Cute like the smart girl

I keep intending to post something thoughtful and tell anyone who was, not to worry about me. I'm really quite fine now, just moved by the video I posted, for the reason I posted.

Unfortunately, I'm too exhausted to really write something thoughtful and meaningful like I'd like to. I was traveling from Tuesday, June 24 through Wednesday, July 2. Then I worked on the 3rd, then I slept and slept and slept. Full night on Thursday, 3 hour nap yesterday, then full night again last night. Now I'm tired again. Today we took a woman from New Zealand to the Computer History Museum and saw the Babbage Difference Machine. It was the most geek-dense experience I've had... possibly ever. I'm considering giving extra credit to my students who go see it.

Last thought: you never know what acts of kindness will resonate with someone else. I am quite sure that the friend I mentioned in the last post has no idea of his impact in my life. I re-connected with another friend since that post. The thing I most remember about him was an incredible act of support at a time when I needed it. (He offered to let me move in with him when I was terrified to live in the place I was paying rent.) He told me that he remembers me similarly - that is, he remembers me being there for him at a time when he needed me. I had no idea. So go forth and be a good friend to the people you like. It pays big dividends, even if you don't find out for years.

I'd like to thank everyone who gave me advice on my last post here.

( Here's what happened... )

i'm contemplating leaving sbux in october, around the time my child will be born. i've had a lot of fun, and have learned a great deal, however....i don't make enough money to support a family, let alone myself. after paying rent, groceries, gas/electric biil, gas in the car, and whatever else, i'm LUCKY if i even have enough money for myself. new pair of jeans? forget it, i can't afford it. new shoes? forget that, too. if i'm lucky, maybe i'll see 20 dollars out of my check. oh, and i'm a shift at my store, too. my decision has NOTHING to do with anyone, or any of the petty crap that goes on. it's purely a financial decision. i think sbux should pay the shifts more. i know the ASM's make a good amount of money, and they are on salary. why can't we be on salary? we'd be getting a guaranteed set amount of money! plus, we wouldn't have to worry about the amount of hours we work, either. some schedules, i'm lucky if i get 25 hours, other times 35, it's never consistent, either.

So this guy comes in the other night, and he already has an attitude with me when he asks for a pound of the Organic Sumatra, which we don't have any more of and haven't for awhile now. I appologize and tell him we are out, but that I would be happy to call some surrounding store to see if any of them have it. I call a nearby store and they say "yes we have tons," so I send him up there and look at the three training partners I am working with and say, "That's legendary service."

3o minutes later, the guy comes back and yells...not says sternly, but YELLS at me that I lied to him and that that other store didn't have the coffee he wanted and he he is going to call my DM and tell him what I did. I appologize and try to give him a drink coupon for his trouble and he yells, "I don't want your charity, but I think you should compensate me for all the gas I just wasted drive up there!" I really wanted to kick him in the teeth at this point, but remained calm. "I'm so sorry this has happened to you sir, what can I do for you." "You can at LEAST give me a free pound of coffee." Sure. You want coffee take some coffee and get the fuck out. Of course I didn't say that. So I grind it for him and give him a free tall brew as well and he hangs his head and leaves, clearly feeling bad for being a prick. Well, then....

TONIGHT, he comes in again. He walks right up to me (I'm on bar this time). He joked that he knew I wasn't happy to see him. Actually I was shocked he would come back, so I explained that I was glad he decided to come back to our store. He smiled then ACTUALLY APPOLOGIZED!!!!!

"I'm so sorry for how I behaved. I really shouldn't have treated you like that. There is no excuse for that behavior. I am sorry. You really handled the situation well and I will always come to this store becasue you are really great."

YAY!!!! See, they aren't necessarily HORRIBLE people, just moments of HORRIBLE. I forgave him and we laughed about it. *squee*

Our store's Grandpa died two days ago. He was released from intensive care, and seemed to suddenly make a full recovery. My stomach sank when I heard that, only because my husband warned me that when sick people suddenly make a miraculous recovery, it can mean that they are about to die.

He died at home, of a heart attack. I believe his wife of over 60 years was there at the time.

His funeral is Monday. Now I'm trying like hell to get my shift covered.

I still can't believe he'll never come in again and order his and his wife's favorite drink.

Two tall caramel macchiatos, one half pump vanilla, non-fat, no foam, light on the caramel... hot-hot-hot!

He would say the last part in a very thick Mainer accent that would always make me smile. It took me months to perfect their drink, but eventually, I got it. I made his wife an honorary barista once with an old 2007 Green Apron pin. She wears it faithfully on her lapel and shows everyone around it. She takes her non-existent duties seriously, watching for the slightest disturbance at our condiment bar (which is why we pinned her to begin with).

I'm glad he is no longer sick, and I know he held on so long for her. My SS called me at home, sobbing when we found out. She was closer to them than I am, even though I'm pretty close, too. I'm trying to get my shift covered, and so is she, but if it comes down to it, I'll skip it so she can go.

Source: Associated Press:

John McCain calls himself an underdog. That may be an understatement. The GOP presidential candidate trails Democrat Barack Obama in polls, organization and money while trying to succeed a deeply unpopular fellow Republican in a year that favors Democrats. McCain also doesn't seem to have a coherent message let alone much of a strategy despite securing the nomination three months earlier than Obama.

"This is a tough race. We are behind. We are the underdog. That's what I like to be," the GOP nominee-in-waiting frequently tells donors these days, keenly aware not only of his woes but also his proven comeback ability: He won his party's nomination despite the implosion of his campaign last summer.

One year later, and now in the general election, McCain's troubles are so acute that he recently gave senior adviser Steve Schmidt "full operational control" of the day-to-day campaign and, effectively, scaled back the duties of campaign manager Rick Davis. The shift in responsibilities came after weeks of Republican quibbling that McCain had not adequately made the transition for the fall...

Read between the lines - Obama will be our next President, (thank the universe!)

Get out there and vote - and tell all your friends to vote as well.

It was cold out by the bay where we watch our local fireworks. But at least I wasn't held in a stress position or water-boarded for days before celebrating our country's independence. I wonder if they had fireworks at GITMO and let the prisoners watch in the hopes their cold-Koran hearts melted while watching the cool "sky-lights."

I wouldn't count on that strategy.

But Jesse Helms died, so I suppose there was something to celebrate. Now I don't wish anyone dead, but some men are toxic as long as they draw breath, so their demise is like a small death of evil.

After the last eight years I cannot say I celebrate my country's number one holiday. What am I supposed to be celebrating? The deaths of 600,000 innocent Iraqi's? The deaths of our boys in uniform? The desire of the neo-cons who run this country to bomb Iran? Am I supposed to celebrate the torture and rendition of people who have done nothing to us? (Most of the prisoners at GITMO are guilty only of holding anti-American views.) Should I celebrate all those poor people losing their homes because of a bunch of greedy bankers? Maybe I should celebrate the thousands of jobs being lost on a seemingly monthly basis?

So I watched the pretty fireworks in the cold, wondering just what the fuck I was supposed to be celebrating.

Worked yesterday, my very first holiday shift. I brought in red and blue pens for fun, but what made my night was this guy.

He came in with his friend. I think the friend ordered a latte or somesuch, but the friend ordered coffee, just as we were re-brewing. I offered an Americano, but he opted to wait for the coffee. Then he hands me his money to pay and sort of leans in a little and goes "I have lattice degeneration on my retina. I could go blind in here." I was all, "pardon?" but he sort of just walked away to wait for his coffee. Weirdness.

Some guy comes in and heads straight to the bathrooms. We're on a major highway, so that's par for the course. Ten seconds later, he storms up to the counter and screams, "YOU MEAN I HAVE TO F-ING BUY SOMETHING IN THIS LOUSY PLACE TO USE THE F-ING BATHROOM?????! YOU DON'T MAKE ENOUGH OFF YOUR SH*TTY COFFE ALREADY????!!!!!" (censored instead of cutting)
My fellow barista blinks at him and quietly says, "If it's locked, it's because someone's using it."
He at least had the courtesy to look ashamed and just went, "oh" and went to quietly wait outside the door.

Seriously, people. Chill.

Last night, I closed. In celebration of the fourth (and subsequent time and half. :D) we pooled our spare change and dollars and bought hot wings and cheese fries! We could see the fireworks through the bay windows. It was DEAD last night, so once we got all our close duties done we spent the last hour playing quarters with a shot glass. I made it in a few times! Best shift in a long time. <3

How did you do? Was it totally impossible to make writing time on a national holiday? Was it harder than you thought to summon the motivation on a day off from work when the lack of structured routine made you just want to lie in a hammock and nap?

Or did you manage the day like pro, skillfully making time for writing and everything else? (I did. Wrote from 6am - noon.)

If you fell off the wagon, all is forgiven.

This Challenge is not about kicking you off the island when you mess up. This Challenge is to help you take your writing dream more seriously. Of course you're going to mess up. You're human. The trick is not to avoid failing. The trick is to get back to the work immediately after a bad day, without indulging in self-loathing or negative thoughts about your writing potential.

Little kids fall down all the time, but they get up because they want to walk. This is one time when listening to your Inner Toddler is a good thing.

Today's goal: Write for 15 minutes (minimum).

Today's mindset: forgiveness and determination.

Today's prompt: Describe the aftermath of a Fourth of July party (a neighborhood party, or at a beach or one of the big city celebration, or a village town square). The cleaning crew hasn't been through yet. Have your character move through the mess. (I don't know who the character is. Make someone up!) Your character is looking for something. Try not to allow yourself to figure what s/he is looking for when you begin writing the scene. It's fun to just let things pop up. You can write the scene totally with narrative description and interior monologue if you want, or you can throw another character in for dialog. Try to pick details about the setting that provide us with information about how the celebration went.

Scribblescribble...

dude, god forbid i am even with starbucks next year, or even at my current store, but after closing 2 july fourths in a row i can honestly say that i will flat out refuse to close next year. i don't give a SHIT who requests what in that book, i'm not doing it. some other poor bastard needs to do it.

note: the fireworks show in this area comes out of the university that is across the street. so for the 3 or so hours leading up to the fireworks, my store = frappucino hell.

Mostly, I am watching the baby, failing to keep up with the house, and trying to write. Baby stuff I already wrote about (crankypenguin). She's still amazing. She's still incredibly cute. She's also hard to keep ahead of. She is very photogenic.

House? Yeah. I felt amazingly accomplished when I actually managed to wash all the laundry AND put all but one load away last weekend. *Including* washing the sheets!

Book (mizkit asked, and then had to go to bed). Book is going. Not as fast as I would like - I feel very behind. However, I already have learned a lot, and I think what we have so far will already be useful. We need to do a bunch of screenshots, but the first drafts of the intro and chapters 1 and 2 are done otherwise. Needless to say, there is a huge amount of revising. I had to laugh the other day when I thought about how much I had already written in the last month (close to 10000 words, which while not *great*, is at least something). I remember thinking in high school and college that a 10 page term paper was soooo very long, and I've pretty much written four times that already, in less time. I suspect my high school english teachers would be shocked and amused (take THAT, Mr. Jordan!).

What else... Ah, we finished watching all of Stargate SG-1. Watched Ark of Truth. Started watching Stargate Atlantis. Must say, Mckay is not NEARLY as annoying in Atlantis, thank goodness. Somewhat sad moment when Don S. Davis showed up in an episode.

Have accomplished some knitting. Not much, but some. Need to post pictures in ezzycrafts when I get a chance. Cleaned up the craft closet today so I can once again FIND everything. That's very nice. Note: Hot glue guns function way better when you have glue sticks to go with them. And I could swear I had bought some :/

Have taken wee one to Children's discovery museum again, need to go more often. She loves it lots. Still not quite sure what to do about paint wall, or other art-creation types of things. She likes to poke at the crayons and then chew on the shavings. Not so good.

Still playing LOTRO some. Definitely not getting enough sleep. Made 50 with main.

Still married (6 years!).

Have made strawberry jam, and peach-orange jam. Also made ice cream with both. OMNOM NOM. Have made many loaves of butter braids, filled with cinnamon and brown sugar or with jam. I think I've got the technique down, so I need to make it again very soon.

Why is it so easy to get to some 500 words in a post like this, and I have a hell of a time getting that many out in the book? Ugh.

To do: review Lullabook chapter for things I missed in our chapter. Start glossary. Revise chapter 2 based on screenshots changing for CCK rc3.

Sprout wants to smell flowers. She also signs taste, touch, and sign. She will run up to us for hugs - with a giant smile. Most adorable thing ever.

Also? I should be asleep. Srsly.

Dear Latte Lady,

If you don't understand me when I call out a drink, please do me a favour and do not scream,"WHAT?!!!!!!" in my face. It's not WHAT, darling, it's PARDON.

No love!

ARGH. Tourists.

That's all, really. We were underscheduled because we're not exactly on the beaten path as far as tourists go, and morning fucked us over by not stocking as they went. Two people on the floor during a two-hour frappuccino rush, with no backstock of the bases and very little coffee ground. Rude frat boys, thirty SCFs in forty minutes, non-english speakers who won't work to meet you half way, more rude frat boys.

Highlight of my day was one tourist complimenting my cappuccino and when I was able to sign a thank you to a deaf customer. Made her smile, and it was a relief.

Time and a half is awesome, but I can't do another day like that.

during my close tonight, one of my baristas told me that she knows of another barista in our city who picks up shifts at all stores (including ours) and has decided that ours is the dirtiest in the city.

:(

i always knew that we were not the cleanest store, and lately i have been annoyed at the lack of cleanliness and well, just basic TIDYNESS, but to be told that we have a reputation for being the dirstiest in the city! well.

anyway, my question is, how can i inspire my team to be more....CLEAN....without making it sound like i think they are all a bunch of dirty slobs (which is how i feel at this very moment, actually...).

sigh.

Girl: Ummm, okay. I'll have an iced venti caramel macchiato, EXTRA CARAMEL.
Me: Okay! *marks cup*
Girl: Okay, and this one's tough. An iced grande... no, no, get ready.
Me: I am ready.
Girl: No, I mean, pick up the cup.
Me: o_O ... *picks up an iced grande cup*
Girl: It's an iced grande caramel macchiato. *waits for me to mark the cup*
Me: *writes CM* ...
Girl: One shot. *waits again*
Me: -_- *writes 1 in the shot box* ... ... ...
Girl: *starts talking slowly* Five pumps of vanilla. *waits again* ... Breve. *waits again* ... Extra, EXTRA caramel. *waits*
Me: Okay, got it! *still holding cup*
Girl: Now turn the cup around.
Me: ... What?
Girl: Turn the cup around so I can see it.
Me: :| *turns cup around in hand*
Girl: *squints at it, grabs it from my hand and studies the marks in the boxes* ... Okay, good. *hands it back*

I AM NOT AN IDIOT. I HATE YOU. Your drink is NOT that complicated. It was all I could do to not invite her behind the counter and tell her to make her damn drink herself, if she thinks I'm so incapable of understanding it and marking it properly.

Then she came back a few minutes later to ask why there was so much "stuff" at the bottom of the cup. That is your extra, extra caramel, sinking down because it does not magically blend into the drink. If you're so smart and you apparently know what you're ordering better than I do, then you should know that.

Hey, licensed store barista here. Tomorrow is my last day, and I'm looking to experiment with stranger things than I have been.

Lay your best recipes on me.

p.s. Soy as whip cream? nomnomnom

Several factors at play.

• Going to New Albany tomorrow, going to bed early. Like, 20 minutes from now.


• My favorite venue for fireworks viewing has guests tonight, and I don't feel like intruding.


• I feel more than a bit like poo at the moment, and my couch is very comfortable. Wet rooftops, not so much with the comfort.

Hope everyone else has a good time watching the celebratory munitions, and a good long weekend.

Shamelessly ganked from sexywitch.