Tried and Tested

Yesterday was the company luncheon.  As promised, I made the new recipe I posted on Monday.  So how did they turn out?

Better than the first recipe, but they're not my favorite.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that for my pallet, they don't do the trick.  Even so, the new recipe was much better than the original.  The oatmeal made the cookies chewier, the orange zest brought out the tartness of the cranberries but otherwise went unnoticed, and the reduced sugar helped the cookies to achieve a better balance.

All of the cookies were gone by the time the luncheon was over, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone loved them.  I've established a reputation for myself as a skilled baker and several people asked me what I brought so they could have a taste.  I only got feedback from two people (who had nothing but positive things to say), so I can't speak for the others.

Even though this recipe isn't my favorite, it was a lot of fun to make something that was created specifically for me and I hope to get the chance to help build a recipe again in the future.

See You in Court

I have a hearing to attend this morning.  It's about the divorce, but it won't be wrapping things up.  You see, when I had Allison served back in August, I didn't include one document because I had previously emailed it to her.  She had all the paperwork that I needed to deliver, but the court had no record of her receiving it, so I have to serve her a second time.  Allison already knows and I'm working with her to coordinate the delivery.

So why the hearing?  The reason I have to appear in court is because I first filed for divorce back in February and it doesn't usually take this long to finalize everything.  The court order I was issued simply says "Status Update" in the subject line.  I should be in and out in five or ten minutes, but since I filed in the county I was living in a few months ago, I have to drive about forty minutes to get to the courthouse.  If I skip the hearing, I risk having my case dismissed and I'll have to file all over again.

While it's inconvenient to need to go to court for something so trivial, it's worth it if it means that I can wrap this whole thing up.

Tuesdays with Media: Lost in the shuffle

Where are the Thanksgiving songs?  Why aren't stores overflowing with Thanksgiving-themed decorations?  What about Thanksgiving-specific clothes or Thanksgiving candy?

I'm sure you've noticed that as far as holidays go, Thanksgiving is sort of a footnote these days.  Sure, we get special time off from work and school and we have traditions associated with the holiday, but it's largely ignored by retailers.  If you follow holidays according to what displays you find at department stores and grocery stores, we go straight from Halloween to Christmas.  This has been happening for years, but this year feels particularly extreme.

Usually, the Christmas displays start getting set up before the Halloween stuff is taken down, but there's usually a little bit of attention given to Thanksgiving.  This year, I haven't seen a single display reminding shoppers to buy turkey and pie and lots of side dishes.  It's just "Buy candy and costumes for Halloween!" and straight to "Buy presents for Christmas!"  I remember as a kid there were these Reese's Peanut Butter cups sold in the shape of a turkey -- those too are absent this year.

There are even sales that start on Thanksgiving.  We're all used to "Black Friday" sales going out of control, but they're so popular that stores are starting things even earlier.  Unfortunately, they're happening earlier and earlier because they're popular.  Basic supply and demand dictates that if people didn't go to these shopping events, stores would stop having them.  We as a population have decided that we like giving up Thanksgiving for a chance to get a good deal.

This is particularly troubling for me since Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Yes, I love to cook and bake, but that's not why I love Thanksgiving.  I love Thanksgiving because the holiday is about being with family.  Even in 2013, when I spent Thanksgiving with the Simciks, I was still spending it with family, just family that I'm not related to by blood or marriage.  Thanksgiving is just about spending time together and relaxing.  Yes, we eat a big meal, but that's just an activity we're doing together.  There's no stress about gift-giving, like with Christmas, and since it's a cultural holiday rather than a religious one, we can say "Happy Thanksgiving" to people without worrying about offending them.  And, yes, I'm excited to bake the turkey again this year, but I'm more excited about for whom I'm baking it.

Too bad for the people that are giving that up, because it truly is their loss.

New Recipe

On Saturday, I went and visited with my good friends the Simciks.  As I often do, I brought some baked goods to share.  My sister Margot had suggested cookies with white chocolate chips and dried cranberries as a fun fall flavor, so I looked for such a recipe online.  I decided to go with this one, though I left out the macadamia nuts since I think of that as more of a summer flavor.

While the Simciks were very appreciative of the cookies, I wasn't terribly happy with how they turned out.  There was too much sugar, with nothing to cut through the sweetness but some also sweetened cranberries.  Lori is a very skilled baker (her first job was working in a bakery while she was still in high school), so she asked me some questions about the recipe and what I wanted from it when I baked the cookies.  As we talked through some changes, I realized that we were making an all new cookie recipe.  While it's not exactly from scratch (we used the first one as our starting point), it's its own thing.  Here's what we came up with:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 baking soda
1/4 salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp orange zest
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the zest, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine. Stir in the oats. Add the cranberries, white chocolate chips, and pecans and stir to combine.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and, using a cookie dough scoop, drop the dough on the sheets. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the cookies sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air tight container.

I haven't had a chance to try the recipe yet, but I'm really excited to.  I've got an office luncheon on Thursday, so I'll let you know on Friday how things turned out.

A Lousy Situation

The office where I work regularly has holiday themed activities: luncheons near holidays, an ice cream buffet in the summer, and a beard-growing contest during November.  However, the biggest activity of the year is the Holiday Party, which happens sometime in December.  Unlike the other activities, the Holiday Party takes place outside of work.  Last year, I didn't attend because I had only been with the company for a few weeks and I didn't really know anybody.  This year, I'm not attending for a completely different reason: I won't have a date.

The invitations that were sent out have encouraged everyone that attends to bring their significant other.  That's a nice way to include the spouses and girl/boyfriends of employees, but for those of us that aren't in a relationship or, even worse, are in the process of ending a previous relationship, it only serves to reminds us that we're alone.  I don't fault the party planning committee for including significant others at the Holiday Party, I'm just stuck in a lousy situation.

There's still hope for Holiday Party 2016, though!

Block

I've really been wracking my brain to come up with something to write about for today's post.  There are a few events that I've considered writing about, but the timing's not right for them yet, so they're off the table.  I've also thought about writing an essay about something that's happening in the world at large, but nothing's capturing my attention.  Instead, here I am, writing about not having anything to write about.  That's probably meta*, but not on purpose.

*I was planning on linking to the definition of this word in the way that I mean it, but because it's slang, none of the online dictionaries it's listing in are very appropriate. Instead, I'll just define it: "a term, especially in art, used to characterize something that is characteristically self-referential."

Tuesdays with Media: In-flight Entertainment

When I traveled to Denmark a few weeks ago, the longest leg of the trip was definitely from Newark, New Jersey to Frankfurt, Germany (and vice versa on the way home).  Luckily, the airline on which I traveled had an assortment of movies to watch from the comfort of my seat.  I stuck to stuff that was mostly mindless -- I was looking for a distraction to pass the time, not a life-changing art house piece -- and I was able to get through two movies going east and two movies going west.

 

Ant-Man

 

 

I know there were problems with production for this movie (the director dropped out right before filming started due to the producers being too controlling), so that may explain why this movie feels so "phoned-in."  The characters are bland, the jokes are formulaic, and the final reveal of who the villain is obvious in the first five minutes.  Paul Rudd is as charming as always, but his charisma is not enough to carry the movie.  I've generally enjoyed the Marvel films, but this just didn't do it for me.

 

Terminator Genisys

 

 

This one was surprising.  As soon as the movie began, there were plot holes.  The time travel aspects make no sense (plus, the scenes that take place in the 1980s don't have the characters wearing period clothing).  The movie can't decide if Sarah Conner is supposed to be a strong female character or if she needs the male protagonist to save her.  And yet, I ended up liking this movie.  It's really dumb, but the actors do the best with what they have and you end up rooting for them in the end.  This is a movie that you really have to turn your brain off for, but once you do, it's a fun ride.

 

San Andreas

 

 

This movie should have been called Beautiful People Running from Things, because that's the plot of the movie.  Beautiful people Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandria Daddario, and Hugo Johnstone-Burt spend most of the run time running and rescuing each from earthquake-related danger.  Character actor (i.e., non-beautiful person) Paul Giamatti makes an appearance, though he knows what kind of movie he's in so he just overacts the heck out of his role.  If you need a movie with spectacle and nothing else, this should do just fine.

 

Self/less

 

 

Finally, a legitimately good movie.  The trailer gives you the basic premise; all I'll add is that the filmmakers execute the film very well.  It's not a perfect movie, but it's thought-provoking, easy to follow, and wonderfully entertaining.  This is what a good sci-fi thriller looks like.  So, my recommendation is: watch this movie.

 

As you can see, each trip I got one dud and one good movie.  Considering that the goal was just to pass the time, a 1:1 ratio isn't too bad.

 

Ant-Man is distributed by Walt Disney Motion Pictures. Terminator Genisys is distributed by Paramount Pictures. San Andreas is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Self/Less is distributed by Focus Features.

Clear Sign of Improvement

Remember last year when I had a panic attack at church that was triggered by rowdy children?  That was certainly a low point for me, but it's a good reference point for what happened yesterday.

Stake Conference was held this weekend.  Anticipating all of the people that would be there Sunday morning, I arrived twenty minutes early so as to get a good seat.  I hadn't taken into account all of the people saving seats in the pews, so I was relegated to the overflow, though I was still near the front.  Once the meeting began, the family in front of me started having trouble with their young child.  I did think a few times that either the mother or father needed to take the kid to one of the two "crying rooms" that had be designated, but I was only ever mildly annoyed, never anxious.  Plus, there was someone sitting behind me that kept bumping my seat.  I shot a half-glance behind a couple of times, but I never said anything or even made eye contact with the seat-bumper.  I just sat there, listening to the talks.

While the experience wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been, I'm glad to recognize that I'm now much more in control of my emotional state than I was eighteen months ago.  "Not breaking down into a panicking mess" may not be the biggest victory, but it's one of which I'm proud.

Building a Team

On Wednesday, the new girl, Chelsea, asked why several people referred to our coworker, Michael, by his full name.  I suggested that it was probably to differentiate him from one of the managers who is also named Michael.  Michael our coworker agreed with my posit, but also agreed with Chelsea that it was a little distracting sometimes.  Then, as a joke, I said, "That's why I call him B-Man" (Michael's last name starts with B).  He laughed and said we should actually call him that.  It was a simple joke.

At least, it was intended to be.

Later on, I asked my coworkers if they smelled something weird -- they didn't -- but Chelsea said she would ask around.  Making another joke, I called her Detective [her last name].  She then said that I needed a nickname since everyone else in the department had one.  I said that I've never had a nickname before and I didn't intend to start now.  Chelsea said that giving each other nicknames would help with team-building.  After I returned from a bathroom break, I was told that I was now "JLa."  For those of you who don't know, actress Jennifer Lawrence is often referred to by the media as "J-Law" -- so I said they'd have to do better than stealing a nickname from someone else.  Chelsea protested that I don't have a say in the matter, but I pointed out that both she and Michael accepted their nicknames (which weren't intended to stick), and I was simply asking them to be more original.  After talking to Michael, they came up with "L-Dawg," probably because I'm so obviously the opposite of a rapper or a gangster.  I still didn't really like it, but it was more original than their first attempt, so I acquiesced.

This whole thing was rather silly and, if I'm being honest, a little annoying.  But I guess I only have myself to blame.  After all, I was the one that first started calling my coworkers silly names; who would have guessed that joking around would have had such an impact?

Thrust into Leadership

On Monday, External Marketing -- the department in which I work -- got another addition to the team.  Chelsea is the new Digital Marketing Specialist.  As we're still awaiting the arrival of the new department head, Magda, next month, I've been thrown into the role of pseudo-manager.  Now, I'm not giving Chelsea assignments or anything, I've just been the person whom she turns to when she has a question.

There are a couple of reasons for this happening.  First, Magda emailed Michael (the other person in our department) and I and asked us to introduce Chelsea to the team by taking her to lunch on her first day.  The same thing happened with the two of us, so that's just business as usual.  The difference here is that I picked up the check.  I put it on my corporate card as the meal counted as a business expense, but I was still the one that was responsible for the cost of the food.  Second, I have seniority in the department.  I've only been with Danfoss since last December (looking forward to my one year anniversary!), but Michael has only been with the company since late June.  We're all pretty new, but I'm the least new.  I noticed yesterday that when Chelsea had a question, she came to me.  Michael sits right next to me, so he's just as close as I am, but it was me to whom she turned for help.

It's odd to be the one with the most experience since I still haven't made it to an entire year with Danfoss, but being in a leadership role is one with which I'm familiar.  I wonder if/when I'll make it to being an actual manager...

Tuesdays with Media: Danish Art

One thing that stood out to me about Denmark was that there was art all over the place.  The hotel where I stayed had walls covered in original paintings.  The restaurant where I ate lunch on my first day was similarly be-arted.  The building where we met had paintings that predate the Renaissance.  Plus there were sculptures scattered around town.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of too many of them, but the pictures I do have, I'd like to share.

These first two pictures were not taken by me, as they are in the center of a couple of roundabouts on the way from Nordborg to Sønderborg (pronounced soon-dur-bore) and it's hard to take good pictures from a moving vehicle.

I like how both of these sculptures are basic shapes with a funky twist.

The rest of the pictures are Jordan originals.

This sculpture was in the center of the downtown area of Nordborg.

The plaque at the base of the statue translates to "This statue symbolizes Nordborg Castle builder Svend Grathe."

This sculpture was right across the street from the hotel at which I stayed.

"Donated by the Nordborg municipality art fund." The town places such importance on art that it has an art fund.

A bust of Mads Clausen, Danfoss' founder.

Looking back, I wish I would have taken more pictures of the art that was available.  A lot of it was terrible, but I appreciate that the Danes place such weight on works of art.

Without Burden

After church on Sunday, I was headed for the door when I was stopped by a brother I had met before but whose name I couldn't remember.  He asked if I had some time to spare to help him take the sacrament to a member who was in the hospital.  I was surprised that he would ask me specifically, but I agreed to assist him.  He was very happy I accepted the challenge and we went to the kitchen so he could pick up the slice of bread that he had stashed there.

As he drove us to the hospital, he explained that he had asked several priesthood brothers in the ward for help, but everyone was busy with their families (the assignment to take the sacrament to the member in the hospital had been delivered during the second hour of church) -- so my assumption that I was being sought out specifically was incorrect.  I was simply the first person he had asked without familial obligations, so I could actually lend a hand.

We administered the sacrament to a sister who was receiving help for complications with her diabetes (she was in high spirits) and we left.  We chatted for a few minutes, but it wasn't a long, drawn out thing: we had fulfilled our priesthood duty and soon were on our way.

While I do look forward to being burdened with familial responsibilities, I'm glad that I'm able to be an asset during the time while I'm on my own.