Crab Buster
Jan. 22nd, 2011 10:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdBusy busy day, with many episodes of breath-catching time. Broke with weekend tradition and got out of bed & in front of the Hgl meter at 9 am, took meds & shot up, then went back to bed and played with the DVD player for a while. It was only 47° so I decided to not go to the LUNAR model rocket launch. It did warm up, but toward the end of the event, like 1 pm, so I don't regret missing it. It gave me a chance to look around the livingroom and visualize a room with both a Lay-Z-Boy and an exercycle side by side, aimed at the entertainment center. The first step was to move all the stuff which was behind the recliner (tray table/stand, mailing tubes, 20x30 framed photos, a variety of rolled up photo posters, placemats) to other locations. Then moved the "this is where I pile all my stuff so I can reach it from the recliner" table against the wall behind the recliner.
Took care of the litterboxes, hauled them and some trash out to the dumpster, and since the cardboard recycle bin was empty I made a second run and got rid of a huge backlog (telescope, food processor, BP meter, etc.).
Some of that had been blocking the patio door, so it was time to move the exercyle off the patio and into the livingroom into the space formerly occupied by the table. Sponged it off, got on and did about 2 minutes and was amazed the batteries were still charged and it worked just fine.
Next phase of busy was a trip to Petco to get a replacement for the aquarium hood (just the part that holds the light). Next door, to what was Kragen's last week but is now O'Reilly's, bought wiper replacements. Installed the first one in 20 seconds, thinking how it used to take 20 minutes to figure out those mounts. The second one took 15 minutes - some clown at the factory had installed the plastic catch backwards.
Then to Great Clips for a haircut, followed by a walk to Piazzi's for about a month's supply of chocolate. Scharffen-Berger and four other dark (80%+) varieties.
Home again, hungry and low-ish (80) Hgl, but made do with a glucose tablet and a small piece of chocolate (80% Ugandan) because it was only 2 hours from dinner - all you can eat crab feed.
Watched some TiVo with the cats curled up either on the sofa next to me or on my lap.
Crab feed was a benefit for S. Bay Musical Theater, I enjoyed it last year and decided to go again. As usual, lots of good food - salad, cole slaw, sourdough bread, pasta with two kinds of sauce, and crab. It is all-you-can-eat, and after everyone had gotten in line to get their plates and initial serving, helpers kept big bowls of crab parts filled, and pans of discarded shells emptied. After about an hour of crab busting, my hands were getting numb, so I got up and refilled the salad & pasta before digging into more crab. I ate a lot of crab. Almost full, it was time for a trip to the chocolate fountain. Kind of odd selection of things to dip - chocolate covered donut holes and mini devil's food cakes were a bit redundant. Cream puffs, strawberries, marshmallows and rice cake goodies were there too. Made a second trip for more strawberries & cream puffs.
The entertainment was a Cajun band with a sound system designed for a hall 5x the size of the one we were in. While they were playing, which was most of the time from 6-8, conversation was impossible. Does anyone else think it odd for a band to start their first set with Save The Last Dance For Me ?Call me _______________, but somehow a Cajun band is not my first choice for a musical theater group fund-raiser. In fact, it is not even on the list. But getting past that, if you're going to have a highly dance-able band, not leaving room for a dance floor, or even dancing in the aisles is a FAIL. For their last three or four songs, the people at the two front tables (mostly SBMT mucky-mucks) took it upon themselves to clear off their tables, fold them and put them away so there was a dance floor.
At 8 the MC tried to announce a live auction would begin in 5 minutes, but people were taking advantage of the relative quiet to talk among themselves, so few people paid any attention to him. Same thing happened when he started the auction, and though he tried a couple of tricks to claim the floor, he never really made it. But he soldiered on, and people were bidding. Part of the problem is the live auction items were very expensive (airfare & tickets to the Tony Awards in NYC, etc) and only a handful of the attendees were even remotely interested. I left about 5 minutes into the auction.
But first I stopped at the kitchen and bought a big bag of crab for $10.
Which brings us to another FAIL. The MC announced that if a person held a hand up, a server would come around, get the $10, and bring back a bag of crab. Looking around the room, there were no servers. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. And double FAIL because how to tell if someone was wanting crab or bidding on the auction?
Another sortaFAIL is the tiny number of people I knew who were there. I've been in this theater community for 11 years, and I know at least half the performers, directors and producers in SMBT, but there were only 5 people there that I knew. One was the MC.
Home, relaxed with some Irish Cream, an episode of Lie To Me on TiVo, and a 22-lb. orange furball.
Plans for tomorrow:
Staying home, mostly, while doing a 24-hour [TMI] medical test. Lots of football to watch, and an exercycle to get to know better. And a couple of Blu-ray DVDs which have been waiting for this kind of free time.
Took care of the litterboxes, hauled them and some trash out to the dumpster, and since the cardboard recycle bin was empty I made a second run and got rid of a huge backlog (telescope, food processor, BP meter, etc.).
Some of that had been blocking the patio door, so it was time to move the exercyle off the patio and into the livingroom into the space formerly occupied by the table. Sponged it off, got on and did about 2 minutes and was amazed the batteries were still charged and it worked just fine.
Next phase of busy was a trip to Petco to get a replacement for the aquarium hood (just the part that holds the light). Next door, to what was Kragen's last week but is now O'Reilly's, bought wiper replacements. Installed the first one in 20 seconds, thinking how it used to take 20 minutes to figure out those mounts. The second one took 15 minutes - some clown at the factory had installed the plastic catch backwards.
Then to Great Clips for a haircut, followed by a walk to Piazzi's for about a month's supply of chocolate. Scharffen-Berger and four other dark (80%+) varieties.
Home again, hungry and low-ish (80) Hgl, but made do with a glucose tablet and a small piece of chocolate (80% Ugandan) because it was only 2 hours from dinner - all you can eat crab feed.
Watched some TiVo with the cats curled up either on the sofa next to me or on my lap.
Crab feed was a benefit for S. Bay Musical Theater, I enjoyed it last year and decided to go again. As usual, lots of good food - salad, cole slaw, sourdough bread, pasta with two kinds of sauce, and crab. It is all-you-can-eat, and after everyone had gotten in line to get their plates and initial serving, helpers kept big bowls of crab parts filled, and pans of discarded shells emptied. After about an hour of crab busting, my hands were getting numb, so I got up and refilled the salad & pasta before digging into more crab. I ate a lot of crab. Almost full, it was time for a trip to the chocolate fountain. Kind of odd selection of things to dip - chocolate covered donut holes and mini devil's food cakes were a bit redundant. Cream puffs, strawberries, marshmallows and rice cake goodies were there too. Made a second trip for more strawberries & cream puffs.
The entertainment was a Cajun band with a sound system designed for a hall 5x the size of the one we were in. While they were playing, which was most of the time from 6-8, conversation was impossible. Does anyone else think it odd for a band to start their first set with Save The Last Dance For Me ?Call me _______________, but somehow a Cajun band is not my first choice for a musical theater group fund-raiser. In fact, it is not even on the list. But getting past that, if you're going to have a highly dance-able band, not leaving room for a dance floor, or even dancing in the aisles is a FAIL. For their last three or four songs, the people at the two front tables (mostly SBMT mucky-mucks) took it upon themselves to clear off their tables, fold them and put them away so there was a dance floor.
At 8 the MC tried to announce a live auction would begin in 5 minutes, but people were taking advantage of the relative quiet to talk among themselves, so few people paid any attention to him. Same thing happened when he started the auction, and though he tried a couple of tricks to claim the floor, he never really made it. But he soldiered on, and people were bidding. Part of the problem is the live auction items were very expensive (airfare & tickets to the Tony Awards in NYC, etc) and only a handful of the attendees were even remotely interested. I left about 5 minutes into the auction.
But first I stopped at the kitchen and bought a big bag of crab for $10.
Which brings us to another FAIL. The MC announced that if a person held a hand up, a server would come around, get the $10, and bring back a bag of crab. Looking around the room, there were no servers. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. And double FAIL because how to tell if someone was wanting crab or bidding on the auction?
Another sortaFAIL is the tiny number of people I knew who were there. I've been in this theater community for 11 years, and I know at least half the performers, directors and producers in SMBT, but there were only 5 people there that I knew. One was the MC.
Home, relaxed with some Irish Cream, an episode of Lie To Me on TiVo, and a 22-lb. orange furball.
Plans for tomorrow:
Staying home, mostly, while doing a 24-hour [TMI] medical test. Lots of football to watch, and an exercycle to get to know better. And a couple of Blu-ray DVDs which have been waiting for this kind of free time.
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