The online journal, notebook and playground of HFM

Dictionary of Evaluation Comments

Author Unknown

Some of you might like to know what the supervisor is really saying in all those glowing employee work performance evaluations s/he keeps cranking out.

Active Socially:
Drinks heavily.

Alert To Company Developments:
An office gossip.

Approaches Difficult Problems With Logic:
Finds someone else to do the job.

Average:
Not too bright.

Character Above Reproach:
Still one step ahead of the law.

Competent:
Is still able to get work done if supervisor helps.

Conscientious And Careful:
Scared.

Consults With Supervisor Often:
Pain in the ass.

Demonstrates Qualities Of Leadership:
Has a loud voice.

Deserves Promotion:
Create new title to make him/her feel appreciated.

Enjoys Job:
Needs more to do.

Exceptionally Well Qualified:
Has committed no major blunders to date.

Expresses Self Well:
Can string two sentences together.

Gets Along Extremely Well With Superiors And Subordinates Alike:
A coward.

Happy:
Paid too much.

Hard Worker:
Usually does it the hard way.

Indifferent To Instruction:
Knows more than superiors.

Is Unusually Loyal:
Wanted by no-one else.

Judgement Is Usually Sound:
Lucky.

A Keen Analyst:
Thoroughly confused.

Keen Sense Of Humor:
Knows lots of dirty jokes.

Maintains Professional Attitude:
A snob.

Meticulous In Attention To Detail:
A nitpicker.

Not A Desk Person:
Did not go to college.

Of Great Value To The Organization:
Turns in work on time.

Quick Thinking:
Offers plausible excuses for errors.

Requires Work-Value Attitudinal Readjustment:
Lazy and hard-headed.

Should Go Far:
Please.

Slightly Below Average:
Stupid.

Spends Extra Hours On The Job:
Miserable home life.

Stern Disciplinarian:
A real jerk.

Strong Adherence To Principles:
Stubborn.

Tactful In Dealing With Superiors:
Knows when to keep mouth shut.

Takes Pride In Work:
Conceited.

Takes Advantage Of Every Opportunity To Progress:
Buys drinks for superiors.

Unlimited Potential:
Will stick with us until retirement.

Uses Resources Well:
Delegates everything.

Uses Time Effectively:
Clock watcher.

Very Creative:
Finds 22 reasons to do anything except original work.

Well Organized:
Does too much busywork.

Will Go Far:
Relative of management.

Zealous Attitude:
Opinionated.

Continue ReadingDictionary of Evaluation Comments

You Know You’re Gay When…

Author Unknown

  1. You wear the appropriate underwear for each of your dates.
  2. You understand the subtle differences between at least 20 brands of vodka.
  3. You understand the immense importance of good (or bad) lighting.
  4. You can be in a crowded bar and still spot a toupee from 50 yards away.
  5. You can tell a woman you love her bathing suit and mean her bathing suit.
  6. You can tell a woman she has lipstick on her teeth without embarrassing her.
  7. No one expects you to kiss and not tell.
  8. You can have naked pictures of men you know in your home.
  9. You can have naked pictures of men you don’t know in your home.
  10. You can have naked pictures of men you don’t know in your home and on your computer.
  11. Unlike your women friends, you can hang out in men’s locker room.
  12. You understand why the good Lord created spandex.
  13. You understand why the good Lord did not intend everyone to wear spandex.
  14. You know the difference between a latte, cappuccino, cafe au lait and a macchiato. And if you don’t, you know how to fake it.
  15. You know how to get back at just about everyone.
  16. Your pets always have great names.
  17. Nobody expects you to change a tire.
  18. You’re the only guy who gets to do the "Cosmo" quizzes.
  19. You know how to get a waiter’s attention.
  20. You only wear polyester when you mean to.
  21. At any given instant, you can recite who was gay since the dawn of history.
  22. You are, hands down, your nephew’s and nieces’ favorite uncle.
  23. You get to choose your family.
  24. You can tell your sexual compatibility with a potential partner by the way he holds his drink.
  25. You can smile to let someone know you can’t stand them.
  26. You wouldn’t be caught dead in Hooters.
  27. You can freeze an approaching bar troll twenty feet away.
  28. You’re good pals with women other people can’t stand.
  29. You’ve always got an opinion, and don’t mind sharing it.
  30. You’ve read the book, seen the movie, done the musical.
  31. You know how to "air kiss".
  32. You know exactly which cosmetic surgery to consider having… and the perfect excuse to give people who ask where you’ve been for two weeks.
  33. You know how to dress strategically.
  34. You know when to move out and move on.
  35. You are the only one at the class reunion who looks better than you did in high school.
  36. You’ve got at least one framed picture of a pet.
  37. You know that being called a "cheap slut" isn’t necessarily an insult.
  38. You wouldn’t buy someone a mug for their birthday.
  39. You know which wine to bring.
  40. Sales clerks don’t mess with you.
  41. You have a medicine chest stocked for any occasion.
  42. You never hold a grudge for longer than a decade.
  43. You’ve just about defeated the accent you were born with.
  44. You know the way to a man’s heart is not necessarily through his stomach.
  45. You choose the most fabulous greeting cards.
  46. You know every film ever made with male frontal nudity.
  47. You’ve got sunscreen at every conceivable SPF level.
  48. You have the latest International Male catalog.
  49. You wouldn’t dream of dressing out of the latest International Male catalog.
  50. You can be bitchy without anyone blaming it on biology.
Continue ReadingYou Know You’re Gay When…

Economics and Republican fantasy

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

I’ve said it before, but let me repeat it: There is a finite amount of money. I’m not a communist… I love capitalism. But reality prompts me to point out that we don’t have unlimited amounts of cash.
If we increase our spending at the same time we cut taxes, we’re going to wind up with a huge debt that we can’t pay. If we can’t pay the bills now, how are we going to pay them in the future? In the future people will have become attached to tax cuts, and they won’t want to pay more. They’ll also be attached to government services that they don’t want to give up. We will never be able to get out of debt.
When are the Republicans ever going to get a grip on reality? I don’t carry any debt in my own life. I certainly don’t want the government to do so. We need a good democratic presidential candidate…. and fast.

Continue ReadingEconomics and Republican fantasy

sanding floors

On the homefront — I sanded Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It sucked. It was really hard and the sander I used didn’t do a very good job. I picked the square buffer-type sander because the drum sander is too big for me to control easily. The square sander is also really hard to control, and it isn’t as efficient: I went over the floors dozens of times and they didn’t get up all of the first layer of junk off the floor. So I gave up and decided to paint rather than stain. You can also see murphy bed in Boise here and buy it at a great price.

My reasoning is this: I need to preserve the wood now that I’ve sanded it, or the traffic will damage the wood. I need to do it quickly and cheaply, and hiring a pro to finish the sanding would take too long. Simply putting down a polyurethane isn’t good enough because the floors look like crap. So I’m painting with an oil-based polyurethane paint that will protect the floor for a year or two until I can hire a pro to sand it up and redo the floors. You can see the website if you need for flooring services.

I put the first coat on the foyer and part of the dining room last night. I take tonight off and pack, Wednesday I’ll spend with friends. Then Thursday, I’ll finish the dining room and put a second coat on the foyer. Saturday the cable guy and the phone guy are coming, and when they’re done, I’ll put another coat over all the floors.

Floor sanding & painting

Continue Readingsanding floors

Republican Anti-Intellectualism and the dumbing down of American Culture

“Brain Drain” by Mark Crispin Miller:

For reasons too complex for us to hazard here, the anti‑intellectuals are finally on the side of power at its most unforgiving and voracious. And so they give a pass to those professors who are at the service of such power, while jeering anyone–inside or outside the Academy–who thinks to raise a fuss about how wrong it is. For them, this isn’t something to discuss, because discussion is itself suspicious, even dangerous–the sport of jerk‑offs and Prevaricators. Thus there is no point in arguing with them–and yet no wisdom in attempting to ignore them. And such is true not only of the Bush regime’s most unrestrained supporters, but of the Bush regime itself–a fact that now requires a lot of careful thought, and something more.
And yet it’s just such thinking that has all but disappeared since 9/11–as it always disappears in time of war. In bringing down the World Trade Center (a mile from where I sit right now) and ravaging the Pentagon, the terrorists not only murdered thousands, and left tens of thousands more bereft, and devastated lower Manhattan, and sparked the wreckage of the local and the national economy. Through that spectacular atrocity, the killers also managed, at one blow, to knock the brains clean out of countless good Americans. Although those citizens had started out that day with all their wits intact, by dinner‑time they sounded way much like Fred–a terroristic consequence a lot less hideous, surely, than what happened in the air and on the ground, and yet even more destructive in the long run. For while we can and will no doubt rebuild beyond the shattered lives and property, the prospects aren’t as upbeat for our frail democracy, which cannot function if too many people think like Bill O’Reilly and his fans.

Continue ReadingRepublican Anti-Intellectualism and the dumbing down of American Culture

Working On Floors

Rich came over Tuesday night and we finished ripping up the foyer and the entryway. Last night I went back over and removed more of the baseboards and ripped up some of the plywood that’s still around the edges of the room. I still need to get the baseboards in the living room and then try to work on the linoleum that’s still stuck down in there. Then I can start sanding!!! I might try to get the sander this evening just to have it in the house. I could potentially start on the dining room tomorrow morning.

I also put the legs on the dining table Paul gave me and set it up in the game room, which is going to be the dining room temporarily until I get the living room finished. I’m starting to feel more and more like the place is mine.

2165 N. Penn - House Projects

Continue ReadingWorking On Floors

Celebrity Tattoos

Cool: Celebrity Tattoos.

On Sunday I finished the ripping up the living room and most of the foyer, with Gary’s help. Good thing in the foyer; where the window was broken, all the plywood was rotten and molding. If I hadn’t decided to rip it up, it would have been a huge mold problem in the future. Fortunately, the floor underneath it is okay. Gary also brought me Paul’s dining room table; it will look great in the dining room. Cool, that’s one less thing I have to worry about buying off the bat.

The foyer is the wide plank flooring like the living room. There’s a small section where it would probably be a good thing if I replaced a couple of the planks. I hope to god I can find the planks to replace all these easily. Tonight I’ll go to the house and try to finish up ripping up the flooring. I also want to try to knock the plaster down off the ceiling this week before I begin to sand the floors, take down the outside edge strip of the drop ceiling, remove the ugly tacky baseboards they put in the living room and foyer and generally clean everything up.

Continue ReadingCelebrity Tattoos

Almond Pastry

From the kitchen of: Kelly Ackley.

  • 2 sticks of butter
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
  • Betty Crocker Smooth & Creamy Vanilla frosting
  • Chopped walnuts (or almonds)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add 1 stick of butter to 1 cup of flour & bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add 1 or one-and-a-half teaspoon almond extract. Quickly stir in 1 cup of flour & mix well until smooth & no lumps. One at a time (important) stir in 3 eggs.

Separately…

Mix 1 cup flour, 3 TBSP water, and 1 stick butter until smooth. Roll into a ball and divide in half. Pat out each half into two strips (onto a cookie sheet). Spread above mixture on each layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour–no more, no less!

Let cool and then frost and add nuts.

Continue ReadingAlmond Pastry

Apple and Cheese Torte

From the kitchen of: Tami Putney.

  • 1 stick butter or margarine
  • 3/4 Cup sugar, divided
  • 1 teasp. vanilla, divided
  • 1 Cup flour
  • 1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 4 thinly sliced apples
  • 1/2 teasp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespn. milk
  • 2 tablespn. toasted and slivered almonds

Cream together butter, 1/4 Cup sugar and 1/2 teasp. vanilla. Add four and when it’s well blended press the mixture into the bottom and 1 1/2 inches up the sides of a 9" spring form pan. Beat the cream cheese, 1/4 Cup sugar, the egg and 1/2 teasp. vanilla until the mixture is smooth. Pour into the prepared crust.

Toss the apple slices lightly with 1/4 Cup sugar and cinnamon. Layer evenly over the cream cheese. Bake at 450 degree F. for 10 minutes and then reduce the oven to 400 degrees and continue baking for 30-45 minutes or until the apples test "done". Cool the pan and then remove the sides of the pan and place on a serving plate. Combine the powdered sugar and milk, drizzle over the torte and garnish with almonds.

Continue ReadingApple and Cheese Torte

Apple Squares

From the kitchen of: Tami Putney.

Try to avoid eating very many of these squares on the day you make them, as they improve immeasurably on the second and third day! This recipe originally came from a Pillsbury bake-off. Makes 12-15 squares)

  • 2 cups unbleached white flour
  • 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
  • 1-2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup sour cream or yogurt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups apples, peeled and finely chopped (about 2 apples)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar and margarine. Blend at low speed, until the mixture forms fine crumbs. If you want to include them, stir in the nuts now. Place 2 3/4 cups of the crumb mixture into an ungreased 13×9 inch pan. Press down firmly. Add the remaining ingredients (except for the apples) to the remaining crumb mixture. Blend well. Stir the chopped apples into the batter. Spoon the batter evenly over the crumb base in the pan. Bake at 350 deg. F for 30-40 minutes. If you use the larger pan, bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool before cutting. Better yet, let it wait 24 hours before cutting. Store loosely covered.

Difficulty: easy. Time: 15 minutes preparation, 40 minutes baking. Precision: approximate measurement OK.

Continue ReadingApple Squares