Work work work!

As I was leaving work today I was thinking of all the things I should post about here that are related to my job. But now that I am at the computer I can't think of what they were. Additionally I am probably not supposed to say all that much.
My boss's boss is an adjunct professor at Duke and I will be his TA for his class next semester and that somehow makes me feel special. I NEVER run into the man because he is so important and busy, he is the division director for my department. But my boss said he asked about me in a meeting the other day, so that made me smile. I've also heard that his office is full of toys so I hope I get to see it someday soon!

Last night I opened a google doc I have on my work account to look at a few things and surprisingly my boss and his wife were both also viewing the document... kind of awkward at 10:30 at night. and they were chatting with me about it.

So far I am liking it and feel like I have had opportunities to use a lot of my skills I've acquired not only in my grad program and through my previous jobs, but also in my undergrad. Its really satisfying in that sense.

The other day there was a huge retirement party in the atrium for some high up person who'd been with the agency a long time. Some of the people who worked for him actually SANG at microphones in front of everyone at his celebration. They sounded pretty much terrible and sang many of the sappiest songs I've heard, but it was so strangely heart felt. I decided that any time I feel scared of getting older I am going to remember what it felt like to see that party. At that moment I wanted so badly to know where I will end up in my career, if I'll ever be a well known figure that gets a retirement party with so many attendees, and maybe even singing... The only way I'll ever get to find out is if I get older. Or I guess if someone invents time travel...

In other news I made soup for dinner tonight because we got the next box from the CSA today and I still had old veggies from last Thursday that needed to be used up. I told Twila I would send her my rough soup outline so here it is:

BASIC VEGGIE SOUP DIRECTIONS

Ingredients:
- Veggies all chopped up (should include onions, but could also include such things as potatoes, cabbage, carrots, peas, greenbeans, zucchini, squash, anything else you have around)
- Garlic (pressed or chopped, however much you want, I usually add at least 4 big cloves)
- something tomato-ey, such as a 15oz can of diced tomatoes or tomato sauce, or a few Tbs tomato paste (you could leave this out if you don't have it on hand)
- broth 6-7 cups, or more depending on how many veggies you put in and how brothy you want it
- herbs/spices such as salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, garlic powder, whatever you like

OPTIONAL: any type of beans or pasta (this is a great way to use up scraps you have laying around)

Steps:
- heat up maybe 2 Tbs oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat and throw in all the chopped veggies and garlic. cook them up for a little while (10 minutes at least) until the onions look translucent.
- add broth, tomato stuff and herbs. If it looks like too little broth, just add more water to cover the veggies (since I use bullion I just dump water in the pot and some bullion too, no need to dissolve it separately before hand)
- heat up to a boil and then reduce to simmer, adding pasta and/or beans now if you want them
- let everything get happy in the pot for a while, atleast 20 minute with occasional stirring. be sure to taste to decide if it needs more flavor and throw in extra herbs, extra bullion, or just extra salt if necessary.

EAT!!!!