Follow Up

I took Chosha's advice, and republished the Ice Sculpture post in the correct order. She made it sound so easy, and really I didn't even realize I could change the date on it and re-post it. Anyway, thanks for the tip!

Just a quick follow-up for you all about the Pink Elephants post. We got all the shirts re-printed with the "o" in the correct place, and gave them back to the BYU Spanish Club girl who placed the order, etc. She takes all these 50 shirts to give to her professor, and he doesn't think they look very good! If someone had no idea that there was a mistake in the first place, and looked at the shirt, you can't tell me that they would even notice! STUPID BYU PROFESSOR!

We had to reorder all the shirts and basically re-do the entire job over again. Granted that is probably what I would have done if I were on the other end of the spectrum, but given the fact that I am not, I AM TICKED! Ok, ok, I am settled back down now. It probably just gets me a bit more upset than it normally would for the fact that:

A. The messed up shirts will probably come out of my paycheck and sit in a dusty pile until next summer when my family decides to have another messed up T-Shirt yard sale so that all of the Polynesians in the area come to and try to bargain me down from $1.00! (I have nothing against Polynesians, nor do I intend to make this into a racial thing, it is one true example I have seen while having these yard sales my entire life).

B. They are the ugliest things on the planet anyway, so even if I try to stick them out front for some cheap Joe Schmoe to walk in and buy off a table for $1.00, I still don't get any of my money back!

C. I went through all of the hallucinations of seeing pink elephants instead of orange contruction barrells, and the dizziness, headaches, high feelings FOR NOTHING!

That's all for now. Hey Nem, I will make that shirt for you and send it off as soon as I can. You may have to realize that my "as soon as possible" could take a while, but I will try!

Pink Elephants

To start this post, I must apologize to my friend Nemesis about a comment I made on her blog about being on drugs. Nem, I think I have topped it all!

Yesterday when I arrived at work, I was quickly informed I spelled something wrong on 50 shirts, and we had to find a way to fix it, so that those 50 shirts weren't coming out of my paycheck. The shirt was for the BYU Spanish Club and on one side of the shirt it was supposed to read something like "los cortes de la muerte." (For those of you who speak Spanish, which I don't, will have to forgive me if you understand this next phrase). Instead, I spelled it "los curtes de la muerte." Apparently the latter phrase means something really bad in Spanish--which the customer did not tell to us.

In, order to salvage the shirts, we have a high pressure type squirt bottle that, when filled with lacquer thinner (paint thinner) and squirted onto incidental ink splatters, they are removed. We tried a shirt, just spraying out the "u" and it worked pretty well. So we showed the customer and she was very happy it worked out. I proceeded to start working on the rest of the shirts after we got the ok. After about 10-12 shirts, I started seeing spots, and getting a slight headache from all the fumes, so I took a break from spraying out the shirts. As I was walking toward the dryer to dry the shirts I had finished spraying out, I noticed the embroidery machine needed some attention, so I started to fix the problem and back up the design so it could catch up to the other stations. I started getting dizzy watching it back up, so I had to just put the shirts in the dryer and go sit down for a bit!

Remember that there were 50 shirts and I was only about a fifth of the way done spraying the suckers out. To make a long story, even longer, (just kidding) I inhaled about a gallon's worth of fumes I would imagine by the time I finished that 50th shirt--I was flying higher than ever! My cousin started joking with me about how I will probably be seeing things on the way home all around my car, etc. Right away, as soon as I get onto the freeway from the on ramp in Provo, I see orange construction barrels, which then as I am talking to Jamz on the phone, I tell her I am seeing pink elephants. Obviously, Jamz is quite confused, so I tell her again that these orange construction barrels remind me of pink elephants. Now Jamz is starting to freak out, wondering who I was, and what the aliens did to me when I was abducted--apparently that morning!

I imagine some brain cells were lost in the process, but at least now I have an excuse for why I am the way I AM!

Pudding Fiasco

Let's play a little game shall we?

Question: How big of a mess can one person make using Jello instant pudding?

Answer #1: A normal person wouldn't make one.

Answer #2: Me? About 3 feet tall, 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, and about 4 inches deep.

Ice Sculpture

As some of you already know, we did ice sculpting in class a couple of weeks ago. These ice sculptures were used at the big scholarship dinner on we had last Friday, so they had to be presentable. My partner and I chose to make a lighthouse since the theme for my cold hors d'eurves project was dealing with seafood (you know the whole 'coastal' thing). We searched the internet and found some ideas, knowing full well this whole idea of scupting this structure could go to pot at any given moment. It doesn't help that people like Bossy were telling me that it was going to be so hard to do, and we might want to pick something else. To heck with them! As we already all know the ice sculpture turned out great, so Bossy can just kiss mine!

I was very nervous to attempt this ice sculpting idea for many different reasons. Let me relate my fears to you like this:

1. I am not artistic/creative in the least bit--let alone try to create something normal out of a 30"x40" block of ice! Who do you take me for, Wonder Woman? HARDLY!

2. We had to use chain saws, chisels, and power tools. I struggle every day trying not to burn myself on the ovens or cut myself with my knives, and you want me to pick up something that has the potential of cutting off my foot?! Yeah right! My good friend, Shameonyou21 and her mother, put it perfectly when they found out what I was doing and and what I was using to make this ice sculpture. She said,

"It isn't so much the fear of you having to use the chainsaw and power tools to do this. That is scary enough as it is. But it is the thought of you using these things that scares me the most!"

Ok, so that was pretty much it. Those two fears really encompass all of the other little fears that go along with it. Here are a few closer pics of what we made, even though there were a couple from the blog that had the pictures of the dinner.

The one on the left is the one we got off of the internet, and the other two are just different variations of the one I made with my fellow sculptor! These were taken inside the walk-in freezer at school, so I apologize for the quality of the pictures, some people just don't know how to use a camera. The middle picture has something in front of it, so it looks a little wierd in the corner. As with many things, you would have had to see it in person. It was amazing to see what any amature could do with the right tools!

Exciting Information

So the other day when I decided to wake up [at noon], first words out of my mom's mouth were:

1-Tavi is pregnant
2-Brady is in love

Tavi, for those who don't know, is my sister-in-law. She just found out that she is going to have another baby which will be due around June. Nothing is for certain yet, she still has to go to the doctor. We are all kind of hoping for a girl--not that we care if it happens to be a boy, just hoping for someone who might be able to calm Dennis the Mennace (Easton) down a tad.

As I am sure you are all falling off your chair with disbelief, Brady, my brother the commitment fobe is in love with the very girl who told him she wasn't going to sit around and wait for him any longer. We all really like her--especially because it takes a very strong woman to be able to give Brady the kiss off! After she did that, Mr. "I am lowering my standards a little" decided that he really liked this girl. I guess he finally told her the other day that he loved her, and she returned the sentiment.

This appears to be headed toward marriage, which is good, but then all of the attention is going to then be turned toward me. The focus has been primarily on Brady and how picky he was, and how he was never going to get married. I better hurry and move out and stop working for my father or I am going to get real tired, real fast of the criticism once Brady decides that they are going to get married!

My 14 Hour day

In case you were all wondering, I am alive and [barely] kicking. I got home from school last night, or I guess this morning (Saturday) at 1:35 a.m. and at 2 a.m. I finally went to bed. My day started around 8:30 a.m. Friday morning. I decided it was time to wake up from my partially Nyquil induced coma at :30 this morning--which is so not like me to sleep that long. I checked the time at 9:00 p.m. last night and we still had two or three courses to serve, not to mention dishes from an eight-course meal for 600 people to wash with people like Bossy who just stand around and do nothing.

Anyway, I thought I would post a few pics from the dinner, but I have to warn you, another student took the pics with my camera, and I am not happy with the way they turned out. Just a fair warning that they are not my doing! I am going to get some good pics from someone else I hope next week, but in the meantime, at least least are a good repre-sentaion of how I remember the whole evening as of this morning!

A reporter from the Deseret News was there last night taking pictures of all of us doing random things trying to prepare for this dinner. I am not sure if he was doing an article on the dinner or on the culinary arts program, but I am a little nervous about whatever his purpose there was . Right before the hors d'eurves reception he came up to me and said:

"I noticed you changed your chef coat and apron and you look all nice and white,
would you mind getting one of your platters and posing for a
few pictures?"

What am I going to say to that? No thanks, I don't want my picture taken. I can't really say no. So I agreed and I stood there for what seemed like eternity thinking to myself how long this really has to take. I swear he was taking pictures for like ten minutes. Meanwhile, I am standing there trying to keep smiling (which is so hard) and I notice my dressing on my is oozing off the side of the platter cuz he made me stand there forever tilting the dumb thing!

I got many compliments on my ice sculpture-which I am going to try to get those pics to you soon. One lady told me it was exquisite and that my food and table display was beautiful. I had one guy come up to me and the end of the reception and ask if he could have three more slices of one of my items since the reception was ending, and I had some left. I guess that means the food wasn't half bad either!

A Satisfying Filler

I am trying to keep this going, but I am in the middle of the most stressful week of school yet. Do you not remember the first post? Give me a break! I pretty much had another one written, but I am trying to figure this thing out and upload pictures of my cool ice sculture of a lighthouse. I finally figured it out, but my computer at work won't let me because it is a stupid macintosh or something! I will post that one as soon as I remember to put the photos on a disk.

This next random thought is for my dear friend Streets. You all might find this interesting as well, but since Streets just graduated and we had a discussion once about it, I thought she might find it a bit more interesting. Anyway, UVSC just switched to offering Pepsi products instead of Coke products. A few people wondered why, and Streets was glad she was leaving cause she wasn't going to be able to purchase her favorite soda (Pibb Extra). I just found out the reason. Val Peterson, a Vice President (For some of you who grew up in the Timpview Stake in Orem, his wife is Ann Peterson--the most competitive woman I have ever met) Coke product sales were steadily declining apparently over the last few years. Coke was paying the school $100 thousand to have their product on campus, not only is Pepsi paying $150 thousand, but the product sales have sky rocketed!

Teacher's Pet

For the most part, Chef (that is what my instructor will be called) is fairly lenient and unbiased with us. Yesterday however, was an irritating issue altogether. A fellow student, whom we will call Bossy, proved to me that she is clearly the teacher's pet and that she needed to have someone or something kick her in the backside to get her to do something.

Just to preface this story a little, we are preparing for a big banquet this next Friday, and each student has a project to accomplish for this dinner. Over 600 people will be attending this dinner (including the school president, and vice presidents) at $125/person. Needless to say it is a big deal and it takes a lot of work. At the beginning of the dinner is something called a Garde Manger (Guar-Muh-Zhe) Reception. Essentially it is a cold hors d'eurve reception. Each student has about 5 different things to make and then arrange them beautiffully on platters and such betwen two, themely decorated 8 ft. banquet tables.

Now, back to Bossy. Yesterday we all got started working on our projects, or at least what we could make a week ahead of time. My project includes a lot of seafood, as does Bossy's. There is only so much we can make a week ahead with out them going bad. I hate the fact that I don't have tons to do, because that means I am going to be slammed right before the dinner. I still found something to do--even if it meant two hours of project, six hours of washing everyone else's dishes. What did Bossy do? She went to Walmart a couple of times on errands for Chef or whomever else needed something that wasn't in the kitchen at the time. In between those two trips she sat on her roast--right in front of Chef, went outside about a dozen times and smoked a pack of cigarettes, sat on her roast some more--right in front of Chef, did I mention she went outside and smoked, or that she sat on her roast?

Chef said nothing. Somehow someone told him that I was back there washing dishes all night, so he makes a comment, not sure if it was meant to be sarcastic or funny, (which it wasn't) "I hear you're quite the dishwasher!" What I said and what I wanted to say were two very different things. I said, "I didn't have anything else to do, might as well." What I should have said, "Didn't feel as though I could sit and do nothing all night like some do!" Obviously Bossy was sitting right there.

I have no backbone I have decided. I can talk big, but backdown at the first chance to let out how I really feel. Clearly Bossy is the teacher's pet, and maybe by saying something I would somehow end up getting the grunt of it anyway. Anyone else sitting down for even a minute would have recieved the one-two punch from Chef in three seconds. Why should Bossy be any different?!