First time I've ever been naked at work

After working in this building nigh three years, last week I did the necessary things to be able to use the fitness room: I signed the medical waiver. Yes, that's all it required, and yes, I am that much of a lazy ass.

Today, I finally used the equipment for the first time. I did 36:57 on the treadmill, totalling about 1.9 miles. I was dripping with sweat afterward, and took advantage of the shower rooms $COMPANY has thoughtfully provided along with the fitness equipment.

Bringing a book was a good plan. It made the time go by much more easily. Book-on-iPod would also work well, especially for other machines.

Next time: bring soap and shampoo. Bring water bottle or cup to workout room.

One of the reasons I'm trying to get back into better shape is in order to be a more productive and useful member of the CERT team. (Yes, that's like ATM machine or PIN number. But it seems that for me, most acronyms do better as adjectives than as nouns. The counterexamples of NASA and other government agencies notwithstanding.) It occurred to me recently that I'd do much better lifting disaster victims, or debris off of them, and be able to do it longer, if I improved my stamina and strength.

PieQuest I: Uncle Bill's

In emulation of beckyzoole's ReubenQuest, I bring you PieQuest.

I have mentioned here before that I am a big fan of pie. All of us here at Rivendell are, to tell the truth. But after the lamentable demise of Tippin's and the continued absence of Poppin' Fresh aka Baker's Square, a good pie is hard to find. (A hard pie is NOT good to find, in case you were wondering.)

We've tried a few places; diners and family restaurants seem to have pie available more often than more formal (or more expensive) locations. Tonight, lavendargrrl and I went to Uncle Bill's in the hopes that they might serve pie. And indeed, they do. "Pie of the day" it says on the menu.

Today, at least, that translated into two varieties: apple and cherry. We each ordered cherry. They looked storebought, but were served hot, mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cherries were nice and tart, but there was more glaze than cherries. I continue to struggle to describe the crust. "Bready" is the best I could do. It wasn't doughy, it was cooked quite done, but did not have that characteristic flaky goodness that true pie pastry must have.

I can't even imagine how to achieve the consistency their crust had. Perhaps by melting the butter/shortening into the flour or creaming it as for cookies, rather than cutting it in and leaving small shortening pellets in the flour mixture.

Rating: Adequate.

I think we'll keep trying, but honestly, it would really serve us all better if I'd just bake more pies myself. More varieties available. Better crust. Fresher. I was reminiscing to Tammie about the lovely peach-blueberry-bing cherry pie my mother used to make, and the Hawaiian Strawberry, and and and...And I can do just as well at pie making as she does, but I--as we have previously established--am a lazy ass.