Pixie's Mise En Place

Please, keep your germs!

2005-03-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

Why do people constantly grab stuff off of my desk? My pen, my stapler, my phone??? If they ask at all, they ask after they have already taken whatever it is they wanted. (And besides, how could I tell them no?) The problem is that especially the last few months colds and flu and all kinds of nasty "bugs" have been passing back and forth through the office. It's bad enough that I have to use the same fax machine and copier and pick up little germies from that, but I really wish people wouldn't touch the stuff on my desk.

Last Thursday, one of the girls in my office stood by my desk coughing everywhere and complaining about how sick she was. Then she grabs my pen and says can I borrow this? (As if I could say no- and why would it matter anyway since she had already touched it) Then she puts it back in my pen container, spreading her icky germs all over the rest of my pens. And then she was out sick Friday and Monday. She returned today, but she has no voice. *sigh*

I can't figure out a good way to get my co-workers to stop touching my things without sounding like a complete germ-o-phobe. I just don't want to get sick, simple as that.

Of course, I could have fun with the germ-o-phobe angle. Get lysol and spray it on everything someone touches right in front of them...hand out bottles of hand sanitizer to everyone. Rotate taking Airborne, Zicam and Emergen-C every 30 minutes. Put a big sign over my desk that says "GERMS" with one of those red circle with a slash over it. Heck I could even wear rubber gloves and a mask!

Music

2005-02-27T07:19:00.000-08:00

I listen to many different types of music. One of my favorites (surprising as some of you will find this) is Death Metal. Typically, you don't hear much of this played on the radio- however I had found two great ways to listen to it: Death.FM streams it over the internet for listening while I'm at work or home and XM42 (Liquid Metal) for listening in the many hours I spend driving in my car.

About two weeks ago XM decided to discontinue my precious XM42. I turned it on one day and there was a looping message to check the website for information. Then about 2 days later, XM42 was no longer there. :(

They said they would play it for a few hours a day on XM48 (Squizz) (of course those are hours that I am never in my car) and that XM42 would be available all day long on their internet broadcast (available for an additional monthly charge). Well a whole lot of good that does me. I already have a great internet broadcast to listen to while I'm at work, and an internet broadcast really does not do me any good in my car. I can understand that there is limited satellite space at this time, but the only stations they have added lately are Major League Baseball. There's only like 20 of those, and I'm sure MLB needs to be on 20 channels 24 hours a day. *eyeroll*

So now comes my plea. For any of you (regardless of whether or not you listened to XM42) who want to help little Pixie out, please sign this online petition. Thanks for your support.

Reality T.V.

2005-02-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

Many years ago "The Real World" came on MTV. Now I don't know if this was the beginning of the reality T.V. boom, but it is the first one I remember. A few years later it seems like the networks all picked up on this idea and suddenly there were reality shows out the wazoo. (Have any of you read "The Running Man"? creepy...) At any rate, some of them were good, some okay and, some were just plain awful. A few of them would get cancelled or run their one season and be over-with and others would run season after season.

I only checked out a few of these reality shows, but I have noticed a trend: they seem less and less like reality and more and more like staged crap. I just find it really hard to believe that more all new exciting never been seen before events keep happening week after week. I'm sure part of it is the producers "nudging" the participants and part of it is just the contestants trying to draw more attention to themselves. Quite frankly it has gotten boring. I've quit watching all but one reality show, and I'm about to give up on it as well.

I miss the good old days of "The Cosby Show." Most of the sitcoms on these days are unbearable. And then there are shows like CSI, ER and Third Watch which have become so filled with violence and gore that I am too repulsed by them to watch them. I often wonder what there will be to watch with my child when I become a parent someday.

So what do I watch, you ask? "The Apprentice" (which I have about had it with), "Smallville", "Enterprise" (which very sadly is cancelled at the end of this season), "Crossing Jordan", "Scrubs" and "Joey." My TiVo often records old episodes of "The Cosby Show," "Friends," and "COPS" also. I do check out some other shows from time to time, but those are about it. Next month the F1 Racing season will begin, so I'll be tuning in for that, as well.

For now, I anxiously await some good T.V. writers to get back in the scene and get all of the "reality" garbage off of my set and replace it with some good sitcoms.

In the meantime, I guess the lack of good T.V. gives me more time for other things like playing "Animal Crossing" on my GameCube--er I mean reading, cooking and cleaning the apartment. ;)

The Pledge of Allegiance??

2004-12-16T10:15:00.000-08:00

Why does the Pledge of Allegiance say "One Nation, under God"?
Why does US currency say "In God We Trust"?
This country was founded by people wanting freedom from religious persecution. There is this little thing called "separation of church and state" So then, why was all of this "God business" added to things like the pledge and our currency?
To make matters worse, a few Christians find it necessary to continue the religious persecution by making an issue out of people who disagree with their personal beliefs. Just because a person thinks that the church should stay separate from the state, doesn't mean that they are a person without morals. It doesn't even necessarily mean they are not a religious person.
I read an article this morning about a man who serves as a trustee on the Town Board. He has for 12 years. He refuses to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the meetings (a recent addition to the town meetings this year) because he disagrees with the statement "under God." The board is moving to spend several thousand dollars to have a recall election to remove this man from office because of this.
I guess everything that man has done for the last 12 years means nothing because he somehow no longer represents the people of that area. *rolleyes*
I applaud this man for standing up in what he believes in, and I hope that more and more citizens of the United States continue to do so in the coming years.
This country was founded on freedom. It seems to be a lot of groups, particularly Christians, are very intolerant of anyone else's views. So because of a few loud-mouths and a bunch of weak minded followers, we get stuck having "God" in our pledge and on our money; we can't learn about the possibility of evolution, even in public schools; many cannot speak openly of their religious views (or lack thereof) because they will be called immoral people with no values.
Open your mind for a minute. Think logically; weigh all options. You don't have to accept what you have always heard, unless you truly believe it. But please, don't go around acting intolerant of others. It makes you look ignorant. Besides, aren't Christians are supposed to be tolerant of everyone, forgiving of everyone and loving of everyone?
I consider myself to be Patriotic. I love this country. I wish some of my fellow citizens would also love this country for what it is. It is our Great United States of America, not the United Parishes of God.

Perpetual State of Agitation

2004-11-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think I just can't stand the stupidity any longer. People who don't bother to read details and then make mistakes. People who walk in front of my car [as slow as humanly possible] in a parking lot. People who talk on their cell phone EVERYWHERE: a restaurant table, in the movie theatre during a movie, in the freaking bathroom, for chrissakes! People who drive like half-asleep grannies in front of me. People who don't know when to just shut the fuck up.

I'm tired of this. I'm tired of being in a perpetual state of aggravation because of these people. Half of them are so stupid, they don't even realize that they are doing something that annoys others. It is unbelievable.

I have recently come to the revelation that there are many, many people in this world who do not have the mental capacity to be intelligent enough to realize things that seem like common sense to me. (quite possibly a result of the advances in medicine and technology that halts the process of natural selection)

Being that I am intelligent and capable, I have decided that I need to find a way to come out ahead in this race of aggravation. I don't need the added stress from these oblivious and careless people. So I'm not going to tolerate it anymore. I'm not going to be nice or polite. They don't care about my feelings, so why should I care about theirs? I'll bitch them out, I'll have an attitude, I'll honk my horn, rev my engine and do all I can to turn my aggravation into theirs. And then, I'll sit there with a giant fucking smile on my face just to rub salt into the wound. I'll thrive off of their negative feelings. I'll point at them and laugh. No more Mr. Nice Guy. No more nice, sweet little Pixie sprinkling Pixie Dust about. Meet the nasty, evil little Pixie who taunts and torments you and then flies away laughing at your misfortune.

*Grin*

Broken, Missing, Incorrect or Otherwise

2004-10-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today I clicked on the start menu of my computer to get to the "Open Office Document" tab, but it wasn't there. There was some other tab in its place. (Okay, so I deleted the new tab and I forget what it was now) So I'm sitting there wondering: what happened to my tab? Why is this other mysterious tab there? The "New Office Document" tab is still there. I don't think anyone else was on my computer since I was last. Everything else seems in order. So what the heck happened? And how can I fix it?

So, like I said, I deleted the mysterious tab. I guess for some reason I thought my missing tab would pop up in its place. (Okay, I admit, that was a pipe dream) When it didn't, I started poking around to see if I could find a link to it somewhere so I could recreate it in my start menu. Now I'm not the most computer savvy person around, but I know a trick or two- so I thought I might be able to fix it. After searching high and low, I found nothing helpful. It's not so much that I cannot function without that tab, but I liked it. That's the way I liked to do things. And now, no more tab. The only thing I can think of to replace it is to re-install Office. Yeah. Riiiight.

So this incident gets me thinking about a few things.

First: uh-oh does this mean my computer is crashing? Do I have a virus? I ran the scan Friday, but perhaps I'll run it again today.

Second: I think computers fall into the category of things that are wrong, don't work or break for no reason yet we accept them because we need them.

You know what I mean. Your computer gets the Blue Screen of Death every hour or so. You call your IT Department. When they find it convenient to come visit, the look at the computer for a few minutes, open up explorer, maybe run a virus scan, open up MS DOS and pretend they are doing something savvy, then look at you, shrug and say that nothing is wrong with it. You continue to have the problem daily for months until you finally convince them to buy you a new computer. Then a few months later, the new computer starts to do strange things like take away your "Open Office Document" tab. :P

Other examples include:

Printer/Copiers/Fax Machines: Can these things possibly function for a whole week without jamming, needing toner/ink/drums, feeding pages out randomly, printing wingdings, sending only 3 of my 4 page fax, etc.? And it can't just be one machine that malfunctions, it's like they are interconnected and they all act up at the same time. Ever see "Office Space"? That scene with the fax machine in the field with the baseball bat is going to be happening in my office very soon.

Cell Phones: dropped calls, bad reception, etc...while this seems to be improving, there are still lots of problems that people accept and move on. Whoops, I lost him, he must be on his cell, going through a bad area, can you hear me now? Nevertheless, we all have our cell phones, and we feel lost without them. Have you ever forgotten yours? I forgot mine one day and I felt completely lost. I was so worried that I would need it for something. (And I was at work all day, where it sits turned off in my desk) Heck 10 years ago practically no one even had a cell phone, but today we all have our phones with intermittent reception.

Weathermen: It's not so hard here in SoCal, but in other parts of the country I really wonder. They seem to predict the weather somewhat close about half of the time. Yet many people still tune in daily to get that weather report. Heck, there's even a whole channel dedicated to weather. And it has been on for many many years, so people must be watching it. What's next tuning in to the Psychic Friends Network for your daily prediction. (Okay, I know, some people actually do call those, but that's a whole different issue)

Some Runners-Up who aren't too bad, but are worth mentioning:

Cable Television: I have DirecTv, but I remember the days when every time it rained, or the wind blew wrong or the sun came out the cable would go out. It was really annoying, yet we all kept right on paying for our cable. (Though they would give you a credit if you called- I guess that is something)

Post Office: I have several issues with the post office. We are stuck with them, as they are the only way to mail something. If they screw up or make you mad, you can't go anywhere else. They are it. And the postal workers behind the counter know it. Many of them are nasty and unpleasant a good bit of the time. But what are you going to do about it? Additionally, I don't know how true this is, but I hear that a good bit of our mail never makes it to us. (Of course our bills always get to us though :P) I also see a lot of mail in my box that is not for me, has a different name or address on it, etc... The good news is that you can minimize using the post office these days because of e-mail and online bill paying.

Caller ID: Now don't get me wrong, I like my caller ID, but why is it that half of the calls either say: Restricted Caller, NO ID or it solely lists the state the call is coming from (like California Call)? I just want to know who it is calling me. The number would at least be helpful...

The Police Department/911: This obviously depends where you live. I have experienced excellent service in some communities. However in the majority of places it seems that the response is not quite speedy. One time I tried calling 911 for about 5 minutes straight and I kept getting the message that all lines were full and to try again later. Now in that case no one was bleeding to death, but it really makes you wonder what would happen if it was a life and death situation and minutes counted. I've also encountered situations with officers and detectives that really make me wonder about the functionality of fighting crime.

Conversely, I was thinking of some other things that I wish didn't work most of the time: The Beep Beep backing up truck noise, the annoying noise Nextel 2 way radios make after someone speaks, the annoying loud and vibrating car stereos blasting bass, lighters to light cigarettes, etc..

Those are just a few of the things that don't work but should, and do work but shouldn't. If any of you have any other ones to share, feel free to post a comment.

Hummm...maybe my lost tab is hanging out with the sock I lost in the dryer...

To Own or Not To Own? Guns are the Question.

2004-10-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Back when the United States of America was becoming a country, it was common practice for most people to have guns. Then at some point in history people stopped carrying their guns with them, stopped having so many in the house- if any at all. With the way our society seems to be shaping itself today, I’m wondering if there will be a comeback to the days of owning several guns for protection.

With the downfall of our society comes an increase in robbery, burglary, hate crimes, etc. I’ll save the downfall of society rant for another time. My point is: do we need to get back to the time of carrying weapons, specifically guns, to feel safe? And not only to feel safe, but to actually be safe?

If you had asked me that a few years ago, I would not have thought I would ever need to/ want to own a gun. As I watch where our society is headed, I have rethought that issue. It’s unfortunate that we have gotten to this point, but let’s be realistic. If some big scary looking gang member is on drugs, or heck, even if some scrawny little twirp is on drugs: THEY LOSE ANY INHIBITIONS THEY MAY HAVE HAD. Their adrenaline rushes and they become stronger than usual. They don’t know or care about any consequences. All they know is that you have something they want, and they are going to take it from you: no matter what. They don’t care if they hurt you or kill you in the process. They will kill you for your car or even the five dollars in your wallet. Now do you wish you had a gun? What if the car they are stealing from you has your six month old baby strapped into the back seat? Do you really think they are going to let you take your child out before they take off? And we’ve all seen those police chase shows on T.V. How many times does the drug induced robber total the vehicle? Now do you want a gun so you can stop the son-of-a-bitch before he harms your child?

Personally, I’d like to have several guns in my home, one in my car and one in my purse. (After all, my gun at home would not do me any good if someone was trying to carjack me.)

I have to point out an issue from the Presidential Debate last night. They were asked about reauthorizing the assault weapons ban. I just have one thought for Sen. Kerry: He spoke about how the police force wanted this reauthorized because “They don‘t want to go into a drug bust and be facing an AK-47.” Okay, let’s think about this for one minute here. They are typically busting drug-lords. They have illegal drugs. Hmmm…do you honestly think that they have legal, registered weapons??? Do you honestly think they don’t have access to get illegal weapons? So if you ban AK-47’s, then you or I can’t get one, but Mr. DrugLord and his gang members can. And so when they break down my door to steal what I have, I won’t be able to own a weapon that competes with theirs. Gee, that makes sense.

Okay, so here’s what it comes down to: our society is taking a downfall. Honestly, I don’t see a turn around from this anytime soon. People are getting worse and worse, more spiteful, have more hatred and less morals. (unfortunately with our advances in technology and medicine, Darwinism hasn’t been allowed to flourish as it should) Those of us who do have morals and are bettering ourselves and are successful need to be able to protect and defend ourselves and our possessions from the underachievers.

I don’t think guns are for everyone. I do think guns are for people who can handle the responsibility of owning them. I believe in a screening process. I believe in proper training. (What good is a gun if you are too afraid to use it and Mr. Robber takes it right out of your hands?) I believe in owning guns.

Halloween Costume!

2004-10-08T09:54:00.000-07:00

Alright kids, it's October and that means Halloween is right around the corner. I'm going to the annual West Hollywood Halloween Carnival this year, so I need to have a kick-ass costume. I've got a few things in mind, but I haven't settled on anything just yet. So everyone post your ideas. Let me know what you, your friends or kids are going to be. And post any suggestions you have for me. To give you an incentive, if you guys come up with a really good idea and I use it, I'll post a picture of how the costume turned out!

-Pix

OMG, you are like SO Judgemental!

2004-09-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Q: Why is it so wrong to be judgemental?

A: IT IS NOT WRONG!

Personally, I think a bunch of people who felt inadequate got together and came up with this idea that "we" [as a society] should not be judgmental towards others. "We" should not be selfish or self-centered. Those things make us "bad" people. They were easily able to influence a lot of other people who felt inadequate, who influenced others and others until this somehow became a society norm. The real problem is that our society is filled with a bunch of sheep. And then along comes someone like me, an Alpha Plus- The Wolf.

The sheep have these foolish ideas of society being this nice friendly happy place where everyone is equal in every way. Hummm...that sounds vaguely familiar...what is it?? oh yeah- COMMUNISM! People like me reject these ideas. We realize that communism doesn't work, and we don't want to live that way. I have a strong desire to better myself, to lead and influence people and to be known. I want to make myself a better person so I can stand out among the rest, so I can have better things and have a greater quality of life.

In order to get there, I don't sit back and follow along with what everyone else does. I listen to their ideas and then I think about them. If they don't make sense, then I don't go along with them.

It is okay to judge people. And quite frankly, I doubt most people could say they don't judge anyone in some way shape or form. Sure, everyone makes mistakes in their life, but I have to consider their actions. I need to know the people I surround myself with. I want to live my life a certain way, and in order to achieve that lifestyle I need to be surrounded by a certain type of people. So when I meet someone, I judge them. I am instantly able to make a preliminary judgement whether or not this is someone I want to include in my life or not. Are they of any worth to me?

I don't give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm not nice to everyone I meet. Not to say that I am automatically mean either, I am indifferent until the person gives me just cause to think otherwise. I am a valuable person, and I only give my friendship to those who I deem worthy of it.

I will judge you based on your thoughts and your actions. I will take into account your feelings about things you have done. But in the end, I will judge you. I will determine in my opinion the value of you as a person and whether or not you are worthy to be an aquaintance of mine, or even a friend.

Some people say they evaluate others and then decide whether to be around them or not. But they also say that they don't pass judgement on them. That is simply misleading to those who do not think about what they were told. Judgement means: The formation of an opinion after consideration or deliberation; The capacity to assess situations or circumstances and draw sound conclusions; good sense; The capacity to form an opinion by distinguishing and evaluating. [These definitions came from www.dictionary.com]
So yes indeed-e-do, you are judging people. Now if only you had the self-confidence to stand up and admit that.

People these days are so damned concerned over how what they say will be perceived by others that they are afraid to admit the truth. You are judging people. Yeehaw. Admit it and go on. There is nothing wrong with it. Just like there is nothing wrong with being selfish (ahhh...another rant for another day...).

But not everyone can be an Alpha-Plus, and I wouldn't want them to be. It is just sad that so many people feel they have to sit down and say they are doing "the right thing" when they are actually doing something else but will not admit it- for appearances sake. In my book, they look lame. They aren't even making a valid argument.

Take a step back. Evaluate the situation. Decide what you are really doing. Then make a stand. Present a valid argument. I know I would respect you a lot more if you just made a valid argument, even if I don't agree.

-Pix

Tragedy or Stupidity?

2004-09-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

Throughout my life, I see more and more things becoming "idiot-proof." Everything has safety switches and warning labels and alarms. These things probably save thousands of lives every year. Personally, I'd like to see them disappear.

These idiot-proofing devices are to prevent morons from harming, dismembering or killing themselves. Why?

Why do we want to allow morons to further our species? You see there is a man who once explained all of this quite well. His name is Charles Darwin. He spoke of a thing called "Natural Selection." It speaks of the process of evolution and increasing the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Therefore meaning that the weak and unintelligent should fall out of this cycle, making the species stronger and smarter in its wake.

The problem is too many people have become too nice and want to protect everyone. There are already too many people in this world, why do we want to save the undesirables? Is that what we want for our future society to be comprised of? I do not.

The worst part is, nowadays people read an article about a couple of kids playing Russian Roulette and one dies, or a person sets themselves ablaze to videotape themselves looking cool and they burn to death, or a woman smells natural gas so she lights a cigarette while waiting for the repairman and blows up her trailer [with herself in it] and people think this is a tragedy!! This is no tragedy! This is pure stupidity. Natural Selection at its finest. Those people were not smart enough to survive so they took themselves out of the gene pool. I say thank you to those people. Thanks for removing yourself from the gene pool and thanks for the laugh!

This type of human is not helping our species advance. They are holding us back. Mind you these are also the type of morons who have a litter of kids because they can't figure out how birth control works. We don't need these idiots and we don't need their moronic children either. I mean, why do you need a warning label to tell you that gasoline is flammable or that electricity might electrocute you or that a cup of coffee is hot?!?!? Where have you been? How can this possibly be new information? And don't give me any crap about how children may not know. Where are their parents?? If you need a sign to tell you not to ingest something called "rat poisoning" then you deserve to die. But please, make sure you share with your family first.

I think Darwinism would make our world a better place. Smarter people. Less of them. I can only imagine how nice it could be. We would have more advanced technology, less illness, longer life-spans, the list goes on. And to top it off, we could get some laughs while all of these substandard folks find ways to off themselves. Personally, I find it quite amusing to watch videos of these people who try their darndest to get a Darwin Award. What is a Darwin Award, you ask? Well, it is a prestigious award given only to those folks who manage to be dumb enough to remove themselves from the gene pool. Check out Darwin Awards for some rather humorous finds. And hey, they don't all die; some of them just manage to destroy their reproductive organs!

So next time you come across a moron doing something dumb, don't jump out and help them, let Natural Selection do its job. Help make our society a better place for those of us who are superior.

Darwinism, Darwinism, RAH RAH RAH!!!

A clove of garlic, a pinch of Kosher Salt and a lot of laughter!

2004-09-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

There are a few ingredients that go in just about everything I cook.
Garlic: well, I'm Italian, what do you expect??
Kosher Salt: brings out the flavors in things.
Laughter: well, everything is better with laughter.

Earlier this year when shopping to decorate the new apartment I would be moving into, I came across somthing for the kitchen. For some reason, it made me laugh. Though this was not really how I had planned to decorate my kitchen, the laughter this provided settled it. The "Fat Chefs" would soon be moving in as well.

I don't know what exactly it is about them. I just like them. And they make me laugh. So instead of some boring picure of fruit and plain colored towels, the Fat Chefs can be seen hanging around my kitchen with their buddy the Frog Scrubby Holder:

-Pix :)

"Bad Words"

2004-09-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Words are words. What makes some of them “bad”?

I never understood the concept of why some words are considered to be “bad” or “curse” or “cuss” or “profane” words. Who decided that? Why? What is the point? Sure, it gives what you are saying a certain emphasis, but so does choosing long words or short words or alliteration, etc.

Personally, I do not understand why people are offended by hearing certain words. It is about as logical as saying that the word “pencil” offends me, so I don’t want to hear anyone say it ever again. Why?

There are different levels of “bad words”, too. Growing up, it seemed that we were limited to a short list of words that you were not supposed to say or write. As I’ve gotten older, it seems that there are a variety of other words that are deemed socially or politically incorrect. Yet as this list increases, understanding why such a thing as “bad words” seems increasingly incomprehensible.

To make matters worse, whether or not something is a bad word seems to be determined by context and what words it is accompanied by. For example: at church you can say Hell (meaning the place only), but anywhere else hell is a “bad word.” When they edit movies for T.V. you often hear (Bleep)***damnit. Well, when did God become a “bad word?” Or Ass****(Bleep). Hole is “bad?” Then you have situations where certain races would be highly offended by someone calling them a certain name, yet they casually call each other that name. Huh??

While I contemplate the stupidity of the issue, what I find annoyingly ridiculous is that when I have a child someday, I will have to teach him or her not to say these “bad words” even though I personally feel it is a load of garbage. Why? Because everyone else will, and I don’t want to get phone calls from upset parents saying: (in a whiney voice) “Do you know what my son said? Do you know where he heard it?” Basically, I don’t want to be hassled.

Then there are the people who “don’t curse.” But many of them just fill in other words instead. “Oh, I said “shoot” or “dang” or “heck” so I’m still a “good person.” I didn’t curse.” [Insert me rolling my eyes here] What is the difference? Why is using a term where you changed a few letters around in a similar context any better?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to infiltrate your daily verbage with all kinds of “colorful metaphors,” but if you want to say a “bad word” why not say it? After all, it is just a word. Just vowels and consonants put together in a particular order and pronounced a certain way.

So go ahead, take a step, be bold and if the situation arises, just fucking go for it! (Ahhh, that felt good :) )

Washenzehands??

2004-08-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Do people wash their hands? Do they do it often enough?

I wonder how many times a day I do it? 20? 25? How about you? Do you do it enough? What about the guy at the restaurant making your lunch? The guy at the meat counter packaging up your steak? The guy whose hand you just shook? The person who touched the door handle before you did? The list goes on and on.

One of the best ways to get sick is by not washing your hands. I wonder what percentage of people wash their hands after they use the restroom. I know many people do not. I think we need one of those signs like in The Far Side comic to be put up over the restroom door that flashes in big letters “DIDN’T WASH HANDS!” when someone walks out who did not. It’s gross. Just plain gross. I don’t think the offenders realize that they are basically walking around wiping their fecal matter on door knobs, telephones, pens, grocery carts, computer keyboards, hangers at stores, food, basically anything they touch. This contains bacteria that spreads illness like colds, flu, and diarrhea.

There are many times when you should wash your hands. A few include: after using the restroom, after touching animals, before and after preparing food- especially raw meat, before eating, blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing in your hands, before and after treating wounds, after touching someone who is sick, after touching garbage (this list could go on and on…)and when your hands look and feel dirty!

Unfortunately many people who do go to the effort of washing them do it incorrectly. I know many folks think that washing their hands involves waving their hands quickly though a stream of water. Soap?? What is that?? And for those who actually do use soap: did you make sure to lather well then rub your hands vigorously together for 10-15 seconds? Did you get the fingernails and wrists and backs of your hands? (Contrary to popular belief, dirt does get in those places too) Personally, I prefer paper towels to dry off. (I hate those hand air dryer things, but that’s a whole different story) Oh and don’t forget to turn the water off with the paper towel (remember when you turned it on with dirty hands?). You should also hang on to the paper towel to open the door on the way out of the restroom, as I’m certain many people have touched it without washing.

I don’t see what the big deal is people. Water, soap, and a few extra seconds of your life in exchange for not ingesting your and other people’s fecal matter. The answer seems obvious to me.

Greeting Cards

2004-08-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Every time a silly little holiday or birthday comes around, I make the dreaded trip to the card shop. I’ll spend an hour looking at each pathetic card over and over again. They are all terrible. I’ll usually find one that is kind of half-passable. Then I stand there and wonder if I went to another store if I could find something better. At this point in my life, I’ve come to the conclusion that I could visit every card shop/aisle in LA and still not find the perfect card. They are either too mean in the wrong sort of way, not funny in the slightest or over-the-top sappy. For example, in shopping for a Father’s Day card I was looking for something simple. I thought I’d find a cute picture of a Papa Bear and Baby Bear on the cover and it would say “Happy Father’s Day!” on the inside. Do you think I could find such a thing? Of course not! Is it too much to ask for a simple card these days? I don’t want some thing that goes on and on about sentimental crap and I don’t want some supposedly humorous thing about something that doesn’t even apply to my family. Since all of the printed cards are such crap, I come up with this brilliant idea that I’ll buy a blank card and fill in my own note. Either the store won’t have any blank cards, or they have some strange animal with bugged-out-eyes on the cover, which is somehow never appropriate. And so I finally head back over to where I began and read them all again. After at least 45 minutes of looking at cards, I finally give up and decide to go with the half-passable one I saw 35 minutes earlier. Then I flip it over and !!! $4.95!! For a stinking piece of paper that doesn’t even say anything like what I want it to! What a rip-off! So I buy the stinking card, and get the heck out of the store.

Later, I am off at the party/ gathering, whatever… the time comes to open presents. Now one of two things happens. The person picks up the card, glazes over it for ½ a second and then grabs for the good stuff, or they pull out the envelope, set it aside and go straight to the good stuff. !!! And then they pitch the card with the wrapping paper!

Most people don't really even like the card all that much. So why the heck do I torture myself trying to find the perfect one? Or at this point, the half-passable one? There are a few times where a card is good. Little kids making cards for people is cute. But that is different because it is not really going to the store and buying a card. So there is only one time I can really think of that a card is good: when it is holding money. But honestly, it could be in a piece of construction paper for all I care. Just give me the dough!

I say we take a stand against such rip-offs! No more cards. Just don’t buy them. And if we need to know who stuff is from, let’s do what we do at Christmas: put those little sticky tags on there! Yes!! And if you feel you have to send something, how about an e-card? Many of them are free. (Okay, so many of them suck too, but at least they are free. Plus, I think people look at them longer than they look at the paper ones.)

Let’s all breathe easy next holiday or birthday and skip the card. So what if it was traditional. Let’s make new traditions. Let’s not shell out five bucks for what is basically a piece of garbage from the start.

Celebrity Chefs!

2004-08-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

Celebrity Chefs are definitely growing in popularity these days. Probably a lot of that has to do with the FoodTV Network. I remember watching cooking shows on a variety of channels before FoodTV while growing up, but about the only household chef name I can think of from that time is Julia Child. As FoodTV came on-air, the popularity of chefs took a giant leap forward. There are some I think are great, and some I don't' think a whole lot of. A few of my favorites are: Alton Brown, Wolfgang Puck and David Rosengarten. As of yesterday I have met two (almost all three) of these chefs!

I met Wolfgang Puck about a year and a half ago. We were having a fabulous dinner at Spago in Beverly Hills (yes, it lives up to its reputation- a definite "must-eat-there-at-least-once-in-your-lifetime" kind of place), when Wolfgang Puck came out to our table to ensure we were enjoying our meal. Despite the fact that we were in his premier restaurant, I never in a million years thought he would actually be there. It was really great to know that despite his celebrity status, and how incredibly busy he must be, that he still takes time to go into his restaurants and check on his patrons. He was a very nice guy.

Yesterday, I got to meet my favorite celebrity chef: Alton Brown (AB). He was doing a cooking demonstration and signing autographs at a local mall. My husband Cocles got us really great seats up close to the front of the demonstration. AB made funnel cakes. It was really a well done presentation. AB was just as funny as he is on his show, even when answering people's questions. His assistant chef did a great job steathily clearing used containers out of AB's way. It was quite enjoyable.

AB actually did 3 demos. We watched the second one. Then we headed over to the really long line to meet AB and get his autograph. The line was so long, that I didn't quite make it up to meet him before he had to go over and do the third demonstration. Unfortunately, being as that this was in a mall, the acoustics were terrible. While I could kind of half see what was going on, I could only catch a few words here and there. One of the phrases I did hear was that David Rosengarten was in the audience! I wish I could have seen/met him too, but there was no way I was giving up my spot to meet AB.

So after the third demo, and another half an hour or so of waiting (total wait time was approximately 2 hours!!) we finally got to meet him. He was super nice. One of the things I thought was the coolest was that he put out his hand to shake mine and said "Hi, I'm Alton." Well, of course I knew who he was, but the fact that he had enough manners to introduce himself properly and not assume the "mmm, I'm a celebrity, everyone knows who I am so I don't need to introduce myself" attitude was just very impressive. I got my copy of "I'm Just Here for the Food" autographed, and Cocles and I got to say a few quick words to him. He was super-nice. I wish I could have monopolized him to ask a million more questions, but the mean guy trying to keep the line moving was doing just that. (Think: Santa's Elves taking you off Santa's lap and putting you on the slide in "A Christmas Story" only, luckily AB was nothing like Santa) So we were pushed on our way, having met my favorite celebrity chef.

Many times you hear of people meeting celebrities and being let down because they are jerks, or don't want to have anything to do with you. I can see how fans could become quite the annoyance, but it was really great to meet AB and find out that he is the nice, funny, food-knowledgeable guy I watch on TV. :)

Women!

2004-08-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Quite frequently, you hear women complain about men and men complain about women. I’m going to do something a little abnormal. I’m going to take the woman complains about women option.

A long long time ago, things were fine. Men and women each had their separate “jobs” in society. To be blunt about it: Men were the hunters, protectors and providers. They brought home food that they hunted. They built shelter, protected their families from danger. They provided many of the essential elements to survival. Women bore children, gathered and provided things as well. Women would gather berries and such types of nourishment, keep the home clean, cook the food, and provide medical attention. They also raised the children, made clothing, etc. They provided different elements essential to survival. The beauty of this is how men and women work together to provide what was needed for survival and prosperity.

Then the damn feminazis came along.

Some silly woman (Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, etc…) came along and started to change things. Now don’t get me completely wrong, there are some women’s rights things I believe in: the right to vote, equal pay for equal work…. The thing that I have issues with is women who think women are equal in every way to a man. Hello!! They are not! They are not supposed to be. For example: women are built to bare children. Men are built to provide for and protect those women while they are pregnant. Therefore, men are designed to be physically stronger than women for the sake of the survival of our species.

For some reason they conveyed the message to women that they needed to get out of the kitchen and into the workforce. They could have it all! Be a mother, have a family AND a career! But at what price?

I can see how a lot of women are in the workforce. Heck, I work full time right now. I can also understand getting a higher education. What I don’t understand is the need to do this, and basically compete to “be the man” or “the breadwinner.” And what I really cannot comprehend is how women can say that being a full-time housewife/mother is not a job! (Yes, I did say housewife!) And how they think they can work 40+ hours a week AND be a housewife and a mother! Would you work 2 full time office jobs? And if you did, expect to do them both well? I don’t think so. Most people have a hard enough time doing even one full-time job well.

This is where the problem with our society today begins. Mrs. Career Woman (Mrs. CW) decides she should work 40 hours a week and have a career. Mr. Husband (Mr. H) is also working, because he is the man and thinks he should. They decide the only way they can afford to have the things they want is to have a two-income family. Then, Mrs. CW gets pregnant and has a kid. A couple of weeks later, she heads back to CareerWorld and dumps her kid in daycare. She ends up missing out on many of the wonderful things you get to experience as a parent. The first steps, words, etc…. Not only that, but some stranger who has god-only-knows-how-many other kids to watch simultaneously is now imparting his or her morals and beliefs on Mrs. CW’s child. The poor child is exposed day after day to many other kids, and their germs. The child gets ill, and Mrs. CW feels more stressed about having to leave work than about the health of her child. The cycle continues and continues. I think it is things like this that has changed our society to the sad state it is in today. (I will save the details of that for another time…)

It is really a shame that so many women have been brainwashed that you cannot be a success or be satisfied with life unless you have a career outside of the home. They are so judgmental towards those of us who want to stay home and make a better life for ourselves, our husbands and our kids. Behind our backs, we are referred to as “lazy” or “unemployed.” To our face, a simple “oh” with a look of disappointment is all we get. What is so wrong with a woman wanting to be at home? What is so wrong with raising your child yourself? With taking care of your husband? Running your household?

The solution to the problem with our society begins with rethinking of the women. Mrs. Housewife takes her full-time job as a housewife and mother very seriously. She wants to be there for her husband and her child always. Their health and well-being is the main priority in her life. She takes pride and pleasure in caring for them the best that she can. It provides her with as much, if not more satisfaction that any career would have. Mr. Husband is overjoyed. He gets to provide for his family, gets well taken care of and knows his child will be raised well, with the morals and beliefs that he wants. The child grows up knowing their self-worth and respects themselves. And the cycle continues…

I cannot imagine too many men out there would not want to have the women they love enough to marry, take care of them and their child and have that be their main and only concern. If more women would allow their husband to protect and provide for them, they would see how wonderful things would be for them, too. It really is quite wonderful in so many ways to act like a true lady and be accompained in life by a true gemtleman. Of course there are always exceptions to the rule, and things that are out of people’s control. Generally speaking though, I think that a “return to family values” would make a happier more peaceful society for everyone.

In closing, I want to recommend a book that I received from my mother-in-law shortly after I got married. It is called “The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands” by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. (Here is a link to it.) I read the book, and I absolutely loved it. Now I don’t know a whole lot about Dr. Laura- I hear she has some off-the-wall ideas and I’ve never heard her radio show. However, I highly recommend this book. She makes a variety of good points and has examples of things you can do to improve the quality of you and your husband’s life. It was so refreshing to know that I am not the only woman out there who has these thoughts. I recommend all women read this book and consider what she has to say. You can learn a lot of good things. I also got a lot of good laughs from this book.

-Pix

Mise En Place

2004-08-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

I'd imagine many of you are wondering what in the heck "Mise En Place" is.

Well, for starters, it is pronounced Meez-Ahn-Plahs. It is a term used by chefs around the world. Simply put, it means "to put in place." For chefs, it means to have everything prepared and ready to go before you start cooking. All of the ingredients and cooking untensils you need should be ready and available for use.

What does this have to do with me?

Well, I am a trained chef. And while I no longer work in a restaurant, I did so for many years. I even went to school for it. I love to cook. The one thing we would always say to all of the other cooks on the line before beginning another evening's show (as I like to refer to it) was: "Do you have your Mise En Place?"

Well, for me it not only includes having all of the ingredients and utensils, but it is being in the proper mindset, as well.

I thought the title was kinda fun since my blog is the place where I can get my mental Mise En Place ready for all of you readers out there.

There you have it! :)

-Pix

XM Radio!!

2004-08-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

I got an XM Radio for my birthday from my husband! It rules!!
(Okay, okay, so it isn’t quite my birthday yet, but I got part of it early, and the rest of the parts will be arriving any day now.)
It is SO awesome!

I got this one:

We got the car adapter kit so we could hook it up in my car. It is so nice. The sound quality sounds at least as good as a CD, there are no commercials, and the display shows what band and song is playing!! There is also a station that displays the weather and loops the traffic report all day, any time I want it! (Which is a must have in LA traffic)

I am especially excited, as I am in my car over 2 hours every day with my commute to work and back home. My CD collection was getting really boring, and it seems that every station here either plays commercials all day long or some strange music from distant countries (weird stuff, that I don’t want to torture my ears with).

The XM Radio has been such a relief. There are tons of channels to choose from, and I have yet to flip through (with a handy remote control, no less) without finding something I like. I’ve been very pleased with the variety of music available.

The coming soon parts:

Due to the practical design of the dashboard of my car, there isn’t really anyplace good to mount the unit. Luckily, after doing a bit of searching around the internet, we found this:

It looks like it will be perfect in the cup holder! I can’t wait for it to arrive! (hopefully Thursday or Friday this week)

I also decided I was tired of fooling around with streaming audio on my computer at work. (So many hassles, perhaps a topic for another day…) XM radio does have a unit you can buy and attach to your computer, but I decided not to go that route. The least mount of things I have sucking up resources on my computer, the better. So, I decided to get this:

Pretty slick looking, huh?

Besides, I’m already taking the receiver out of my car, so now I get to use it even more!
It should be arriving tomorrow. Yay!

I love getting new toys to play with!

I highly recommend getting XM Radio! It’s fairly easy to set up (especially when you have a great husband do it for you ;) ) and well worth the money. The subscription fee is just under ten bucks a month. If you want more info, check out the website: http://www.xmradio.com/

Kudos to my husband for getting me such a cool, fun and useful birthday present! :)

Computer Problem

2004-07-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

I hate it when people try to pretend like they know how to do things on their computer.

I am nice, DAMNIT, and when anyone asks me how to do something, I help them. So why on Earth people feel they should play the guessing game, screw everything up and then come over to me for help, well, it is beyond my comprehension. And I’m the only one at work who knows jack about computers- which is just really sad because I don’t know much at all about computers.

So nice-me explains to the friggin’ idiot [for about the fifth time] that if he needs xyz done, that I would be happy to do it for him. I mean, it takes me about 30 seconds to do it. But NOOOO he has to try to do it himself. And he messes it all up. And as if it wasn’t bad enough, he not only does it wrong on his computer, but the server and our reference database!!! ARGGG!

So I fix what he tells me he “thinks he might have done wrong, but he’s not sure.” Then he adds, oh I think I have abc done in the wrong way too.

Of course, I just deleted all of the links to abc (based on the original information he told me), and have no idea where to find the document now.

I’d search for it, but he’s not sure what it was called!?!?! WTF!!!

This whole issue especially ticks me off because he said he tried to do it himself because he knows how busy I am and he didn't what to bother me. Does he not realize that I could have done what he asked in 30 seconds? (I mean he should, I've only explained this to him five times before) And does he not realize that it will take a lot longer to fix the mess he made than asking me to help him in the first place? And to top it all of, this guy is more than twice my age! (okay, so that was probably obvious since he couldn't figure out how to work a computer)

Some people should not be allowed to use computers.

Saturday Night on The Sunset Strip

2004-07-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

Many people have the idea that the Sunset Strip is all fame and glamour. This weekend a group of us were walking along the strip to go to a diner. Let me tell you, the things I saw were not very glamorous. Now mind you, this is not the first time I have ever walked down the Strip on a Saturday night, but I’m kinda thinking it will be the last.

I live in LA, so I see gross stuff and disgusting people all of the time. That is really nothing new. But I must say how disappointing it was to see where it seems my fellow humans are heading.

First there were the homeless people. LA is full of homeless people. But most of the time they stand on their freeway off ramp (or wherever) with their sign begging for money or food. They sometimes invade your space (we had one spit at us the other day…) but mostly kinda keep to themselves. However, on the Strip on this particular Saturday night, they were a lot more invasive. They seemed to be a good deal more plentiful than usual. And loud. Basically causing a scene everywhere I saw one. And the stench. Good grief. All I can say is try to hold your breath and hurry along by them.

Next were the drunk people. Of course, that is just about everyone out walking around. Now mind you, the sidewalks are not very wide, and there are lots of cars driving right next to you. Many of these drunk people can’t walk straight, or even by themselves. They are often in groups trying to hold each other up. Oh and a good bit of them are smoking. So you have to dodge the flailing cigarettes so you or you clothing don’t get burned. Then there are the bits of conversations you overhear as you walk past people. My god people, don’t they have any self respect? Then there are the actions…which I won’t describe, but I’m sure you can imagine. People either don’t realize or don’t care that they are so trashy.

Then, we saw the House of Blues get emptied out by the fire department. Well, imagine an entire club full of people suddenly with no club to occupy. The streets were packed. And the people were pretty miffed that they got kicked out. We saw one guy getting arrested.

There were cops everywhere. I mean everywhere. There were motorcycle cops every few feet. There were cruisers at least every block. I guess it is good because it keeps too many people from cruising, and helps keep the crowds calm. Only not really. As we were walking, this group of drunkards started sparatically sprinting through the cars on Sunset. Right next to a motorcycle cop. Through the steadily moving traffic. If you ask me, the only tragedy was that none of them were killed.

All I could think of was how stupid many of those people were acting. What asses they made of themselves. I wonder if they saw a video of their behavior if they would act the same way. As soon as we reached the Strip, I was ready to turn around and head back. Far away from all of the stupid and creepy and smelly people. It’s too bad so many people can only find fun in that way. Personally, being drunk of your ass and acting like a slutty moron just doesn’t sound appealing.

Welcome to Pixie's Mise En Place

2004-07-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Well, every great blog has to have an attractive opening post. Something catchy. Something to make you all want to come back and read more. The proverbial "hook".

As it happens, I sit here staring at a blank screen, wondering what in the world I could say to entice you to come back and read all of the things on which I have suddenly drawn a complete blank.

So here it is, an opening post, no hook, line, nor sinker.

Catch ya later!

-Pix

(P.S. Wow there were way too many fishing puns in that post. I think I need more of my "Brain Tea")