Oops Brief: The Trail

/ Karina Pinella / 11 Comments
Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

Mary Jo rushes to the airport’s public restroom. She has less than five minutes to greet Drew Hanson in the meeting lounge. He is one of her company’s bigger accounts and she has been sent to give him their preliminary report. As a habit drilled into her as a child, she quickly lines the seat with toilet tissue. She sits and relieves herself. After washing her hands, she dashes out, unaware of the toilet paper trailing behind her like a bride going down the aisle. Her face is ablaze with enthusiasm as she eagerly goes forth to make a good impression in her first client meeting.

Yellow Split Pea Soup w/Black Beans & Vegetables

/ Karina Pinella / 10 Comments

pea soup
Here’s a hearty soup for when you want something filling. For this delicious blend of legumes and vegetables, you can soak the black beans overnight. Then boil them the next day according to the instructions on the bag, or you can speed up the process considerably by using a pressure cooker. As a last resort, you can always use a can or two of black beans.
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Crimson Shore by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child (a book review)

/ Karina Pinella / 5 Comments

This is the 15th of a book series featuring Agent Aloysius X. L. Pendergast, a highly intelligent and intriguing FBI agent, who usually works on cases that interests him. He comes from New Orleans, where his ancestral family is reputedly wealthy from pharmaceuticals. His character is one of the most unique ones I’ve come across compared to all the characters I’ve read in a thriller/mystery/action book series. Since I don’t want to make this narrative overly dense, I will simply say that Pendergast is the true Renaissance man with super evolved senses.
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Ay, Caesar Salad: American Style

/ Karina Pinella / 5 Comments

The Makings of a Legendary Salad in Six Days

Day 1: Growing the greenest, lushest greens in a greenhouse
Day 2: Picking the greenest, lushest greens and washing them
Day 3: Packing the greenest, lushest greens into plastic containers
Day 4: Transporting the greenest, lushest greens to the supermarket
Day 5: Buying the greenest, lushest greens and putting them in a serving bowl
Day 6: Pouring your (store-bought) Caesar Salad dressing on the greenest, lushest greens in the serving bowl

Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

Fluorescent Light Zone: Flounder

/ Karina Pinella / 10 Comments

(A simple typo in a work email regarding booking a conference room called the Fish Bowl, because of its glass walls, becomes an object of despair for an unwitting working stiff — in the Fluorescent Light Zone.)

To: N. _ _ _ _ _
From: D. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Date: xx/xx/16
RE: Conference Room Request

Hi N.,
Please book the Fish Bowel from noon to two tomorrow. We’ll have lunch served there too . . . .

—————————————————————————————
(N. forwarded the flub to a co-worker friend for a one-minute giggle and the friend responded.)

To: N. _ _ _ _ _
From: A. _ _ _ _ _ _ _

That’s pretty shitty.

______________________________________________

As part of the Company’s Email Security Policy, random checks were being performed that day and the messages above were read by the IT Security Officer, who then had the HR Officer read them. In turn, the HR Officer showed it to D. _ _ _ _ , the requester of said conference room. D. was reprimanded because the error generated an unprofessional exchange that included a swear word. The powers that be had a brief meeting and concluded that such swear word is a gateway to more caustic swear words. As a result, D. was suspended from work for two days without pay and given the arduous project of writing 100 times with pen on paper the name of the conference room spelled correctly.

Moral: Do not flounder or you’ll be filleted and cooked like the proverbial fish jumping from the frying pan into the fire, as can only be experienced in the Fluorescent Light Zone.

Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

Zombody to Love

/ Karina Pinella / 2 Comments
Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

Tricia and Don used to roam naked in their house so they could make love wherever and whenever. Once they raided the kitchen and painted each other with peanut butter and jelly. It made for a body-lickin’ good lunch. They followed it with a race to the tub for a memory-lasting scrubby-dub-dub. Rapturous times.

A few years went by. They got up, took off their pajamas, showered, dressed, and went about their business. A new routine. Their marriage counselor assured them, “You’re just going through the zombie stage. This too shall pass. ”