CHECK ENGINE LIGHT! Perfect timing

3.5 days from know, Im supposed to be rounding NYC on my way to my mom's house in Colonial Williamsburg, VA for the first leg of my trip out west. Status report: as many of you know, my check engine light came on today as I was driving to school from Red Hook after paying a bill (that's another story...). After posting on Facebook about it, I got many responses offering to check the gas cap to make sure it was tight, and that it could just be an O2 or CO2 sensor, or an emission issue. Not something that would cripple the car, but enough to make me leery about driving to AZ. But I have no choice--I have to move out of my current place, I have to get out there, I have to start working so I can have the money to get the car fixed. It's a Catch 22... So I'm meeting my boss at work early tomorrow morning because he has one of those code readers to try and figure out what's wrong. Additionally I have an appointment at the car shop on Thursday in case something needs to get fixed, and I also need the oil changed.

So I had to pay a bill up in Red Hook and the lady at the desk was just, like whatever. I try asking her for help and she just looked at me and said that she didn't know what I wanted, who I was supposed to talk to, where I was supposed to go... I had to make a phone call and go back and forth. What should've taken 2 seconds took 25 minutes. Ended up being late to work... And that's how the rest of the day felt. You know that feeling? Like waking up late and the rest of the day you're trying to play catch-up.

And then in class, I messed up my mustard twice. The first time, I over cooked it and curdled the eggs. Then I realized I was using the wrong mustard to begin with... Ugh. But I managed to pull it out and get it together in the end. Even got ahead! Just gotta hunker down and bang it out!

And I have to just say this--I wish there was more common sense in the world... If there is a display on a piece of equipment, it obviously is getting power and you don't need to check the outlet. If the sink only has 3 inches of cold, dirty water in it, then whatever you're washing ISN'T getting clean. If 3 things all need to get cold smoked, why not set up the large smoker instead of the small one? There aren't any mise en place cups--have you WASHED any? I'm just saying...

ANd on that note, at this hour, with so much on my stressed mind, I'm going to turn off the lights and the computer and veg for a little before beddy. G'night!

P.S.--I'M SOOOOO EXCITED ABOUT PHOENIX!!!

T minus 5 days!

Good evening my friends--

Only 5 days left till the Odyssey across the country begins! Wrapping up loose ends around here... Paying some bills, Gracie to the vet, World AIDS Day observances... Everything listed before. Busy busy!

I have to say--having Chef Gigliotti has been amazing. She is so knowledgable and seems to enjoy teaching, so long as we're quiet... Lol. And she's funny, and laughs at my really bad puns...

Homework done, time to relax. :)

VICTORY IS MINE!

Good evening my friends!

So after all of that worry and conjecture, I managed to fit everything into the 5x5 storage unit. Granted, at first look, my roommate, his friend with the pick-up truck, and I all agreed that I would need the 5x10 unit so we started moving in. But then, after another trip to the house I could see that it would be a very close call. Since Rob and Mark had to get back to the firehouse, I was on my own and had to move everything from the 5x10 to the 5x5 around the corner. After a good wrestling session and a few choice expletives, it's all in there. Next challenge will be loading the car with what's left...

In a correspondence with my Exec Sous Chef at the resort, he informed me that I'll be starting out in Sprouts, the Spa restaurant with health food. I'm pretty excited! I don't really know a whole lot about spa food and healthy options... I have the worst diet... But in this day, healthy options is the way to go.

List of things to do this week:
Prep for Grand Buffet
Get the Cheese Project sorted out
Meet with university staff about rededicating the plaza with flagpole, as Veterans Memorial Plaza
Take Grace to the vet for shots
Work
Change my address w school so they can send my W-2 for taxes
World AIDS Day observances on Tuesday night with the chorus and Alliance, and Wednesday night with Alliance as a guest speaker'
Get to the VA for a shot myself
HIT THE ROAD !!

Wow--busy week...

Getting ready to embark on the adventure of a lifetime!

Hello everyone, and thanks for tuning in!

So I'm getting this up and going more. I've been promising for forever, but now I have to make sure I sit down make time for this everyday. So It starts today--Taking a break from packing, grabbing a couple slices of pizza from Coco's here in Hyde Park. Good pizza! I have the Music Choice Hits channel on the tv and jamming out to Gaga, Katie Perry, Fall Out Boy, Black Eyed Peas, et al... Need to sort out what goes and what stays and hope I have enough room between the car and the storage unit. The only things I'm taking with me are Gracie, of course, and my knives and uniforms, my laptop, a few dvds and clothes. Everything else goes into the 5x5x12' storage unit... Kitchen, the rest of the dvds, memoribilia, and whatever else.

The purpose of this trip, as many of you know, is my 4.5 month externship at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, AZ. Mr Marriott takes his family there for his birthday in March every year... It's a gorgeous resort!

I'll be living at the Capri on Camelback apartments near the intersection of Camelback and N 40th (I think...) and they look like a resort themselves!

While there, I'll be rotating through all 5 restaurants at the resort, which include BLT Steak, an American bistro, the spa restaurant... different styles of cuisine, so I'll get the opportunity to learn a LOT. Of course one of the biggest things will be doing Banquets and Catering. You learn SO MUCH from those...

After my externship, I'm going to Stage Across America (stage is pronounced stahj). A stage is where a culinary student goes and works for a restaurant for free to get the experience, and the restaurant gets free labor for a night. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement. I plan to stage at several locations across the country to learn about those regions cuisines--that will help me tremendously in planning for my Restaurant Group, since I want to specialize in American Regional cuisine. My journey from NY will take me to AZ via NJ, DE, MD, DC, VA, TN, AR, TX, and NM and I'll get to see friends and family en route. When I leave AZ, I will take 3 weeks to drive to Vegas, San Francisco, Napa, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore and Devil's Tower, Minneapolis, MIlwaukee, Chicago, Ann Arbor and Philadelphia... It's going to be one HELL of a trip with just me and Gracie in the Kia! Something like 30 states in total on this trip, before arriving back at school.

Please follow along as I document this experience! I hope to get a video camera and also keep a video diary and link this blog and the video diary on YouTube to my Facebook page. Food Network? Are you there?