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Campaign for the Environment

Elise and I had, what I would assume, an underpaid door-to-door representative from the Texas Campaign for the Environment stop by and ring the doorbell while I was cooking dinner. Elise answered the door and I was quickly behind her (I knew it was going to be an annoying salesperson at the door).

Today’s campaign call: How waste policies, super-sized dumps and E-waste are trashing the Lone Star State. Specifically, how Apple Computers, Inc. has no free hardware recycling program leaving lead and mercury to seap into the ground and into our drinking water.

Anyway – had I answered the door, I would have politely said “No, thanks.” and shut the door. Since Elise answered the door, we had to hear the whole pitch. Part of said pitch included, and I quote: “Yeah, and, um, Jacob Kobbs (as he pointed to Steve Jobs’ name on the petition) won’t shell out just a little bit of cash for a recycling program”.

Blah blah blah… “Yeah, and, uh, Texas is number 46 in education.” Really?

Had someone who knew what they were selling stopped by, I might have donated to the cause. Instead I sent him on his way and he left us with some literature.

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Mama Nad

Josh Janicek: How was Easter?
SwendnerPhoto: Easter was okay. I went to church, then to Cyndi’s mama nad dads, then to play golf with my bro-in-law
SwendnerPhoto: i meant mom and dad’s but Mama Nad is a cool band name

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Happy Easter

How Easter eggs are madeThree blondes died and found themselves standing before St. Peter. He told them that before they could enter the kingdom, they had to tell him what Easter was.

The first blonde said, “Easter is a holiday where they have a big feast and we give thanks and eat turkey.”

St. Peter said “Noooooo,” and he banished her to hell.

The second blonde said, “Easter is when we celebrate Jesus’ birth and exchange gifts.”

St. Peter said “Noooooo,” and he banished her to hell.

The third blonde said she knew what Easter is. St. Peter said, “So, tell me.”

She said, “Easter is a Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish festival of Passover. Jesus was having a Passover feast with his disciples when he was betrayed by Judas and the Romans arrested him. The Romans hung him on the cross and eventually he died. Then they buried him in a tomb behind a very large boulder.

St. Peter said “Verrrrrry good.”

Then the blonde continued “Now every year the Jews roll away the boulder and Jesus comes out. If he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of basketball.”

St. Peter fainted

And, as always, I present you with Bill Hicks on Easter.

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Prepping Easter Dinner

I’m in the process of making Easter dinner. Elise and I will be alone so I figured what would be better for just the both us than a frozen 1o.5 lb. turkey that’s been around since Thanksgiving?

The turkey’s been thawing in the fridge for the past few days. I’ll take it out tomorrow morning so it will get close to room temperature by the time it’s ready to cook. Rob Olvera gave me that pointer. Supposedly your turkey won’t dry out as easily because the inside of the bird doesn’t take as long to cook.

I’ve never roasted a turkey (that I can remember) so this experience should be interesting. I’m going to rub the bird in a garlic cilantro butter and stuff it with citrus and sage.

On the side I’ve already made a Mediterranean heirloom salad – heirloom tomotoes (which I sampled and realized that I still can’t stand the taste of tomatoes in large quantities), purple onion, garlic, yellow bell pepper, fresh mozzerella, steamed asparagus, steamed artichoke, fresh basil and mint, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Tomorrow I’ll make either ancho bock smashers or grilled potatoes with an ancho and chipotle bock dressing. I’ll figure that one out depending on 1) weather 2) mood 3) time willing to spend in kitchen.

I went to Central Market today. I could live there if it wasn’t for all of the people. I left the house just as it started to rain. My thinking was: I’ll go to CM and pick up a few things for the salad, a few herbs and a couple other odds & ends. I’ll spend $30. $70 later I’m walking out of the store with two large paper bags. I prefer paper bags when I shop at Central Market because 1) they’re larger 2) it’s the trendy thing to do and 3) since I am a tree hugging, bra burning, patchouli stinking hippy I like to think that my grocery shopping refuse will rapidly biodegrade along with my aluminum cans, batteries and plastic bags that I get when I shop at other grocery stores.

I walk to the truck in the pouring rain. I’m one of those guys who won’t drive around the parking lot in search of a good spot. I’ll park in the furthest spot from the store. I always find myself out of my truck and in the store before parking spot shoppers have found “the spot”. Lazy.

So I walk to the truck. I’m drenched as are my bags. I drive home, park the truck, get out, get my bags, head for the door… almost there… Crash, Boom, Splash. The bag in my right hand ripped open and the only thing that decided to make a run for it was my 48 oz. bottle of nice extra virgin olive oil. It shattered and olive oil spilled out all over the garage floor. I had to clean it up. That sucked. Big time. Damn trendy hippy bags.

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Vendors and the FDA

This week has been taxing. It all started with having to play all roles on Monday and Tuesday. Today I had to deal with researching Canadian imports, taxes, the FDA and vendors.

Vendors. Ugghhhh… Government agencies. Double ugghhhh. My company carries 159 SKUs. Two of said top-selling SKUs are on backorder. I have 400 customers who need product.

Ever try getting someone on the phone from the FDA who can actually answer a question? That’s fun, let me tell you.

I need a vacation.

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Alexandra Janicek

I showed Alexandra’s website to Elise this evening. She said “don’t even think about it… that’s like having the hots for your cousin… You know you’re related somewhere down the line.”

I’m thinking about moving to Arkansas.

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Spicy Ginger Shrimp Stir-Fry

Here’s a recipe that turned out alright. I thought it was going to be a waste of time since it’s based on a Weight Watchers recipe.

    1 tsp. olive oil
    1.5 lbs. peeled shrimp
    2 carrots, julienned
    2 tbls. minced ginger root
    4-5 cloves minced garlic
    1/2 onion, 1/4″ strips
    1 green pepper, julienned
    1/2 medium poblano, julienned
    2 c. snow peas
    1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
    2 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
    2 tsp. sesame oil
    1 tsp. peanut oil
    4-5 Thai chiles
    salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste

    Heat olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add shrimp and cook for 3-5 minutes until pink. Transfer to plate.

    Add carrots to skillet and cook until tender crisp. Cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.

    Add garlic, ginger, green pepper, onion, poblano and chiles.

    Add chicken broth, soy sauce, peanut oil and sesame oil. Heat thoroughly.

    Stir in shrimp and serve over brown rice.

    Secret to cooking an otherwise bland Weight Watchers meal: pungent spices and heat!

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Spicy Ginger Shrimp Stir-Fry

Here’s a recipe that turned out alright. I thought it was going to be a waste of time since it’s based on a Weight Watchers recipe.

    1 tsp. olive oil
    1.5 lbs. peeled shrimp
    2 carrots, julienned
    2 tbls. minced ginger root
    4-5 cloves minced garlic
    1/2 onion, 1/4″ strips
    1 green pepper, julienned
    1/2 medium poblano, julienned
    2 c. snow peas
    1/2 c. low sodium chicken broth
    2 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
    2 tsp. sesame oil
    1 tsp. peanut oil
    4-5 Thai chiles
    salt, pepper, crushed red pepper to taste

    Heat olive oil in a large skillet on high heat. Add shrimp and cook for 3-5 minutes until pink. Transfer to plate.

    Add carrots to skillet and cook until tender crisp. Cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.

    Add garlic, ginger, green pepper, onion, poblano and chiles.

    Add chicken broth, soy sauce, peanut oil and sesame oil. Heat thoroughly.

    Stir in shrimp and serve over brown rice.

    Secret to cooking an otherwise bland Weight Watchers meal: pungent spices and heat!

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Trial by fire

This week has been challenging thus far, to say the least. I’ve had three employees out. That means Peggy and I have been holding down the fort alone. It’s been tough. I can tell you this – When reliable employees have to miss work, I appreciate what they do while at work that much more. I’m bad about complimenting people. I need to make it a point to verbalize my appreciation more often.

Holding down the fort means handling fulfillment, shipping and receiving and answering the phones. Those are just the high points. I’ve been very stressed the past two days, but it’s been a great learning experience. Being on the front line has helped me get a better grasp on how I should manage inventory (which is something that I’ve been trying to figure out for the past six months).

“Inventory and payroll can kill a business”. That’s one of the many things that I’ve retained from meetings with my boss. I’ve become fairly comfortable with payroll and staffing, but haven’t yet had the chance to really figure out how to manage inventory. Now I’m learning and ‘inventory management’ has moved up to the number one spot on my hit parade to review with my boss.

In other news: I finally watched 90% of “The Last Samurai” DVD that John loaned me a few months ago. Awesome movie. I don’t know why I haven’t finished it yet. On the way home from work yesterday I picked up “Anchorman” and “Blue Collar Comedy Tour 2” from Blockbuster. “Anchorman” was stupid (I’ve officially given up on Will Farrell movies). “Blue Collar” was okay – not as funny as the first.

I came home from TKD tonight in a flustered and frustrated mood. I heated up dinner, snapped at Elise, installed the cabinet doors onto the dining room hutch, apologized to Elise, kissed, made up, played Halo 2 (I’m an addict now). That’s my outlet. Killing aliens.

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Adrian visits for the weekend

Adrian came down from San Antonio to spend the weekend with us on Friday evening. We had a little get together at the house. Adrian, Allen, Kirk, Lanessa, Victor, Philip, Rob and Frank came over and we spent the evening eating pizza, playing dominos, poker and darts.

Elise had to work early (and all day) on Saturday. Adrian and I got up, played a little Halo 2, replaced the battery in his car, took the top down on the Jeep and took it out for some quick shopping at Best Buy and lunch at Freebirds. We got back to the house just before a quick and brutal hail storm.

I whipped up a mole sauce for the tamales that Adrian brought so we had dinner and then met Kirk and Lanessa at Flores for margaritas. Holli and her boyfriend met us at the restaurant and Philip and Frank later showed up. After a couple margaritas, we headed over to Carlos and Charlies where we all turned into dancing queens. We all danced and danced and danced to a great cover band (couldn’t tell you their name to save my life). Kirk one the award for King of Queens. After our damage at Carlos and Charlies, we headed over to Philip’s and Rob’s apartment where we engaged in a heated game of beach ball kickball. We stayed out way too late!

I didn’t wake up until around noon to the smell of Elise cooking pancakes and potatoes. The three of us hung out and talked until Adrian left around 3 p.m.

We decided to cook mahi mahi for dinner that turned out horrible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach fish for a while. Other than the bad fish, we had a great weekend.