Tuesday, July 29, 2008

A Move to Teaneck or How I Spent My Sunday Afternoon

This is an exact quote: " It's just a one bedroom apartment, how hard could it be to move it ourselves?"

You be the judge:









My favorite: This one reminds me of the picture of the flag raising at Iwo Jima.



pi




es

Sunday, July 20, 2008

The COFFEE POT War

Trouble is brewing at work ...
The problem:
The first shot in the COFFEE POT War came when the following email was fired out to the entire office:

(Names have been shortened to first initials to protect the innocent, guilty, and my job.)

From: B
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 6:26 PM
Subject: COFFEE POT!!

To All

Please help us out!

I don't know who is leaving the empty pot either on the counter or in the sink. But have a little courtesy for the next person who may want coffee.

1) At least Rinse the Pot out and put in the Drying Rack.
2) Turn Off the Coffee Maker ! ! ! ! !
3) PLEASE DUMP THE GRINDS IN THE TRASH.
4) And Maybe make a fresh pot!
a) Use New Filter
b) Place 1 Scoop of Coffee for every two (2) cups you wish to brew.

That was simple, RIGHT?

Just Do It!



The response to this onslaught was an immediate counterattack:

From: M
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:58 PM
Subject: RE: COFFEE POT!!

B,

Please note: All CAPS denotes screaming as does any number of exclamation points. This may be considered by some to be rude, inappropriate and unprofessional.

My personal contribution to this crisis.
I personally, remove the coffee pot from the burner and place it to the right of the coffee maker when it is empty. If I finish the coffee or notice it is almost empty I turn off the coffee pot to prevent burning. I will change my ways as requested. Maybe you should expand your request to include people that leave 2 teaspoons of coffee in the pot and those that spill and don’t cleanup. I wish our major corporate challenges got as much attention and where handled with such conviction.

Rinsing a hot coffee pot can cause it to crack and fatigue the pot.

Sincerest apologies for any inconvenience and my part in this crisis.

Hopefully we can resolve the other major issues such as:
Leaving the paper trays in the printers empty
Brining home leftover food purchased for all employees.
Acting rude and treating colleagues with disrespect
Discussion of religion in the office
Public Insubordination
Not replacing water jug when it is empty.

( The email continued with a paste of a web download of “ ‘How to Clean a Coffee Maker’, Drip filter coffee makers need to be cleaned monthly to remove hard water deposits (scale), leftover coffee oils that become rancid, and other impurities. Washing the pot just isn't going to cut it: what about the internal components? Follow these steps to clean your coffee maker through and through and you'll taste the difference.’ Followed by 8 steps, 5 tips, 2 warnings, and 6 illustrations. )



I don’t drink coffee, but I entered the fray with:

From: L
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 8:15 AM

Subject: RE: COFFEE POT!!

And don't you just HATE it when someone puts an empty orange juice container back in the fridge? Or starts a new milk before the last one was finished?

L


The skirmish continued, completely ignoring MY rant, with …

From: E
Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:25 AM
Subject: RE: COFFEE POT!!

B:

Thanks for recognizing what a few of us have seen for a very long time. It would be great if everyone would contribute an occasional extra 5 minutes of their time to help straighten up in the kitchen and toss their old snacks/lunches/meeting leftovers in the refrigerator. Just a thought: there is always the option of weekly/monthly kitchen assignments, but it would have to apply to everyone in the office.

E


That was the last missive from the front.

I will post if the battle continues.

If anyone wants a copy of the complete instructions for ‘How to Clean a Coffee Maker’ let me know.

Tea anyone?

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Happy Birthday To Me


Last Sunday was my birthday.

Hooray for Geni. By 8am, I had already been wished happy birthday in person by Eli, Stacy, and my Pi, and had gotten an email from the Poot. Lumpy called when he woke up. All in all, much better than the pre-Geni days when I was lucky if one of the family members remembered my happy day sometime around 4pm if they noticed a birthday card from my parents or siblings in the mail.


The Birthday Festivities had actually started off a week early with a trip to Massachusetts for the triplet's Bnei Mitzvah, and some Berkshires tourism. The first thing Jeremy said to me was "Last time I saw you, you were taller than me. Now I am taller than you!"

As if I didn't suffer enough of that sort of abuse from the three of you.



The celebration continued with going to see the Plays In The Park production of The Producers.
My view of the stage:






Thursday evening, Papermill Playhouse's "Little Shop Of Horrors." In retrospect, it might not have been the best choice of play to take Grandma to.







My 1st surprise birthday party was at Eli and Stacy Friday nite. Sorry, no picture, for the obvious reason.

The day itself: a quick walk in Fort Tryon Park. No one to take our picture, so we had to improvise. (My Pi has a steadier hand than I.)






followed by helping out in Teaneck:













And, in the evening, a concert in the park followed by fireworks. I forgot my camera at home so I got this photo from the NJ Symphony Orchestra website, but you get the idea.





The celebration continued with my 2nd surprise party, this one at work: The wild party:

The picture at the top of this post was the cake. I had 2 pieces.





It was a very exciting week and a half for a person my age.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Introduction and Welcome!

Welcome to the KeepingUpWithTheParentalUnits blog!

So why have I started this blog?

We have found out that the best (and sometimes only) way of knowing what the Childrental Units(1) have been doing (and in which part of the world they have been doing so(2),) is to read their blog.

So it follows logically that the reverse ought to be true as well; for the Childrental Units to know what the Parental Units have been doing (and where(3)) they can read our blog!

Also, a blog is a great way to show off our vacation(3) and silly sign pictures.

And spending time blogging is better than doing laundry, dishes, etc.

So to start off: Some silly sign pictures:


Possible caption #1: This will enrage the Equal Rites For The Dead Society
Possible caption #2: Don't tow, officer , he's only sleeping...



Possible caption #1: Walk-ins Welcome.
Possible caption #2: Please don't feed the wildlife.

Feel free to suggest any other captions.

----------------------------------------------------------

(1)'Childrental' as in Children-tal not Child-rental. (We are not attempting to rent out our children, although Lumpy might consider a summer job (so long as he wouldn't have to work too hard) if one were to fall from heaven onto his lap, and finals were over.

(2) Yes, Poot, that refers to you.

(3) Now that we are free to take off anytime at all (work permitting) without having to fund a babysitter's college education, or risk losing friends(4).

(4) Although Ben's family is still talking to us anyway.