Holy Cow… Oliver the Engineer, the Cook, the Photographer

Holy cow is right.  Today was one of those days.  But not what you might typically be thinking.  Today was just that day.  The day where you stop and go holy cow, where has the time gone, what have I done, what do I do now.  Nothing immediate stuck me or anything but today, I just realized that a lot has happen and part of me thinks I haven’t done much and the other part of me think I’ve done a lot.  So as you can see things may look confusing but I think I got a handle on it.

However today started off normally just like any other day.  I went to Starbucks, got my coffee, drove to work, arrived at work, unpacked my stuff (notebooks, cords, and pens) and just sat there and did my thing.  While at my desk I realized that I haven’t written in my log book for awhile so I immediately reached for it and wrote in.  I discovered that I haven’t written in since last week.  So I had to think about all of the things that I’ve done since then.  It was quick easy to tell you the truth.  Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had this ability to rerun the pass few days in the head.  I could remember some of the most unrelvant pieces of information but it just all makes sense to me and helps me remember.  Could it be a gift or a talent, I don’t know I just know that I can do it.  I don’t think it would be good to say that it’s photographic memory because I surely don’t remember everything but just enough to help answer the pending question.

So I sat there and wrote the place I’ve been too and the things that I did this pass week.  I got the idea of the log book from Austin Kleon’s book, How to Steal Like an Artist.  It was one of those things that I thought, what a great idea and why didn’t I think of that.  And so I have.

After writting in my log I immediately went with my day.  I started doing the research I needed for a report that I needed to finish.  The task / research for this report is quite dumb and nothing exciting.  The report has to do with stormwater and how we are dealing with it on our project.  So after awhile it does get a little boring, okay not little but majorily boring, to the point I think; how the hell did I end up doing this.  This is just crazy.  I think looking at this is when I realized that I have just given up on this project.  Seriously for a guy that sincerely loves he’s job, I have given up.  The project has lost its luster, its excitement, its public good, its aura of the last new freeway in San Diego.  So now instead it is just one F up project where people just don’t know what they are doing, people are not talking, and everyday is drama.  It seriously is like a sitcom.  It’s just one of those things where you can’t help yourself wish that it was over and now you just work to protect yourself from working for nothing.  Although I think I am doing now.  I bet if you are reading this, you are thinking so why don’t you move on?  Well the honest truth is that I still have a some hope the impossible is possible on this thing.  I think it is still the optimizism in my that things are get done when you put your mind into it.  And I think that’s where my problem is; it is that I have lost focus and I really need to find it again.  I’m going to have to work on finding it again.  This may be a new leap.

The majority of my day was spend going back and forth between my two current task at hand.  I went between the stormwater report and the hydraulics design.  So I’m going to work on the stormwater first and get that out of the way and then I’ll work on the hydraulic design.

The highlight of my day was lunch.  Go figure.  Today’s lunch trip takes me to one of my favorite lunch trucks in San Diego, MIHO Gastrotruck.  I’ve mention about them before but seriously I’m a foodie fan for them.  When I’m given the chance I will drive out and find them and get myself one of their delicious burgers.  A reason that I wanted to have MIHO today was because the classic burger is still on the menu.  And when things are there you have jump on the opportunity to grab it before its gone otherwise you’ll have to be kept wondering when it will make it’s appearance again.  So that’s what I did.  I got my burger, enjoy it, and made myself happy.

The rest of the day after lunch was pretty much just a few hours of nothing exciting.  Same old same old.

After work I did another thing that I enjoy doing which was shopping for grocery and figuring out what to cook for dinner.  Today I went to Costco to look for the answer.

I made my trek / commute to Carmel Mountain Costco for the food.  The drive up there wasn’t bad.  It was actually pretty light for a Thursday so I made it up there in about 25 minutes or so.

Inside Costco I wondered around the warehouse for a bit.  Looking at things that I could possibly need but I didn’t really need to buy at the moment.  But I didn’t want to head home just yet.  I eventually found myself getting into the meats and seafood section.  At first I was thinking I could make fish but then I realized that I already made fish earlier in the week so then I thought steak but I didn’t feel like smelling like it afterwards, so that idea was axed.  I eventually went for one of the premade heat up meals that Costco makes.  I picked up a Lime Cilantro Marinated Beef.  And since I was going to prepare meat tonight for dinner I figure a salad and some greens would be good.

One of the things that I have been curious about this whole week has been artichokes.  I’ve never really had artichokes before or cook them for that matter.  But I figure today would be the day to do so.  This curiosity came about last week when I hung out with my friend Hollie who showed me and prepared some dinner.  And she mentioned artichokes and since then I have been fascinated with an artichoke from how to cook it and even how you eat it.  So I purchased those.  Other than artichokes, I also purchased olives, water, cucumbers, and beets.  This would be an interesting dinner.

So I made my way out of the warehouse and drove home.  I cleared out the oven and then preheated it to the temperature the instructions said on the beef packaging.  And then I filled a pot with water to boil so I can cook the artichokes.  I read the instructions and found out it takes about 45 minutes of cooking time for the artichokes.  Which was perfect because it takes 60 minutes for the beef to cook.

Fast forward 60 minutes, so I get the beef out and put in my meat themometer and I find out that my beef is barely medium raw.  So I put it back into the oven for another 10 minutes.  Meanwhile I took the artichokes out and let them drain.  And then I began preparing the salad.  Long story short, I ate like a king this evening.  I ate more greens (salad) which was good than meat.  But I do have to say it was delicious.

After dinner, I went back to work on the HOBY pictures and video.  And I finished them up.  As of the writing of this post, I have finished everything in terms of the processing and editing.  So now I will need to start the burning of DVDs tomorrow and get the pictures printed so that I can mail them out on Monday.  It’s going to be busy but it will be done soon.

Well I’m heading off to bed.  Have a great one!  🙂

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