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Aug 12, 2007 - 04:14 PM |
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ending the silence... |
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So... it has been over two weeks since the third annual OMGWTFBBQ which for the most part I think was a great success with some let downs in the food department.
Most of the proteins (the meats) went over really well and the shocker that was announced at the end of the roast was the surprise dish that we just called beef tacos throughout the evening. Some dishes never managed to hit the table because there was a clusterfuck happening in my kitchen and I refused to be part of it anymore and I walked out with meats to hit the grill. But I will go into that more later on in the entry.
Kimmie and Frank flew in from Texas for the event... it was great to see them. They came the furthest for the event though there might have been one person if he had shown would have come further as is lives in Florida.
The roast was great... apparently I have a lot of friends who think well of me. Funny, I don't of them... kidding folks. Some moments were funny... some not so funny. When a younger brother says that I'm not even worthy to wash dishes in a restaurant that bothered me a lot since I got to witness him become a complete prat in my own kitchen to the point of talking down to me like I was an underling. Sorry, but you're a guest in my kitchen... you don't treat me like shit especially when I paid for the fuckin' ingredients. If you bought the stuff then you can say what you please, but you didn't and it will not ever happen again or else you are not welcome in my kitchen ever again.
Okay... that aside (I will be broaching that subject again in a bit when I am covering some other events from the past couple of weeks)... the week following the OMGWTFBBQ was BlizzCon (a convention put on by Blizzard Entertainment) which Milady, CacheCrash, and I attended. Now that is a clusterfuck...
Cache and I figure that we might as well pick up our badges on Thursday since we don't know what the lines will be like on Friday morning. How wrong we were. I get there and Cache is already in a line that he says is for us. Wrong... we are in the wrong line as are most of the people in the area. Part of the problem was that there was an information kiosk and a giant pillar that had two or three lines trying to maneuver around them. I was one of those lines. After an hour and moving inside the doors but not further I said enough was enough. BlizzCon was officially off to a bad start for me. There was one person from the Anaheim Convention Center who was stating that lines were alphabetical, but when you had to split lines because there were too many people who's last name starts with "S" you need to know which line those folks are supposed to get into. She knew nothing and no Blizzard people were trying to correct the lines. There were banisters to separate the lines... in the final five feet of the line. Not smart. So Cache and I bailed and came home for a bit before heading to The Lost Bar for a WoWInsider meet-up. On the way we thought we'd cruise the ACC to check out the lines. No one was there. Sweet!!!! We park at one of the hotel parking lots and walk over to the ACC and pick up our badges and bag o' stuff then off to The Lost Bar for alcohol and World of Warcraft people. While there I discovered that being a level 70 Druid who is spec'd as Balance (or Boomkin as we like to call it) it a rarity. Even more rare? The fact that I have been spec'd Boomkin since I started playing the character back in February '06. And then Milady showed up having just gotten off of work... she was tired... so we left and went home for a long day ahead for the three of us.
But before we get into BlizzCon more... the "bag o' stuff": one plastic card that contained a Murloc Suit code and a beta key for a yet to be announced game, one World of Warcraft t-shirt (XL), one set of BlizzCon coasters, one "starter kit" for the WoW Trading Card Game, one bookmark that was the beginning of a quest at the Brady Games booth, some buttons, a lot of crap advertisements, and a post card for a map and program to be picked up the next day. Murloc Suit is funny looking... but cool. I need to get photos of my character in it at some point for shits n' giggles. I did run my character from the furthest point south in Easter Kingdom and up to Ironforge which is about halfway up the map. No mount... no flying... all running and one tram ride from Stormwind to Ironforge.
Friday morning comes along... we have our printed out schedule... and are making plans. Up to the ACC we all walk and see a cluster of people all congregating near Hall A... it is past 9am... the doors should be open. Nope... not yet. Finally the doors open and we allow for people to get in before attempting to make our way into the convention area. We walk into the hall into darkness. Not a great thing for those who had been outside the hall where it was bright and sunny. Milady is thrown off by this almost immediately and I don't blame her.
To our right is this clusterfuck of a line for Blizzard merchandise. People have order forms in hand but no one can seem to be able to locate someone who is handing them out. Fuck it... let's walk around before the opening ceremony.
We see another line... this one for the maps and programs. Another clusterfuck of a mess. And yet another Blizzard merchandise line in Hall B that isn't nearly as insane as the one in Hall A but close to it and at least that one is manned by a Blizzard employee who is handing out the damn order forms. We stay in that line for a short while and decide that it's not going to get better so we are better off trying to get our programs and maps. By the time we get there the line seems to have disappeared on one side so we go for that side. Got a map, a program, and an hearthstone keychain. Where was my hearthstone last night when I wanted to actually be drinking at the Hearthstone Lounge? Bastards...
Now we are off to wander some more... we hit the Brady Games booth to begin the quest and got another bookmark. Then something about opening ceremonies. Cache had disappeared quite a while ago so I was shocked to actually find him already sitting and a couple of seats by him available. Sweet... so we get the ceremonies underway... Starcraft II... no big surprise... WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King... no big surprise considering a section of Hall B has these huge ass banners announcing it. SURPRISE!!!! This is the next expansion. Yeah, and the fact that it was pretty much spoiled a few days prior online was people were digging into the various expansion rumors. It will be interesting though as we are now going back into Azeroth for leveling which will most likely empty out Outlands. Level cap will be raised to 80... talent trees will be revamped again... a hero class, Death Knight... and apparently the first time we'll be able to have flying mounts in Azeroth.
Now it was time to walk around some more before lunch... and a couple of panel discussions. Lunch was done at the Hilton at Cafe Oasis. Milady and I shared a bottle of wine with our meal... and enjoyed ourselves relaxing with our meal. *sigh* It was nice... ^_^
Back the mad rush of BlizzCon... a couple of panels and then we headed home for a bit to rest and relax before Milady and I headed back up for some more stuff that was too overcrowded for us to deal with so instead we walked around and saw that we could get a sample try of the trading card game (she kicked my ass) and then headed home for the evening/night.
Saturday comes... and we have a slightly delayed get-up-and-go mentality. Nothing overly major taking place until 12noon. A panel about the Warcraft movie being done by Legendary Pictures apparently planned to release in 2009. Should be interesting once they finally get the script nailed down.
then it was off to lunch again for Milady and I... this time we went to the Marriott's Cafe Del Sol which we had never been to before and actually had a good experience there. Good choices on their menu... and they also had a lunch buffet too. I stuck to the menu while Milady tried the buffet. Another relaxing meal... with no big rush to be anywhere. Lunch was over... and wee bring Cache back a little something to munch on... beer-battered onion rings with a chipotle ranch dipping sauce. And then we are at our next panel... and then time to kill for Milady and I so we had to the bar at the Hilton for some drinks before venturing back into the convention area for the closing event... a performance by Video Games Live (an orchestra) and some other crap. What a treat I was in for on that one. We were informed that seating was limited... doors opened at 6:30... concert started at 7:00. Anyone seeing the problem here yet?
We find Cache who is in line already... this line starts from the front gates of the ACC arena folds into Hall A down towards the main stage set up there... curves back up the side of the panel discussion seating op to where the Blizzard merchandise is being sold turns along the back of the seating for the panel... then takes a turn back towards the panel stage and wraps around again to begin a line going back up towards the back of the hall towards Hall B. There are a lot of people still wandering the show floor and sitting in on the panel discussions. There is no way logistically that they can seat all of these people in thirty minutes or less. I am more than pissed at this moment. We have each paid out $100 for this convention with the promise of a concert performance by Video Games Live. It was not until the opening ceremony that they announce there will be limited seating for the concert. Had I known this I would not have put some much speculation into the concert and possibly not have attended BlizzCon '07.
I have now ranted to Cache in front of a bunch of people that I have pretty much insulted directly to their faces calling them the ultimate losers who wank off to their female night elf characters on a daily basis. I have yet to drop my letter of displeasure about the clusterfuck of various aspects of BlizzCon but it will be dropped to the president of Blizzard which will most likely go unread but at least I can state that I voiced my displeasure.
This weekend we were supposed to go deep sea fishing with Clinton... but that got nixed as I am still recovering from the OMGWTFBBQ financially. But he came by earlier this week to use my stand mixer to make three different buttercreams for class. In what turned out to be nothing major turned into a pain in my ass for the days that followed and culminated on Friday and yesterday while Milady and I sweated and worked our asses off trying to clean my kitchen of the recent ant invasion. And where were they all going? My stand mixer that was allegedly completely cleaned. We pulled the bowl off and found remnants of buttercream on the bowl and on the mixer. FUCK!!! I am pissed now... the kitchen cabinets are cleared out... and I am now scrubbing all of the cabinets with Comet and water... and while cleaning I decide to scrub the pipes for my kitchen sink too... and somehow knock off enough rust on the bottom of the kitchen sink trap to open up a hole that was draining water into the cabinet. FUCK!!! Shut off the water... grab something to catch the dripping water... pull off the trap and see what we can get done quickly. Sally and I head to the plumbing store... it's closed so we go to Home Depot instead hoping to find something. Got something about right but instead of metal it's PVC. Turns out it's 1/4" off and would not fit properly. So we had to wait until Saturday to get it replaced.
Saturday comes... we're out the door before 9am... we find exactly what we needed at the plumbing store. And I get home... install it... and it's been perfect. Now Milady and I can work on the kitchen the rest of the way. But wait... there are some ants running around on my computer desk. Time to step this up now... and we began a cleaning spree that started from my front door and continued along the walls cleaning everywhere. Computer desk emptied and completely cleaned... Guinness tap emptied and completely cleaned... small bookshelf half emptied and cleaned. All the floor boards were cleaned... carpets that are typically unreachable were vacuumed.
Kitchen finally got to get cleaned a lot more... refrigerator pulled out... microwave moved... stove pulled out. Floors and walls completely cleaned. Fridge and stove cleaned. Kitchen floor mopped after everything was back in place. And now we are in the process of washing all of the stuff in the kitchen to be placed back into cleaned drawers... rubber lining to be placed into the lower cabinets for the pots and pans. Front room is slowly coming together again. Half of it has been completely cleaned and vacuumed. Other half is occupied by a lot of crap that is in the process of being put away. Then I will be done... and will be able to relax for the rest of the day hopefully.
Something we have found while we were cleaning... two cookie sheets and cooling racks in the oven still uncleaned from two weeks prior. This held the roasted vegetables and was tossed back into the oven by Clinton without ever being cleaned. Two weeks later... and they are now in the trash. The expense of the OMGWTFBBQ continues to grow in the weeks following this event. I am not pleased... I have found risotto in places I should not find dried risotto. It was splattered on bottles of alcohol. Milady has managed to step on a piece of dried shallot that cut into the bottom of her foot.
And then there has been work. From the time of the OMGWTFBBQ to this week it has been pure hell for me. I had a ConAgra order for 587 pallets of Wesson oil that had to be made up. Last Friday (the day I'm at BlizzCon) they ran out of tray bodies... our other facility in Memphis didn't send out enough to me to cover the entire order. And we were also having issues with one of the three flavors of oil which were being received with a lot of leakers. So the oil plant was trying to send out replacements as quickly as possible but was having issues since they too were in Memphis and we are in Garden Grove.
And then I have another client, DaVinci Pharmaceuticals, that we are making these little things for them... then turning these packs into a 3-pack via shrinkwrap... and packing four 3-packs into a case. Well all was going well for the first part of the run since there were 100 of these and 100 of that that. The issue came up when I got the next batch of orders that called for some of these and some of those. No way Production could do this... so they just produced without placing a shipping label on the cartons. Shipping would have to apply these labels later on... which turned into an ordeal of it's own. I didn't leave work that day until 6:15pm... just fifteen minutes shy of working a 12-hour day.
But now that the ConAgra orders have been filled and shipped my desk is a lot calmer. DaVinci is somewhat stressful still but not so much now that we are trying to get control of the client in terms of these fulfillment orders. And my other clients are nothing overly major right now. But I am having to train a new person to basically take as many of my clients as possible since I will become the main back-up for the Frito-Lay account in Garden Grove. Oh joy...
and that is about all for now... next Saturday Milady and I are flying up to the Bay area for the day for some sort of family event. Not staying too long... but will be coming home the same day. We are still trying to secure passage from here to the Long Beach airport in the morning and back from the airport that night. The neighbor downstairs said he would take us but he's about as reliable as knowing that I can't trust anyone else to clean my kitchen equipment properly. But we shall see... I might be looking for an alternative.
Oh yeah... you dirty rotten bastards!!! You killed my keg of Guinness in near record time... I had it delivered on the 26th of July. It died on the 31st. I have had to resort to drinking other beers... wines... and harder alcohols until last night when we could afford getting another keg delivered. :P
So now I am off to finish my cleaning process so I can try and relax this afternoon when it's the hottest.
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