Double Duty

My coworker Justin is on vacation this week.  He is the Receiving Manager for our warehouse, as well as the mail pickup/delivery driver.  Since he is out of town, I get to do double duty for six business days, running his department as well as my own.  Technically, it isn’t such a bad deal, since I’m usually only busy for half the day.  After juggling our combined duties for eight hours, I feel like I’ve done a decent days’ work.  The weather has been nice this week (except for today), and I get to enjoy the sunshine when I’m out on delivery.  Plus, I get a chance to talk to people in person instead of replying to their emails and phone calls.  There is a lot to be said for the value of face time.  Let the reader understand.

It has been at least a week since my last post; let me do a little catching up…

Last Thursday, I tossed a bunch of spices and some citrus juices in a bag with a sizable chunk of pork, then put it in the fridge overnight to marinate.  While home for lunch on Friday, I dumped the mixture into a crock pot and put it on high for about six hours.  By the time I got home, our apartment was filled with the delicious aroma of roast pork (semi-Cuban style).  After letting the roast cool for a bit, I shredded it up and put it in a jumbo sized ziplock bag with some of the juices, so that it would stay moist.  That evening, I had my first homemade Cuban sandwich…and it was pretty stinking good.  I had procured some relatively thin bread from our church’s food ministry (which wasn’t quite Cuban bread the best substitute I could find…and the price was right), which I layered with deli mustard and sliced pickles.  Then, I laid down some pork, topped with ham and swiss.  After closing up the sandwich and pressing it down as much as possible, I stuck the whole thing into my electric sandwich press (not quite traditional), and…PRESTO!!!…Cuban sandwich.  I was quite pleased with myself.  I made one for Brianna, and she liked it so much that she asked for another the following night.

Also on Thursday, I went to my first Kansas City Royals game.  I hadn’t been to a MLB game in years…not since I lived in Phoenix.  I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I enjoy the sporting event experience.  Apparently the Royals have Ladies’ Night at least once a season, and Brianna’s clinic was doing 10-minute chair massages for the event.  For me, that translates into free tickets and parking passes.  She even managed to get a free ticket for my buddy Cory so that I didn’t have to sit by myself until she was done working.

After loading myself up with plenty of ballpark foodstuffs, I sat down for what was the least exciting baseball game I’ve ever seen.  The Red Sox were in command of the game, and the Royals must have been revisiting their Little League years, making plenty of errors and showing poor batting skill.  Even worse, their best pitcher and one of their managers got thrown out for arguing a strike-call.  The KC squad made a little run in the eighth inning, and managed to load up the bases.  Unfortunately, the Sox rallied in the ninth, making the final score 10-3.  By that time, we were already home.

Saturday morning, I had a meeting with several members of Rivercity Church’s Pastoral Care Team.  They are a prayer ministry team, designed to help people seek God for repentance and healing through encouragement and exhortation (my description).  We spent a couple hours getting to know each other, and it looks like I might be joining the team.  Our hope is for Brianna to join as well, but since she works on Saturdays it may prove impossible.

On Monday night, Brianna and I celebrated three months of marriage over buffalo wings, beers and Monday Night Football.  It was a great evening…only slightly marred by the Cowboys’ victory over the Panthers.  We really, really hate the Cowboys.  Is hate too strong a word?  I think not.  I love my wife for many, many reasons.  One of them is her hatred of Dallas.  What a woman!

The rest of my week has been dominated by lots of work, parcel delivery, and end of the month accounting reports.  Not much to tell there.

Brianna and I are trying to finish up the audiobook version of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, but it is a lot harder now that we’re listening at home, rather than in the car.  I get distracted too easily to give it my full attention, and when I try to just be still and listen…I end up falling asleep.  Only three CD’s to go!