stoked (did you see what I did there?)

Ended the week on a really nice note. It was bright, though not as hot as it has been, though I was still in cutoffs and my shirt, so I really can't complain. I coated the screens and caught the hat transfers that were run (as well as set up and broke down the hat transfers). With hats, you print the design backwards, then put this powdered glue on it, and send it down the dryer. Then you use a heat press to transfer the image to a hat (or any other fabric surface). The paper you print on just peels away. Pretty neat. So we made a bunch of hat transfers, and I finished the day by pressing a bunch of hats. There are more to press, but only a few got done. I also cut up some stickers and stuff. All in all, pretty nice.

Ryan and I caught a showing of Park Chan-wook's film Stoker at the Del Mar. I got popcorn for dinner and I put wasabi powder on it. Wasabi is a vegetable, right? Anyway, the movie was visually quite amazing and the performances were stellar, and oh that sound track! The script was written by Wentworth Miller, which surprised me.

I haven't been out to the movies in a while, it feels like, so it felt good to go.

Might hang with the Brother during the weekend. Or I'll just take it easy. We shall see.

fine for failure to observe mountain

Another relatively solo day at work. It was once again a beautiful day and I was in cut offs.

I burned a couple screens right at the start, then I got to cleaning. I reclaimed 11 screens, and got those drying, and I broke down the press, and I cleaned a few more screens, and reclaimed a couple more, and taped up some, and OH I coated the screens from yesterday. Tomorrow will be more coating, and then I think we'll have a good number of screens on hand to burn. We need to call some of the people to see if they plan on running jobs soon, because there are a lot of screens sitting, and they could be reclaimed any ol' day.

I finished Handmaid's Tale. So good. Started The Left Hand of Darkness, which is pretty interesting. I'm really getting through audiobooks these past couple weeks, it seems. But they are also shorter ones. I define short as 6-9 hours, which is about 3 work days worth of listening, because I sometimes break it up with music.

At home I washed dishes, had a fried egg sandwich for dinner, watched some telly. Might actually properly leave the house tomorrow. We shall see.

nanners

While I like having more daylight, my body still isn't liking the adjustment to Daylight Savings. Still, gotta force it to lay down.

Work was scattered and all over the place, but good news! I'm back in cutoffs! It is warming up. Yaay.

I caught, I cleaned, I reclaimed 3 screens and coated them, I reclaimed another 16 and those will be coated tomorrow. There are still a good 20 screens to clean, but not all are being reclaimed. Screens keep getting set in the "we may run them soon" pile. I think it is better to have screens on hand to run immediate jobs, but I guess it does save a bit of effort and materials if they are ready to go.

I've been sneezing, so I guess my mysterious vague pollen allergy is acting up. It is just sneezing though. Could be dust.

Handmaid's Tale is so good. A damn awesome piece of speculative fiction (not quite science fiction, though in a similar vein). I have it in my library, if you want to borrow it Ma.

After work, which was a nice full day, I went to get banana bread fixings because the bananas I had went really brown really quick for some reason. I doubled the recipe for double the tasty, and they baked up really well. I'll have to think of something to do with the extra buttermilk. Don't want to waste it.

See, with this week, Thursday really snuck up on me. I guess because Monday put me in such a mood that it sort of became this null in my mind. The lasagna has lasted me perfectly all week as a meal. I'll be back to PB&J soon. Unless I hard boil some eggs and make egg salad sandwich.

I just love banana bread. I made it with that turbinado sugar. Mmmm. Betty Crocker can't fail.

he has the haaaair!

Today was a very good day at work! A lot got done, and a lot went very well. It was also very, very warm. I think I might even wear cut offs tomorrow. It was much too hot, but of course the dryer was going and we were running jobs, which makes things much more warm. Ran fronts and backs on shorts, ran fronts and backs on shirts. I just checked the weather. It is supposed to be 70+ degrees in Santa Cruz all the way through the weekend. BOOYAH! Listened to The Handmaid's Tale. Ahh Margaret Atwood. Such a good writer. It was a full day of work. I wanted to make banana bread after, but I was missing some ingredients, so I did not make banana bread. I drew this drawing of Benedict Cumberbatch instead, because they are going to start filming Sherlock soon and I am SO EXCITED!

grumble grumble

Uhg. Tough day at work. Didn't go well. Stressful. Taped up stuff. Ran a job, and while my running was fine there was something with the shirt and ink. Not my fault but still, just...stressful. Things should go smoothly, or at least smooth enough.

Had a restful night sleep as well. Will probably be tucking in early. I guess my body still thinks of right now at 10pm. So maybe I'll sit and bed and read. Just want to relax. Don't like being stressed and stuff.

The lasagna was good for lunch. Num nums lasagna.

Got the package, Ma!

Today left me wiped. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Spring is coming

Be sure to check out the March 11th Google Doodle. It is in celebration of Douglas Adams' 61st Birthday. I wouldn't be who I am without him, seriously.

Saturday:

Got a full 12 hours in bed, and I woke up feeling great. This whole weekend has been excellent in terms of decompacting all the knots and stress that have built up over this past week. I ran some shopping errands, namely to get lasagna making supplies. I also scrubbed the bath tub and shower curtain and washed the bath rug and went at the no slip thing with the hose. My bathroom, since it has no fan, is a total mildew trap. Trying to clean that gunk out. I was mildly successful. The no-slip needs more work, but it does have a cleaner vibe as a whole.

It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Steve came down from San Jose for lasagna. He helped prepare it. Well he mixed the cheese mixture up. He may have been a bit generous with the portions as he likes cheese. While it was cooking we drank wine and worked on crossword puzzles. I've never put dry lasagna noodles in the lasagna, as the recipe called for, and I didn't trust it this time around, so I put cooked noodles in. It was a bit...well it became more a lasagna puddle and didn't hold its shape too well when it was cut apart. But it was still tasty. Afterwards we watched Ravenous, a favorite movie of mine.

Sunday:

For brunch, Steve & I went to The Buttery. I had the avocado, egg, tomato croissant sandwich and he had the egg, cheese, and bacon one. Also there were pecan and chocolate treats from the bakery side of things. It was all tasty, as The Buttery has consistently been. It is assuredly a place for me to take visiting relatives.

We walked about Santa Cruz after, because it was yet another beautiful day. Steve had errands in San Jose, so he departed relatively early in the afternoon. I ran my laundry and took it easy for the rest of the day. Watched some telly, folded some shirts, looked into scanners. Since I can get bulk shirts from work, I looked into the brands on the distribution site. Might get some nice solid colored shirts next paycheck. Mmm hmm.

I predict next week will contain a lot of cleaning, reclaiming, and coating, with a few smaller jobs ran.

thank Douglas it's Friday

I am bushwhacked. I am beyond bushwhacked. This week kicked my butt absolutely and totally. And it was a full 40 hour work week on top of doing some really laborious stuff.

At work I taped screens, and they were popped into the press right as I was done. I also cleaned a couple floodbars. It was an 8 color job and it took a few screen swaps to get it right, but we got it right! And it looked pretty awesome. We printed the fronts, I caught. I did some tidying up while the Boys swapped the press to run the fronts. Then I caught the fronts. And boxed them. Then it was time to go home and take my "damn I am tired" relaxation bath.

I'm going to sleep so hard now. It's going to be awesome. I think I'll make lasagna tomorrow. That'll be nice. I'm trying to switch up my lunch meals. I've done pretty good in the not having a PB&J five days in a row front, though the PB&J is a lot more satiating in the long run compared to leftover Chinese food, and the burrito, whole good, also doesn't fill like it ought. Plus it is harder to eat gradually through the day.

I'll probably make more portraits to scan

Blerggh I don't feel too good. I had a very fitful night sleep, and this whole week has been very tiring. Plus I worked a damn full shift today. I heat pressed backpacks, did a banner, reclaimed & coated screens, burned screens, burned more screens. It was a very full day. I got some fast food on the way home, because I was lazy. Unfortunately I don't think my body can really eat fast food any more. At least, not a massive quantity of it. The way I graze through my work day makes it difficult for me to sit and have one big meal.

So I'm going to bed now. So tired. Nice to be having hours though. A nice big full week. It's good to have because I've had some really short days.

I think I said earlier in the week that I'll probably be saying "wow this week went by fast" but it didn't. This week feels like two weeks. At least I can treat myself to a scanner soon. With a scanner, I can scan art, and make art to scan. Wheee!

derp

I arrived at work and Stu was already sorting sweatpants, so I broke down the press and cleaned squeegees and floodbars. Then the job was set up and I ran it. Several hundred sweatpants, and I ran it at good time. It slowed down when I had to drape the pant leg (we printed on one side of the pant only) over the arms of the press (the arm that holds the pallet that gets the stuff printed on). That was run, and that took most of the shift. It was boxed up and counted and numbered and whatnot. I cleaned some screens, so those should be reclaimed tomorrow.

I got out of work at a good time, so I swung by Jiffy Lube and got my oil changed. Then I went home and parked it and there is where my trouble began. At home I changed and then left for Trader Joe's and then my car was like BEEP BEEP WARNING LIGHT WHAT THE HELL. So I drove it back home (I was two blocks away) and called the Jiffy Lube and they told me to come in. So I did. My car was not accelerating past 12 MPH for the last stretch, but through diligence  use of warning flashers, and pulling over to the side when possible, I made it. They gave it another look over and did a scan and said that there was a battery alert and that was all that was coming up and that they didn't do anything wrong. But after having it there and having it sit, the battery charged up a bit, and thinking about a warning message that briefly flashed about parking in neutral, and calling dad, the pieces fell into place and without a doubt I had, like a dumbass, accidentally left my car in neutral (or it had been in neutral at the shop when they repaired it, though driving home should have charged the battery back up) when I went home, and drained the battery. I drove it down Highway 1 a bit, got it up to good speeds, and all was fine.

Now I know what happens when I drain my battery. Like I said, I feel a right dumb ass. They were really nice about it, though I didn't come at them with full accusations of bad service.

After all that, I went to Trader Joe's and did some good proper shopping. Went home, had some dinner, settled in and all was once again well.

Seriously, such a dumb mistake to make.

da-da da-da da-da DA

I dug out my old crossword puzzle book, this one I got in Portland a few years back (yikes, Portland now counts as being "a few years back") and I've been working on the puzzles. There are 50 in the book and I am one solved puzzle away from 100%. Unfortunately the puzzles themselves are a bit dated (1999) so some of the clues need Googling. I should see if Bookshop Santa Cruz has a more up to date puzzle book.

I think I forgot to mention this, but last week at work a chicken wandered into the studio and I had to chase it out. Silly chicken!

We got right to printing, and because it was fronts and because it wasn't so affixed to the pallets and because the fronts didn't make much registration, we were done with the job by 3:30ish! I was properly tired, of course. So very. Tired. Arms, legs, knees, all that good stuff. So many sweaters. Stu caught and Kara/Cara/I should really learn how to spell her name boxed. We chatted about stuff and it was nice. After that massive job, I burned and taped some screens and the press was broken down by Andrew and then I called it a day at around 6, because even though I could have worked more I was properly pooped. At least I have a job that is flexible and not NO YOU MUST WORK THIS MANY HOURS EVERY DAY.

My refund checks went through, so I treated myself to some take out. Num nums. I picked up a menu from Yan Flower and am highlighting the stuff I've tried. It all tastes a bit the same, though the snow peas and water chestnuts aren't half bad and the ginger beef has WAY too much ginger. Now I must research scanners! Weekend goals: oil & filter change, and scanner research. Wheee! Maybe some thrift shopping for work pants. I just wore a hole through the knee.

Welp. Time to rest. Hopefully tomorrow will be easier on my old bones.

Except they are not old at all, just not used to being used. Hhaha.

Oh after work I also took a nice hot bath and worked on crosswords. That bath was awesome. Viva baths!

mondaaaay

Mailed some letters, got to work, set up ze job, and spent the rest of the day printing the job. Boss started, but I took over after the really small sweaters were printed. 468. That is a lot of sweaters, and it took a lot of repeated effort to tug them off the pallets. Tomorrow will be the fronts, but they should go faster because it is a smaller print area and the set up is only underbase and top white. I'm going to get big muscles soon, if I keep this up. I'm looking forward to it.

What was that filter I should get changed when I get my oil changed? Gotta do that this week.

Back at home I relaxed and didn't really move any more once I got to my room. I predict tomorrow will have a similar evening. Yay for laborious jobs!

my banana bits are all gone, boo

Found my book of easy crossword puzzles, so I've been working on those. I've got a few more of the clues, so that is good. Hurray!

I have eight cards ready to post in the morning. That is pretty swell. I'll have to come up with a new design soon. I think I'll come up with several designs, and print a ton of cards, so that I could sell them in an Etsy/street fair type scenario. Have 'em on hand and whatnot. I'm going to run out of stamps at about the same time that I run out of cards.

I made a Staples run to pick up more envelopes. It was a beautiful day. The days are looking nicer and nicer. I can't wait to be back in my cut offs. I have one pair of work jeans that I didn't turn into shorts, and they are getting mighty worn.

I need to get a second pair of work jeans...except they would be clean new jeans and I like to wear older clothes to work because the ink doesn't really come out of clothes. Maybe I'll go thrift shopping or something.

Hmm.

Anyhoo. It was a quiet Sunday. Wrote letters. Tidied up my room.

Another week begins, and soon I shall be saying "wow that week went by fast!".

out and about & in and din

Friday:

Ran the front and backs on a shirt. Broke down the press. Moved on to Moving Pictures, yet another Discworld audiobook. Burnt a couple screens. Sorted and stacked several huge piles of sweatshirts. Lots of printing is going to go down soon. It'll be nice to clock the hours.

After work I got some cupcakes and went up to San Jose and hung out with Steve, Kyle, Molly, Adam, and Jenn. We had pot roast and stew and bread and wine and played Settles of Catan (Steve won). It was a good night all in all. I got back late and promptly went to sleep.

Saturday:

Slept way, way in. Had some funky dreams. Had a massive scramble. Caught up on television. Ate some chocolate covered banana bits. Generally had a relaxing day. Quite nice, really.

I learned a cool trick to multiplying large numbers. It utilizes lines and counting intersections of things.

licensed Californian

When I got home today my mailbox contained my new drivers license (the photo doesn't look too good, but that is the way it goes), my second refund check aka the big one, and a letter from Serenity. Triple score!

Then the interior hall light when out when I turned it on. Oh well.

At work I set up and ran a job, and it didn't need to get the thumbs up from the boss man. I was all kinds of trusted to run it. That was awesome. I also did these heat transfers on these things. And set up the backs on another job. And did four banners. And cut some stickers. And cleaned squeegees. Pretty productive day at the studio.

Can't believe it is Friday already! These weeks are just going by too fast.

title for a post

Another lovely full day! Things are revving up. There are also many many boxes ready to be counted and sorted. That'll be a good deal of work. Hurray, summer season! Almost been here a year now.

Two smaller jobs were ran, but first I burned and taped all the screens. Also bagged the banners and weeded some stuff. Found out my coworker watches Game of Thrones, so now I have a third show to talk to him about. Hurray! Conversation!

I did a grocery run. Trillian recommends Trader Joe's sliced up chocolate covered bananas. Found in the freezer aisle. Yum.

Now the weekend is fast approaching. And March. Time moves fast.

Still waiting on my license and other refund. Come on money!

historical children's fiction, yay!

I had my beloved full work day today! Hurray! I coated screens. I need to mix up a new batch of emulsion. I cut stickers, I bagged stickers, I weeded vinyl, and I did banners. Banners are time consuming and it is hard to do them because you have to be gentle when you fold them over, so they don't get creased and damaged and stuff. I'm all caught up on Tobolowsky Files. Guess it is time to listen to some more audiobooks. First up: The Red Necklace. Narrated by Tom Hiddleston. Yaaay!

At home I had some oatmeal and tea and was properly tired for the rest of the night.

Still waiting on my license and other refund.

Oh and there was a shooting in a neighborhood about a mile from my house. Happened when I was at work. Yeesh.

time to read when all I want is time to work

Ended up working a very short day due to circumstances that should be resolved by tomorrow. I reclaimed some screens, burned and taped one, ate a pork burrito, tidied up the studio.

After work I took a very nice bath and spent more Amazon gift card money (The Marriage Plot, used for super cheap! and The Stockholm Octavo sounded cool). I had some garlic toast for a dinner snack, and took it easy with a big mug o' tea.

I'm hoping the hours will pick up soon. Like...tomorrow.

I suddenly have a case of the tireds, even though I haven't been through much exertion lately.

piles of pork

Saturday:

I think we know by now how I started my day. And what I probably ate.

At 4:30ish, I headed up to San Jose to see Steve. We met up with his friends Molly and Kyle and then we went out for Barbecue at Smoking Pig BBQ. It was a pretty damn authentic BBQ joint. Big cookers outside, food serving on trays instead of plates, piles of meat, live blues/jazz band, not a single air to put on. It was awesome. I ordered a pound of pulled pork, totally forgetting how much a pound of food is, quantity wise. At least I'll have plenty of left overs...for the next three days. I ate until I was properly stuffed (had a mac n cheese and corn bread side) and ate some more and even then it didn't look like I put a dent in it. Afterwards we hung out at Kyle and Molly's and watched TV. Last Exile, Outlaw Star, Archer. Good stuff! There were even Thin Mints, which made my night.

Stuffed with food, and pretty tired I opted to stay in San Jose instead of driving home. Better safe than rolled into a ditch on 17.

Sunday:

It was an absolutely beautiful day, from San Jose down to Santa Cruz. Back in Santa Cruz I made myself a pork, beef, beans, rice burrito for a late breakfast. Spent the rest of the day sitting back, drinking tea, watching stuff, and drinking more tea. ParaNorman didn't went Best Animate Feature, so that was a bummer. I couldn't find a good stream for the Oscars, so I just watched Ripper Street. The good stuff will be available online anyway.

Now the tired is creeping back up on me. The weekend is over already! Back to work. More printing is ahead of me. Printing and all that other jazz.

it was almost 60 degrees today, almost

Uhhgg I don't feel so hot. I got something lodged in my throat while I was eating an apple (possibly a bit of the apple) and I've been feeling off ever since. Maybe I'm just tired or something. Worn down a bit. I'll be going to bed soon, hopefully sleep will resolve whatever it is.

Today was a shorter work day. It started a bit later too, which was nice because it gave me time to run my errands. Got to Trader Joe's and got some snacks and got some cash back. I included some money in my print portfolio, to cover the cost of mailing me my portfolio when they are all assembled. I figure that giving whoever on the other end some money will make it a better incentive to mail me it, as opposed to expecting them to foot the bill. I went to the post office and got even MORE stamps and sent off my package. I'm so set for stamps, except now I'm running low on envelopes. Not dangerously slow, but I'll run out of them before I run out of cards.

At work I burned a bunch of screens, and then taped up those screens. More printing is on its way! And we are printing another seasonal run of the stuff that I first printed when I was hired! Oh how time flies. 9 months? Dang.

Went home. Worked on my correspondence. Went to CTV for movie night. Though it turned into watching Mr. Bean with Ryan, Sarah, and Vietta and then going to see Warm Bodies. So that was nice, despite my cough.

Warm Bodies was very delightful. I had quite a few good laughs, and it is always nice for the heroine in a horror film to 1) not die 2) not run around in heels 3) not have a full face of makeup ALL THE TIME. Anyway, I enjoyed it and the company was good.

Not sure what will take place this weekend. Depends on how I wake up feeling.

carded

Today was super good! My alarm went off at the not so agreeable hour of 6:10am. I got out of bed at 7am, showered, opted not to eat breakfast, put makeup on, and headed to the DMV at about 7:35ish. I arrived at just a bit after 8, which was exactly when they opened. My appointment was at 9, but I was put to the front of the queue, or rather near the front, so I got in at 8:15ish to deal with paperwork, so all was good! My paperwork was approved, I didn't even need to prove my address! Maybe people move more in California. Oh, and I didn't even need my Social Security Card...but it is good to have it, just in case. Then I got my picture taken. I don't know what I look like in it, so hopefully I look good. Then I took the test, and that was nerve wracking! I did pass, though there were some stumpers. The phrasing is what gets you. Still, I passed, and my new license should be to me in a week or so. Hurray!

I returned home, had breakfast, and then went in to work, and I arrived at work at my usual time! All that activity before my shift even starts. I'm very thankful for my 10:30am start. But due to the fluctuating nature of my work, it ended up being that there wasn't much for me to do that day. So after an hour and a half, I went home. Hours will be coming soon, this week was heavy on the off site install stuff, which I don't help with. At home I had a burrito, and set up my screen for printing. It went a lot easier this time around, because I was just using white and black ink for my prints. I printed the white on the card and the white on my "Luck" print portfolio print, and then washed the screen, and then once it was dry, I printed the black on the card, and then washed it out again. And that was it! A good days worth of personal work. Got another batch of cards, and my prints all ready to go. Popping the portfolio in the mail tomorrow and a few cards as well.

For dinner I had an eggy scramble. It was tasty. So all in all, a very good day for Trillian. And tomorrow is Friday. And then the weekend! Wowza.