Yesterday was my first day at the new job. I’m a systems analyst, in the Information Technology Department at a small liberal arts university. I have been looking forward to my new job, it really fits into my new career goals. I have my cubicle, which is still getting setup, and while it is nice, I have a fluorescent light right above me, which I think will lead to a lot of eye fatigue. I have yet to get all of my stuff loaded into my cube, but i did bring in my TeaDrop. This little tea brew station is quite a nice little addition to my cube. The pendulum has again swung to me wanting to not drink as much coffee/caffeine, so tea is now my drink of choice. At only $11, it was a steal.

On to the German engineering portion of this post. Esther was having car troubles yesterday, a dead battery, so I was resolute to repair it last night. I got to Walmart, looking through the car batteries, I found out there are three different versions of the 1999 Beetle and two of the versions take one model of battery, the other takes a different one. So I went home and found out which of the versions Esther has been driving. The second trip to Walmart was quick, back to the car batteries, grabbing the 50 dollar battery and then back home.

When trying to take apart the battery enclosure, I found that I was either missing a tool, or my fingers and tools were some how all wrong. That makes the third trip to Walmart, to buy extender for the ratchet set. With the additional tools in hand, I finally was able to remove the battery and replace it. Mind you, this was at 9 in the evening, my activities lit by a work lap, bugs swirling around.

So VW, in their engineering wisdom has used plastic to cover, hide and contain all of the engine components. And while it makes look good under the hood, but to change anything, you have to rip out a lot of black plastic. The problem comes when you have to put it back together, nearly an hour of cramming and banging on things. Ugh.

Needless to say, It was late when I finally finished, I hadn’t eaten, and I was sweat. Cooling down with a soda at 9:30 wasn’t the brightest either, the caffeine kept me awake. Oh well.

Esther and I went to McDonald’s today, not something we normally do. Today is a special day, my last day of work at the College of William & Mary, so a special breakfast celebration was in order. This is also the first time we have been to McDonald’s since becoming vegetarian, figuring breakfast would be much more veg friendly than any burger.

We step up to the counter, Cee Cee behind it, waiting to take our order. Esther offers her order first:

I’d like an Sausage Biscuit with Egg meal, please.

Why don’t you just order an egg biscuit?

Let me tell you, there is no egg biscuit on the menu. Everything on the breakfast board labeled one through ten has some form of meat on it.

Ok, I’ll have an Egg Biscuit

Now I get ready to order.

I’d like an Egg McMuffin with no meat

*Laughs* Why don’t you just get an egg biscuit?

I don’t want a biscuit, I want an English muffin.

Now I know that being a vegetarian is “weird”. I understand that I’m not the normal customer she runs into everyday, and I also know that I’m not at Burger King, where I can “have it my way”. But seriously?! You are going to mock and question my choice of breakfast sandwich. I said I want an Egg McMuffin with out the meat. Is it really that hard to punch into your register? I didn’t ask for the sense of disdain that came along with me giving my order.

To top it off, Esther’s meal got downgraded to just the sandwich, with a side of ridicule.

A new look on my blog, a new decision to write again. I have found a new desire to get back into the whole “blogging” thing. I have started a podcast with my brother-in-law, check it out at ClaytonScott.net. More tomorrow.

This was one of the most relaxing weekends I have had in a long time. Yesterday, Esther and I had a lazy day, which has been much deserved. I bought a sweater, a new shirt and a pair of linen pants from the Gap, Esther bought a rather fetching shirt. We spent the rest of the day being lazy. We had dinner outside, the weather was beautiful, and learned to play cribbage. Esther beat me very badly, although not quite a skunking.

Today, Esther gave this post it’s title. We decided to paint the guest room with a nice bright orange. Not then entire room, just a two walls. The color is called Mandarin, a gorgeously bright shade. We thought it would make for a nice baby room if (when) the time comes.

Now I think that I am going to watch TV. Esther and I are going to go on a walk to enjoy the weather, but other than that… a lazy day.

Joanna, my sisiter, relayed to me a story involving a discussion she had with her (at that point) future father-in-law. In casual dinner conversation she had mentioned that Esther and I try to eat as much organic that we can. The father-in-law works in the agribusiness, actually works for the largest producer of genetically engineered seeds. My sister’s small mention of my diet turned into a showdown at the OK Corral. Him wondering why anyone would want to eat organic, her finally firing back with the fact that my wife’s father died of cancer and that it’s okay to eat organic.

I found it interesting that Mr. Agribiz was so anti organic. On one hand I can understand, it can eventually take food out of his kids mouth, but after today I have decided that he could ultimately find a new line of work.

CNN is reporting that a California study links autism to pesticides. Now I know that Mr. Agribiz doesn’t work in the pesticides division, but ultimately it’s all the same ball of wax. Needless to say, this blog is certified organic.