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Producing Your Own Energy
Jul. 10th, 2024 08:46 pmMonday was a "day off" which really only means no data entry and waking up an hour later than usual. I scoured for jobs but wasn't seeing much (it IS kind of early after a holiday weekend.) Went to get bagels, and put air in my tires and gas in my car. Came home for lunch and trombone practice, then off to The Fresh Market for dinner ingredients for tomorrow.
Not sure why I chose Fresh Market over Whole Paycheck...I rarely go there because their selection is less extensive. But it turned out to be a really good choice, because while I was out there was a deadly hit-and-run at the 1-4/192 intersection, which is my exit to get home (and also exactly where I had my one and only car accident back in 2019.) As a result the highway was closed and all traffic was redirected onto 192. Which sucked for me, but so much less than if I'd been coming down I-4 on the way back from Whole Paycheck with a car-load of groceries in 100-degree weather. OR if I'd been anywhere around when the accident took place.
At home I had a moment of wonder at the universe, that I should pick Today Of All Days to deviate from my usual pattern, saving me from whatever horror show had happened on the highway.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
After unpacking the ingredients I made some peanut butter popsicles using this recipe from TikTok. Jameson sent it to me, which is his passive way of saying, "I hope that you will make this for us at some point!" This one was so ridiculously easy that I saw no reason not to just whip it up right away!
- 1/2c peanut butter (any kind, we are trying JIF No Sugar Added)
- 1/2c Greek yogurt (the comments said to use vanilla so I got Siggi's which is low in sugar.)
- 1/4c sweetener of choice. The author used allulose. I wanted to use monkfruit but it turns out that's got erythritol in it!! WTF!! So used confectioner's sugar instead. And only added 2Tbsp which is half what is called for.
- I also added a pinch of Maldon sea salt though it wasn't in the recipe, it seemed it would go well for the peanut butter.
After we'd had dinner they were frozen solid, so I dipped them in some leftover melting wafers that I had lying around.
These were SO GOOD. Tasted just like peanut butter cheesecake. Rich and decadent and creamy. I'd like to make these again but it is a VERY high fat recipe, probably intended for people on the keto diet. So my lower-fat, lower-calorie version will use PB Fit (defatted peanut flour) mixed with a chocolate koia shake. I think this might reduce creaminess, but I'll bet the flavors will still be incredible.
I input the ingredients for both versions into MyFitnessPal.
If you are into low-carb dieting the original recipe is for you; if you're trying to reduce fat and/or calories, the bottom version.
Just a bit before bed I got an email for a job interview with a bank, that will be via video chat on Wednesday. Sad that I'm not qualified for skilled labor, but grateful to be considered for something that pays more than $12/hr.
Also, checked my data entry email and saw that our company meeting tomorrow is mandatory and will have "important information." I'm a little nervous about what that could be, being the low wage cog that I am. "Important information" announced at "mandatory" company meetings is generally, in my experience, bad news for low wage workers.
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Tuesday I was up at 6am and plugging away at data entry, because I'm cooking dinner tonight AND want to go for a walk AND have two Disney days at the end of the week. Jameson and I went for a walk, and although it was 85°F the heat index was 98°F so it felt awful. But we made it.
In the afternoon was the mandatory meeting for my data entry job.
( Drama at Work )
Well. The rest of the day was normal.
For dinner I cut into our beautiful home-grown pineapple.
Look at the difference 48 hours has made! First pic from two days ago and second pic from just now.
It was perfect, and so much better than store-bought pineapple! Not stringy, hard, or acidic. A beautiful golden color, loads of juice, so flavorful and sweet. I'm so glad we'll have plenty of it left over after this recipe!
I hollowed out the pineapple skin to use as a bowl (why not!)
The chicken thigh stir fry was easy, but I messed up the rice terribly, it ended up overcooked somehow despite following the directions to the letter. Still, Jameson enjoyed it a lot. The star of the show was definitely that pineapple, though the chunks of chicken thigh were also tender and delicious. I'd make it again with some small changes :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, up at 6 after a poor sleep. Slammed through an hour of data entry, a quick breakfast and back to it, because at some point today we'll be required to switch to the new AI-training method and I'll never again get to process audio interviews again.
My interview went "ok" I suppose. I'm grateful to get to the interview stage...that's very rare. But after the interview I was sent yet ANOTHER evaluation. So far, for an entry level bank job, I've filled out an application, taken two skills tests, done a one-way video interview, done a video chat interview, and completed a "personality" evaluation, which is supposedly the final step.
I have never, never been hired for a job that required a personality evaluation. I suppose because I never select words like "Exciting!" "Enthusiastic!" "Talkative!" "Social!" and instead choose the characteristics that I actually have and that no one seems to want, ho-hum things like "punctuality," "efficiency," "dedication," and "empathy." Whatever, just, finding out that there was a personality evaluation dashed my hopes because it generally coincides with not getting the job.
Jameson went to a rock concert in the evening so I was on my own for dinner.
As dusk was falling, a special plant arrived in the mail for me! I'd pre-ordered it back in April. A "firefly petunia!"
You can read all about these amazing plants HERE.
The TL;DR: There is a scientist who has been trying to genetically engineer bioluminescent plants since the 1980s. He was successful with splicing firefly DNA into a tobacco plant, but the luminescence didn't last long and wasn't very bright. He has since been experimenting with DNA from glowing mushrooms, and has just this year succeeded in consistently cultivating bioluminescent petunias! This is not only valuable commercially; scientists can also use the bioluminescence to study plant growth and development. There are already plans for more/more varied types of bioluminescent plants in the future.
Here's the box:
Unboxing. The plant is in a sturdy plastic enclosure and has a little cardboard disc on top of the soil to keep it from flying everywhere. Comes with care instructions (which are exactly the same as those for a regular petunia.)
I think for normal climates this would have been excellent packaging, but the plant arrived in Davenport and then spent the entire day, from morning until evening, on the back of a UPS truck in 100-degree weather. The pot was VERY warm to the touch and the plant must have been steam-cooking in its own juices inside that plastic pod :( It looks ok and wasn't entirely wilted, but there were lots of dead buds and certainly it was stressed.
I decided it would be best to put it on the screened back porch, because keeping it inside would be at least a 20-degree difference and I think that would shock it. It will also be in the shade for a day or two so it can adjust without getting scorched to a crisp.
So, this is essentially a beta, a prototype of new technology in the form of a plant. It doesn't glow like in the ad photo (the company is VERY clear about this) but it DOES glow and you can see it in a dark room with the naked eye. To get the glowing you see in the photo all you need is a long exposure camera/a phone with night mode. Which you would need anyway for pretty much anything you want to photograph in a dark environment whether it's glowing or not.
Once I'm sure it's not going to shrivel up and die, I'll get some pics of it glowing!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that's the week.
Tomorrow is just another day, then I've got two Disney days in a row.
We now have seven sets instead of five, they'll be shorter but the breaks between will ALSO be shorter so idk how to feel about it. It's definitely gonna be even MORE walking :p
Not sure why I chose Fresh Market over Whole Paycheck...I rarely go there because their selection is less extensive. But it turned out to be a really good choice, because while I was out there was a deadly hit-and-run at the 1-4/192 intersection, which is my exit to get home (and also exactly where I had my one and only car accident back in 2019.) As a result the highway was closed and all traffic was redirected onto 192. Which sucked for me, but so much less than if I'd been coming down I-4 on the way back from Whole Paycheck with a car-load of groceries in 100-degree weather. OR if I'd been anywhere around when the accident took place.
At home I had a moment of wonder at the universe, that I should pick Today Of All Days to deviate from my usual pattern, saving me from whatever horror show had happened on the highway.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
After unpacking the ingredients I made some peanut butter popsicles using this recipe from TikTok. Jameson sent it to me, which is his passive way of saying, "I hope that you will make this for us at some point!" This one was so ridiculously easy that I saw no reason not to just whip it up right away!
- 1/2c peanut butter (any kind, we are trying JIF No Sugar Added)
- 1/2c Greek yogurt (the comments said to use vanilla so I got Siggi's which is low in sugar.)
- 1/4c sweetener of choice. The author used allulose. I wanted to use monkfruit but it turns out that's got erythritol in it!! WTF!! So used confectioner's sugar instead. And only added 2Tbsp which is half what is called for.
- I also added a pinch of Maldon sea salt though it wasn't in the recipe, it seemed it would go well for the peanut butter.
After we'd had dinner they were frozen solid, so I dipped them in some leftover melting wafers that I had lying around.
These were SO GOOD. Tasted just like peanut butter cheesecake. Rich and decadent and creamy. I'd like to make these again but it is a VERY high fat recipe, probably intended for people on the keto diet. So my lower-fat, lower-calorie version will use PB Fit (defatted peanut flour) mixed with a chocolate koia shake. I think this might reduce creaminess, but I'll bet the flavors will still be incredible.
I input the ingredients for both versions into MyFitnessPal.
If you are into low-carb dieting the original recipe is for you; if you're trying to reduce fat and/or calories, the bottom version.
Just a bit before bed I got an email for a job interview with a bank, that will be via video chat on Wednesday. Sad that I'm not qualified for skilled labor, but grateful to be considered for something that pays more than $12/hr.
Also, checked my data entry email and saw that our company meeting tomorrow is mandatory and will have "important information." I'm a little nervous about what that could be, being the low wage cog that I am. "Important information" announced at "mandatory" company meetings is generally, in my experience, bad news for low wage workers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday I was up at 6am and plugging away at data entry, because I'm cooking dinner tonight AND want to go for a walk AND have two Disney days at the end of the week. Jameson and I went for a walk, and although it was 85°F the heat index was 98°F so it felt awful. But we made it.
In the afternoon was the mandatory meeting for my data entry job.
( Drama at Work )
Well. The rest of the day was normal.
For dinner I cut into our beautiful home-grown pineapple.
Look at the difference 48 hours has made! First pic from two days ago and second pic from just now.
It was perfect, and so much better than store-bought pineapple! Not stringy, hard, or acidic. A beautiful golden color, loads of juice, so flavorful and sweet. I'm so glad we'll have plenty of it left over after this recipe!
I hollowed out the pineapple skin to use as a bowl (why not!)
The chicken thigh stir fry was easy, but I messed up the rice terribly, it ended up overcooked somehow despite following the directions to the letter. Still, Jameson enjoyed it a lot. The star of the show was definitely that pineapple, though the chunks of chicken thigh were also tender and delicious. I'd make it again with some small changes :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, up at 6 after a poor sleep. Slammed through an hour of data entry, a quick breakfast and back to it, because at some point today we'll be required to switch to the new AI-training method and I'll never again get to process audio interviews again.
My interview went "ok" I suppose. I'm grateful to get to the interview stage...that's very rare. But after the interview I was sent yet ANOTHER evaluation. So far, for an entry level bank job, I've filled out an application, taken two skills tests, done a one-way video interview, done a video chat interview, and completed a "personality" evaluation, which is supposedly the final step.
I have never, never been hired for a job that required a personality evaluation. I suppose because I never select words like "Exciting!" "Enthusiastic!" "Talkative!" "Social!" and instead choose the characteristics that I actually have and that no one seems to want, ho-hum things like "punctuality," "efficiency," "dedication," and "empathy." Whatever, just, finding out that there was a personality evaluation dashed my hopes because it generally coincides with not getting the job.
Jameson went to a rock concert in the evening so I was on my own for dinner.
As dusk was falling, a special plant arrived in the mail for me! I'd pre-ordered it back in April. A "firefly petunia!"
You can read all about these amazing plants HERE.
The TL;DR: There is a scientist who has been trying to genetically engineer bioluminescent plants since the 1980s. He was successful with splicing firefly DNA into a tobacco plant, but the luminescence didn't last long and wasn't very bright. He has since been experimenting with DNA from glowing mushrooms, and has just this year succeeded in consistently cultivating bioluminescent petunias! This is not only valuable commercially; scientists can also use the bioluminescence to study plant growth and development. There are already plans for more/more varied types of bioluminescent plants in the future.
Here's the box:
Unboxing. The plant is in a sturdy plastic enclosure and has a little cardboard disc on top of the soil to keep it from flying everywhere. Comes with care instructions (which are exactly the same as those for a regular petunia.)
I think for normal climates this would have been excellent packaging, but the plant arrived in Davenport and then spent the entire day, from morning until evening, on the back of a UPS truck in 100-degree weather. The pot was VERY warm to the touch and the plant must have been steam-cooking in its own juices inside that plastic pod :( It looks ok and wasn't entirely wilted, but there were lots of dead buds and certainly it was stressed.
I decided it would be best to put it on the screened back porch, because keeping it inside would be at least a 20-degree difference and I think that would shock it. It will also be in the shade for a day or two so it can adjust without getting scorched to a crisp.
So, this is essentially a beta, a prototype of new technology in the form of a plant. It doesn't glow like in the ad photo (the company is VERY clear about this) but it DOES glow and you can see it in a dark room with the naked eye. To get the glowing you see in the photo all you need is a long exposure camera/a phone with night mode. Which you would need anyway for pretty much anything you want to photograph in a dark environment whether it's glowing or not.
Once I'm sure it's not going to shrivel up and die, I'll get some pics of it glowing!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
And that's the week.
Tomorrow is just another day, then I've got two Disney days in a row.
We now have seven sets instead of five, they'll be shorter but the breaks between will ALSO be shorter so idk how to feel about it. It's definitely gonna be even MORE walking :p
