scott’s spot

I’ve made the decision to run a 5K.  Guess that means I need to start training…

Actually, I did just that.

Starting this morning, I’m following the 5K Novice training program available on Hal Higdon’s website. Hal is a runner and been running for a lot of years. The site was referred to me by a runner I used to work with at Casual Male.

So, the training program is all set.  Now all I need to do is find a race…

Oh, wait a sec! I’ve got one.  The Fitchburg Police Relief Association Community Five. It’s a 5K and it’s on June 21^st. So, I started the eight week training program at 5:30 this morning, and my goal is to get across the finish line in Fitchburg eight and a half weeks from now. 

And, not to mention, at the same time, lose couple of extra pounds. Stepped on the scale this morning to get a baseline. 208.3. Ouch. (Actually, the scale read 211.3, but I know from good experience—not to mention Weight Watcher’s scales—that my scale is 3 pounds high.) So my target weight? If I can get down to 200, I’ll consider that a good start. All the body mass index crap suggests that I should get down to 184, and I suppose that’s doable, but I think I’ll start with getting to the Mendoza line and then seeing if I can get lower. If I get down to 195, I’ll be the weight I was when I entered college. Not to shabby, considering that 17 years removed.

Look for updates as to my progress here. Cheering is encouraged. Sneering is not. Snickering (just a little) is expeted.

So, clearly I’ve been off my blog for a couple of weeks. There is a reason for that.  I’ve started a new job, leaving Casual Male behind and picking up at Dover Saddlery, an equestrian retailer.  The transition has been a bit of a challenge, only insomuch as the shift in corporate culture from one that’s pretty standard to one that’s as laid back as it gets. I’m not used to be this laid back. Most people here where jeans everyday. I haven’t done that since working for Borders in the stores.

Then there is the systems to get used to, which is largely why I’m there. I’ve been hired in part to help manage the planning and allocation for the retail stores (there are ten of them currently), but also to help change how we manage the retail stores. Part of that, a very large part of that, is going to be revamping, rebuilding, or building from scratch new systems. So I’ve spent two weeks up to my arms in disparate data and VBA code.

Plus, getting to know a brand new set of people is always tough, especially for myself, a rather introverted person. I don’t make friends very easily, and in my travels throughout my working career, I’d can count on one hand the number of very good friends I’ve made. Most of them worked for Borders, mainly because the kind of people Borders attracted (at least ten years ago) were the kind of oddballs I get along with.

But I’m starting get into a more normal routine, so I should be writing and updating this blog more often.

Stay tuned…

I certainly don’t want to knock anybody trying to make a career for themselves, trying to catch hold of that which, at one time, made them great and fantastic and (doubtlessly) wealthy.

But really. Who thought this was necessary? I mean, aren’t we a litle past the point where we can call the New Kids On The Block either “new” or “kids”? Shouldn’t this be more like the Alter Kockers On The Porch?

Hey, I kinds of like that.

Here’s to the A.K.O.T.P.

So, by now I’ve stated that I’ve recently started to cook, and that I’m loving the process. So, deciding I wanted to continue this pursuit, I asked my sister-in-law what, if anything, she wanted for a birthday dinner. Her response?

Cheese tortellini with proscuitto in a cream sauce.

Apparently this is a staple dinner in Italy, and almost non-existent in the States. I’ve certainly never heard of it (but this, quite frankly, means absolutely nothing.)

So I trolled through my favorite cookbook looking for something that might fit. I found a tortellini recipe online at Cooks Illustrated (see here), and decided to use the alfredo sauce recipe from the book, along with the parsley and ricotta cheese filling recipe. The proscuitto would be as easy and chopping up some that I bought at the grocery store and throwing it into the sauce at the end.

And for dessert? A lemon chiffon cake that I didn’t know was lemon chiffon until my wife asked “Why are you beating the egg whites so much?” (There’s a modification to the chiffon cake recipe to make it lemon–I didn’t realize it was still a chiffon cake).

How’d it all go? Not bad. My wife and sister-in-law enjoyed it, but I presonally found the whole dish too heavy. I probably wouldn’t choose to make it again for myself. The tortellini came out in varying sizes and therefore varying degrees of al dente. And they take forever to roll out, cut, fill, and fold.

And the cake? Tasty, but not quite right. All of the lemon sank to the top (it bakes upside down), which means I didn’t beat the eggs enough. But the glaze on top was good, and when the cake was drowned in it, it still tasted pretty good.

Oh, and one other thing I learned while cooking this weekend:

Never open a bottle of seltzer water too fast. You’ll get seltzer flavored food.

How do I know I’m a geek?

Because I found this online while scrolling through Excel websites (as if that was enough of an indicator of geekdom) and I was actualy laughing out loud and laughing hard.

Personally, I find this to be just a little stroke of genuis…