another day, another dollar.

Busy Friday Morning. Fridays are normally chill at work. Seeing that this is my 2nd to the last Friday before I am let go from my internship, I'm surprised by the amount of new assignments that I have to do this morning! Interesting. I have to do some research on a bill that was vetoed back in 2008 which passed every committee hearing until it hit the desk of the governator. Then I have a conference call at 11am. Afterwards, I'm back to my usual Friday routine of screening calls, looking up next week's legislative meeting and agenda, do some filing and data entry, then it's 2pm, I'm off work! Philliam is riding his bike to downtown to meet me at 2pm then we're killing time by being hoodlums until 5pm where we'll meet up with Alex and Christina J for happy hour and some much needed relaxation and reflection on where we are today. Once it's after 11pm, I'll head over to my parent's house to avoid the cold silence and angry glare from my middle sister's room and meet the sad emptyness of my baby sister's room. No worries, Hilarydilarydoo will be back on Sunday from her SoCal trip. She's currently at UCSD doing a tour of the school. Now it's back to work and watching CNN.

The Kinsey Collection

California Legislative Black Caucus Reception I RSVP'd myself and two other friends (Mermaid and Miss USA), who I know are bigger art and history geeks than myself, for a Legislative Black Caucus reception where we would be able to view the Kinsey Collection with the collectors themselves. I was ecstatic to see Shirley and Bernard Kinsey there and giving background information on their infamous collection of African American and African artifacts. I've been wanting to see this collection ever since I learned about it in my Black and African American History class (yes, that's what it was called). As you know, I did a second major in U.S. History, so I was already familiar with who the Kinseys were and I knew all about their generous contribution to education. It was a great reception, with speeches given by the governor, legislators, and Shirley and Bernard Kinsey followed by live music, food, and open bar. I didn't drink because my "potential future" boss was mingling in the crowd as well. Enough chatter from me. Pictures are down below. =) See photos of members of the legislatures, secretary of state, the governor, the Kinseys themselves, the museum, and three giddy girls down below. Click to enlarge!

Weekly Rant

Shipping status from FedEx. Last week, I ordered clothing for my next snowboard trip from a local store. The problem is that I ordered it online. From a local store. Yes. A local store. I tried in the past to purchase some of the items in-store but I was kindly asked to sit at a computer and order from there when the merchandise I had in mind of purchasing was only a few feet away from me, which was untouchable and un-see-able. Lame-sauce. I believe locals should be able to freely shop at the store itself and not have to order online. Although, I had qualified for free shipping and returns/exchanges can be brought to the store, which are perks, but if I were to exchange the items, I would have to re-order online. Yes. Total Lame-sauce. Online shopping isn't the same as in-store shopping.

Gosh dang, these cowboy cookies are yummy!

Howdy, stranger! Give these delectable cookies a try. Cowboy cookies, in my opinion, are a delightful post-workout snack that I look forward to sinking my teeth into after a cycle class or long jog. Oftentimes, when I would feel weak due to my low blood sugar, I would pop one before working out to keep me fueled for an hour. Philliam likes to pack some for his several hour bike rides and has found that it's more refreshing than snacking on energy bars. My parents likes to have one (1) cowboy cookie with their teas and my little cousin enjoys mindlessly snacking on a bunch due to its chewy yet crunchy texture and the "yummyness" factor. It's a win-win for me! I find it much better than packaged, store-bought cookies. I can't stand those. Unless it's the 9 boxes of Girl Scout cookies that I ordered. Now that's an exception. ^__^ Editor's note: Sorry for the ugly photo of my cowboy cookies. I didn't put any effort into rolling the cookie dough because I was too lazy. Yes. I'm lazy. At least I'm comfortable with admitting it. Although, these cookies are highly delicious... *munches* Anywhoo, here's a recipe that I've tweaked to my own liking to ensure that it will deliver enough energy after my workouts but are still delicious enough to enjoy rather than dreading (like those power bars *shudders*). Next week, I'm going to try adding some muscle/protein powder and see how that works out for me. Gather up these babies: 1 1/3 c flour (I like mixing 1/3 c organic oat brand flour into 1 c of regular flour for my cookies. If you don't want to, then just use regular flour. It doesn't really matter.) 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 c cooking oats 1/2 c brown sugar 1/2 c white sugar 1 egg 1/2 c butter (one stick) 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 c m&ms (regular) 1/2 c dark chocolate chips 1/2 c assorted nuts (I use pecans, walnuts, and almonds) Follow these simple, exact directions: 1. In a medium sized bowl, melt the stick of butter in the microwave for 20-30 seconds then let it chill in the fridge until it reaches room temperature. I normally leave it in there while I'm gathering and preparing the dry mixture. 2. In a small bowl, mix the nuts, m&ms, and dark chocolate chips. Set aside. 3. In separate a large mixing bowl, mix the first five dry ingredients (flour, baking soda & powder, salt, and oats). Mix well. 4. Now add in the white and brown sugar to the flour mixture. Mix very well. Mix with your hands if you need to. Make sure the mixture is smooth with no bumps. Brown sugar has a tendency to clump so loosen them apart and mix with the other dry ingredients. Set aside. 5. Pour the candy mixture into the flour mixture and mix that really well. Get your hands in there if you have to. 6. Take the butter out of the fridge (make sure it's still liquid, if not, back in the microwave it goes). Pour in the vanilla. Crack the egg into the butter and vanilla mixture. Mix and beat. Make sure the wet mixture is not warm, but room temperature or slightly cold, otherwise, you'd have melted chocolate and discolored m&m's. 7. Now pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Mix well. Yes, do it. Mix it very well. 8. After mixing all ingredients together, stick the big bowl of cookie dough in the fridge to chill for 5 minutes. While waiting for the cookie dough to chill, I normally clean up my work station because it's just something that I'm programmed to do. Clean. I like a nice clean work space. Bet your bottom dollar, I do. 9. After 5 minutes, take the cookie dough out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 10. Now here is the fun part. Getting your hands dirty! I use an ice cream scoop to determine the size of my cookie, which is about 1 inch to 1.5 inch. Roll the cookie dough into balls and set it on a parchment covered baking sheet. Set each cookie ball 1 inch apart from one another. 11. Take a flat spoon and slightly press the top of each cookie dough balls so that way the cookies will have a nice, round form when baked. 12. Once the last cookie dough has been balled up, stick it in the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 minutes for crunchy, yet chewy in the middle, cookies. 12. After the timer goes off, immediately remove the cookies from the oven and let these beauties cool down on the counter before eating. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. And I mean it. I love my version of cowboy cookies. Enjoy!

Not a waste of time

I just spent 3 whole hours applying for positions that I felt I qualified for. There are still more that I need to apply to, but I'm exhausted. My head hurts. My eyes are weary. I'm a tad bit frustrated with my employment luck. Back in November, I applied for the position of legislative associate. The firm is organized very much like where I am currently interning at. I never heard from them. I recently checked their website. When I applied, I thought for sure I was going to nail the position. I had the education and skills. I knew how to interact with the key people. I knew all the right lobbyists and staffers. I had everything that would have enabled me to get the job. Apparently not. When I checked the organization's site and saw who ended up getting the job as a legislative associate, I was baffled when I read the biography of my competition. This person dropped out of college after 3 years and had been working as an office administrator in construction for 15 years. Now where in the bio did it state this person's connection with Capitol staffers or their experience in education policies? Or how about knowledge in legislation? None. HUH?! How did this person get hired over me? I'm so confused and irritated.

Good Morning, Early Weekend

President Weekend / Valentine's Day / Chinese New Year I didn't realize today was a holiday. I went into work and saw a note on my computer screen that read "VioletSnowflakes, please don't forget that Friday and Monday are holidays." O_O HAHAHAA!!! I've done that before in the past and my supervisors are always teasing me about showing up on a holiday. Apparently, I did it again. Because it was still early, I really wanted to go for a run but I had spent 15 minutes straightening my hair that morning, which is something that I don't really do. Since I didn't want to mess up my hair in the name of vanity and the morning was still young, I went over to Philliam's to bake some cowboy cookies and play catch up since we haven't seen much of one another in awhile. Another busy weekend despite it being a four day weekend. I have to celebrate Chinese New Years tomorrow with the family. Hopefully, I can squeeze in some running time in the morning. Not a very good blog entry today, but it's something. Check out the next blog regarding my cowboy cookie receipe. =)