Messes

It's a good thing I use a splatter shield.

On the advice of various nutrition books/sites I decided to switch from "quick 1-minute" oatmeal in the morning to "old-fashioned" oatmeal. Basically the old-fashioned ones are whole oats versus 1-minute, which are oats that have been cut up some so they cook faster. This being the first time I've had whole oats in a while I read the directions, mixed everything together and popped it into the microwave.

Now, with 1-minute oats, the directions are 1.5 to 2 minutes in the microwave and I've found I needed the full 2 minutes to cook the things. So, when the old-fashioned said they took 2.5 to 3 minutes, I put them in for the full three minutes.

That would appear to be a bit long. It's a good thing I use a splatter shield - most of the oatmeal did stay in the bowl, thanks to the cover. And I suppose the microwave did need a cleaning anyway. ;-)

Geek time

You know you're a law geek when you get excited that the U.S. Supreme Court has accepted cert on a case which has some pretty interesting, if esoteric, consequences for the field you practice.

Basically, it gets down to the role of Congressional reports in determining availability of funds, as opposed to actual statutory language, which is a tension between Congress and the Executive Branch agencies. To what extent can Congress "bind" agencies through technically non-binding report language?

Cool. :-)

A Peeve of which I have made a Pet

If you're going to call me into a meeting, please make it a meeting I should actually attend (as in, it has something to do with what I do here and I'm not just sitting there looking pretty and trying not to be obvious about being bored while I clean my nails). Especially if said meeting: a) is called at the last minute; b) is called at 12:30, before I've gone to lunch at my normal 1 pm time; c) it lasts until 3; and d) it resolves nothing because issues are still up in the air pending decisions from persons who were not invited to the meeting.

It was especially irksome because the cafeterias close at 2 and I have to get food that's made fresh. I can't eat the pre-made salads (besides my hatred of salads, they all have meat and/or cheese on them), which are the only things available after the kitchens close down at 2. So, during a quick break we took at 2:20 I managed to run to grab food from the food court down the block, left it on my desk and resumed this useless meeting before we broke, again, with the conclusion that we couldn't do anything more until some political person not there decided a few things in conjunction with our own political person and that they would not be able to meet this afternoon.

Argh!

All of this also meant when I finally did get to eat I was famished and ate too quickly, about which ye olde tummy is semi-upset.

*grumble*

Shift it

I'm here at work late, waiting to go to a function across the street at the Smithsonian, so I decided to use the time to write up Sunday's experience for posting on Countfour.org later tonight when I finally get home.

I'm very glad I have my own office, because the constant shifting of my pants was a bit distracting, not to mention potentially embarassing at work. O_o

Messes, redux

Nothing like coming home and discovering that the cats, in their search for q-tips to play with, have scattered the contents of your bathroom trash can across the bathroom. Including a used condom or two.

Eeck!

Stories

For those who have wondered, I've posted the tale of Sunday's adventures here on my regular site.

Possibly not work safe, and yes, I do bottom on occasion. ;-)