Oh the joys

I went to the State Fair this weekend and all I can say is wow.  Will post pictures...  I have never seen so many giant cows, goats, rabbits, chickens, and PIGEONS.  Why are there pigeons and rabbits at the fair?  I don't get it.  Pretty sure it's not a great talent to breed rabbits.  I mean, really.  Come on now. 

There was also an entire room dedicated to tobacco at various stages of the growing/drying process.  I understand that some may find this interesting, however, I am not one of these individuals. I do think the plants themselves are unique and pretty and would probably look pretty cool in a flower bed, but alas, they would probably get stolen around here.

Work is busy.  I went in at 4am today to do locker searches and we found NOTHING!  But, I did win the award for the most random thing found - a pair of boxer briefs.  I had tech gloves on, but I just poked them with a box knife to be on the safe side.  An important lesson learned from the morning - at 3:45am McDonalds is still serving the Late Night menu and there is not a chance of getting an egg mcmuffin.  Clearly I didn't plan accordingly.  Then again, who knows the last time I saw 3am.

We are working 12 hour days every day and I'm even taking work home with me.  There are so many changes being rolled out, so many projects, and then the daily complaints and employee relations issues that come up.  I always said that I didn't want to be generalist and now I know why :)  At least I know what I like.  But I am learning a lot, especially about communication and feedback.  I do get to work with the operations groups in a way that is new for me, but it's still intense.  We are constantly going back and forth and I'm sure the end product is better, but man it's exhausting. 

Sorry, I try not to talk about work stuff...just hard not to on some days.

So I have attempted my first batch of gumbo.  Why you may ask?  Well, let me tell you!  Southerns LOVE okra.  Not just like, but LOVE okra.  They prefer to dip it in some buttermilk and roll it around in some cornmeal before throwing into a fryer.  Healthy, right?  I am now getting a weekly bunch of veggies from the local farmers market and got a bunch of okra.  In an attempt to make it semi-healthy, I made gumbo.  Still haven't tasted it... haa but it is a lot of work!  There's a lot in it and it took about 3 hours to make.  By that point I had killed half a brick of peanut butter/chocolate fudge and was not hungry for gumbo.  Go figure. 

Ok I promise to post fair pictures soon.  Hang in there kids!