Pretzel Buns and Mexican Food

I need to write about something light today...well, actually, all my writing is dribble.  I need to write about PRETZEL BUNS, and no, I'm not referencing somebody with a twisted derriere.  Look at these lovely baked pieces of heaven

For whatever reason, unbeknownst to me, pretzel buns seem to be something like Big Foot around here in California.  People have seen glimpses of sightings seasonally at Costco, but pretzel buns still remain something of myth and mystery around here.  Why?????  They are delicious!!!!  When we do get some occasionally, they fly off the shelves faster than the latest Cabbage Patch Kid (wow, I'm dating myself).  

There is NOTHING like a warm pretzel bun with ham and cheese.  One of my Minnesota besties, JLB, introduced them to me a couple years ago.  I had never even heard of a pretzel bun before.  It was love at first bite.  I thought California had an edge on everything to do with food and we had the most diverse selection of everything.  We can get gluten-free-no-dairy-organic-exotic (fill in the blank with a food item) but to get a seemingly simple pretzel bun?????.  Nope.  I have to learn how to make them.  I'm not good at baking breads, but my cravings are overriding my poor baking skills.  

Now...switching gears completely.

It's happened.  One of the female family members is pregnant by an "undocumented immigrant."  Or, in other words, an illegal Mexican.  I'll spare you any pro or con arguments about this popular topic of debate.  Only the facts.  My niece began dating "Jose" a while ago.  Jose is from a family that slipped across the border into California.  Jose's mother kept bugging Jose as to "when are you going to get your girlfriend pregnant?"  wow.  great reason to have a kid.  mom wants to be a grandma and wants her son to have an anchor baby by a white girl with wealthy parents that will permanently give him residency in the U.S.  The joke will be when they find out the white girl's rich parents are not as wealthy as they think.  It's all an illusion that is steeped in debt.  

Mind you this couple is young and they do not have jobs to support themselves let alone a baby.  Never mind.  My niece is on some sort of assistance that pays for her health insurance.  Whatever.  My job is to shut my mouth, keep my opinion to myself, and give support when needed.  Well, it's needed.

There is going to be a baby shower.  My good friend, M, is going to do the catering for it.  I'm on standby for additional help.  We both love to cook and have often thought of doing catering professionally or opening up a restaurant.  M and I decided that would take the fun out of it and we would end up hating each other.  Anyway, the baby shower will be interesting as Jose's family speaks practically no English.  Talk about two different cultures colliding.  

M is a Jewish girl originally from Oakland.  I am ghost-white from the Midwest.  Our cooking assignment for the shower?  The menu requested is Mexican food.  It's so ironic... a white girl and a Jew making Mexican food for Mexicans that don't even speak English.  It better be good and authentic.  I'm intimidated by the task.  We can do it, right M?  If we fail I'm sure the insults and criticism will be said right there and then in front of us en Espanol.  Oh well, let them laugh at us gringas (stupid white bitches).....we're trying to build a Puente (bridge) and make them feel welcome.  

Me Too

I know this is already passé, but there is something about the "me too" hashtag campaign that strikes at my very core.  Yes, Quiet Rage is part of the "me too" crowd.  I'm sure it has influenced my ongoing bitterness at the world.  I'm in therapy for that.

It started as a child.  My kindergarten bus driver creeped me out.  It didn't start that way.  I thought he was being super cool by letting me sit on his lap and "drive" the bus.  Remember, this was waaaaaaay back in the stone age before Megan's Law, background checks, and helicopter parenting existed.

About age 9-10 ish my sister's male friend, who was 17 or so at the time, tried to kiss me in my parents' basement.  It was also about this time boys at school would start asking if I was wearing a bra and if I had pubic hair.  I also recall several times a guy following me on my bike.  I went to a stranger's house pretending I lived there so he would go away.  One time, a guy pulled up and told me to get in his car.  He said my mother told him it was OK.  My gut told me otherwise.  Then there was the creepy uncle who also tried to corner me in the basement at a family function.  I got scared, broke free, and sat glued to my parents' side the rest of the time.  When I got the courage to tell my mom what happened she said, "Don't tell.... Uncle's Wife would be devastated and it would break her heart."

As a teenager my ass would be routinely grabbed by guys in the hallway at school.  By this time I thought this was a demonstration of admiration and not the power play that it really was.  My first love (or I thought it was love) took unspeakable sexual liberties with me that have me scarred to this day.  I worked as a cocktail waitress where male patrons thought I was on the menu as well.  I loathed serving groups of men.  They all tried to one-up each other making remarks to each other that were meant for me to be overheard about my body to see how much I would take before I retaliated.

After all of this I ended up in a career that is male dominated.  I remember announcing my pregnancy.  One of the guys said, "I bet (husband) just HATED doing that to you..ha ha ha."

I didn't think it was funny.

Then there was the issue with prostitutes.  It's so common.  So many so-called happily married men think nothing of soliciting sex with a prostitute and then go home and tell their wives how much they love them.

I could go on and on....... moral of the story:  Guys, we are not just flesh for your pleasure.  We have feelings, emotions, hearts, and minds.  We are people.  How would you like to be poked, prodded, and judged like a piece of meat?

Now What?

The news cameras have moved away from our fire disaster and on to the latest twitter posting the twit has posted.  Enough already.  We all know he's a sociopath and King of Ego.  Stop feeding this monster attention.  Starve the monster of attention and he will wither away.  It doesn't matter if the attention he is getting is negative -- it's still attention and the spotlight -- and that's all that egomaniacs care about.

Here in Sonoma County California, as the East Coast doesn't really give a lick about us, we are shifting through ashes and asking ourselves, "Now What?"

There is no playbook for this, folks.  There is nothing to compare this to.  There is no disaster plan that covers something of this magnitude other than a nuclear blast.

We are winging this.

Take note people, climate change refugees are something we will see more and more of.  A natural disaster will happen that pretty much wipes out a region.  The slow lengthy recovery, if recovery happens at all, will take too long for people to deal with.  They will just pick up and go elsewhere.

Blame has already been placed on PG&E.  For those not from northern California PG&E stands for Pacific Gas and Electric.  It's a publically traded utility company on the New York Stock Exchange.  People invest in the stock market to make money.  People invested in PG&E stock to make money.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put together that the shareholders who invested money in PG&E (you) have this expectation of profits.  You would not have invested in PG&E if you did not have that expectation.

In order to make those profits happen corners are cut and safety compromised to make the all mighty financial statements look appealing to investors and shareholders.  The management of PG&E to make this happen is not something the shareholders are really into and don't really care about.  The shareholders just want profits - at any cost.

Well, shareholders and other investors, it's time to pay the fiddler.

Gone With the Wind.....and Fire

This scene is from Gone With the Wind (1939) starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh showing them fleeing the Atlanta Fire during the Civil War.  Yes, it's the Hollywood version of what happened here in Sonoma County but it's hauntingly similar.  I don't like how Clark's character, Rhett, constantly whips the horse but I was not the director of the movie.  My point will be made after watching this scene.

In this instance they are coming from south to north.  The vultures are already circling to prey on fire victims.  They are flooding in from Southern California to Northern California and their main objective is to profit off of this historic disaster.  Fellow citizens of Sonoma County BEWARE.  Don't be in a rush to settle claims with your insurer.  Your insurance company, despite their commercials depicting that they actually care, are out to minimize their losses.  Lawyers will be crawling out of the woodwork to get in on this.  You will be in the middle with these wolves chewing on all your limbs.  Construction contractors with little to no experience and questionable ethics will tell you they can rebuild your home and make it even better.

Smoke gets in your eyes.....lungs, hair, clothing

I have been issuing disaster relief funds to the many in my industry who have lost everything -- and I mean everything.  It takes a while for insurance companies to come forth with money and all the other disaster relief assistance requires paperwork and whatnot.  We have a fund put aside so I can write checks immediately on the spot and hand them to the victims without any forms whatsoever.  I know them personally.  I never have seen so many grown men break down and sob.  Their stories are sad beyond belief.  I felt bad just handing them a check as my life going forward will be a cake walk in comparison.  They are like stunned deer in the headlights.

For the first time in about a week the sky can be seen.  We have been choking on smoke and ash.  The 101 freeway has been nothing but an artery for emergency vehicles coming from all over the country to help fight the fires.  The Petaluma airport has been used as a helicopter base.

Good luck finding a hotel room or space at a campsite.  Fire refugees are going anywhere they can for shelter and many streets are lined with RV's and campers.  Housing rentals are non-existent and some people are gouging fire victims by jacking up the rent.  What little housing inventory we had for sale is now seeing increases in prices $20,000 in one day.  It's the old story of supply and demand mixed with the greed of opportunists.

It will takes years to rebuild.  On the positive side, we have a tremendous opportunity to show the world when we rebuild how we do it.  Are we going to have higher density housing?  After all, who really needs a huge mansion that is a resource hog?  Are we going to use sustainable materials?  Are we going to rebuild incorporating renewable energy sources?

Out of the ashes we can be reborn.  We can be a phoenix.

Sonoma County Fires

This is the first chance I've had to take a breath - as long as I don't suffocate with the surrounding smoke - to take five and give you all the skinny on what's what.

1.  Power is out for many businesses and residents.  PG&E and AT&T are working relentlessly trying to restore, but this is way more complicated than plugging something into a socket proclaiming, "There.  All better."

2.  Who will rebuild our communities?  We already have a man power shortage for the skilled trades.  We have all the money available, but nobody to rebuild.  We as a society have shamed anybody who is not pursuing a PhD in Underwater Basket Weaving from UC Berkeley to thinking they are not worthy to live.  Guess what.  All those underwater basket weaver PhD's can't help us now.  They will just sit in their offices and groan on social media our doomsday.  Useless.  They are not taking in any evacuees.  They can't really be bothered when push comes to shove.  They just want attention on facebook and social media.  Attention whores all.  All they type is "hugs and prayers and if there is anything I can do......"......and then they never truly follow through.

3.  This will all sink in about a month or so from now when the news cameras move to the next big story.  To all those who are now offering to help fulfilling immediate needs -- Thank you.  However, we know the real heros will come to aid knowing there will be no news attention nor social media posts with standing ovations and "likes."

4.  If you REALLY want to help victims of the fires, ,please know that their immediate needs for the moment are being met.  What will count is what happens six months to a year from now...or longer.  Sorry, there will be no news media hype complete with cameras nor recognition.  it will be just knowing inside yourself that you were a good person when it mattered most.

hope that is what you're truly all about.  giving you all the benefit of the doubt.  no "likes" on facebook or whatever ego-media you all are on necessary.  Please give for the sake of giving...not for what media attention you can get.

Operating Systems and Platforms

iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, desktops, tablets, laptops, etc.  Samsung, Apple, At&T, etc.  We have all dealt with various techni-gadgets and their operating systems and software.

Some gadgets play well with other gadgets and their software and others do not.  We all have our favorite gadgets.  I've tried various gadgets over the years and I compare them to one another.  It's hard to say I have an absolute favorite as I liken my techni-gadgets to a tool box.  My favorite will depend on the job I have to do.  You can't use a screwdriver when you need a hammer.  Same with my gadgets.  Some gadgets are better for performing certain tasks than others.

Still, I have dealt with some issued gadgets that I loathe.  I have spent hours on a gadget that I didn't even really want trying to make it useful.  All I get are error codes and crashes no matter what I do.  The more I tried, the worse it got.  It's not compatible with anything.  It's frustrating.

I came to the conclusion that gadgets are like people.  Gadgets, like people, are all wired differently.  Literally.  What works for one gadget won't work for another.  Some gadgets require constant attention and maintenance.  Some gadgets are not dependable and will crash when you need them the most.  Other gadgets you can program, program and reprogram and you will still get error messages.  The more energy you put into it the more frustrated you will get, and the outcome will never change as it's just not wired quite right - like people.  You can spend enormous amounts of energy on somebody but their core wiring isn't right and the outcome disiappointing.

Moral of the story:  Some people have faulty operating systems and no amount of programming will change them.  Save your energy and frustration.