A New Flow

Week two on the newest contract and I'm working on my flow.  With this kind of work, the hours and days tend to change with and without notice. This week for example:

Monday: 07:00 - 17:30 (10.5h)
Tuesday: 12:00 - 20:00 (8h)
Wednesday: 08:00 - 19:30 (9.5h)
Thursday: ??
Friday: 08:00 - 19:30 (9.5h)

Monday, Wednesday, Friday I'm "assisting" in a training class.  I have to get authorized to teach at this facility even though I've taught before (standard operating procedure no matter who the facility is). That it what dictates my hours for those days.  Right now, there is only class 1pm to 5pm but that could and probably will change.  I showed up at 7am today to get ready for an 8am class only to find out that there wasn't an 8am class.  As my department lead says "we are water, we flow with it", which I like.  You won't last long as an Epic contractor if you can't be silly putty - flexible, ready to bend, adaptable and able to copy/memorize.

It's doubly nice that at this project we have lots of dedicated training rooms with hardware that is set up and ready to go. The rooms are roomy with space to spread out, projectors for demonstrations, a box of supplies for each room and individual temperature controls.  It's miles ahead of my last project.  The management seems very different so far aw well and in all the best ways.  They believe us to be the professionals we are. They give us the information and leave us to prepare, not reading it to us like kindergarteners. They understand that sometimes we will need to work more than forty hours per week to prep, clean up, prepare, etc in addition to class hours.  They have a highly rational and logical approach to teaching and management.  The key might be SO FAR, but I have high hopes and my fingers crossed.

Since I'm working, I can no longer go to the gym at 11am.  I'll take advantage to go midday when I can, like tomorrow I'll go about 9 or 10am, but that will be a treat.  Instead I have to figure out when to jam it in to my schedule.  LAst week I got to the gym exactly zero days.  I did run my neighborhood, but nothing the rest of the week.  I saw 25 on Wednesday, went to a brewery for a special tapping with a friend on Thursday, saw 25 over the weekend and now it's Monday. I've got to balance work, the gym and a social life.  I am having a hard time believing I can get up at 4am to work out before driving to work at 6am for a 7am start but afternoon turns into the "buts" and not my butt on the elliptical machine. After work I am prone to "I could/should go to the gym but I'm tired/I have to go shopping/I need to let the dog out/I have to _____". It's easier to find a reason not to go after work. A Mariners game, a date, dinner, exhaustion are all acceptable reasons.  Therefore, it's got to be morning, but MAN! 4am?!?!

I also noticed that the weekend flew by. I'm now playing that age old game of "how to I cram fun and hafto's into just 48 hours"?

Any ideas?

Weird Eats

I mentioned that I'm on a health kick lately. I've been going to the gym, eating less fried food and sugary stuff.  On that note, I've also been eating a lot of vegetables.  Now I like fruits and vegetables.  As a kid mom used to tell me I'd make myself sick because I would eat a whole bag of cherries or three nectarines.  Somehow I never got sick. Maybe that was a foreshadowing of my steel stomach that got me through SE Asia. I didn't mind vegetables growing up but I'm not sure I had a particular fondness for them.  I can't recall.

I learned to cook by cooking with my mom.  I know how to make tomato pasta sauce, meatloaf, various chicken dishes, potatoes au gratin, among other dishes, because I helped her make them.  My sister and I were often allowed to help prep and cook food for dinner in addition to making cookies, brownies, cakes and the like.

I can't imagine why this liver wasn't appealing.

My folks both grew up having to eat liver and hating it. As a result, I've never had liver. Dad spent part of his childhood on a farm.  He'd had sweetbread (cow brain), liver, rabbit. All sort of things that are maybe less common now that they were in the Fifties and Sixties or on a farm. Neither of my parents were the hugest seafood fans, which is a bit of a pity given that we live in Seattle.  We had white fish or salmon fillets but that was about it.  Veggies were run of the mill - broccoli, salads, asparagus, corn and potatoes.


As a consequence, there are lots of things I don't know how to cook but I've begun adventuring.  Sometimes I start with a recipe. I made Thai chicken noodle soup from this article in an Outside magazine.  It was intimidating as I started the stock cooking.  The combination of soy, hoisin and fish sauces made it very black. The end result however, was fantastic and produced about six servings.  I'm going to attempt both beef jerky and kale chips from recipes this week.  My first ever batch of banana bread didn't go to badly either though I've got a few tweaks to the recipe to try. Oh, and don't forget the Sri Racha salt I've made but yet to try.


Other times I sort of make up dishes. I made was was deemed by someone other than myself, a very good dish that seems gumbo-esque. Jalapeno and cheese turkey sausages, brown rice, bell peppers, onion, spinach with a cohesive lemon/herb/teriyaki sauce. I've been pan warming (very lightly cooked) all kind of veggies - bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, squash, spinach - in varying combos with different seasoning every time.  I roasted a bell pepper stuffed with a mix of tofu, asparagus, spinach and topped with a slice of dill havarti cheese (a current favorite).

White turnip and sweet potatoes

I also am conducting tests to see what I like.  I bought a sweet potato, a yam, a turnip and a beet.  I cleaned and sliced them then baked them.  It was a great opportunity for me to see the difference in cooking time, taste and consistency.  It also prompted me to do some research.  Why, other than taste, would one eat a turnip instead of a potato? It turns out that turnips have fewer calories and more vitamin C.  Turnip greens are especially full of vitamins and anti-oxidants but so far I'm having trouble finding turnips with the greens left on.  Beets were definitely my least favorite, took the longest to cook and seem the least versatile.  I think some seafood will probably be next on the testing list, first fish then shellfish.

Dry rub, good for all sorts of meat

I've been using more tofu to bump up my protein in low fat ways.  I add ground flaxseed to lots of things because it doesn't have much taste and sort of cooks in to sauces. I've made some sauces and soups plus my first batch of from scratch chili, that end up being re-imagined in all sorts of ways.  Chili tacos were a good one.  I'd gotten some advice about using dry rubs on meats that has proven to be invaluable.  When using a dry rub on chicken/pork/beef, slather the meat first in yellow mustard.  Cheap, generic yellow mustard.  Then cover it in the rub and wrap tightly in plastic wrap for 18-24 hours ideally. When you are ready to cook, unwrap and roast/bake/grill.  There isn't even a trace of mustard taste but it keeps the meat really moist and juicy plus seems to allow the rub flavors to adhere to the meat better.  The chicken was fantastic and just as good left over.  We tried it with pork rib meat to the same result. It's been added to my cooking rotation.

The end result looks a bit like this.

Retaining Sanity and Losing Weight

Since I'm waiting to find out where I'll be working next, and with which company, I've got some time on my hands.  When you're working full time, time off sounds great.  When you're waiting to work and don't know when your next paycheck is going to come in, time off can be the kiss of death. If I already knew when and where I was going to start working, I could go on vacation, maybe scuba somewhere or visit some friends on other continents. Since I don't, I end up trying to stay home . . . a lot.  Inevitably, leaving the house means spending money.  I go to Home Depot to get supplies for house projects, I go for acupuncture, I go out to have a meal with a friend.  It all costs.

To try and keep the costs down while maintaining what's left of my sanity (I hear you snickering, I know there's not much left!), I've been hitting the gym.  I already had a membership, so no additional money out the door there.  It gets me out of the house and since it's Spring in the PNW, the weather is more often than not still pretty lousy (see yesterday's post). Not to mention that everyone else is working so it's darn tough to find a hiking/snowshoeing buddy midweek.

I had my first monthly check-in with a trainer in nine months.  Now, I'd gotten on the gym kick not long after I moved back to Seattle.  The problem came first during the holidays as I got out of the habit and when I was on the road.  Sure there was a gym at the hotel, but it didn't have the set up I wanted and really, after an eleven hour day, it was the last thing I wanted to do. So, my first weigh in, measurement check since May of 2012.  Honestly, I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.  I could tell a few ounces here, a few more there had snuck in.  I am up about ten pounds from where I was in May. By May, I had been working out about ten weeks solidly so I was lighter than when I first got back.  That being said, half of that ten pounds I put on was lean muscle and my tape measurements (weight, hips, etc) hadn't changed much.

I've got some goals on the horizon and instead of doing what I usually do, which is: I don't tell anyone that I'm making changes, hope someone notices, am accountable to no one else, and end up falling off the wagon. Intead, I'm telling all of you.  I mentioned that I want to do four mud run/obstacle courses this year.  I'm hoping for one in each month of June, July, august and September.  Anything beyond that is a bonus. The Tacoma metro area also hosts fun runs and pub runs that start as short as two miles.  I'm going to do at least two.  While I realize that I could go out and run on my own without paying an entry fee ranging from $10 to $75, I know I won't.  I hate running.  I'll swim, I'll bike, I'll do the elliptical at the gym, but I won't run unless I'm financially and socially obligated. I know I'm not the only one since these runs have gained a huge following in the last several years.
I want to lose at least fifteen pounds and gain definition, tone and health. I want to be ready for a four day backpacking trip in September.  I want to keep up with the hiking group much better than last year. I want to feel great in a swim suit this summer.

On that note, I'm off to tackle a to do list.  I've gone to the gym the last three days in a row and I'm so sore I could hardly get my coffee cup off the shelf today.  I'm taking the day off the gym and instead doing fun things like hanging artwork, and a closet door, painting patched up dings in the hallway, and cleaning the bathroom.  Wooooooo!!!