The next generation of architects?

Today John and I were out running errands and decided to pop by the office to take a look at the project that is going out the door on Monday. John is very curious about architecture and knows that I help design buildings for contractors to build and so I thought it would be interesting for him to see the drawings. He also wanted to know what the materials were going to be for the exterior so I pull out an elevation sheet and our samples and pointed it all out to him. He was good for a while and even wanted to help pick out the siding and roof colors then he went into cheese mode. I told him that I would like to get a picture of him looking at the drawings so that if he became and architect later on it would be cool to have a photo showing his early interest. Yes, he has said many time that he wants to be an architect and work with me. Don't worry, by the time I fill him in on what architects really do on a daily basis he will pick some other less stressful profession.

Anyway, he cheesed it up for the camera and insisted that as he "drew" his tongue would need to be sticking out. I am not sure why he thinks architects need to draw with a hard hat either. That's my boy!

Jacene

Thackston School Branch update

This week they ruled the Thackston School Branch fire was arson. There are no specifics yet but I will stay informed. Oh, John starts Thackston School down the road from the branch on Monday. I have enough uniform clothes now that he can make it through the week. I put the outfits all on one hanger so you just have to know what the weather is like and grab the appropriate one. It is a no brainer.

In his class are some kids he went to class with at the branch a couple of years ago and one of them is the girl he was planning on marrying so it will be good to have them reunited. The long distance thing wasn't working well, we couldn't even get her to his birthday party. She is excited about seeing John again too. Her mom and I talked on Friday about it.

I think he will assimilate well and have my fingers crossed to boot.

Jacene

Thackston School Branch Fire

This morning I was getting ready and tidying up the house and I heard a snip it on the news about Thackston school having a fire and as I tried to figure out which Thackston it was (there is the branch where John goes and Thackston school down the road) the news mentioned the school mascot, Elliot the bearded lizard perished in the fire...that is John's school.

I hopped in the shower and went to the school with camera in tow and John not in tow. I spent 2 hours on the scene and took pictures, talked to teachers, tv reporters and UT police and staff briefly. UT bought the property last fall and was allowing the school to remain as long as it wanted. I over heard some of the firemen and they are going to figure out if the State Fire Marshall will be involved but won't know anything until Monday. They are still looking at arson and not ruling anything out at this time.

When I got to the school only one teacher was there, Ms. Angie and I didn't see her until I had been around most of the school. We hugged and cried together. I couldn't help but cry as I took the pictures. I had 3 distinct sets of memories of TSB. I went there as a student from when I was 2 through 1st grade. I then came back around 6 years later and helped whenever I was out of school with my sister's class. I made a lot of little friends in those years and some became the base of my babysitting empire (maybe not an empire, really).

The last set of memories was of course with John. He started going there when he was 15 months old and is Kindergarten now. I had just dropped him off yesterday. He LOVES his teacher, Mrs. Donna. Just last week he said he loved us the same. I would like to believe that if there was a contest I could edge her out but who knows. When I went to tell him we both got emotional. He wanted to see the pictures and we cried. Clay and I have explained that only Elliot got hurt and how things were going to be alright. John kept crying and fretting throughout the day. I can't blame him, it was his second home. I cried off and on throughout the day too.

The school is meeting at 9:00am Monday at the Unitarian Church on Kingston Pike. I will be out of town and Clay needs to be at work so we will miss this. John will stay with Clay's Mom until I get back in town on Tuesday afternoon. I am going to call the "big" Thackston on Monday and get details about transfering him. This has sort of made the decision of when and where to transfer him a little clearer.

Here are some photos of the school. Notice the Sheriff's helicopter in one of them, it was circling slowly overhead when I got there. Forgive the picture placement. It is late and I am running out of patience on where frames are snapping... if you are reading this and know me then you will understand and read through the random picture placement.

Jacene

...add chap stick to the list of things that disappear

We all know socks disappear out of the laundry but I can't figure out the mystery behind tubes of chap stick disappearing. How can I have 5 of them one day and none the next? My lips are chapped and I am scouring the house for relief. It is funny in a way because I had looked in my purse last night and found nothing to help and as a last resort (I looked lots of other places tonight) looked there again tonight and ta da, vanilla mint chap stick. It is like a magic hat except in purse form...it appears empty and then...

Jacene

Boss' Day - from www.jacene.org

I didn't realize what a super cool team I had until I returned from talking with various engineers to find Boss' Day gifts at my desk. If you look closely you will recognize outlines of most of the items. All were things around my desk or things I had brought from home to give the company.

Items included: Stapler, staple remover, tape dispenser, Goody's headache power (cool orange), a monitor rear view mirror, scale, and a Kleenex box.

I love my team!

Jacene

You never realize how important something is until it is gone...

The title sounds more ominous than the post. I was giddy to have power again in the house today. Storms blew through the area Wednesday late afternoon and knocked the power out all over town. I found out that my house was affected at around 9:30pm Wednesday and decided to just hang out since it was a warm night and I figured things would be up and running shortly...wrong. I set an alarm and figured I would just shower and get ready at the office if need be. I knew it had power since I left there after the storms had passed.

I did have to get ready there. I got home after dark and left before daylight Thursday morning so I wasn't sure if there was a tree down or anything but it didn't seem that there was too much debris around. I also had tried all the breakers except for the main the night before but that didn't do anything. I started to get worried when I left for the office at 5:45am and a neighbor's light was on. Did I do something wrong that could have restored power? The short answer was...no.

I did stash some groceries from the fridge at the office. I also stashed some frozen food at my parent's house Thursday night when we stayed over there. I kept calling KUB and eventually started getting the message that "one" customer was affected. That "one" customer was me. It is amazing how many people questioned my ability of paying utility bills at this point. I assured them that wasn't the problem.

Anyway, this morning after spending another night at the parental unit's house I called KUB to see what the message said and there was not the part about the "one" customer. I was so happy that I had the potential to have power. I ate breakfast and then went to check things out. The house was warm, the fridge was cold, and I went on a whirl wind tour of food roundup. I brought everything back threw in a load of laundry and was a happy camper. I literally hopped around a little while, I was so happy.

Again, it is amazing what you take for granted. I love power and sleeping at my house...no offense Mom and Dad. :)

Team Bowling - from www.jacene.org

Even though they leave nasty messages on my desk and wrap random objects up to regift to me for boss's day, I do love my team. We all went bowling today. Well first we went to Senor Taco on Broadway for some tasty mexican food and alcohol. It was 2 for 1 margaritas! I had the special and some tasty enchiladas. We then walked across the parking lot to Fountain Lanes to bowl.

I have included the video clip Jeremy took without my knowledge. It is the "gutter ball" link. It was dangerous for them to let me have the camera back after that. I used the team camera from work and had no idea that it would blur anything that moved faster than a turtle so the photos weren't the best.

I think everyone had fun. I know I did. David and Jeremy beat their personal best scores which was great! I didn't lose every game but I think I did lose 3 out of 4. I wasn't really paying attention to the scores.

It was a great day.

Jacene

Pie Wars! - from www.jacene.org

Ok here is the set up. I have been making the same apple pie for probably over 20 years, yes I am old, and felt no need to mess with perfection. My "Alton Brown is a God" husband was not so sure that my pie could not be improved and said that I should make the one on Good Eats. I couldn't figure out where this was coming from, he doesn't even eat pie! So as a compromise I said that I would make both pies and he would have to try them.

About a month ago I made two standard, tried and true apple pies and had friends over to try one and took the other one to my office for an official tasting. Everyone liked the "control" pie. I was pleased. The plan was to make the "experimental" pie a couple of days later and have everyone taste that one as well and let me know if I should switch recipes. Well, I didn't get around to making the experimental pies and after a few weeks both the group of friends AND my team at work started in on me about how it had been sooooo long since they had the control pie they wouldn't be able to fairly rate it against experimental pie and so I had to make another control pie as well.

This weekend I made both types of pie. I only made one of each and it took 6 hours from "starting" to "out of the oven" for the pies. I went out Saturday and bought a quiche pan for the event and everything. Sunday was a little crazy since we went to the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and then went grocery shopping before starting the piextravaganza. It wasn't that much of a production really. It was me in the kitchen with headphones singing badly as I often do when baking, John upstairs playing and Clay upstairs sleeping off jet lag from his recent trip to California.

So, to make a long story slightly shorter I will briefly tell you how I cheated on the Alton Brown recipie. I didn't use 6 kinds of apples, I used 2. I didn't let the apples drain for 90 minutes but instead more like 30. I did use the drained juice but I did not reduce it on the stove top. I used the amount of liquid called for in the recipie though since I needed to keep the wet to dry ratio correct. We did not find "grains of paradise" or whatever spice mixture it called for so I used my Penzeys cassia cinnamon, fresh nutmeg and a dash of vanilla instead. Heck, we bought apple jelly and tapioca flour just for this pie, it isn't like I didn't try. I also used the food processor like Alton instructed instead of a pastry blender like all good southern women. I felt a little dirty about that part. Wait, this was suppose to be short.

Anyway, both pies came out of the oven just fine and rested overnight. I covered them with aluminum foil since I am not a fan of uncovered food sitting for a day. True, we don't have pets but I don't care, it seems unsanitary somehow. There are flies and lady bugs from time to time. I took pictures before the covering so you can see them below. So, we wake up Monday morning and Clay fusses that covering the experimental pie has caused it to collapse. I feel it is because everything cooled off and settled, sort of like a cookie just out of the oven. I think it would be odd if the pie shell stayed up high and the apples had settled so that you are left with a hollow area just under the crust, if you are even able to cut it without destroying it.

So the pies sit for the day and our friends Matt and Hannah come over at 7:30pm for pie with the Englands. Everyone except for Clay prefers the control pie. Clay is enamored by the crust of experimental pie most of all but complains that I didn't really follow the recipie and it needs to be made again. He states he will do it but is leary of making a crust. I am not sure why everyone is afraid of crust.

I then take the pies to the office on Tuesday morning for the team to try. The votes are tallied and everyone like the control pie better, although my boss Chuck gave a half point to the experimental pie. He liked the less sweet filling. We found out later he gave a whole point to the control pie too.

To me it is clear, don't mess with a good thing. The control pie rocks and no matter how closely you follow the master "experimental" pie recipe it will not beat it. The one thing I did like is the side of the pie shell being exposed by using the quiche pan which can be done with "control" pie. The pie bird was also a cute touch but isn't necessary with the "control" pie crumb topping. The good thing about control pie is that it is made with love and if love is a little different each time and wants some extra cinnamon and spice or butter in the topping then it can have it. To all those that receive pies, you are loved.

Jacene

Not feeling so loved...by the team - from www.jacene.org

I came back to my desk last week and found this waiting for me. It is a message in Quiddler cards that states "Jacene is a butthead". I am not feeling the love from the team. Note the rubber band on the keyboard. This is also a normal state of things. Rubber bands litter our side of the office due to random bursts of rubber band war.

Jacene

A lesser know election story - from www.jacene.org

At Thanksgiving lunch at my parent's house today I remembered a story that happened on election day.

After work, I went to pick up John and we went to vote. I was signing the form to give to the little old ladies that always work at the registration table when John blurts out "are you going to vote for John McCain?" I was shocked by his statement for two reasons, first, we were in the voting area where it is not allowed to wear campaign slogans and such much less discuss voting preferences. The second thing that I was suprised by was that he knew the candidates. I hadn't talked about it with him and so I assumed he knew it from school. I tried to quiet him down and said we could talk about it outside after I voted. We moved on to the registration table and then to the waiting area where we have to stand 10' back. Again, John pipes up and addresses the room and tells them all to vote for McCain. I fully expected to be asked to leave at this outburst. I quiet him down and we both go in the booth to vote. Outside I asked why he was so insistant about McCain. I figured it was because they were both named John but that wasn't the reason. John was getting upset and said that he didn't want Obama to win because his name had "bomb" in it and he was afraid that he would blow up the country. I tried to reassure him that both men wanted to do the best they could for the country and that helped a little. He was upset again the morning after the election when I told him that Obama won the election but he seems better now. It is an odd little story.

Jacene

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is my, famous in small circles, chocolate chip cookie recipe. It is slightly modified from one I have in a recipe book. This recipe makes really good cookies.

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1/3 c sugar
3/4 c light brown sugar
1 large egg
_________

2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
_________

chocolate chips to taste (any amount and variety you want) I normally use milk chocolate chips
________________________________________

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, light brown sugar and eggs together, adding one ingredient at a time. Combine flour and baking soda in another bowl and add to wet mixture gradually. Add vanilla. Add chocolate chips.

For small cookies use a tablespoon disher or just a level tablespoon for the portion. Flatten ball out slightly and bake for 8 minutes on a good quality baking sheet with a silpat (non-stick mat). The cookies will be golden brown on the bottom but not really anywhere else. Let them cool a couple of minutes on the baking sheet and move them to a wire rack for more cooling. These are best when they have completely cooled.

Enjoy!

Jacene

Comments are now on!

There have been some of you that wanted comments on when I was at www.jacene.org, now that I can manage things, comments are turned on. I will check them before they are posted so you don't get to write just anything but you can give feedback. Look how moderately accommodating I am. :)

Jacene

I am not losing my mind!

The past two days I have had people concerned about my mental health. I have made some decisions that some people do not agree with and so they are worried that I may need medical help. They have good intentions but it is irritating when I feel more normal and healthy than I have in a very long time to have people say that I may have a hormone imbalance that is clouding my decision making or that I need counseling so that I don't repeat past mistakes.

Hormones - they are in check, no oddities (thanks to Oprah for sparking that line of questioning)

Counseling - I know my personality quirks and am fully aware of what not to do in the future. I can't imagine what someone else could add to what I have realized on my own recently.

I am fine. I am happy. I am healthy. I am good!

Started out behind and keep missing the marks...

This morning I woke up and got off schedule right away. I was late for my gym appointment. It took forever, which was my fault again. I think I have figured out I am not as strong in the morning. Maybe I build up strength throughout the day drinking coffee and being a smart ass?

Anyway, I headed over to the mall for no good reason except to see what I could spend some of my gift card at Bath & Body Works on. The AIA East TN board gave me $75 to spend. :) I spent $42 of it today and should smell all citrusy for a while. I grabbed lunch and am finally at work.

I was suppose to be here hours ago checking drawings. Ah, the fine art of procrastination. Look what I am doing instead...blogging. I should be good. I should be more on schedule.

I still have to buy a birthday present and meet friends for dinner on the square. Somewhere in there is grocery shopping.

I do not foresee a lot of drawing checking going on today. Not good. Better get going...

Jacene

Squats with the "big wheels"

This week I broke through my barrier on my top squat weight. Wednesday I squatted 135 pounds. To those of you that aren't hanging out in the free weight area (that is most people) 135 pounds is one 45 pound bar and a large 45 pound weight on each side. My trainer, Stacey Greenway at National Fitness Center said that I had put on the big wheels. It did look more impressive than the little weights. Stacey is being somewhat self serving though, he doesn't like having to take the 45's off when I work in with other guys. He sometimes pretends he cares but I know better. :)

Tomorrow I go back for more punishment.

Jacene

Welcome to the new blog!

Hi to everyone that kept checking www.jacene.org to find out what is going on in my little world. The website is no longer being used by me so I have set up camp here. I am not promising to be any more frequent than I was at jacene.org but I will be able to post freely and manage the account. Now that you are here check out what I did this week...

Jacene