Water chesnuts, red onions, and balsamic vinegar are not your friend

Not when combined in one big salad, that is. Good gravy that was a nasty combination. Didn't help that I accidentally coughed some dressing up my nose. Ouch. I blame the cafeteria next door for this turn of events. They revamped their salad bar and cut out some old stand-by ingredients. I've been trying to shake things up and use this opportunity to get out of my rut, but I forget I have terrible food preparation instincts. I wish I was one of those people who can blithely just toss things together to make an edible meal, but I clearly am not. My grad school roommates still tease me about my vinegar and oil pasta sauce, which, like communism, should have worked in theory but, also like communism, failed rather spectacularly.

And this has been a harried day thus far too. I spent all morning dealing with annoying personnel issues, having to have not one, not two, not three, but four blessed meetings to try and rectify a situation in a manner that would leave all parties satisfied (do I have work-speak down pat or what).

I've been trying to drown my sorrows in chocolate coins but people keep coming into my office right when I'm going to pop one in my mouth. I feel it's rather selfish to eat one in front of someone and not offer them one, but then again, HELL NO are people getting their hands on my rapidly-decreasing stash of coins. So I keep having to quickly palm one every time a shadow comes down the hallway. 2005 is off to a great start.