On Things Happening Fast

Well, yesterday was interesting. Within two hours of waking up I found out I am having surgery on Friday and that I may need to find a new place to live....all less than a month before school starts and everything changes.

So first, the surgery. I have had a ganglion cyst in my right wrist for several years but it doesn't bother me on a daily basis so there wasn't a whole lot of press to get it taken care of. I tried to go to the Orthopedic surgeon about it when I had that fabulous insurance from United Airlines back in San Diego but they couldn't get me in before I moved. So now, with school looming on the horizon, I figured I'd better do something about it since repetitive motions and a lot of use do bother me a lot. Every doctor I talked to previously led me to believe that they should just be able to stick a needle in my wrist and drain it...no biggie. Last week, I went to the ortho, he stuck a big needle in there aaaaand...nothing. All he succeeded in doing was bruising up my wrist and making it hurt. So when I went back today, they told me they could go in and cut it out...on Friday. It's nothing extensive; I'll get sedated and numbed and it's a 20 minute procedure and then I go home and I'm in a brace/splint/cast thing for 2 weeks. It should be healed enough before school to avoid causing any major problems soooo....here's hoping!

All in all, I think I am more stressed about my apartment situation than I am the surgery. So here's the deal: Back in December, I contacted my management company about a number of mantainance issues, the biggest one being the abundance of moisture in the apartment. I mean, we're talking the humidity being so high that if I leave cookies out for more than a couple of hours on the kitchen table, they become soggy and feel water-logged. Any papers in the apartment get soft and warped and there is just a general feeling of stuffiness. I was afraid to turn my heaters on all winter because of the mold growing all around them (they're the kind built into the wall). I mean, if there's that much mold, there has to be a lot of water in the walls, right? What if it shorts out? Everything in the apartment smells musty; if I leave my clothes in the closet for more than a week they really smell bad. Finally, after 2 1/2 months or so of badgering them about it, I got the dehumidifier they had promised me and they said if that didn't work that I could move into another apartment with no fees.

We gave the dehumidifier some time to work and realized that, although it sort of helped the living room area (though not significantly), it didn't even touch the bedrooms. I gave it a couple of weeks and then emailed my contact at the management company again asking about the possibility of moving to the apartment she showed me before (it's also bigger and has a dishwasher). I emailed twice with no response, called on Monday with the same result, and she finally came by the apartment today after coming to the complex on some other errand. She told me that the apartment she showed me before has been listed but that I could move into the one next door to us if I wanted. Then she proceeds to tell me that to do that, I will need to pay a new deposit and clean the other apartment just as if I was moving out at the end of my lease. SO, not only are they not going to do anything about the problem even after I move out, they want me to give them more money to do it. I paid a $650 deposit when I moved in and it is refundable, minus any damages or cleaning costs. So let's say they decide to give me back $450 of my original deposit, I would need to give them an additional $200 deposit for the new place.....this just does not seem right to me. She said that the other option is breaking my lease with no penalty.

At this point, I am not sure what to do. My options basically come down to, break my lease and find a new place to move, move in next door and pay the additional fee, or stay in my current apartment and suffer through the next 6 months hoping that being able to leave the windows open in the summer will help.

The idea of moving somewhere else seems daunting with everything else going on. I would probably just look for a studio or a room for rent, but that would mean getting rid of all my stuff 6 months earlier than I planned and most likely paying more than I would renting my current apartment with someone else. I really want to pay as little as possible considering that I will just be sleeping there.

If I rule that out (which I haven't, yet), I am left with either staying in my current apartment or moving next door. Both seem like a pain in the ass. I'm not sure that moving at all is going to be feasible with my wrist being out of commission for a few weeks and following that, my time crunch. If I stay in my place now though, I will have to see if they are willing to do anything to fix it/give me a discount on the rent/take them to court if I have to. They really haven't been overly helpful or presented me with many acceptable options.

Soooo....what to do, what to do. I don't particularly like any of my options...I just have to figure out which is the lesser of two weevils. I have until Friday to decide...any suggestions?

On New Ideas and New Experiences

Years ago I discovered that one of the few physical things I'm good at is climbing stuff.  Rocks, trees, anything I could find.  I used to spend hours hopping from rock to rock up and down rivers whenever I got the chance.  When I was a teenager I went with my dad and stepmother to Kitty Hawk for vacation and we tried climbing an indoor rock wall.  It was amazing.  A while later I went on a two week outdoor adventure camp that was amazing and beat the pants off everyone at real rock climbing.

To that end, last week I joined the Portland Rock Gym as a form of exercise and social interaction.  You always have to have a partner (someone to belay you), so unless you've got someone you go with every time, you're constantly meeting new people.  Even just one or two routes up the wall (and there are a lot of walls to choose from) will make you feel it.  The cool thing is that they've got it all marked out so that you can follow certain rocks up the wall and that path is rated for difficulty.  Every now and then professional climbers come in and change up the rocks and the routes.

I have been trying to hang out with friends more, go out for drinks, take adventures to Mt. Hood, that sort of thing. My friend, we'll call him Doctor Adams (Doc for short), is essentially a male version of me and vice-versa.  We are so much alike that we had nearly the exact same thought run through our heads when he challenged me to a duel to the death over Douglas Adams in our first conversation (this was an exceedingly funny exchange, trust me).  He has been expanding my geek horizons with Buffy and Angel and I have made Doc and his roommate, Lando, part of my test group for my bakery recipes (more on this later).  This past week, Liza, Lando, Doc and I all went to Rockband Tuesdays at a bar called Backspace in downtown Portland.  It was a blast!  I hope all of you here in town will come out with us one week.

Ok, on to the tasty stuff!  I've mostly decided to go with an upperscale-style bakery that's open for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch.  Danielle made a comment on my last post with some awesome geek dessert name ideas and the great point that the place could be upscale and very nice but still have a slight geek flavor.  Below is the list of potential menu ideas that I have so far.  I'm still adding things and of course I'm sure it will get narrowed down as I test the recipes and decide what works best in the area, etc.  I'm using my hotel friends as guinea pigs for all the new recipes and for improving the ones I make already.  Doc works at one hotel downtown and my friend, we'll call him Heath (after another fabulous Australian), works at another.  Both of their hotels will be getting lots of goodies (especially after a weekend of boredom). So thank you in advance to all my taste-testers!!!

I'm so excited about everything going on and I can't wait til school starts.  Partly because it means there's only 6 months until I move and that I'll be incredibly busy until then, but mostly because it's going to be AWESOME!  I want to make things that people can't get elsewhere.  If you have any suggestions for new and interesting treats, let me know! So, without further ado, here is the list of tasty goodness I have so far.  You may commence drooling.

LUNCH

Chicken Salad in Phyllo Cups

Individual Chicken Pot Pies (puff pastry top)

Mushroom and Cheese Empanadas (puff pastry)

Sandwiches on fresh bread

Soup

Risotto with Mushrooms

Quiche

 

DINNER

Chicken or duck breast with risotto and vegetable

Steak with potatoes and vegetable

Pasta with Seafood or Chicken

Cornish Game Hen with Wild rice stuffing

Acorn squash with wild rice stuffing

Orange Ginger Salmon with Vegetable and Rice/Risotto

BRUNCH

Omelets with fresh vegetables/other stuff

Homemade bread French toast topped with crème fraiche and fresh fruit

Pancakes/Waffles

DESSERT IDEAS

Peach with a layer of raspberries on the bottom and in the middle

Chocolate cream with chocolate graham cracker crust and andes mint shell

Lemon chiffon/tart with Strawberries

Orange ginger carrot cake

Apple with gingersnap crust and crumble top

Chocolate cream with Chocolate raspberry shell

Raspberry rum truffles

Strawberry cream puffs

Chocolate Mousse

Tiramisu

Cannoli

Chocolate-Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

Cheesecake

Ginger Cookies

Brownies

Eclairs

Buchets with pastry cream and fruit

Apple turnovers

Plum/berry hand pies

Lemon-Glazed Ginger Cookies

 

On Potential Bakeries

So I have all these ideas swirling around in my head and, though I have plenty of time, I'd love some input from my faithful readers *snork*.

Opening this bakery in VA presents me with tons and tons of options.  Of course I want to make it something a bit special, it should stand out among bakeries in the area so I've narrowed it down to pretty much two choices.  There is a place here called Papa Haydn, they are a restaurant but they're mostly known for their desserts.  At $8/piece, they're a bit pricey but they are also divine!  I am not sure how well something like that would go over in the smallish town of Winchester or surrounding area but I might be able to get close.  The other idea that has been gnawing at my brain the last couple of nights is making it themed at least slightly toward geekery.  Things like calling it Cafe Pi, naming desserts appropriately, like the peach pie would be Princess Peach, or having the best pie ever (I am thinking this will involve chocolate) being called Pie 42 (because it's the answer).

On the one hand, having a really nice, classy place will attract people that want a nice night out or a semi-fancy lunch or just a nice place for dessert.  The downside to this sort of place is the cost.  A place like that might fit better closer to DC but I'm not sure how close I want to get.  Having it aimed a little more toward geeks would be tons of fun but the demographic is a bit limited there as well.

I suppose I should wait and feel things out when I get there.  Unfortunately, I won't have any time to go out there and look around before I move (not to mention I can't afford a week of hotel and rental car at the moment).  Each of these two options have their merits and they each have downsides. One of them would appeal more to my traditional, high-class side and the other would be super fun to run!  I suppose this is really just an extension of the war that I have fought with myself my whole life.

So what's your opinion?  Any other ideas?  Any ideas for geek-related sweets?