Archives - Weekly Update

You have heard of class trips. Well, this week we did a staff trip. We have a lot of new people in the office, and though our company is small, people do not get to interface with each other as much as you might think as we are all glued to our computer screens. So this week at the suggestion of Erin Quinn, our Project Director, we did a staff outing. There was something very, very strange about turning off our computers in the middle of the day and walking out of the office en masse.

Last Sunday I was reading --- and enjoying --- MINI SHOPAHOLIC while sitting poolside on what was a brilliantly sunny late summer afternoon. The main character in these books, Becky Brandon is always scheming and thinking out of the box. Typically some wild consequences result as whatever she touches turns her into some modern fashion-addicted version of Lucy Ricardo. That said reading her escapades is one of those things that gets your brain going.

When I write the newsletter opener each week, it usually involves at least three trips from my office downstairs to the kitchen for something crunchy to eat, typically big pretzels with salt. I munch and type. A few months ago I decided to cut back on carbs, and two friends suggested I roast kale. They went on and on and on about its heavenly delights and how it tastes just like potato chips. Wow! I bought some, tossed it in oil and salt as directed, and baked it. And when I chewed it, I was not thinking potato chip. Maybe to cows it tastes like a potato chip. To me, well, maybe I had a bad batch of kale and the potato chip tasting one evaded me. Today I am trying carrot chips, these really nifty carrots I found in North Carolina that look like chips. They are orange; they are in no way close to potato chips, but at least I like carrots, unlike kale.

We’re back, and I’m very well read after this short hiatus; more on that in a bit. My annual beach vacation took a turn uphill to the mountains midweek as Hurricane Earl threatened the Outer Banks. The week started with perfectly blue skies and lots of time for reading and floating, but The Weather Channel was rolling in the background with ominous threats for the latter part of the week; by Friday, Jim Cantore was actually awarded an Emmy for Best Dramatic Performance by the Whalebone Surf Shop. By Wednesday, evacuations for the southern Outer Banks were on, though we were told we did not have to leave as we stay further north. I hit the grocery store to buy food that could be grilled in case the power went out and water. Thursday morning my husband was playing golf when the auto-call came calling for mandatory evacuation for the county we were in with instructions to collect all belongings, including all food, and proceed to express checkout (I had no idea what THAT was); the skies were still blue.