December Layoff 2023 Part 2
Dec. 10th, 2023 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Thursday, I spent so much time typing up that Jollywood post that I didn't get started with data entry until after lunch.
(It also didn't help that I woke up late, answered emails, and ran errands before getting started too)
When I finally did start I was assigned to Stories, which is creating legacy packets/timelines for residents and their families. It's my favorite because it's less "data gathering" and more research and curating to make something heartfelt. Also, the site has been updated since I last worked on Stories and it looks a lot nicer. I only got one story done today because I was suuuuuper slow with editing the audio, it's been a while, but I finished the profile and am waiting to see if it was acceptable enough for me to take on more.
That was pretty much my whole day. Jameson's dad was golfing with relatives, and saw a full-grown alligator across a small lake on the course.
When he got home from his game we went to Lazy Dog together. Although it's a chain, we've never had a bad dinner there. Tonight I went with the Korean bibimbap bowl (knowing full well that it wouldn't hold a candle to the legit dolsot bibimbap I had in Cincinnati!) It was seasoned ribeye, sauteed spinach with sesame oil, spicy carrots, bean sprouts, pickled cucumber salad, and a perfectly fried egg over white rice. And it was very good :)
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Friday was Jameson's dad's last day with us. Jameson and I both had to work, so he entertained himself with reading outside (it's been mid-60s lately!) and going for a run because he's admirably fitness-minded. Jameson and I plowed away and our desk jobs. I was first assigned to Stories, which are the legacy packets where I get to listen to interviews and snip up the audio tracks to cut out the interviewer, making little resident-narrated stories for families to enjoy. I like that type of work a lot. But I only completed two of them before being switched to Paper Processing, which is simply transferring intake form info to a digital page. Not as fun as Stories, but still good.
Thus the day went, and I took breaks for lunch and cookie planning (doubling or tripling recipes, ingredient lists, supply lists, etc.) For dinner the guys wanted to eat at 50's Prime Time Cafe at Hollywood Studios, so we got 7:30 reservations and went over a bit early to show Jameson's dad the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge part of the park. I haven't been there since the employee sneak peek WAY back in 2019. And it was nighttime so that was a whole new experience too! It still looks awfully cool.
It was intensely crowded so I did not take many pictures, because of the huge crowds and also getting jostled every time I stopped to take media. Jameson and I had brought free snack coupons to use, but the lines at the snack bars were all ridiculously long, and I think we subconsciously decided to wait until dinner.
(photo borrowed from another blogging site, I had only taken video)
We checked in and stood at the bar to wait. Jameson and I got PB&J drinks made with Skrewball peanut butter whiskey and a blackberry liqueur, Jameson's dad got something electric-blue with a glowing plastic ice cube. All of which was delicious! While we drank we admired the loud and quirky 50s decor.
(photo borrowed from disneydining.com)
Soon it was our turn, and we were led to a booth with formica tabletops and silver-chrome chairs.
Here was a table across from ours, with a big black-and-white TV to watch.
We got some apps to share, the onion rings and the jalapeno deviled eggs. You can see that the eggs are some sort of sulfur-yellow, they were pickled in either pickle or jalapeno juice and had crushed bacon in the filling. REALLY good!
For mains, Jameson's dad got the Blue Plate Special which was shrimp and grits; Jameson had the fried chicken platter; and I had "Cousin Megan's Meatloaf" entirely because my name was on the food. Honestly this does look like something out of a 1950s Cooking Life magazine or something!
It was very good, and very garlicy, I could have killed a moose with my breath lol.
We were very full, but the park closed at 9:30 and we wanted to take Jameson's dad on just ONE Star Wars ride. The shortest line was for Smuggler's Run, the one where you pilot the Millennium Falcon with a team of six: two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers. This ride is hard on me as it's "immersive" and relies on screens and a lot of jostling around for the experience...guaranteed motion sickness. But all I have to do is NOT be a pilot and then I can focus on the little control panels instead of the screens. So that's just what I did, I was an engineer, and pressed light-up buttons as quickly as I could while holding my phone above my head to capture some cute father-son moments because Jameson and Jeff were both pilots!
(CLICK HERE to watch)
This is a compilation of three clips; I had to stop recording a few times because this ride is pretty rough + I had buttons to push, the game scores your work at the end and I didn't wanna be the one slacking! Our team (flight crew?) scored quite well. It was a lot of fun and I felt duly sick afterward, but not sick enough to need a break before we drove home. And then we all went right to bed, because Jameson's dad had an early flight and Jameson and I had Christmas Things to do.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
When we woke up, Jameson's dad was gone, probably already in the air.
I washed the guest bedroom blankets (he had graciously already washed the towels) and did a little generic cleaning up until Jameson woke up. Then we went off to Lowe's to get a tree.
For the past several years pine trees have cost between $90-$125 for us. We know that this is partly because of the whole lanternfly thing, and because Florida doesn't grow a whole lot of pine trees so there are transport costs. Well for whatever reason, this year the tree was only $35!! Phew!
(For the record, I'm from Pennsylvania and for the longest time thought that paying more than ten bucks for a Christmas tree was insane.)
We got the tree home and got it comfortable in the stand with some water.
We will wait for the branches to relax and spread before decorating.
Next was groceries. I needed a LOT of stuff to make cookies, and managed to get almost everything.
Back home we put it all away, had lunch, then I whipped up a batch of caramels.
I took extra care this time to be patient and raise the heat slowly, so no scorch-flecks this time! Nice and smooth.
After dinner I went back out to Publix for my missing grocery items (Dutched cocoa, whole nutmeg, spiced rum) and when I got back Jameson had put lights on the tree! We used old-fashioned large bulbs this year. They're not LEDs so they get pretty hot, but I figure we grew up with that and no one died. I'm excited to decorate tomorrow :)
While we're at it, here are the decorations that Jameson put up before I got home.
The dinosaur is named Bonk, the unicorn is Nog. And notice the leg lamp in the window ;)
I started to make the rum balls, but was feeling pretty tired so only ground up and measured the Nilla Wafers.
Jameson gamed with his friends and I enjoyed some solo computer time before bed.
I think we are just decompressing from having a houseguest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I made sure to get up at 8am so I could eat breakfast and put in an hour of work.
Then it was rum ball time.
I had ground up the Nilla Wafers last night so all that was left was adding cocoa powder, powdered sugar, ground pecans and a little salt and whisking that, then corn syrup and a full cup of spiced rum. Publix had a local St. Pete rum so I thought to give it a try. We both tasted a sip of it neat. It's very good! Sweeter than I expected, and it has a smoky-toffee-molasses flavor that is pretty great. And that should work very nicely with pecans and cocoa powder and cookies!
After lunch Jameson went to the gym and I put in some more data entry time, then switched over to cutting and wrapping the caramels.
I was halfway through when he got home, and stopped so we could decorate the tree together.
I care more about the lights than the ornaments, but it's still nice and the big bulbs make it feel old fashioned.
I finished the caramel wrapping and got things set up for making Copycat Thin Mint dough tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomorrow, Monday, we both have work. I have a doctor's appointment just to ask about a lump at the back of my throat (I have insurance now so am trying to ask about anything that worries me while my copay is low-ish.) I want to do the Thin Mint dough and refrigerate it, and if there's time also make the pistachio cranberry biscotti.
(It also didn't help that I woke up late, answered emails, and ran errands before getting started too)
When I finally did start I was assigned to Stories, which is creating legacy packets/timelines for residents and their families. It's my favorite because it's less "data gathering" and more research and curating to make something heartfelt. Also, the site has been updated since I last worked on Stories and it looks a lot nicer. I only got one story done today because I was suuuuuper slow with editing the audio, it's been a while, but I finished the profile and am waiting to see if it was acceptable enough for me to take on more.
That was pretty much my whole day. Jameson's dad was golfing with relatives, and saw a full-grown alligator across a small lake on the course.
When he got home from his game we went to Lazy Dog together. Although it's a chain, we've never had a bad dinner there. Tonight I went with the Korean bibimbap bowl (knowing full well that it wouldn't hold a candle to the legit dolsot bibimbap I had in Cincinnati!) It was seasoned ribeye, sauteed spinach with sesame oil, spicy carrots, bean sprouts, pickled cucumber salad, and a perfectly fried egg over white rice. And it was very good :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday was Jameson's dad's last day with us. Jameson and I both had to work, so he entertained himself with reading outside (it's been mid-60s lately!) and going for a run because he's admirably fitness-minded. Jameson and I plowed away and our desk jobs. I was first assigned to Stories, which are the legacy packets where I get to listen to interviews and snip up the audio tracks to cut out the interviewer, making little resident-narrated stories for families to enjoy. I like that type of work a lot. But I only completed two of them before being switched to Paper Processing, which is simply transferring intake form info to a digital page. Not as fun as Stories, but still good.
Thus the day went, and I took breaks for lunch and cookie planning (doubling or tripling recipes, ingredient lists, supply lists, etc.) For dinner the guys wanted to eat at 50's Prime Time Cafe at Hollywood Studios, so we got 7:30 reservations and went over a bit early to show Jameson's dad the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge part of the park. I haven't been there since the employee sneak peek WAY back in 2019. And it was nighttime so that was a whole new experience too! It still looks awfully cool.
It was intensely crowded so I did not take many pictures, because of the huge crowds and also getting jostled every time I stopped to take media. Jameson and I had brought free snack coupons to use, but the lines at the snack bars were all ridiculously long, and I think we subconsciously decided to wait until dinner.
(photo borrowed from another blogging site, I had only taken video)
We checked in and stood at the bar to wait. Jameson and I got PB&J drinks made with Skrewball peanut butter whiskey and a blackberry liqueur, Jameson's dad got something electric-blue with a glowing plastic ice cube. All of which was delicious! While we drank we admired the loud and quirky 50s decor.
(photo borrowed from disneydining.com)
Soon it was our turn, and we were led to a booth with formica tabletops and silver-chrome chairs.
Here was a table across from ours, with a big black-and-white TV to watch.
We got some apps to share, the onion rings and the jalapeno deviled eggs. You can see that the eggs are some sort of sulfur-yellow, they were pickled in either pickle or jalapeno juice and had crushed bacon in the filling. REALLY good!
For mains, Jameson's dad got the Blue Plate Special which was shrimp and grits; Jameson had the fried chicken platter; and I had "Cousin Megan's Meatloaf" entirely because my name was on the food. Honestly this does look like something out of a 1950s Cooking Life magazine or something!
It was very good, and very garlicy, I could have killed a moose with my breath lol.
We were very full, but the park closed at 9:30 and we wanted to take Jameson's dad on just ONE Star Wars ride. The shortest line was for Smuggler's Run, the one where you pilot the Millennium Falcon with a team of six: two pilots, two gunners, and two engineers. This ride is hard on me as it's "immersive" and relies on screens and a lot of jostling around for the experience...guaranteed motion sickness. But all I have to do is NOT be a pilot and then I can focus on the little control panels instead of the screens. So that's just what I did, I was an engineer, and pressed light-up buttons as quickly as I could while holding my phone above my head to capture some cute father-son moments because Jameson and Jeff were both pilots!
(CLICK HERE to watch)
This is a compilation of three clips; I had to stop recording a few times because this ride is pretty rough + I had buttons to push, the game scores your work at the end and I didn't wanna be the one slacking! Our team (flight crew?) scored quite well. It was a lot of fun and I felt duly sick afterward, but not sick enough to need a break before we drove home. And then we all went right to bed, because Jameson's dad had an early flight and Jameson and I had Christmas Things to do.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
When we woke up, Jameson's dad was gone, probably already in the air.
I washed the guest bedroom blankets (he had graciously already washed the towels) and did a little generic cleaning up until Jameson woke up. Then we went off to Lowe's to get a tree.
For the past several years pine trees have cost between $90-$125 for us. We know that this is partly because of the whole lanternfly thing, and because Florida doesn't grow a whole lot of pine trees so there are transport costs. Well for whatever reason, this year the tree was only $35!! Phew!
(For the record, I'm from Pennsylvania and for the longest time thought that paying more than ten bucks for a Christmas tree was insane.)
We got the tree home and got it comfortable in the stand with some water.
We will wait for the branches to relax and spread before decorating.
Next was groceries. I needed a LOT of stuff to make cookies, and managed to get almost everything.
Back home we put it all away, had lunch, then I whipped up a batch of caramels.
I took extra care this time to be patient and raise the heat slowly, so no scorch-flecks this time! Nice and smooth.
After dinner I went back out to Publix for my missing grocery items (Dutched cocoa, whole nutmeg, spiced rum) and when I got back Jameson had put lights on the tree! We used old-fashioned large bulbs this year. They're not LEDs so they get pretty hot, but I figure we grew up with that and no one died. I'm excited to decorate tomorrow :)
While we're at it, here are the decorations that Jameson put up before I got home.
The dinosaur is named Bonk, the unicorn is Nog. And notice the leg lamp in the window ;)
I started to make the rum balls, but was feeling pretty tired so only ground up and measured the Nilla Wafers.
Jameson gamed with his friends and I enjoyed some solo computer time before bed.
I think we are just decompressing from having a houseguest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I made sure to get up at 8am so I could eat breakfast and put in an hour of work.
Then it was rum ball time.
I had ground up the Nilla Wafers last night so all that was left was adding cocoa powder, powdered sugar, ground pecans and a little salt and whisking that, then corn syrup and a full cup of spiced rum. Publix had a local St. Pete rum so I thought to give it a try. We both tasted a sip of it neat. It's very good! Sweeter than I expected, and it has a smoky-toffee-molasses flavor that is pretty great. And that should work very nicely with pecans and cocoa powder and cookies!
After lunch Jameson went to the gym and I put in some more data entry time, then switched over to cutting and wrapping the caramels.
I was halfway through when he got home, and stopped so we could decorate the tree together.
I care more about the lights than the ornaments, but it's still nice and the big bulbs make it feel old fashioned.
I finished the caramel wrapping and got things set up for making Copycat Thin Mint dough tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomorrow, Monday, we both have work. I have a doctor's appointment just to ask about a lump at the back of my throat (I have insurance now so am trying to ask about anything that worries me while my copay is low-ish.) I want to do the Thin Mint dough and refrigerate it, and if there's time also make the pistachio cranberry biscotti.
