the bottle, sink, counter, and floor. Then I had to make a drink so it was just sitting there and Darin cleaned it up. What fun, what fun! Melissa said she'd done the same thing recently, so it's alright as long as I'm not the only one who does it! :D
Waking up two hours before you intend to when you are getting up early to go to work at 7:45 is not fun. That is all.
Friday, February 06, 2004
Well, the painting of the comptuer is done! I have lost the clear plastic piece that makes the drive lights on the CD-R light up at the front, and the one for the Floppy will need to be glued on if I want to use it, but I think I'll leave them as they are. The buttons for the drives and the power and reset are black. the drive faces are silver (if I had thought of it, I would have made the flap of the floppy drive black, as well. The front is metallic red and the case is a semi-gloss black (I didn't feel like buying a rubbing compound and rubbing, I also changed to a cheaper black paint after one can of the expensive stuff, that made it come out less shiny) with a little bit of un-eavenness on the black... That could be fixed by using the rubbing compound as well, probably. But I'm lazy.
So, it's all back together now (And so much quieter now that the case is on the computer for the first time in months and months and months!
The only thing that is lacking is the power and reset switch, because I am going to wait untill I find springs for those (doesn't work so well without them). So I'll keep a screwdriver handy to power up and down for now.
In other news. I work tomorrow at 7:45am!
Thursday, February 05, 2004
I have put the first coat of black paint on my computer now. Oh, you don't know what I'm doing! Well, see, last summer I started painting my computer. I took the case off and sanded it down, sanded down the front panel, took all the drive covers off and sanded them. I primed all the plastic (that's the front and drive covers and buttons) and painted them. They came out great except for one faceplate which got some dirt on it before one coat was dry... Well, I got busy. And the project got pushed aside for other things.
Then I moved and all. Now I'm here at my grandmother's with not a lot to do and a wonderful workshop in the basment so I have started my project again. Now... I'm not sure what colour it was that I was using before, a nice metallic red colour. So I've decided that, while I will leave the faceplate that cover I will paint the metal case black. And I have replaced two of my drives since this and need to repaint the one that got dirt on it. So those will become silver.
I'd have probably just left it as it was if I hadn't stripped all of the paint off the top of the case, thereby leaving it free to rust. So here I am, painting it. It'll look nice though. I need to get a rubbing compound to make the case shiny. And I need to start on the drive faceplates.
Another... problem I have had is that in the two moves I've made I have lost the springs for the power and reset switches... so I must find something with which to replace those springs so that I can use the cover of the case once again. Yay. If anyone knows where I could find springs about an inch long and a little larger in diameter than those used in inkpens (They are the size of the post so they won't fit around the post...
In other news, I got mail today! A package from amazon.com! The contents of said package? Fiddler on the Roof and My Fair Lady on DVD (Widescreen, of course)! Yay for mail!
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Wow, I just had the most amazing drink: Ginger Ale. Now, it's not that weak-arse Canada Dry stuff they sell everywhere and I had all the time over here at my grandmother's house as a kid. I picked it up at a little grocery store called Fresh Market in Augusta and it's called Blenheim Ginger Ale. It's SPICY like ginger! It's like drinking a freaking bag of ginger snaps! Wow!
Anyway... First day of work. I got there about 5 minutes till 8 and Darin started showing me things. I learned how to grind coffee and what coffee goes in what container, and how to brew coffee. He also showed me how to use the register and the basics of the espresso machine, though I didn't get to pull any shots yet. I worked 3 hours. He's hoping to get me on Friday but isn't sure, otherwise I'll be scheduled for next week.
It was fun, I enjoyed it. Coffee is yumm. I ended up making like seven pots of coffee for a lady who we were catering for. They've got this big huge cube thermos that they put it in. It was pretty neat.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Today I got things done. I got my phone number changed to a local one here and got a new phone (since my three year old one won't keep a charge for longer than about a day as long as I don't use it to make or recieve calls and about two hours if I do indeed use it for what it was intended to be used for). If anyone wants my new number drop me an e-mail and I'll give it to ya. If anyone wants my new address do the same, or send stuff to the address in North Augusta that was Becca's untill about a month ago, as that is my new address.
I got a job today. Yay! I took my resume by the coffeeshop yesterday, and today I was going out to eat with Becca. When I got to the shop one of the other managers had just gotten done interviewing another applicant and Becca told her she could go ahead and interview me. After we convinced the girl that I seriously wanted a job there and wasn't just playing some random prank on her by leaving my resume the night before (I don't have any clue what that was about...) she gave me a short interview that basicaly consisted of asking me how many hours I wanted, when I could work, and the apparently required questions that no one would answer anything other than the excpected answers, "Do you learn well?" and "Do you work well with people?" Because, really, who is going to say no to either of those?
Well, Becca and I went to eat, and I picked up my new phone and dropped her off at her car and went to Best Buy to get a case for said phone. While in the checkout line the Becca called me and said, "You have a job." and told me that I should come in at 8am tomorrow if I can, to work.
I'll be making minimum wage for 60 days while I'm in the trail period or whatever, then it'll go up. I'll continue looking for a better paying job with actual benifits, though, but it feels nice to know I have a job and will be able to make some money, at least.
Monday, February 02, 2004
Ah, good times. I was reading my webcomics and this one reminded me of times with the Mike of Springstead and myself:
(It's done by a guy who posts at Rinkworks, i've been following it for some time now.)
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Go and buy books from me. Most of them are sort of crappy, though. But if anyone needs Chemistry for the Health Sciences from Prentice Hill for a class next semester I'd gladly drop the price down for people I know, so drop me an e-mail and i'll fix you up.
I'm just tryin to make a little extra money while I am unemployed.
Oh, it seems pretty hopeful that I can get hired at the coffeeshop Becca works for. She is one of the managers, and therefor involved in interviews, and Robert knows me a little (and we share similar tastes in Sci-fi reading) and was pretty much like, "Yeah, I'd hire you." and becca told me today they're looking for three people, probably jus hired one tonight but he's only open two days a week. And they are looking for another manager as well, maybe I could swing that somehow.
Of course, I'd be keeping my eyes open for higher paying/jobs with actual benifits while working there, as part-time like $6.50 an hour job won't keep me going forever. But it's a lot better than a no time $0.00 an hour job!
Klasinc&Loncar Duo (Just trying to help it get picked up by Google spiders, I maintain it for them)