A post in which I have baking to do

Well the fragile peace I have been enjoying at work was shattered today.  The powers that be decided last year that we needed a comprehensive manual that broke down every single task we do into recognizable steps, and assigned us the job of writing same.  Yeah.  We had a year to do it.  Of course, knowing corporations as I do I figured that a) the entire task would change at some point into something that bore no resemblance to the original assignment; or b) we might well never hear anything else about it (that happens).  So I set about to do some world-class ignoring.

Well I was wrong on the latter.  The former was dropped into our in-boxes like a huge collective caprolite today.  We had been instructed 'not to be too detailed', but at the same time to write something that a new employee could pick up and do the task without having to be trained.  Of course that made no sense at all, but in the through-the-looking-glass world of corporate America, you get used to dildonic instructions like that.  The fundamental ludicrousness was resolved today, by telling us to do both:  we are to simultaneously write a bare-bones set of bullet points describing our every responsibility, while at the same time writing a comprehensive step-by-step training guide to every single thing we do.  Ten months in to our twelve month time frame.  Needless to say, chaos ensued.  By the end of the day we had yet another email scaling back the whole thing on the bullet points task, while at the same time telling us that we would receive a standardized format for the training manual, and to suspend work in the meantime.  Well I was all over the suspending work part.

Other than that, it was a pretty good day.  My month is going smoothly.  I've added almost forty thousand dollars to the bottom line from collecting old write-offs this month, and my biggest issue with that has been not spraining my arm patting myself on the back.  All the small write-offs are done, I have only one big one, and I have fixed the bone-headed cash-posting snafu's of the month with remarkably little kick-back from credit services for additional gratuitous and useless backup.

I sent a good many text messages back and forth today with Todd.  Despite my conflict about it.  It ended up that he was coming to the house tonight to visit while I baked brownies.  Lest you think, gentle reader, that I am up to my usual horn-dog ways, I beg to protest.  It also came to light today that Todd is of a virtuous temperament and does not believe in casual sex.  He's a nice guy, and someone I'd like to know better, but that really didn't help much with my conflict.  In a way with the set-up Jason and I have, his not being interested in sex might actually be viewed as more of a betrayal, in a way.  With the sex stripped away, we were basically setting up a date.

After work I ran through the Dollar Tree for cheap zip-lock bags, through the grocery store for butter, and headed home to hit the stove.  I had left tonight free to bake brownies for the charity bake sale at work tomorrow.  We're raising money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which is of course a cause near and dear to my heart.  But since I had a gentleman caller coming, there were a few things I had to do first.

I put in a load of laundry and ate supper (he wasn't going to be there until 8pm, and told me to go ahead and eat).  Then after supper I folded up the load of laundry in the drier, straightened up the house a little, and lighted the scented candles to make the house smell nice.  I also had to decide on something to wear.  Usually I cook in an old t-shirt and boxers, but of course that wouldn't do tonight.  So I had to wear something that looked nice, but not too nice, and wouldn't show either flour or cocoa smudges too badly; tall order, but I worked it out.   

That myriad of tasks accomplished, I actually started making brownies.  I LOVE this brownie recipe.  Before I found it, I never made homemade brownies, because they always came out dry - the mix ones were actually better.  Well no longer.  After I made this recipe for the first time, I took my brownie mix and gave it to Billy. 

Well 8pm came and went.  About quarter after, I had a text from Todd, asking if he could come about 9pm instead.  Well no.  I turn in early on weeknights, and we wouldn't have had time to visit really at all.  About the time he got there, it would have been time for him to leave.  So I told him maybe another time.  I finished up my brownies and cleaned up the kitchen.  Because I had moved everything around, they came out too late to cut and bag up tonight, so I'll have that to do in the morning.  But that's OK.  Still, I was disappointed. And I was conflicted about that.