02 Feb 2010

R: Staff meetings that start at noon should be considered cruel and unusual punishment and should thus, not without a sense of irony, be cruelly and unusually punished under the law. These meetings are particuarly painful at my agency as it is clear that program directors - not receiving any supervisory feedback at any other time - find talking about their biweekly accomplishments exciting and cathartic. Their enthusiasm for describing the most nit-picky details of their programs only encouraged by their captive - though by no means captivated - audience. I generally try to keep my updates to under two minutes, but it doesn't really seem to help when seven directors drone on for tweny minutes apiece (that's two hours and twenty minutes for you non-math whizzes). That's right I sit through the most boring meeting for hours while my stomach growls, and I mentally kick myself for not bringing my phone so I can compulsively check the time. I'm pretty sure my back hurts more when I'm irritated.

On a more pleasant note, a late dinner with V and C at Toqueville proved very satisfying. The squash soup was delicious albeit on the sweet side, and oddly enough it came with a cookie in it - bowl arrives with said cookie on its lonesome and soup is poured at the table so you can watch the sugary island slowly get taken in by the creamy orange sea. Squash was followed by a spiced braised brisket with a tiny pat of horseradish flan (what?), brussel sprouts, parsnips and a smear of pureed potato. It was all quite good, but alas the beef was overly salty which seems to be the case with most of my food these days. Perhaps my blood pressure is high? Last and best was the dessert - I know very unusual for me. I got the selection of homemade sorbets in coconut, passion fruit and blood orange. Quite summery for early February, but it was sorbet or dense dark chocolate tort (headache city) or a caramel-y date pudding (too much sugar). I loved the sorbet; the taste of coconut was not cloying, which is my usual objection to coconut desserts, the blood orange was bright and tasted a lot like a sweeter grapefruit, and the passion fruit had a mouth-puckering tartness that was complimented well by the other flavors. I savored each bite; I never wanted it to end.

C: There is a good chance that I am going to Nigeria for the last two weeks of the month, and it is a good thing I had to find my passport. I tend to stuff important must-do-now things into my desk drawers, and I nearly forgot about a lot of those things until I realized I had no idea where my passport was. After digging through my shallow drawers (it is amazing, really, how much can fit in them), I found my precious silver booklet, along with: my W-2 and related tax documents (I swore I would do my taxes the same week they came in the mail; it has been nearly 3 weeks); Rx receipts for my 2009 FSA reimbursements (need to have them in by March); a rebate for my contact lenses (been sitting on that for nearly a full year now); my immunization records (did not even occur to me, but I certainly need them to travel); and finally my checkbook (I have yet to pay my February rent...oops). I generally do not put off doing these kinds of things, so imagine my disappointment when I realized how many have fallen by the wayside. Oh, boy. Being an adult is tough.