Cup of Coffee

Cup of Coffee: Graveyard

75 Comments

Looks like most of the office is already on break.
I and a few others get screwed because this is busy season, and planning to take days off is more pain than it's worth.
Those other suckers often have to work on 4th of July and between Christmas and New Year's though.

75 thoughts on “Cup of Coffee: Graveyard”

  1. Been thinking about the WGOM when spending money in the last 12 hours.
    As I noted, I bought my ticket to Lydia Loveless.
    I also found myself at a liquor store last night, and bought a 4-pack of Leinie's Big Eddy Octoberfest.
    Also, they had 12-packs of Sierra Nevada on Sale, so I ended up with a 12 of Celebration and a winter mixer with things I don't even remember. Porter, Pale Ale, and ... ?

      1. I don't think I've seen that mixed twelver. Huh. But I'm gonna be buying a case of the Celebration soon. That is a great, great beer.

    2. Is it the snowpack sampler? Had the pale, porter, boomerang ipa and coffee stout? I grabbed one last time I was at Costco. Very nice sampler, of you ask me.

  3. I'm home today and need to get going on a pie crust soon. I'm going to give this one a whirl and need to figure out where in this child-proofed house the vodka might be hiding.

    2. Child-proofed vodka? No need to spend the extra money. Just give them the real thing and water it down a bit.

    3. Speaking of baking... last night I made a loaf of cinnamon sugar bread. And an orange-banana bread. And last week I made pork steamed buns. I think I've turned the page on my "I don't bake" thing.

    4. I'm on the hook for two pies for tomorrow's meal at the IL's in Albert Lea.

      One pumpkin was requested. The other is my fiat. Last year I did blackberry cream pie, a'la Betty's Pies on the North Shore.
      This year will be making Key Lime. Have to decide if regular crust, graham cracker crust... or vodka crust!

        1. ok, I got around to reading Pepper's link. I wonder what the purpose of the vodka is? To help the water evaporate faster?

          1. I went with the Vodka crust for the key lime pie. Shhhh. It's our secret.

            Went with the Albert Lea United Methodist Church cookbook recipe for the other pie. You gotta love it when the recipe says "1 tsp. vinegar (Florence uses 2)" and "1 1/4 c. shortening (Harriet uses 1 1/2)".

              1. Interesting - I also use the 'skip the rolling pin' and work the pie crust into the pie-plate method. I use a fork and just work the dough into shape. Less frustrating.

  4. It is dead here as well as the rain and snow have chased people away. We'll be heading south to Charleston (not WV) for the weekend which ought to be nice.

    In a bit of news, (its been a crazy week sorry PwtP judges) but I accepted a new job offer and put in my notice this morning here in VA. We also put in our notice to vacate on Feb 1, and are planning on settling back in the MSP region sometime thereafter. So that said, we're looking for somewhere to live. We're pretty used to walking or taking transit most places, so to ease the process we're probably looking for something similar for the first 8-12 months, then probably buying a place. My wife works as a HR Generalist for a major university in DC, so if anyone has any leads or advice for the market in MSP you can reach me at eschapp@gmail.com. Any advice would be much appreciated.

    Also I'm excited to be able to hit up some get togethers in the new year. IRL. So Happy Thanksgiving!

      1. I can work from where ever, so if Minnie needs some numbers I can probably help. It is my preference, the last time I lived in the region I lived St. Anthony Main, so thats kind of my dream, but we're also thinking south of downtown M or perhaps St. Paul lowertown. But its mostly ignorant talk, we're driving home this year so we can revisit some neighborhoods we haven't been to in a while. Oh and eat at Village Wok, Big Ten will have to wait.

        1. Lowertown is the one part of downtown St. Paul that is actually nice. I also happen to work there so I can offer a clearly unbiased view.

        2. South Minneapolis is where free and I live mainly because we're with strat. Three houses for sale within a block of mine!

      1. Thanks, its something that I've been pushing for a long time. I love DC, but we have a lot of other goals too. I really can't wait.

        1. That was how I felt. DC was a fantastic time in our lives, but Minnesota was always home. I'd love to hear what you're going to be up to if you're willing to shoot me an e-mail. Might be able to have some thoughts for you wife too, as I've been hitting job search stuff pretty hard. Depending on what she's really looking for.

  5. It's a very snowy day down here. They said 2 - 4 inches total. We already had 4 when I went out at 8 this morning, and it hasn't slowed down in the two hours since.

  6. There are a dozen or so articles every year about how to improve the NBA by realignment.
    Here is another one.
    I like Ziller's explanation, and I endorse any plan that gets the Wolves more central and eastern time zone start times.

    1. I like it, but only if they get to take back the Lakers nickname. The Lakers can be called the Sociopaths, or something.

  7. I'll be putting the turkey in brine soon. I just don't have refrigerator space to dry-brine a 17-lb turkey (smallest I could find at Costco yesterday; I was too lazy to get a "fresh" turkey ordered from the grocery store).

    My plan is to charcoal-snake smoke that bad boy. I've seen techniques where the snake is three tiers high and lasts for ~10 hours. I will need about 8 hours for a 17-lb bird, I figure.

    2. Man with backyard orange tree can't store surplus perishable vittles in the great outdoor refrigerator?

      1. night-time temps are getting into the mid- to low-40s. So the turkey is getting brined in a cooler in the garage. I lack confidence in this technique for dry-brining. But the pumpkin pie will be stored in the garage tonight.

    3. You'll need to plan your beer pairing for a 10-hour snake. Siesta-tech might be in order also.

  8. I got my snowblower tuned up yesterday. Paid to have it done because I was never gonna do it. In my garage right now, ready to chew up whatever falls.

  9. A bit of a father-knows-least update after last week’s cliffhanger:

    My boy got used to the new production setting by Thursday and had good rehearsals. He had three great performances. He really loves to put on a show. He’s 8, so lost track of the fact that he was on stage when standing by for the next cue (he’d watch the dialogue, inspect his hands, put on chapstick), but always hit his mark with big emotion and enthusiasm. Big emotion has never been a problem with this one. He even improvised some slapstick that the directors let him keep. This kind of thing might be his thing in life.

    So all was well until he went back to school Monday. He hit and cursed at a kid at recess for intercepting a football, and hit another on the bus who, ironically, wasn’t following the rules (we must have order!). Our perpetual ups and downs continue with him. He’s determined to be a grown up as soon as possible (made himself a cup of coffee this morning), but as with the musical, he has to put so much effort into just being a good kid and keeping himself in line that even mild changes or additions end up being more stress than he can handle, sometimes. He's a good kid; I'm working on being a good dad in a situation in which most parenting rules are out the window.

    Wishing everyone here a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving!

    2. Good about the play. Scan through the Bear book, that might be worth Arrow-points credit.

      Bummer about the violence, but from what I know of him, it makes sense that it was for not following rules.

      I've been meaning to respond to you in private, but this might sum up where I would have gone with it:
      "He’s determined to be a grown up [. . .]"
      To the point where calls me by my first name.

      I'm still meaning to respond in private.

      1. He's been an enforcer of rules since Kindergarten, or before. They are very important to him...except when personally inconvenient.
        We used to say he was 2 going on 22. I'm a little sad that proved to be so accurate.

        On the other hand, farts are still really funny, and he loves a game of tag, so we do get the glimpses of the little boy to keep us in check.

        First names, I think, are tricky because it's a confusing social convention when so many authority figures (uncles, priests, some teachers) will often go with first names, albeit with a title. Social conventions in general require a lot of effort.

    3. Glad to hear the update and that things worked out with the play. Here's hoping that over time, the good days more and more outnumber the rough ones.

  10. As an update to #GrapeGate, the Times has a feature on the most Googled recipes in every state. (It's actually a bit more complex than that, but you can go to the article for further explanation.) There are more than a few things I've never heard of before (frog eye salad!), but thankfully Minnesota's most distinct dish is wild rice casserole.

    1. Well we should take the methodologies in aggregate. ND gets lefse and cookie salad. MN gets grape salad and wild rice. WI is left with some sort of stuffing. This whole kerfuffle has been pretty fun.

    2. Ooh! another upate here, too. I was explaining this to my wife, as I also saw the Times' reprieve yesterday. I told her how the original assignment to MN was Grape Salad (as she'd seen nothing of the 'controversy') and before I could get to the part about how absurd and obscure that was, she was responding with enthusiasm to the choice. Moon Salad she called it (because it refrigerates overnight), but definitely recognized the suggested product. Apparently it was a family staple for her family. We wondered if there were perhaps southeastMN origins for the dish.

      1. Watergate/Ambrosia salad is fairly common in SE Minnesota. I can't remember ever coming across Grape Salad. It struck me as something I would have likely encountered up in Thief River.

        2. I think I knew of something like grape salad in NW MN, but it wasn't a big item, and I think it had bits of nuts (pecans?) in it, too. Ambrosia was definitely a thing up there.

    3. Most uniquely googled.
      Yes, I put a modifer on unique. Deal with it. (Not addressed to Pepper specifically, unless she falls on the pedantry side on that issue.)
      I'm making grape salad and my traditional fruit salad.*

      *Recipe:
      Find some good-looking fruit. If you've got apples or crunchy pears, go lightly.
      Peel the fruits you should peel.
      Cut into pieces no bigger than 1/2" cubed (more or less). You don't need to cut berries unless they're huge.
      Mix in a bowl.
      If you feel like it, add Cream, Whipped Cream, Whipped Topping, Sugar (sparingly), Coconut milk, Shaved coconut, etc. You got something else lying around?
      Serve at a cool-ish temperature.

  12. Kobe is Mitch Kupchak's worst nightmare. He is getting shut down by Quincy Pondexter tonight, but still dominating the ball, wasting shot clock, forcing shots and throwing turrible passes.

    Kobe being Kobe. He is not capable of giving up his alpha role. And. He. Just. Can't. Do. It. Anymore. Not against good defensive teams anyway.

  13. Who said it and who's it in reference to.

    “It’s been a while since we’ve had him over here. He’s grown and matured and he’s developed into quite a player. I would have more interest in a man of that nature that can play and produce than I would be worried about what kind of leadership and what kind of in-the-dugout or clubhouse presence he has.

    “We’re looking for productivity and we’re looking for numbers and we’re looking for people that can play the game. I’m not too worried about all that other stuff. I’m worried about production.”

    'Spoiler' SelectShow
      1. 'Spoiler' SelectShow

      2. He doesn't actually SAY he's interested in him specifically or that he specifically has even been productive, he's saying he's interested in "a man of that nature that can play and produce" and "we're looking for productivity" without implying it's in reference to him. Wonderful double-speak to avoid the issue

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