The Other Side of The Times

My friend, Erik, has the nastiest job. He was an auditor before he came to work with us a few years ago. Yuck. Because of him I now know that all auditors are not total dweebs. It may just be him, but there could be other non-dweebs in the profession. He just had to leave us to go back to the Tribune. He must have a bff stuffed in a corner back there. Why else would he leave LA, The Times and us?

The nice thing is that he comes back to visit now again to help us prepare for audits and other harassment by the Tribune and the SOX patrol. And I get to visit and laugh with him. Considering how seldom I get up to the 3rd floor and this side of the building, it's almost like he never left.

When I do get up there, I'm most often visiting Bill. I can't do this very often because I always end up staring out his window. Yes, this is the view from his window. They tore down an old government building and opened up his view to Disney Hall. You can see that on the left. And besides, there are big machines moving old concrete and dirt around. Love to watch all this hard labor going on. I don't know how Bill and Harriet get anything done. They both have great views of all the activity. Harriet also gets to watch the myriad of strange people who come out of the court house and mosey down Broadway. They are very interesting. Instead, I'm in the black hole on the first floor, hard at work plotting my exit strategy.

Or plotting where I'm going to buy my next tomatoes, now that the season is over. I've become absolutely addicted to slow roasting these little things. They have so many uses once you do that and they keep fairly well for a week or so. I think. They don't seem to last that long. You can eat them with broiled meats or mushed up with pasta or... Here they are, neatly grouped by type, waiting to go into my very slow oven. I leave the peels on the garlic or it browns too much. Lovely.