Month: August 2002

Office Rage

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

From This is London is this story on Office Rage:

More than half of all office staff in the UK have become so angry at work they have nearly punched a colleague, according the results of a survey today.

Some 53% of workers have been brought to the brink of violence by “office rage”, with loud-mouthed colleagues cited as the main cause. […]

Man, what I wouldn’t give to have that again (HHOS?). Really, most of the problems are things we can all relate to, though hopefully they’re only rare occurances:

The study, based on research among 450 office workers across Britain, found that 64% of those surveyed get angry at colleagues shouting across the office and talking over people at meetings.

IT problems caused 53% to lose their temper, followed by excessive workloads (51%) and interruptions while on the phone (37%). […]

This was my favorite part of the article, though:

Asked how they coped with anger, nearly a third of respondents (31%) said they ignored the person responsible.

Twenty per cent, the majority of whom were women, made a cup of tea [&hellip]

Those wacky Brits ;). How British Are You?

Tuna Sandwiches

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

I have a tuna sandwich for breakfast and lunch every day. And, each day I use a 12 oz can, which is the equivalent of two “normal size” 6 oz cans of tuna. So, that gives me 32g protein per sandwich.

In the past, I used to add sliced tomato and sometimes even avocado to the sandwiches as well, but I’ve stopped doing that for now. So, my sandwich creation is fairly simple: tuna + low-fat mayo + rye bread.

Just yesterday, Julie offered a suggestion that she had read in a magazine. According to the magazine, by mixing tuna with mayo, the saturated fat of the mayo tends to counteract the good effects of the omega-3 fats in the tuna. As a substitute, the article recommended trying a mustard-based vinaigrette instead.

Why they recommend a mustard-based vinaigrette, I have no idea. Maybe the authors just happen to like mustard-based vinaigrettes and wanted to pass along the suggestion. At any rate, the important part is that the dressing contains monounsaturated fats (such as olive or canola oils). So, in that sense, I suppose that any dressing would be just as good (assuming that it also had no saturated fat).

As I mentioned, I use low-fat mayo and, of its 2g fat per serving, only 0.5g of that is saturated fat. So, in my case, I’m not sure how large the benefit would be. However, there’s a chance that using a vinaigrette may be even more tasty than mayo anyway. So, next time I go out for groceries, I may just pick some up.

Come to think of it, I have some Wish-Bone “Just 2 Good” Blue Cheese dressing in fridge (with just 2g fat per serving, as the name implies). And, sure enough, it has no saturated fat per serving. Mmm — tuna sandwich combined with the power of blue cheese…

Dead Power Supply Redux

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

I woke up this morning to discover that my PC wouldn’t wake up after the usual gingerly shake of the mouse. And, the power-button had no effect either :(.

I was most bummed about this, in particular, because I had replaced the power supply only about a week earlier. Luckily, I still had the power supply tester, so I could quickly diagnose the problem: sure enough, the power supply was dead.

So, after a quick trip back to Fry’s, I had a replacement power supply (without any hassles from Fry’s). It was the exact same model (JGE, 300 watts), but I installed the new one and it worked fine. Still, I must wonder about JGE’s quality control, if their power supplies can barely last a week.

Cat Conversations

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

Anyone who has owned a cat can probably relate to these advanced feline conversations:

“You’ve got a whole apartment full of things to sit on. Would you care to explain why you’ve chosen my foot? Because I have to stir the sauce, and I can't reach it with a cat on my foot. Well, no, you don't have to care, but you do have to get off my foot and sit someplace else. Okay, see, while my other foot technically qualifies as ‘someplace else,’ I think you may have missed my point. ‘Get off my foot' is my point. I feel it’s a strong one. So get off. Now. Please. Thank you.”

“Look at the clock. Look at the clock, please. Oh, don't give me that ‘I can't tell time’ crap. You know what a two looks like, fat boy. Do you see a two on that clock? No. No, you certainly don’t. So do you get lunch now? No, you certainly don't. No two, no lunch.” […]