* Meggie's Journal *
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Thursday, August 28, 2003
11:04PM - Office Space
I spent last night watching the movie Office Space. Well actually, I only watched a little bit of it since I didn't get home til around 2am. But while I was at work today, I realized that my job is very similar to this movie - minus the cubicles, of course.
The best part of the movie is the printer. I can so relate to their frustration with the office printer, cause the printer at my register always gives me problems. Usually it's the check printer that gives me problems. It frequently jams the checks or don't read them right. A few weeks ago, my check printer broke so bad that I had to move to another register and sign on as someone else. But today I was having problems with the receipt printer. I suddenly ran out of paper while we were busy so I tried to get it reloaded in a hurry. So I start ringing up the next order and my register tells me I'm out of paper again. But I wasn't out of paper cause I just put a new roll in. So I took the paper out and put it back in again but again it said out of paper. I felt like swearing and pounding the printer like they did in the movie. After reloading the paper a couple more times it finally started working again. I really wish I could beat the crap out of that thing like they do in the movie.
In Office Space the main character, Peter, complains because he has eight different bosses and whenever he makes a mistake he is hassled by all of his bosses. At work, I have several bosses too. Today when I got back from my break one of the coordinators asked me if I took my break yet. I told her that I did and went back on my merry way. Then a few minutes later another coordinator asks me if I took my break yet. This gets pretty annoying after a while.
When Peter comes into work on Monday and he isn't feeling too well people keep on telling him "It looks like someone has a case of the Mondays", which really irritates him. Whenever I'm at work and I yawn or look tired people always tell me "It looks like someone needs eight hours." It was cute at first, but it's not very funny when you hear it over and over again.
Also in the movie, Peter is always rushing off because he's worried that his boss is going to ask him to come in on the weekend. I can relate to this problem because I'm always getting asked to come in on my days off. Sure it's great to get extra hours cause it means more money. But sometimes they will only schedule me for 20 hours and then keep on asking me to come in to work.
Also, the secretary in the movie keeps on saying the same thing over and over again in the same exact way. This is so irritating to Peter that he hears the voice at night when he's trying to sleep. I hate it when I'm stuck working next to one of the self scan regisiters. I end up hearing the same voice saying the same thing over and over again. I can sympathize with Peter the voice has disturbed my sleep before too.
Maybe I can write a virus that will transfer money from my register to my bank account. Oh, it didn't work out in the movie so maybe I shouldn't try that. Peter says that his job makes him feel like every day is the worst day of his life. Maybe my job isn't quite that bad, but it would be nice to find a better one soon.
Quote of the Day:
Nobody likes their job, but you've gotta find something that you love.
Current mood: 
stressed
Current music: I Don't Wanna Work
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
10:04PM - Week of Suck
My friends have been complaining that I never write in my journal, but I really have nothing of interest to write about. But if you really want to know about my boring life, then I'll attempt to update more often.
My past week has been pretty sucky. It all started on my birthday, which actually started pretty good. Me, Laura, Mandie, and Kelly had a fun day at Kennywood. We rode lots of rides and we screamed on every one... even the turtles. People probably thought we were insane, but that's nothing new really. At 6:00 Becky and Scott joined our group and we rode the Steel Phantom (or whatever it's called these days.) For those of you not familiar with the ride, it's a big roller coaster - the tallest and fastest at the time it was first built. After riding it, I started getting a migraine and it just got worse and worse. We ended up going home by 10 after I attempted to ride a few more rides. When we left, we all rode the ski lift up the hill because Kelly wanted to ride on it. The only problem with that was that I was parked on the bottom of the hill. So Becky gave us all a ride to our cars. But her car couldn't seat all of us, so my sister rode in the trunk. Again, with the weird looks from people who were riding the ski lift. On the way home I started feeling really bad and when we got home I got sick in a non descriptive manner. Oh, and I got no cake on my birthday either! Unless you count funnel cake. But I was very grateful for all my friends who celebrated my birthday with me. You guys rock!
I woke up bright and early the next morning (which is around 9 for me) and I packed up my sister's computer. Meanwhile Kelly started on making a cake for my sister's going away party on Friday. But then we realized that we had no eggs. So we waited for Mandie to bring us some eggs while we packed up the van with Laura's stuff. Since we got a late start on the cake, we couldn't let it cool completely before we iced the cake. And to make things worse, we had to seal up the cake so that the flies wouldn't eat it up. But we just left the cake hoping for the best. It turns out that on Friday when Laura's coworkers opened it up the icing had all melted and the cake fell apart. But anyways, after our cake disaster we left for the Southside to pick up Laura at work. Then we all went up to State College to drop off Kelly and Laura's stuff. I spent the night setting up Laura's computer and the network for the apartment. I'm pretty bad when it comes to networking, so that took a while. We all got home safe and sound by 11 that night.
The next morning I woke up bright and early again so that Mandie and I could go to a career fair in Greentree. By this time I was getting pretty sick of bright and early. And the career fair was a big waste of an afternoon. There really wasn't anyone there worth talking to. But at least it was an attempt at something. Then on our way home, we got stuck in a detour of death. This detour went straight through downtown and we were stuck in massive amounts of traffic. I'd hate to see what it's like during rush hour! The whole time I was complaining how much this sucks. Mandie thought that I've been driving a little too much.
Right after the career fair, I had to go to work at my lovely job at Giant Eagle. And then at 6:30 the next morning I had to go to work again! I hate it when they do that to me. That really sucked. I'm surprised I managed to stay awake. That night I actually got to see my boyfriend, but we were too tired to actually do anything so that really sucked too.
The next morning I had another 8 hour shift at work, but I didn't have to wake up quite as early this time. When I got home, I hurried up and ate dinner before going out to a sucky party with Laura and Cookie. Then we went out to Primantti's and the waitress kept on ignoring us. We practically had to tackle her to get her attention. It was basically sucky, but not too bad. Then afterwards we went out to Randy's house for some reason, but it really sucked and everyone was fighting. I got home around 3am and then woke up at 9 to go to church. Then my family came over for my birthday and I finally got cake! But they tried cutting it before I got to blow out my candles. Tsk tsk. Then I went to work. It was insanely busy there and there wasn't enough people working there so that really sucked.
Yesterday was my only day off this week. So I spent the day biking. It was pretty hot out, but I was just glad it didn't storm at all. I ended up doing 40 miles. Then after I got home I went out to the mall with Mandie. She tried to get a cell phone, but the people at the mall were being very sucky. Then we got some pizza and watched a movie at her house.
Guess what I did today? That's right, I worked. I was stuck on #1 most of the day, which is the suckiest register cause it's the cash only lane. People apparently don't understand what cash only means. They'll read the sign and then ask "Do you take a debit card?" Since no one actually pays in cash, that line is very boring and time goes really slow. So I had a pretty sucky day at work.
So overall, my week has pretty much sucked. I hope it starts unsucking pretty soon.
Quote of the Day:
"I'll bag my own groceries. I used to be a bagger at the Giant Eagle in Monroeville. But they fired me." -some random customer
Current mood: sucky
Current music: Shakira - Objection (Tango)
Thursday, January 9, 2003
9:07PM - Give me a job, please!
This sucks. I've been looking for a job since I've graduated in May. There doesn't seem to be many jobs in the Pittsburgh area these days. Over the past week I've been sending out resumes like crazy. I've even started to apply to companies I've already applied to over the summer/fall. But all I get are rejections. I can't even get a stinkin interview anymore. I'm not incompetent, really. I've recently graduated with an engineering degree and I have some work experience. But still, there seems to be nothing for me.
Current mood: aggravated
Current music: Last Resort by Papa Roach (not Papa Hoke)
Friday, January 3, 2003
1:27AM - The Basement Club
My friends have been rather upset lately that I don't write anything in my journal except for the occasional recipe. They don't understand that I have no real life. I'll attempt to start discussing some stuff that's going on in my life other than dinner. Well, I did make some Baked Ziti tonight but it didn't turn out so good so we won't discuss that.
Tonight Laura, Mandie, and me held our second meeting of the basement club where we sit around in the basement with lit candles and we talk about random stuff. Normally I'm not a big fan of sitting around and talking, but I've found this activity quite fun. Today Laura shared some interesting facts that she found on the internet. Then we asked our usual questions to find out more about each other and ourselves. I thought we'd run into some problems when we discussed what we thought were each others good and bad traits, but it actually worked out quite well.
Our homework is to make a soundtrack that would represent our lives. We're going to burn the songs to cd's and then listen to them while taking a road trip.
Quote of the Day:
Mandie (while discussing my bad trait): "You're a doormat."
me: "I'll accept that."
Current mood: 
refreshed
Current music: Friends - Michael W. Smith
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
6:39PM - Baked Spaghetti
This dish isn't very exciting but it's quick and easy and better than your average spaghetti. This is also good for those of us who don't like washing a lot of dishes. Here's what we need to make this thing:
12 oz. spaghetti
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (today I used Jioio's Roasted Red Pepper Spaghetti Sauce. delicious!)
1 lb. ground beef
Cheese (whatever italian type cheeses you like or happen to have in the fridge. I used freshly grated parmesan and shredded mozerella.)
3 cups water
Spices: seasoning salt, minced garlic.
First we brown and drain the beef in a big honking skillet. Sometimes I add a little bit of seasoning salt to the meat as it's cooking. Then dump in your favorite spaghetti sauce and water (about a jar full if you're not too picky.) I also threw in about a teaspoon of minced garlic. Heat this on medium high until it boils. I'd recommend cleaning up the kitchen while waiting for this to boil.
Now we break the spaghetti in half and throw it in our big honking skillet with boiling watery sauce. Don't break the spaghetti near the stove or the spaghetti might slip out of your hands and get stuck in the burner then catch on fire. Yeah, I did that once. Now turn the stove down to medium low and let it cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the spaghetti is firm enough for you, sprinkle with your favorite italian type cheese(s) and cover for a couple mins. Once the cheese is melted, serve and enjoy.
Makes: Enough to keep dad from raiding the fridge afterwards (about four servings.)
Side Dishes: Garlic bread (actually I forgot that we even had bread until we sat down to eat. Good thing it only takes a couple mins to make.)
- I would like to thank Giant Eagle for the recipe and for providing the excellent Jioio's Spaghetti Sauces (and for hiding them so nicely.)
Current mood: 
lazy
Current music: Hey You by The Clarks
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
7:23PM - Chicken Quesadillas
Today I made one of my favorite mexican dishes, Chicken Quesadillas. I've made this one a couple times before but this version turned out pretty good so I better write it down before I forget it like I usually do. Here's what we need first:
Chicken (about 2 breasts should do unless you really like chicken)
Tortillas (at least 5 of the jumbo sized ones)
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 8 oz package of shredded cheese (mild cheddar, sharp cheddar, monterey jack... i'm not too picky about cheese. anything yellow works for me.)
Spices: Chili Powder, Cumin Powder, and Oregano.
First I throw the onion and the green pepper into the cuisanart (i love that thing) until they're all chopped up. Then we get out our chicken and cut it up into itty bitty pieces and then throw it into a skillet heated to medium. I like to season my chicken with a little bit of oregano. I got some brand spankin new oregano today cause the stuff we had was at least 10 years old. I sprinkled some of that stuff on a sandwich a few weeks ago and omg was that gross. When I got home from the grocery store today I proceeded to throw out any spice that was older than me, which was about half the spices.
So anyways, once our chicken is cooked up we throw in the veggies and cook them until they are tender. Meanwhile, we fire up our George Foreman Grill. I'm not really a big fan of the gfg like my sister is, but I found out that it works perfectly with this recipe (btw laura, i borrowed your gfg.) Then we get out our cheese, whatever kind it may be, and mix it with the cumin and chili powder. Actually, Kraft packages some kind of cheese with these spices already mixed in, but I had quite a bit of mild cheddar in my fridge today so I just used that and made my own version.
Now that everything is ready, it's time to cook this thing. First I take a tortilla and brush both sides of it with oil. This makes the tortilla kind of crispy when it's grilled. Then we put some of the spicy cheese on half of the tortilla, put some of the chicken mixture over it, and then cover it with some more cheese. Then fold the tortilla over and cook it on the gfg for a couple mins. Cut the quesadilla into thirds and serve with sour cream.
Makes: Five Quesadillas
Side Dishes: No need!
-This recipe turned out something like the Taco Bell Quesadillas, only with real ingredients.
Current mood: cheerful
Current music: Oye Coma Va by Santana