Work, Vietnamese food, cookies and MAHALO

July 16, 2012

I want to start by saying MAHALO! I have had over 2,000 page views. Pretty amazing :)

Today was a super quiet day at work. Susan was off so I just played some music and spent the entire day reading case files, coding and entering data. I have completed 20 of 44. Going along nicely. It is interesting in a twisted morbid way. It is amazing how horribly creative people are towards harming each other. Who needs horror movies and fiction when reality is so insane. I was really tired and trying to fight off a headache most of the day so it was great to just immerse myself in data.

Everyone at work loathes their job with a passion it seems. Not just any one person. Scott says that people get worn down working for government and all their energy and good intentions just get ground down until they are just trying to make it through till their pension or benefits kick in. it makes me very sad and upset that I'm going into a field where nearly everyone seems to hate what they do and feel trapped. I wonder if private organizations are better or worse? It was a rough week last week with people arguing, tempers flaring, and a lot of stress. I am just trying to keep my head down and do my work. Nothing bad is landing on me, but just the stress level in the entire branch seems very high right now. I'm just letting it be SEP (Somebody Else's Problem).

I forgot to write up my third deliverable today so I have to do that first thing tomorrow morning and e-mail that so I can get my stipend to fly home! This is my last update while I am here. After this I only have to do a final report once I am back home on the whole overall experience.

Even lunch was remarkably tame. I had made pasta salad last night. I stuck it in the freezer to quick chill so I could eat it as part of my dinner. Then I instead ate the tappenade mixture with the bread and forgot about the pasta till I was walking out the door this morning. I took it with me and it wasn't very thawed by lunch. I tried to defrost it in the microwave which helped some. the texture is just not right now though. It is edible but not delightful. So i had some salvaged pasta salad, a Fuji apple, the rest of the small piece of Red Dragon Cheese (it has mustard seed and is super good) with a few crunchy pita chips and some water. Lisa, Ann and I ate outside by the garden. There was a pretty plant that I spent a good deal of time staring at so I took a photo.

 After lunch I went back and worked on case files. 7-4:30 today. I am putting in extra time to make up for taking off Friday to go to the Big Island. I asked Lisa if she would mind giving me a ride to the grocery. I usually take the bus but I knew I needed some heavy things and didn't want to try to do the steep hill of doom with heavy groceries. I'm trying to help my ankle heal and not be sore for the weekend. Wayne has band practice tonight so Lisa, Papa George and I grabbed some quick food before the store. We went to Diem Cafe in Ward Warehouse.It is Vietnamese food.

 This is my dinner. I had baked short ribs. It was chunks of carrots, potatoes and a few slivers of onion cooked in a gravy with beef short ribs. The meat was super tender and good quality. It tasted like beef stew but with a bit of sweet to the gravy/sauce. The toss (tossed salad, they call it toss here) had a few thick cucumber half moon slices and shreds of carrot. There was a ginger dressing that was very tasty. The rice I tried then ignored. Two scoops of sticky white rice with a bit of gravy/sauce. I'm just not a super big rice person. It was quite good. I got this plate of food and a Gatorade for $10.66. Lisa tried it and liked it also.

 Lisa and Papa George both got the stuffed tofu with toss and summer rolls. It comes with 2 scoops of rice, 2 summer rolls, the same toss I had, then several pieces of lightly fried tofu with summer roll filling. The summer roll I tastes was GREAT. They serve it with a sweet chili sauce which i liked quite a bit. It isn't at all like the sweet candy-like bright cherry red syrup that chinese sweet and sour anything comes with at home. The spring roll was freshly cooked and it was great so I kept burning my fingers and mouth trying to eat it before it was cool! The tofu was better than I thought it would be. I liked the filling. Fried tofu to me is like eating a sponge. This was a less unpleasant sponge than I have had before. I would eat it and it would be fine, but I wouldn't order it. Each meal came with a sample size of banana tapioca. Lisa and I had stopped to get these on her birthday so I knew they were fantastic. Sorry, I ate it before remembering to take a photo.

 After dinner we went to Times Supermarket. I saw no need to take a photo of a grocery store. I wasn't getting anything exciting. I needed to get milk. Jeff sent mini-cereal boxes in his package to me and I have no milk to eat them with. I had a box this morning after Romi was nice enough to offer her milk. I don't want to use her whole container so I bought one for home tonight. I also bought one for work so i could use it for coffee milk. I finished the Almond Milk and needed something. Lisa had a coupon for 2 half gallons for $5.00 which is cheap! SO I figued i'd use whole milk instead of almond milk for the coffee at work. The expiration date is after I leave, though I doubt they will  last that long. I haven't bought or had milk since I've been here unless you count ice cream and desserts.

After the grocery on the way home we stopped by The Cookie Corner. Lisa was hoping they would have chocolate biscotti. They didn't so I refrained and didn't buy anything. Lisa got 2 double chocolate cookies with walnuts for her and Wayne. I tried a bit and it was delicious. I was trying to be good though regardless of how much she tempted me to eat half a dozen!

 They are known for their chocolate dipped macadamia nut shortbread cookies. I will doubtless try these before I go but I was stuffed from dinner.

 Yuuuummmmmmmm.

So now I am home, groceries put away and ready to sleep. I have been very very tired all day. I had no coffee milk today and no other caffeine. Not that I normally have much. I was super tired when I woke up and by the evening I was yawning and just ready to lay down and sleep at about 4pm. Time to get ready for bed and get some rest.

A super big MAHALO goes out to Debbie and my mom. Debbie dropped off a financial gift to make the Big Island trip extra fun. All the items I sent home also got picked up and I hope to hear how they like them soon. I am loving finding things to send home for people to try and share in the adventure with me.

Me ka aloha pumehana, (warm aloha, with kindest regards)
~Melissa