Mike Wazowski

Pie's looking good, my man! Can't wait to see the final result. Hope the mobility work continues to help with all the stiffness and junk!

Thanks! 🤞 Noted - given how this first attempt turned out better than it had any right to, I suspect there are many more homemade soups in my future (especially as we descend into what passes for "winter" in Texas).

Oof, sorry to hear work's been such a drag these days, but glad to hear you found a treasure trove of online info about guitar playing to dive headfirst into! I dunno if this is true for everyone, but I find I'm way more motivated to learn theoretical info if there's something I can practically apply it to (e.g. I learned a lot more about data science by actually having a problem / project to apply it to than if I just amorphously tried to learn some skills) - but wanted to lob it out there in case it informs how you tackle learning guitar stuff.

Oh, and quick update: other than making soup, all I did yesterday was eat some cookie dough ice cream and start bingeing the Queen's Gambit (I know I'm a month late to get on this train, at least, but damn it's a good show). Basically slept in and plan to just shamble along through today until the end of the work day, then spend my weekend in sort of reflection and planning mode for the upcoming year (since I'm still waiting on a COVID test result and, pending a negative result and continued asymptomatic-ness, the earliest I could do much outside my home other than walking outdoors is Saturday evening, but that doesn't stop me from thinking of things in the "after I'm in the clear or fully recovered" future a few weeks to a month out). Oh!! And I sharpened my knife (full sharpen, rather than just the honing pass) before starting on the soup prep yesterday and I think it helped me eke out a bit better performance from it - carrots were still not pleasant to chop finely, but they went at least a bit more smoothly than they have in the past.

Haha, that got a good chuckle out of me (and I really liked the production value of it / the musical style).

Glad I could give you a nudge. And dayum, I like that one!

Thank you both - I'm at day number 6 post-last-contact with him and haven't shown any symptoms yet (god, I've never been so grateful to get a whiff of scented stuff around my home and still be able to smell it). I'm starting to believe I might've lucked out and either not caught it or developed a nearly asymptomatic case (knock on wood). Oh ya, haha, sous vide is *definitely* too much effort for me- I wish I had seen this just a bit earlier yesterday, I stopped the poaching a bit prematurely (but letting it simmer after a less-than-perfect shred was still a good end result!). And in true "I'm basically my Polish grandmother" form, I made enough to fill a six quart pot and the end result was very thick with noodles, shredded chicken, etc. Very happy with the end result and will have to see how well it freezes when I have to head out of town (in addition to sharing some of it with the BF, who's currently basically only able to eat soup). Thank you! Crossing my fingers on that.

I do, but I tend not to use it for things that I know I'll want to tweak seasonings in on the fly (like making soup from scratch, without a recipe that I'm going off of). But, conundrum solved, I found at least one chicken soup recipe that calls for poaching the chicken, then dicing it later (it was written for bone-in breasts, but whatever, the technique won't be *that* different). 🤞 here's hoping!! Right now, I'm just happy that his symptoms are still on the mild end, I'm asymptomatic (or don't have it, but we don't know yet) and crossing my fingers that all that continues to hold!

Ooh, please do at least get more info about that course!

Oh my gosh, I had forgotten about Spätzle - first had them when my German professor made them for my intro class in college and loved them. I have now gone down a rabbit hole in the best possible way, so thank you for that! I know this might be a silly question to ask an Austrian, but do you use a Spaetzle maker when you make yours at home? Or have you found a workaround that you like?

Based solely on that makeup listing and your reported time taken, you are far, far faster at applying makeup than I can comprehend (granted, once a month was my typical frequency for stage performances, and I'm sure practice plays a role, especially with, like, eyeliner). But also, sorry to hear that a promising product was annoyingly drying - can't have been the best way to start the day!

Alright, y'all, bad news update: BF tested positive, so now I've got a flowchart that shows me, depending on what my test from yesterday shows, when the earliest I can leave quarantine / self-isolation is. It's not *super encouraging* but it helps to see that there is one scenario where I could safely travel home for Christmas, and a few others where I could spend time with my family the week after. It'll be really tough needing to be facetimed in with my family if things come to that, but I'm doing my best to take things in stride. I'm still symptom-free, which is certainly helping my optimism a bunch. But the past couple days have had some really good social time, in spite of that - we had a work virtual holiday party on Tuesday where a few coworkers and I had an irreverent group chat going on the side (and we had some time in breakout rooms that was genuinely fun); got to facetime with one of my graduated college kids about life and nerdery (including which Marvel / Star Wars content we're most excited about, I made a pitch to her that she absolutely should look into Thrawn as a Star Wars character because she's a huge art history nerd); FaceTimed my parents yesterday; and had our usual weekly Wednesday night D&D game and chatting afterwards, which was great for the soul. Oh, and although I did not get enough sleep last night, I finished reading the novel that's kept me up too late, so that's a win! Also, I've got the fixings to make homemade chicken noodle soup (for my possible upcoming sickness, and maybe dropping off a bowl or two for my boyfriend given his confirmed sickness). Anyone have ideas on how to best cook chicken thighs (boneless and skinless) for the soup? I want really tender, juicy meat, and I'm on the fence between poaching them in the soup broth (but concerned about making it cloudy) and braising them in the oven (but worried about length of time that'll take, since I've literally never braised anything successfully).

I am SO HERE for the cookie pics!

🤞!!! And seconding what hatter said - you're an awesome friend looking out for her.

Truth. F*ck it, I rescind any prior apologies for TMI earlier So far so good, minus my SECOND thermometer of the year crapping out on me. And me having trouble finding the extra my parents sent home with me after Thanksgiving. Agreed!!

Yuuup. Honestly, true - and I'm going with the fan theory that he's definitely gay (meticulous planner, dismantles his opponents with his knowledge of ART, etc.). This book doesn't even have him, but he still looms large over the plot. Oooh boy, sounds like a treat! I always felt bad for the straight out of college new hires that my old employer slapped into project management roles.

You built one yourself? How hard was it? Not that I need more projects to work on, haha.

Haha seems accurate. I'll point out that regular bowel movements also have extra importance for specifically gay relationships (and that's as much as I'll elaborate). Most definitely not - I'm adopting some project management tools because I recognize their value in helping me with anxiety management (specifically, by avoiding the unpleasantness from being overcommitted and not being able to do everything I planned / committed to) and with focus / managing some ADD-like symptoms / coping strategies that pop up with my anxiety. I've been on a vintage Timothy Zahn Star Wars novel kick - currently reading "Vision of the Future" and enjoying it very much (is it somewhat formulaic in that all of TZ's Star Wars novels have a somewhat similar narrative structure? sure, but it's still enjoyable to read). Hahahaha bless project managers - or at least, the good ones. Hahahaha I've definitely been there with past PM's. Current company, they kinda expect people managers or individual contributors to self-PM, at least in my department.

Holiday 2.1: Morning kicked off with my BF letting me know that he started experiencing some COVID-like symptoms and was self-isolating (he also got a test, and will let me know results once he knows them). As a result, a lot of my plans for the week have been upended, and I'll be playing holiday travel home by ear, pending how a COVID test pans out from tomorrow and my continued lack of symptoms (so far, I feel nothing out of the ordinary at all). But, despite all that, I'm in reasonably good spirits - I recently restarted meditating / praying and it was a wake up call during my first session when I realized how foreign slowing down my thoughts and taking deep breaths felt. I also did some journaling yesterday night and it helped me get my head back on straight from some anxiety. Both those solidly passed their surprise auditions for "habits Mike should make foundational going into the new year," a topic I'll be putting some more thought into - other top candidates include sleeping amply, daily mobility work (especially given my sedentary job but part-timing as a competitive athlete), some form of scheduling / planning (with a particular aim to forcing myself to make tradeoffs up front in my time budget and not consistently try to fit 190 hours of stuff into a 168 hour week), and some form of home cleaning / basic maintenance (I recently cleaned up my kitchen counters and it made me far happier than I expected it to), and some form of regular meal prepping and eating lots of veggies (I've been eating my pre-prepped, veggie-dense meals the past few days and have definitely felt fuller and noticed positive things on the bowel movement front, at the risk of TMI). Or I guess, to be more precise, I know all of those will make the foundation, it's just fleshing out the specifics of them that I still need to do (along with thinking about goals over the next 1 year, and how I can pare them down to a realistically achievable number and slot them in). Intended to get to bed early, got sucked in to reading a novel (whoops) - at least it's a step up from bingeing a show on the couch til 2 am?

It's not fun, I'm right there with you on needing to do PT / mobility work on my body, but not really wanting to (sigh...) Umm, I know what you mean, buuuuuuut lemons and limes are still fruits! Both are up there on favorite pies for me as well, here's hoping it turns out well for you (and I'll be ogling the pics for sure). 😍 I've only had "health food grab n go" chicken tinga, but even that was quite good - I imagine your homemade version was even better!!

I'm the same with internet recipes - I'm really comfortable with tweaking most on the stove preparations on the fly (god bless Samin Nosrat's book for that empowerment) but haven't gotten that level of comfort with baking or any other oven-based preparation. And as a result, I make the occasional dud of a recipe.

Ya, I'll keep my colander, too (though I made do without one for years with just the pot lid, but shhhhhhh not the point). Pot racks are definitely interesting - though maybe because I have a reasonably large amount of cabinet space (read: live in Texas and live alone) it hasn't popped up as a super necessary kitchen helper (though totally something I'd think about were I to reorganize my kitchen, either due to moving or maybe just because).

WOO WORKOUT!!!! That's awesome!

Dude, that blows. Sorry to hear.

I've got an electric sharpener, because I'm lazy. So I consider myself set for now.