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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Things to remember today...

The sun will come up tomorrow.
My dogs will always be happy to see me.
I will go to Santorini someday.
My past does not define me.
I have a wonderful family who will do anything for me.
The best is still yet to come.
There's always Cartoon Network.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Greek Pasta Salad


When I visited Arizona recently, we made a fabulous pasta salad at my aunt's house with a bunch of stuff we found in her fridge. I wanted to try to recreate the recipe, and I think I came fairly close, with a few additions/changes of my own. It made a HUGE bowl full, so I'm glad it's good because I'll be eating it for a while. Good thing pasta salad is even better after it's been refrigerated!

Greek Pasta Salad

1 lb. penne pasta
1 bellpepper (I prefer the colored ones instead of green - less tangy taste)
1 pkg. baby portobella mushrooms (sliced)
1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts
3 oz. pitted Kalamata olives (about 24 olives)
2 Tbsp. non-pareil capers
10 oz. feta cheese
1/4 cup black beans (canned/cooked)
1/4 cup yellow corn (canned fresh)
1/4 cup pico de gallo
salt
pepper
olive oil
garlic/garlic powder

boil pasta, drain
saute mushrooms and diced bellpepper in olive oil and garlic until slightly tender
mix all ingredients in large bowl with drained pasta
add salt, pepper and olive oil to taste

Theft and Unhelpful Glass Repair


This past Wednesday I awoke to find my car, along with ten others in my complex, had been broken into. My driver side window was smashed, and the thief reached in, opened my console, and took my 30G iPod, the iPod case, the holder attached to my AC vent, my iPod FM tuner, and even my stupid plastic sunglasses. Not to mention ruining my morning, and being out the cost of the stolen items, I am also having to come up with the money for my window repair. I immediately filed a report with the police, who actually sent officers out to assess the damage and attempt to take fingerprints.

The very next thing I did was to find a glass repair place as soon as possible. I managed to find a somewhat reasonable quote from Safety Glass Company, who has offices throughout Texas. They got back with me rather quickly, and made an appointment to come to my residence and do the repairs on Friday afternoon between the hours of 1pm and 5pm. Although I was not happy about being sans window for the rest of the week, I was happy to just have it done before the weekend since I had made plans to go out of town. On Friday afternoon, when I had not heard back from anyone by 3:30pm, I called to find out if there was a problem. The lady at the office told me they were running behind due to overbooking, and she would have the technician call me back immediately. When the gentleman called, he explained that he was out in Sugarland, did not have the glass with him, and did not think he would be able to make it to fix mine before dark. I told him I did not care that he had overbooked, it was not my problem, and I needed my car repaired that day. I spoke again to the lady in the office, and she wanted to assure me that the glass would be repaired that evening, but she wanted to make sure I was not going to "yell" at the technician. Apparently he has a fear of aggressive females. Later that evening, I got another call from a different technician stating that he had been given this job at the last minute, that the glass was unavailable, and that he would have to do it in the morning. I went off on the guy. I tried calling the office AGAIN, but naturally it was closed. I spoke again to the second technician, and explained my situation in a calmer manner, and he assured me he would take care of it the following morning even though it was his day off.

I never heard back from anyone all weekend. Now I'd like to tell everyone not to use this sorry service for ANY glass repair, as they are obviously not interested in customer service. Also, as a precaution, don't leave items plugged into the charge outlets in your car. It is an open invitation to thieves that you most likely have electronic devices in your car. Each person whose car was broken into in our particular situation all had items plugged into their car outlets.