So, been getting up earlier the past two days in order to be able to brew 12 extra pots of coffee by 7am at work; doing a coffee service for the trade show at the fort this week. Fun stuff. I used to think that 5am came early (ok, so it was usually more like 5:15, 5:25 if I skip the shower), but now 4:30 comes early (well, today it was 4:55, I took a shower last night). However, I do not work tomorrow and Thursday I'm on the evening shift, so I will not have to deal with this issue any longer.

Today after work I was on my way home, on the interstate across the river to South Carolina, and I decided to go buy some shoes, this means I made a large loop to get to where I planned to go, but when I got closer to home I decided to stop there and change socks (9 and a half hours of standing makes socks stinky) and get a check, a $50 bill, and a few rolls of coinage to deposit into the bank. Those things will pay for the shoes I ended up buying.

For the past decade and a half or more I have been supplied with shoes by a store known as Pay-less. These shoes always tear up after half a year and are endlessly uncomfortable. However, not having to stand very much during those years I didn't mind, too much.

Well, having a job that requires me to stand 9+ hours a day, four or five days a week I have changed my opinion on this matter. So today I went to a local shoe store we used to get my shoes at (always have been hard to get shoes for) and told the guy I needed a shoe that is comfortable to stand in for long periods of time, comfortable to walk in, and grips well even on wet, slick tile. He went and got me a shoe and put it on me. After a slight adjustment to the arch I was in heaven and bought these shoes. (They are black, "sensible" shoes, sort of like what Garrison Keillor would wear, and of the kind I've been wearing for a couple or three years now. I figure if I have a pair of very comfortable (or relatively comfortable) shoes that I can wear with anything, it's better than having five pairs of shoes. I know, very guy-ish of me. I'm a guy.

So I have these $145 shoes now, most I've paid for shoes... Well, ever that I know of. But it feels like I'm floating. And he said they will last a long time, and dad got a pair of boots from this store years ago and they told him that. He still wears these boots.

After returning home (with a side-trip by my dad's office - I love being able to do that) I got out the thing of pumpkin soup we made on Thanksgiving. Most people were less than impressed by it (particularly my mother and sister who hated it). I was less than impressed, as well, but felt there was hope for it. I sauteed some diced onion and minced garlic in a little oil and then added the soup. I added some more milk to thin it (Becca's main complaint was the consistency, which was like that of baby food), let it heat up and then spiced it up with freshly ground sea-salt, fresh ground pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, and freshly ground cinnamon. Now it is a very tasty soup, indeed. I'll have to fix up the rest of it and let the fam try it. I might just have to make a full batch of it, I don't think I have enough left.

I'll have to find out which recipe mom and dad used and then add my alterations and post it here and at vcafe. Yep.

Tonight is T minus three rehearsals to the ACS performance of Rutter's Magnificat, the Christmas portions of Messiah, and the Magnum Mysterium at Sacred Heart. Fun. And it's not a rehearsal with the director.

Tomorrow I am off and I plan to replace the cable for my driver-side headlight and.... I dunno, be lazy or look for a new job. I should do the latter.


- posted by Nick @ 11/30/2004 06:39:00 PM | 0 comments