recipe #9

Salsa Chicken Rice Casserole

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 cups uncooked white rice
• 2 2/3 cups water
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups mild salsa

DIRECTIONS

1. Place rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place chicken breast halves into a large saucepan, and fill the pan with water. Bring to a boil, and cook for 20 minutes, or until done. Remove chicken from water. When cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-size pieces.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
4. In a medium bowl, combine Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheeses. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, onion, and salsa. Layer 1/2 of the rice, 1/2 of the chicken, 1/2 of the soup and salsa mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese mixture in prepared dish. Repeat layers, ending with cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until bubbly.

updates

So, I found this and am going to it. It's like a sign or something. I was just thinking "man they have all these 'seminars' about "Careers in ...." and never have anything in the Air Force stuff... and voila. : ) Happiness!

15. AIR FORCE ROTC CAREER DAY

Only 4% of Air Force personnel are pilots, so what does the rest of Air
Force do? Come find out for yourself what the Air Force really is and
discover the opportunities that are yours for the taking as an officer in
the United States Air Force. Air Force ROTC Career Day is an annual
tradition of the UGA Detachment 160 of AFROTC where active duty
officers take their time to present their career fields to us, the students.

Tue, Nov 11, 3:30pm, Location TBA, Pizza & drinks at the end.
We will be hosting the largest and most diverse group of officers the
event has ever seen. Twelve active duty Air Force officers in law,
logistics, intelligence, finance, personnel, and more. There is no
commitment for coming to the meeting. It is purely informational.

Visit and join our Facebook Event "Air Force Career Day 2008"
for more info and updates.

So, that's pretty exciting.  I'm definitely going to go to that.  

On another note, my roommates have again started pulling more shenanigans. Had I written this entry last night, I probably would have started ranting and raving and going off like a crazy person like my last entry. However, I've decided to take the high road. I've decided to not let it get to me because that's just what they want. As a brief overview of the latest grievances follows:

1. Thursday, Oct. 23 - John and I were sitting the the couch watching The Office, smoking apple flavored hookah and had 4 candles burning. She comes in and sprays Lysol in the air by her door. Then she goes into Paul's room. Then a minute later she comes out again and sprays the aerasol directly in our direction, over the hookah and in front of the TV, in the process, spraying both John and I with mist. Then she went back in her room. Like it even mattered. Like she was even in the living room at all to be bothered. She just went in her room.

2. Friday, Oct. 24 - She puts a plastic trash bag over the hookah in the living room. Even though it wasn't on or anything, it was just sitting on the table. I can understand them moving it to the floor out of the way, but putting a trash bag over it? It's not like the shisha is going to jump out and give her lung cancer. They also pushed the coffee table all the way back and put the old TV on top if it. Now, this could have been for several reasons, so this doesn't really bother me, but the trash bag on the hookah? Juvenile.

In any case, I just don't really care. It's not worth my time, effort, or energy to spend thinking about why or try to reason what the heck her problem is.

I can understand how she might have a problem with smoking in the living room, even though there's just as much evidence against the harms of smoking hookah as there are for the harms of smoking hookah, and wouldn't want to be around it. I can understand how she'd want half of the fridge. However, all of these things she hasn't just come and spoken and asked for a compromise. With the fridge, she just pushed all my things to one side and wrote on the fridge that half was hers. To me, that's not compromise, that's not healthy discussion, that's ultimatum. Writing on the fridge gives no area for any other voice of opinion on the matter. In regards to the hookah, she's only asked that it not be in the room at all, she's not offered a compromise that maybe we only smoke it after 10 after she goes to her room for the night and other times smoke it in our own room during the day, maybe with an exception when we have friends over. People come over specifically to smoke hookah sometimes because it's a social thing, but its not often, and it's usually at night anyway.

She wants people to treat people her the way she treats people, but so far she's been nothing but malicious towards us; the trashcan, the hookah covering, the aerosol spraying, and possibly moving the TV (although there are legit reasons for that other than they just are refusing to use our TV.) She says she wants to voice her problems, but voicing them on the white board leaves no room for discussion or compromise. Like I said, ultimatum.

Anyway, like I said, I am not going to play petty games in return. I did think of a thing or two when I was angry, but I'm going to take the high road. I don't know if I can say the same for John. Anyway, that's about it.

recipe #8

Stuffed Shells

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (16 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
• 4 cups large curd cottage cheese
• 12 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 pinch garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1 (26 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Place in cold water to stop cooking. Drain.
2. Mix together cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, eggs, and garlic powder. Rub the dried herbs in the palms of your hands to pulverize them, and stir into the cheese mixture. Stuff mixture into the shells.
3. Spread 1/3 of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 15 x 10 inch pan. Place shells open side up, and close together in pan. Spread remaining sauce over top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes, or until bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

recipe #7

Broccoli Cheese Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 3 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli
• 3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 6 tablespoons margarine
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 processed cheese food (eg. Velveeta), cubed
• 1/2 cheddar cheese
  
• 1 pinch ground white pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pot over medium heat, simmer the broccoli in the broth for 15 minutes. In a separate skillet over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes, or to desired tenderness.
2. Add the flour to the onions and stir well, forming a pasty substance. Gradually add the milk and stir until thick. Add this mixture to the broccoli mixture in the pot and stir well. Then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Finally, add the pepper. (Note: Be careful not to let the soup boil, or the cheese will break down.)

roommate update

So, apparently the saga continues with the roommates.

This time, they don't resort to using the white board on the fridge.

Instead, they've completely removed the trashcan from the kitchen. Unprovoked. For no viable reason.

Now, this leads me to wonder if I should tell them they can't use my dishes. At this point, they've contributed nothing to the apartment, the trashcan was about all they've done so far, and now they've apparently rescinded our rights to use their trashcan.

I don't even get it.

follow up

The last recipe I published turned out great. Plus, lots of leftovers which is always a plus on days that John works till midnight.

I've been super sleepy lately, even though I cut my hours this week so I could catch up on homework type items.

I didn't get the internship that I applied for. In a way, I'm happy. I didn't get the best feeling from the place; it was dark, everyone had their doors closed, and it was tucked way off far back into an obscure place in town. Still, that was probably the one Athens internship of the same caliber, and so I probably won't have another opportunity. Apparently they only hire one intern per department per semester, which I don't really understand since it's unpaid, they could at least take on two to three. Anyway, so I'm sure it was that whoever got it was way more qualified than I am. He said I was welcome to apply next semester and that he'd pass my resume on to the other departments, but really I don't expect anything here. I'm not qualified for much. That isn't going to change either by next semester anyway. I like to work, and I'd much rather work and get paid than not, besides, I'm not much into writing news articles and that's really all there is opportunities for anyway. They have a Magazine Club, but well I don't know, whatever I guess.

So, the plan is that I'm just going to work as much as I can, save up as much as I can, and join the Air Force as a Public Affairs Officer like I was planning to all along, and stop stressing myself out about the rest. I dipped my toe in the civilian world just to find out it's disappointing, so at least I can say I made an attempt, and now I'm done. Nobody cares a wink about work ethic I guess, and so be it. Meanwhile, I can continue working break-neck hours just like I like to, pulling in surplus sums of money, just like I like to, and to hell with the fluff.

My only problem now is the "practicum" or whatever I'm supposed to get if I don't get an internship. Apparently I have to be published seven to eight times in The Red and Black (the advisor may have just been using this as an example publication). I wonder if I could swing either just taking another course or maybe getting published in a literary magazine fewer times, instead. That way, at least I'll be writing stuff I want to write, fiction, short stories, instead of "news" stories. Whatever.

We'll see I guess. Since I didn't get the internship, I'll have to talk to my advisor about my options. You can't be a creative writing major at UGA, but you can master in it, not really sure how that works exactly as far as making sense.

recipe #6

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

INGREDIENTS

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1 pound broccoli florets, cooked
* 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
* 1 can of condensed cream of chicken
* 1/2 can of milk
* 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
* 1 cup dry stuffing mix (cooked)



DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Saute chicken with spices cut into bite sized pieces. Steam broccoli until crisp but tender, cook stuffing.

3. In a small bowl mix together the soup, milk and 1 cup cheese and chicken. Set aside. In a 9x13 inch baking dish layer the chicken mix, and cheese. Put stuffing mix over the top and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

car repair and other major things of the day

So after the brakes went out on the car, I took it to this place out in the middle of nowhere called Hopewell Tire & Automotive. Luckily for me, the day previous, I had called about every car repair place looking for estimates on just basic brake replacement (pads/shoes/labor). So, when I called them, they were almost immediately first on the list by how friendly he was on the phone and helpful. So, when it broke down, I took it there. They did a full inspection for free on my car, and then even made the rattling noise stop, free of charge! That was what I was what made me like them immediately. All the other times I've taken it to places, they knew it made the rattling and yet no one did anything. Yet, apparently something was just loose and needed some bolts, and he just did it for me. So, now my car is quite, at last, no rattling chain noise, it's almost as if I have a brand new vehicle with just that change. Heck, I don't even remember when it was the last time I had the car not make those noises. Anyway, so after calling around getting estimates, the price they charged to do the work with parts included after taxes and fees was only $260! Getting just the brakes changed on their own, not including the other part that broke on the brakes (the hydraulic part) was going to be around $150 at some other place anyway. Not only that, but like I said, they did a full inspection on the car, found out that my belts don't have to be replaced (as the one guy had told me at Precision Auto), and after figuring out all that's wrong with the car, didn't try and make me feel like I had to get it all fixed. They were like "here's the brakes that need to be fixed" the rest we can just work through one thing at a time when you can, just to get your car in better shape. Plus, the facility was nice, offered complementary coffee and sodas and had full service cable TV (not just playing soap operas with the TV mounted high so no one can change the channel). They even had a fish tank with a huge fish in it. The guy, Andy is super nice and makes sure that he explains everything to you so that you know what's going on. The phone was almost ringing off the hook, but he didn't even flinch while he was explaining to me (with diagrams) about what happened with my brakes and what needed to be fixed. So, they got the repair done when they said they would, and when I went to pick it up, I got into my car, and they had cleaned it! The front seat had had some Styrofoam cups from work all around and some crumpled up papers from when the oil change people put those "feet protector" papers on the floor, and when I got in, it was all gone. Overall, it was the best service I've gotten at a car place and I'll definitely be going back there if I ever need anything else done.

I had my interview today. Overall, I think it went pretty well. I feel like I answered everything satisfactorily. I feel like I asked constructive questions. I was pretty nervous, but I think I managed to mask it during the meeting. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes I guess. It seemed promising, but the guy didn't really give anything away. He said he would be contacting me within a week. His last interview days are October 7th, so I figure sometime after that is when I'll be getting a yay or nay phone call. We'll see how that goes. In any case, I looked pretty good. The interview also consisted of an editing test, which I thought was challenging but doable. We'll see how that goes too, there's no way to tell. I wasn't frazzled though, so I guess that's good.

Equifax was offering free credit scores for the first 10,000 people to go get it. So, I did that. I probably have the best credit score out of my peer group. Top tier baby! 763! I have the screen shot somewhere.






So that's how that turned out. Well, anyway, I'm rewarding my hard work and efforts by watching Heroes tonight and going to bed early. Tomorrow is another day of crackdown on homework/school/work, so let me enjoy the free time when I have it.