Soup in the Second Degree (Burn)

Today's soup offering: Beef vegetable barley soup.

My e-mail to the cafeteria manager:

"While delicious, today's beef barley soup was a bit too hot. While pouring it into a bowl today, it splattered and spilled onto my hand. The skin is scalded and red in two places and it really hurt! The temperature of the soup seems excessively hot and I worry about this happening to others. I can't be the only klutzy one out there! Just something you might want to check on."

My second e-mail to the cafeteria manager:

"In follow up to my previous e-mail, I wanted to let you know a small blister has formed on my skin where I was burned. It stands to reason that the cafeteria should check out any foods or beverages that cause second-degree burns. I am feeling better now, but I just wanted to let you know since safety is very important to your operations. Thanks!"

His response:

"Thank you for your feedback about our soup, though I am sorry to hear about your incident this afternoon. I will speak with the chef about making sure that the food is at a safe temperature to be served, especially when it's a self-serve station like the soup area. The safety of our customers and staff is a high priority and we will try to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.
Thanks again for your feedback and please contact me with any further questions or concerns. "

Makin' Out! (Sort of)

Photo shoot last weekend- here are some of the proofs. I hope there are more. The photographer posted some additional ones on her blog (http://www.martalocklear.com/blog/?p=368). Not sure how expensive they are yet!

I'm sitting here, but my mind isn't

I have a stong affinity for maps.

A map represents soil where I haven't stood, air I haven't breathed, and throughts I haven't had.

A map represents everyone I haven't laid eyes on.

They are doing some of the same things I'm doing- bending to pick up a quarter, stepping on a Lego, drinking water, scratching my knee, folding a piece of paper.

But they're doing things I'm NOT doing- herding sheep, watching a lava flow, brushing desert sand from their eyes, burning incense, comforting a child with AIDS, riding a crowded bullet train.

They are out there just the same as I am. Do they feel it?

Hot

It's murderously hot.

The heat is bleaching the green out of everything.

These Worhol prints remind me of it,

now that the sun's gone down.

No Skwish!

Six Sigma Blue Belt Certification

Sweet! I completed my blue belt project last week, and received my certificate and blue belt today from my boss, Charlie.
Six Sigma is fact-based methodology used to achieve, sustain and maximize business success, and it's used as part of "best practices" in corporations across the county.
I attended a training course last month and analyzed and completed a process analysis to determine if we could improve one of the processes we use in our department.

Dominion's certification program is highly regarded in the business world. Talk about a resume builder!

And yes, it looks just like a martial arts belt. My boss is working on his Black Belt certification.

LOL Cat

This just made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Check out the link to this website. Best LOL cat ever.

Our Big Bang on the 4th

A huge storm rolled through around 4:30 yesterday with 60 mile-an-hour winds. The strong winds and horizonal rain battered trees, toppled fences, bent street signs, and left about 1200 of us without power.

The neighbor's back fence bore the brunt of the winds! The entire fence along the back of his property is toast.

No need to prune that large tree in the back now!

Oh, snap!

When it was finally over, we opened the back door to find that the dumpster had tipped over and large branches had accumulated, partially blocking the door.

Fireworks were cancelled :(

Our power was out from about 5:30 p.m. unil 10:00 p.m. We cheered when the lights came back on!

Wall-E

We saw Wall-E last weekend, and it was awesome! Parker is now obsessed. As soon as we got back from the movies, he drew the main characters, Wall-E and Eve. He also created a pretty authentic Wall-E out of Legos!

Thai and Goodbye

Amber's last hurrah! The family got together at the Thai Room in Richmond to celebrate with her.

I'm a little suspicious of the cuisine!