Not much to talk about...

So, I know it’s been over a week… But truly, it doesn’t seem like there’s much to talk about. I suppose I’ll find something, I always do.

I just got off work - I had Thursday off, and now I have Wednesday off. The schedules go from Wednesday to Wednesday and this go ‘round I didn’t get my days back to back. I hope that I have the same days off next go ‘round so that this Wednesday will turn INTO a two day weekend with another Thursday & Wednesday off. Get it? So yeah, on the up side it makes for a short week. Yay…

Flo is starting with us tomorrow. Traded her for Johnathan. Good trade - Flo is SO funny. She gives Shelby more crap than Lindsay and I put together! Which I know means nothing to you, but trust me, she’s great and hilarious. :D And she does the work, from what I heard.

My day off I didn’t really do anything with - ran a few errands (cashed my check, general store, rec. hall) and I think I even did laundry. I can’t remember. It was only one day off which kind of sucked, I mean, I thought two days made me too restless so I was fine with only having one day off - not two back to back - but now I know I’d rather have two days!

Oh - so there’s this guy. He does the carving for the dinner buffet. See, we put a whole leg of bison out and he carves as people want it. He’s a jerk though - complete jerk. Condescending, can’t do anything wrong in his own eyes, and thinks he should own the freaking place! NO one likes him. BUT good news, I heard - scuttlebutt, I know - I heard that last night was the last straw, and he’s gone!! He was caught - by paying customers - picking at his lip, like at the dead skin, and then went back to carving without changing gloves, washing his hands, NOTHING. Eeeeww. So yeah, EVERYONE is happy about the idea that he’ll soon be gone. You get three strikes, see, before they consider firing you, and he’s had FIVE complaints from what I hear.

My friend Shelby fractured his wrist. His dominant hand no less. Complete accident - uneven road that is the park’s fault, no lights which is the park’s fault, and he tripped and tried to catch himself. Fractured his wrist. They’re not firing him - generally speaking the rumors are that if you’re useless to them Xanterra is pretty heartless and ruthless and will fire you just for being hurt or sick to often. Shelby, by the way, works with me in the pantry. I LOVE working with him! And I seriously hope - for my own selfish reasons - that he doesn’t take the promotion/transfer he was offered. Anyway, he’s being moved to the EDR (employee dining room) to work there for the next four weeks until his wrist heals. I SERIOUSLY HOPE - again for my own selfish reasons - that after that time is up he gets put back in the pantry with us. So for now he’s trying to make sure they fix it somehow and trying to get Xanterra to not hang him out to dry.

So yeah, work, shop talk at home, and sleep. Not much else. Shop talk is hilarious, I mean we all work pretty much RIGHT in the same spot, but we all have so much out-of-our-control and separate stuff to complain about. Oh - and yes, I did just call the dorm and my room home. I started calling it that since day three. And according to Alliya - my roomie - this literally IS home to so many of us. I mean, apparently most of us don’t really have a home outside of the park, no home to go home to when all this is done. Kind of sad, but at the same time I love that this is home to not only me but so many people. I’m just sad that so many people are leaving The Projects (as Laurel is so fondly called) for Bitterroot. Bitterroot offers bigger rooms, and a private bathroom, but also a longer commute and having to pack up and move again. I’m not putting in a request to move. I like it here in the Projects, and giving the option, I would actually opt to not move out. It’s a little run-down and REALLY a fixer-upper, but my home in Oregon was/is a fixer-upper. And it’s part of the experience almost. It’s the oldest one, it’s got a lot of real wood to it, and a lot of character. I don’t know - all this still doesn’t quite explain it. I just really enjoy it here, the ambiance, the way the people are, the younger group (Bitterroot is a lot of older people), even the fact that sound carries through walls and the doors slam if you let them close by themselves. It’s my home…

So yeah, I guess that’s my update, not much, a lot of random crap. Hope it works for y’all. Oh - and I’ve been hanging out with so many southerners - we have the SWEETEST southern boys - that all my red-neck and obviously-raised-on-country is coming out. I also have that problem where I start to talk like those around me, so it may sound like I’m mocking them, but I’m truly not. I don’t think I have that problem - with them thinking I’m mocking them - because we joke so much. I love chatting with the servers over my line. My co-workers are primarily AMAZING. There’s one server snob, that I don’t talk to and am strictly work with, but mostly they’re so great.

ANYWAY, that’s my update. I’ll try to post it and hope the internet doesn’t hate me right now…

I'm about as blonde as they come!

Hey all,
Random update, because this is a story worth telling.
So I went to work today - normal 8am to 4pm shift. And I was kind of grumbling because my next days off were going to be NEXT Thursday and Friday. Not happy about that particular thought. Then I was bantering with Jonathan because this is his Friday, and went to show him the schedule that was frustrating me. This is 2:30 - an hour and a half until the both of us get off and go our separate ways. I look and lo and behold, my days off was THIS Thursday and Friday - as in today and tomorrow. And I just worked almost my entire shift. So Jonathan can't stop laughing at me, but I don't know what to do! I was almost afriad I'd get in trouble for coming in on a day off because Xanterra is really against overtime right now while they're still figuring everything out, so Accounting probably will hate me this week. Or - maybe - they'll make it up by giving me three days off next week, or one more day this week. We'll see. Anyway, I go and look for Greg, my supervisor, or Dave Frieta, the Chef for the OFI... And I can't find either. So I continue to work! I work the line, as per usual, until Greg walks by - turns out he'd been on a quick smoke break. No biggie. So I'm like "Greg, I swear I'm not normally this blonde... but!" and I told him what I just told you. And he laughed. I'd never seen him so amused. He was like "I don't know, I'll go ask Dave" but he couldn't find him so he comes back looking still VERY amused, and says "I guess you just go home..." So I clocked out. Really I guess I got off an "hour and a half early," if you think of it that way.
All my co-workers in the Pantry this morning are laughing at me now. I can't wait to tell Shelby and see the look on HIS face too (he works with me as well). And it was funny cuz I was counting. There are usually three of us in the Pantry for this shift - one on buffet, one on line, one in the back prepping stuff. And I didn't really think of Greg as one of "us," so when I counted, there were three of us and Greg. But that's wrong - there was FOUR of us...
Ah well, I'm amused. I feel rather like Chris Titus sometimes though - "I laugh because other wise I'd shoot someone! But as long as I laugh :D

So I thought about it just now, and I will take my camera to work and get pics of everyone as I can in uniform. It's just a little difficult because we can't fool around to take pics in the kitchen and on our breaks or after work we just want to crash and sit for a while, so it'll be a little hard for me to remember and get everyone else to let me take pics of them at that point... So yeah, that's that. It'll come eventually.

Now I'm out - things to do, people to see....
~Cathy

Hey all, back again.
Worked today - 8 am to 4 pm, as usual. I like this shift, though and I'll be fine if it turns out to BE my usual. Lunch on the pantry line. It's a bit of a bummer because my favorite two pantry people don't work that shift with me - or at least haven't and show no signs of doing so, but it's still all good. I do like everyone I work with.

This Friday is apparently a "Greek Gods" party at the pub. I'm thinking on going. Obviously, I can't drink, but the pub is more than that. It's an employee only hangout kind of. Pizza, darts, video games, pool, and drinking for those who want it. I haven't gone yet, and I've heard mostly mediocre things about it, but I figure for a party, I can check it out. 'Specially if a friend of mine - Shelby - is going to dance. I hope Flora can convince him to because it sounds like it'd be hysterical!

So.... Chef Mike was talking to me during training week about staying until the end of the season - which is just a few weeks later than I was going to come home anyway. I think the last day is like, the 13th or something. I think I'm going to take him up on that. Next month when he wanders back through (after everything is open, he floats from one place to the next just to check in on everything) I'm going to talk to him about extending my contract. I can all but garunte that I'll be back after that though, I seriously doubt I'd want to stay of the winter season.

Oh! So I got my first paycheck today - I feel like I've been busting my butt for the last month or two! But I guess it hasn't been THAT long... It says total hours is 25.68, my rate is 7.25 (6.55 for training) and my total amount I made is 185.14....After taxes and deductions, I made 92.27. The deducted 92.87 out for room and board. HALF the bloody thing! I heard that for the first paycheck this is actually pretty good, and I guess I agree considering we really haven't been here that long and it just seems like a long time.

In case I didn't mention it before, I went out walking on my day off two days ago and walked around then settled down to read. Good book - Mists of Avalon. Got a little too enthralled, and got a funny sunburn. I was wearing my blue shirt that's a little low cut and has the hole in the back, so my whole chest is red and this hole in my back that is also red. Really funny. As Krissy suggested I may get my roommate to take a pic and attempt to upload it, but it won't be as bad as it was. One person said I was PURPLE! I kind of forgot about the whole elevation thing and the whole I'm Oregonian and burn just thinking about the sun thing... All well, I'll remember next time!

Yeah, I think that's the only thing to talk about. I'm going to sleep now. So wore out and tired. My feet hurt. Shelby reccomended getting memory-foam insoles for my shoes, so I may look into that. We shall see I guess.

So yes, goodnight all, I'll get back on this in a few days.
~Cathy

My Days Off

Hey all,
So Sunday and Monday I had days off. Which is to say yesterday and today. I didn't do much Sunday - slept in (WOO!), lounged around, hung out with people. Today I went out to walk and read. I found a spot I like after walking around a bit, conveniently close to the dorms but far enough away to not be bothered by constant pedestrian traffic, and settled down to read. Now, an important part of this story is that I was wearing my black jeans, black tennishoes, and my blue shirt that is kind of long, kind of low cut, and has the whole in the back. I read for a bit, listened to music on Mike's iPod, and when I was done I went to lunch, hung out with people... Whatever. Got back to the dorm and HOURS later it came to appear that I was lobster red burned. I didn't look remotely burned for quite some time. Higher elevation means the sun effects you differently, I know. I was too blonde to use sunscreen, I know. But RED LOBSTER burned. From my elbow down to my hand on my right arm (my hand only lightly burned, everything else bright red), a SMALL amount on my left arm near the elbow, a bit on my nose and where my hair parts on my forehead, ALL across my chest (and this is a kind of low cut shirt), and on the whole in the back. Except for a small part inside the whole where the limp bow hung. Fantastic, right? First off - not a mistake I intend to make again. Second - I find it hilarious. I have a circle burned into my back. No one else, I think, finds it quite as funny as I do but Kevin - who of course feels free to laugh at me.

So yeah, that was my day. Fun day. Spent time with Shelby and a bunch of people, he lent me duct tape to patch the holes in the screen before the bugs get to Alliya and I. Oh - here's something. There's a couple that lives a few doors down. We call them "The Georgia Couple" because they're from Georgia, and they're a couple. Easy enough, right? Anyway, come to find out HIS name is Austin and HER name is.... ok, I can't remember her name. Anyway, Austin is kind of a drunkard. He drinks everynight, and gets drunk more often than not. He also works the hot line in for the Inn dining room. He got drunk one night and came into our room (we leave the door open so people can stop by and chat) and started talking about how all Kitchen Crew are pointless (I'm Kitchen Crew). What do they do? Chop a few things? Make fruit salad? OOoo... The other day I walked through the kitchen on my way somehwere, and he was in the prep room making - guess what! - FRUIT SALAD! Ha! And now - now I believe he's been demoted to working the EDR (Employee Dining Room) which isn't half as glamorous or fun as the hot line in the Inn kitchen. Makes me laugh a little. Not that I'm spiteful or anything... But truly - maybe now he'll be a little more appreciative and stuff. Ah well, I don't care much. I just thought it was funny how carma caught up with him. :D

I think that is all for now. I am still trying to get up pics - the internet here is spotty and slow, so it's taking time. It'll be up as soon as I can get it up. Thanks for the patience, not that you have much of a choice.

~Cathy

Bunches of Pictures I hope.

The bones I found on my walk that freaked me out... Made me start looking for bears and such. It looks like the back half of a spine and a pelvis bone - or at least it did in person. Obviously they were probably really old, but that didn't matter at the time!
Stephanie, Kevin, and Lindsay. Kevin, of course, one of my best friends from back home who came with me. Stephanie and Lindsay are roommates and from Oregon. I work with Lindsay.
This is Stephanie. She's from Oregon too. She's Lindsay's best friend and roommate. She's funny, I like her. She's going to Russia sometime this year. I can't remember when, though.
His name is Kevin, too. I think he's Zach's roommate. I don't know him that well but he seems nice enough.
That's Lindsay. She's from Oregon, I work with her, and I guess her and Kevin are "together". She's funny and I really like her. Oh - Albany Oregon, by the way.
This is Nick - Kevin's roommate, and a friend of everyones. Super funny, good taste in music. I like him. :D

Second Email

Update time, I suppose.

OFI (Old Faithful Inn) opened today. I worked 8 to 4, and ran the line for the Pantry. Which means sandwiches and salads primarily - and deserts, but almost no one ordered anything. SO MANY BLTS ORDERED! Greg, my supervisor, was talking to me telling me he didn't understand - you travel so far, spend so much money to come here, and then all you order is a BLT?? But ya know, it's comfortable, so they do it. Whatever. It's a lot of fun running the line. Last night for the "Shakedown" which is a practice run for the Inn I was the buffet runner, which was also a lot of fun. Haha, I'm liking everything so far. :D It's ALL a lot of time on your feet, though, since you're standing the ENTIRE shift. The best jobs right now, I think, are ones where you walk a lot because my poor aching feet are ignorable when I'm wakling and doing things. Standing still seems to emphasize everything. Uhm... Oh - I went for a long walk the other night. Left a few hours before sundown, came back an hour or so after. It was fun. Got a little lost at the end. Tried going to the Old Faithful Lodge, not the Inn... Looks a LOT familiar at night. But made my way home alright. I was doing really well too - didn't get lost at all until the end, and didn't get paranoid at night - until I saw the bones. Then I freaked out about bears and crap. I'll try to attach a pic of them to show you. It was after dark and my flashlight caught the white of the bones and I got SO paranoid that a bear would eat me. It was kind of funny in hindsight.
Tomorrow I go in at 8 - another 8 to 4 shift. The scary part is that Greg, my supervisor, won't be there until 9. I'll be the ONLY PANTRY PERSON! I'm a little nervous, but it's just an hour and just prep stuff. And Chef Mike will be in the kitchen, and he's REALLY approachable and stuff, so it'll be ok. I showed my cup to Greg, and told him it sings. I didn't make it sing, though, because it's rather loud. Thanks, Mom! I love it. Everyone else has blue Yellowstone mugs, and mine stands out. Which is good cuz Greg and I stash ours in the same spot. I really like where I am so I hope I don't get moved. Kichen Crew - which is still TECHNICALLY what I am - can be moved all the time. Chef Mike told us he started in the dish room, but only worked six shifts there before he was moved somewhere else. So I hope I stay stationed in the pantry all summer, it's so much fun and I work with great people. I hope no one gets moved. We did get two new people today. The were stationed elsewhere and got moved to the pantry (see?) one guy I already know and he's from the warehouse, and he's cool. He'll fit in well. I was picking on him today asking "if I stand here and talk to you enough will I screw you up?" and he said "no, just a pleasant distraction" Good answer, right? Haha, so yeah, he can stay. The other guy I haven't talked to much but he seems ok.
I got so bored today in between tickets I started singing to people. I dance very minimally, but I sing a LOT. :D I'm not the only one though.
OH MY GOSH! Before I forget, there is a guy here who totally reminds me of Petey. His name is Robert, and he is in the Prep room (I Think - either that or on the hot line...). He has almost the same body shape as Petey, is a little darker and has a slight Mexican accent... but he has the same super-sweet looking face and nice personality that you automatically like them. It was hilarious because as soon as I saw him I thought of Petey.
Oh, and a friend of mine... Kimmy... is in the hospital. Either because she's super sick - cuz she was yesterday - or because she screwed up her shoulder, because she told me she had. So yeah, don't be terribly concerned. We just hope it isn't too bad and I hope it's sick not shoulder. If it's shoulder and it's bad she might end up being sent home or switched to something other than what sheis right now - either server or server assistant, I cna't remember... Server assistant - my roomie just reminded me. She's really cool by the way. My roomie. Alliya. Our fav. colour is red - both of us - and we both have red sheets and lots of stuff like that.
Uhm... Ok, the first pic is Lindsay, she lives in my dorm and works with me. Her, me, and one other guy are like the "happy crew" of the pantry because we're always cheerful and happy. I even sing and Lindsay even skips. It's hilarioius. The head chef - Chef Mike - LOVES it. The next pic is the bones I found. Looks like the balk half of a spine and a pelvis bone.
So yeah, that is my update. If I missed anything, I'm sure it'll come up again later. I'm trying to send as many pics as possible, but the internet here is so slow....

First days!

This is actually an email that I sent to people back home before I decided to blog...
Ok, so I live in the Laurel dorm next to the Old Faithful Inn.

I'm in the pantry. I've got six others and our supervisor, so there's 8 of us in all. I'm getting along well with all of them, they're all super. I'm one of two girls, and the other girl is actually from Oregon - Albany. We're getting along especially well.

The uniforms are okay, but I still complain about them being mens (and mens pants don't fit right around girls curves!!!) and about the shirt being see-through. It's white and black checkered pants, white shirt, white apron, and chefs hat. You'll get pics soon.

We:
Put box lunches together,
Make most of the quick-serve sauces (like cocktail and horseradish)
Make most cold-served items
I THINK make sandwiches
Prep things, like veggies, for other uses. Today, for instance, I sliced oranges for Robert on the line to use for garnish.

Oh, I nicked myself with a knife today. All good, nothing loped off, but frustrating cuz I'm supposed to be smarter than that. I figure, though, that it was bound to happen sooner or later, and I'd rather sooner while there are no customers.
The Inn opens Friday - I think everything opens Friday... So we have until then for training and memorizing the menu. Luckily there are books that tell the recipes so we don't have to be completely memorized right off the bat.

Living here is interesting. Dorm style is actually working really well for me, I'm quite enjoying myself. The EDR (Employee Dining Room) style of eating is a little odd.... Kind of like high school except better food and seconds and such. Yeah, there are odd things and down sides, but for the most of it it's amazing and I'm having a blast and I adjusted right away. The season isn't open right now and it's all rain/snowy, but y'all should come see it. When I remember I could even tell you the least busyiest times. AND if memory serves, if I-since I work here- book your stay, you'll get something like 20 percent off... :D

And that's that! I haven't seen Old Faithful go off yet, but I have seen it. Apparently some of the people in my dorm are being written up for peeing on the geyser. Which is primarily because they went off the boardwalk. Because it's a geyser, the crust of the Earth around it is fairly thin, so you don't know if you'll burn yourself by stepping on a hotspot, or breaking through the crust with your weight, so they built a boardwalk above the ground that's save and that's what you're to stay on. But yeah, interesting people. A lot of partiers.