After some quick conversation with the husband last night, and some serious thinking about what's been going on in my life recently, I've made the decision to make some decisions.
I don't have too much longer to go before I can put them in writing, but suffice it to say that it's going to be good.
It's going to mean there's going to be a lot less stress in my life, and a lot more joy (no, I'm not separating from my husband). Ha ha. See what I did there? I made a hilarious 'spouse' joke.
But it's actually the spouse who said 'you should listen to this great Freakonomics podcast - I think it'll do you some good.' And you know what? It did.
It got me thinking that what I spend my days doing has to be something that I not only LIKE doing, but that lets me use the expertise and the experience I have on a daily basis. Currently, what I'm doing could be done by a robot (see previous post on this subject), or they could save themselves a ton of cash and just get some newbie, wet-behind-the-ears recent graduate or temp to make screenshots of websites, and put up pictures on the noticeboard, or make sure that everyone gets the monthly email about passwords.
Yep. This is my job. After 25 years in business, this is the majority of my work. Sure. I have projects to work on. But I'm so busy doing administration and clean-up, that I can't find the time to actually perform any of the tasks that are supposed to show why I need to do more and be more. But I spend an inordinate amount of time putting data from one excel spreadsheet into another, and sorting it (over, and over, and OVER again) because someone somewhere (who has no idea of what I do, or how I do it) has made a decision that may see like a good idea, but doesn't bear any resemblance to reality.
Oh yes. I also love being told off by a newly hired colleague how to do my job, and why how we've always done something clearly isn't how we should still do it. Please note: I've been at my place of employment since 2002, with an 18 month break between 2005-6. So clearly I wouldn't have any experience with change, or have been through any restructures, or new 'business implementations' engineered by profit-seeking (and utter out of touch with reality) bean counters and uber-Geschäftsleute who got their MBAs and love to talk about globalization, but haven't been in the trenches in years.
I'm just done. I'm done with the stress that makes me grind my teeth at night so badly that I get headaches. I'm done with the place that raises my cortisol levels to such an extent that I get the shpilkas just walking in the front door of the place. And to run with the Yiddish here, I'm also over the schmegeggy who's made me cry twice (when I swore it would never happen). I'm an ADULT, for God's sake!
So watch this space, nu? It's all going to be great.
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
It's All About the Bread, Man, Part 2
So tonight is going to be short. But I had to write this down.
The experimenting with the bread making continues apace.
Tonight we (my eldest kid and I) decided to use some flour that we got last year (don't worry, it's been in the freezer so it's fine) from The Town Mill in Lyme Regis.
We go every year for a week's holiday, and last year we went to see the mill in action. It's pretty amazing stuff. You can go in and listen to a volunteer talk about the history of the place, and hear about all the different parts of the mill, what they do, and how it all works. The wheel itself is pretty amazing, and when they open that gate and let the water in, and the wheel starts turning, the noise is incredible. Even for kids who weren't very old at the time (6 and 3), they were pretty astounded.
The eldest asked 'what makes it go?', and when I told her it was just the water, she said 'I like that - no pollution.' Smart kid.
So they can't sell the flour they grind (for Health and Safety reasons -- aargh), but if you give a donation, you can take a bag home with you. So we did. We watched them pour the wheat into the shoot, and watched the damsel rod regulate the cascade of wheat kernels onto the millstone. Then we went downstairs and watched the miller collect the flour into a brown bag, label it, tape it shut, and that was it.
So fast forward to tonight. Tonight it was suggested that I get the Lyme flour out of the freezer, and use it for tonight's loaf of bread. So we used the same recipe as before, but instead of four cups white flour, we did 2 of each kind of flour. Then I let the bread machine go through a cycle of kneading, stopped the machine, and then started it from the beginning for a second knead cycle. I also decided to put the warm water, sugar, and yeast into the pan first and let it sit for about 5-6 minutes before I put the flour in, to let the yeast ramp up a bit.
First rise in the bread machine. Second rise after the punchdown is in the warmed bowl (in the low oven) greased with olive oil. You put the punched down dough in the bowl and turn it so that it's all coated with the oil. Then into the over for a 30 minute second rise. After 30 mins, you get the second punchdown, and then shape it on your baking tray where you've got a dusting of white flour. Another 15 mins rise in the warm oven, and then out to make a few slashes on the top while the oven's preheating properly for the bake (200C/425F). Then bake for 30 mins. Here it is before baking.
(Just between us, it just seems important to let you know that I know I'm starting to obsess about this bread thing. I can't help it. I have struggled for years to bake my own bread. Now that it's working, I feel like I've achieved something major here. I realize it's not string theory, or the double helix, but it's a serious personal milestone that I've reached, and I'm unashamed about shouting about it).
I've also emailed The Town Mill to tell them they should open up a part of their website to allow people to upload photos of the bread they've baked using flour from the mill. I know. It's just getting nerdier and nerdier.
So I'm feeling pretty good about this bread thing. Really good. I actually just did a little jig in the kitchen. And the husband came downstairs, in the middle of his ablutions, just to have a little nibble off the end of the bread. We cut it open and you could see the steam coming out. Oh! And I forgot. I put some of those herbes de Provence in again (eldest voted for herbs, instead of sunflower seeds again). So it should be a good combo - the whole wheat flour with the herbs.
And we all know that the family is pretty much the toughest customer there is. So now it's really a question of if the kids will eat it. I'll bet they will.
And I have to say that I'm actually rather excited to take a sandwich to work tomorrow, using this bread. Ham and cheese with Branston pickle, mayo, and some wild rocket thrown in for good measure. It's so middle class, it's sickening. But I don't care.
I DID IT!!!!
The experimenting with the bread making continues apace.
Tonight we (my eldest kid and I) decided to use some flour that we got last year (don't worry, it's been in the freezer so it's fine) from The Town Mill in Lyme Regis.
We go every year for a week's holiday, and last year we went to see the mill in action. It's pretty amazing stuff. You can go in and listen to a volunteer talk about the history of the place, and hear about all the different parts of the mill, what they do, and how it all works. The wheel itself is pretty amazing, and when they open that gate and let the water in, and the wheel starts turning, the noise is incredible. Even for kids who weren't very old at the time (6 and 3), they were pretty astounded.
The eldest asked 'what makes it go?', and when I told her it was just the water, she said 'I like that - no pollution.' Smart kid.
So they can't sell the flour they grind (for Health and Safety reasons -- aargh), but if you give a donation, you can take a bag home with you. So we did. We watched them pour the wheat into the shoot, and watched the damsel rod regulate the cascade of wheat kernels onto the millstone. Then we went downstairs and watched the miller collect the flour into a brown bag, label it, tape it shut, and that was it.
So fast forward to tonight. Tonight it was suggested that I get the Lyme flour out of the freezer, and use it for tonight's loaf of bread. So we used the same recipe as before, but instead of four cups white flour, we did 2 of each kind of flour. Then I let the bread machine go through a cycle of kneading, stopped the machine, and then started it from the beginning for a second knead cycle. I also decided to put the warm water, sugar, and yeast into the pan first and let it sit for about 5-6 minutes before I put the flour in, to let the yeast ramp up a bit.
 |
| After the Third Rise |
(Just between us, it just seems important to let you know that I know I'm starting to obsess about this bread thing. I can't help it. I have struggled for years to bake my own bread. Now that it's working, I feel like I've achieved something major here. I realize it's not string theory, or the double helix, but it's a serious personal milestone that I've reached, and I'm unashamed about shouting about it).
I've also emailed The Town Mill to tell them they should open up a part of their website to allow people to upload photos of the bread they've baked using flour from the mill. I know. It's just getting nerdier and nerdier.
 |
| After the Bake |
 |
| Satisfied Customer |
And we all know that the family is pretty much the toughest customer there is. So now it's really a question of if the kids will eat it. I'll bet they will.
And I have to say that I'm actually rather excited to take a sandwich to work tomorrow, using this bread. Ham and cheese with Branston pickle, mayo, and some wild rocket thrown in for good measure. It's so middle class, it's sickening. But I don't care.
I DID IT!!!!
Wednesday, 7 November 2012
The Waiting Game, Part 2
Just a fast few thoughts tonight.
Glad the election is over, and I'm glad that President Obama has been reelected. There are some seriously grouchy people out there who are being very vocal about the election result, and some comments are funny, and some are disturbing. At this moment, I'm not quite sure how to respond, or if a response is even necessary.
There is much work ahead for the POTUS - I found it rather telling to see how grey he has become, when comparing pictures from yesterday and today with pictures from 2008. The job is obviously one that takes its toll. I applaud the tenacity of ANY POTUS in the last 60 years.
There is much thinking to do on my part. What role to I play in my country's place in the world? As an American abroad, I have always felt the need to defend my country to those I encounter through my days and years living in Europe. There have been times when my voice has been smaller than it is today - previous incarnations of the POTUS have not induced me to be explicit about the glories of the US; perhaps, with another four years of Obama ahead, I may choose to raise my volume level, albeit slightly.
I recently made it about halfway through Democracy in America, which seems an important book to read in order to come close to understanding the inner workings of how the American government was set up. Let me be understood, however, that it is NOT about how the American government necessarily works NOW. The educated men who set up the three branches of the American government would only catch a glimpse of what they started 200+ years ago; intrinsically, it still exists, but only in the same way that the cornerstone of an immense skyscraper is visible to those who take the time to seek it, away from the captivating heights of the uppermost floors.
Otherwise, American politics has succumbed to the same tactics used by the reality-type, shock-value media that so many people seem to think is normal. And I'm guilty, to an extent, of buying into it. I had to engage in a forcible shut-down last night, in order to stop re-reading the same announcements (disguised as 'news') from pundits the world over, each continuing to inform me about 'how close the race was', and how 'Romney was a clear leader' in the election. I finally got tired of the sameness of the message, and went to bed.
Perhaps that may be part of the problem - the sameness of the message. The sameness of every message, every day.
I remember reading a book many years ago - something to do with finding happiness. It was a small book - the kind you find on the back of the toilet in the bathroom - with small, single, easily consumed tit-bits on each page about how to be happy. And the one I remember the most is the one suggesting a 'news fast.'
What a brilliant idea. Considering the bombardment that's possible, via any number of methods, of the constant messaging of what we are 'told' is newsworthy, it's a wonder to me that so few of us lose our marbles. And while I understand that so many people use FB because it's where they feel they'll be heard, I applaud the friend of mine who so eloquently said, 'Just when I thought I had hid enough feed....whether you are happy or upset this morning, if you are nasty about it I can't take it.'
I'm not suggesting we all hide our heads in the sand. That's irresponsible. But what I do suggest is aiming for at least one day a week where a news fast is the order of the day. And it's OK to post something on FB that's NOT about politics, or people being nasty to other people, or people doing something horrible to (fill in the blank), etc.
I recently read a story about a guy who came out of a shopping centre to find a note on his windscreen from a stranger - a note that read 'Noticed you need new tires. Take this receipt to the tire store down the street and get some. It's all paid for. Pass it on.'
Things like this DO happen. And that's news.
Glad the election is over, and I'm glad that President Obama has been reelected. There are some seriously grouchy people out there who are being very vocal about the election result, and some comments are funny, and some are disturbing. At this moment, I'm not quite sure how to respond, or if a response is even necessary.
There is much work ahead for the POTUS - I found it rather telling to see how grey he has become, when comparing pictures from yesterday and today with pictures from 2008. The job is obviously one that takes its toll. I applaud the tenacity of ANY POTUS in the last 60 years.
There is much thinking to do on my part. What role to I play in my country's place in the world? As an American abroad, I have always felt the need to defend my country to those I encounter through my days and years living in Europe. There have been times when my voice has been smaller than it is today - previous incarnations of the POTUS have not induced me to be explicit about the glories of the US; perhaps, with another four years of Obama ahead, I may choose to raise my volume level, albeit slightly.
I recently made it about halfway through Democracy in America, which seems an important book to read in order to come close to understanding the inner workings of how the American government was set up. Let me be understood, however, that it is NOT about how the American government necessarily works NOW. The educated men who set up the three branches of the American government would only catch a glimpse of what they started 200+ years ago; intrinsically, it still exists, but only in the same way that the cornerstone of an immense skyscraper is visible to those who take the time to seek it, away from the captivating heights of the uppermost floors.
Otherwise, American politics has succumbed to the same tactics used by the reality-type, shock-value media that so many people seem to think is normal. And I'm guilty, to an extent, of buying into it. I had to engage in a forcible shut-down last night, in order to stop re-reading the same announcements (disguised as 'news') from pundits the world over, each continuing to inform me about 'how close the race was', and how 'Romney was a clear leader' in the election. I finally got tired of the sameness of the message, and went to bed.
Perhaps that may be part of the problem - the sameness of the message. The sameness of every message, every day.
I remember reading a book many years ago - something to do with finding happiness. It was a small book - the kind you find on the back of the toilet in the bathroom - with small, single, easily consumed tit-bits on each page about how to be happy. And the one I remember the most is the one suggesting a 'news fast.'
What a brilliant idea. Considering the bombardment that's possible, via any number of methods, of the constant messaging of what we are 'told' is newsworthy, it's a wonder to me that so few of us lose our marbles. And while I understand that so many people use FB because it's where they feel they'll be heard, I applaud the friend of mine who so eloquently said, 'Just when I thought I had hid enough feed....whether you are happy or upset this morning, if you are nasty about it I can't take it.'
I'm not suggesting we all hide our heads in the sand. That's irresponsible. But what I do suggest is aiming for at least one day a week where a news fast is the order of the day. And it's OK to post something on FB that's NOT about politics, or people being nasty to other people, or people doing something horrible to (fill in the blank), etc.
I recently read a story about a guy who came out of a shopping centre to find a note on his windscreen from a stranger - a note that read 'Noticed you need new tires. Take this receipt to the tire store down the street and get some. It's all paid for. Pass it on.'
Things like this DO happen. And that's news.
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