Revised evil plan...
Ok, so it's now quit raining. We got almost an inch of the wet stuff this morning. I have hauled some stuff from my storage space to my apartment. The rest of it will stay there until it's time for me to move. No sense in moving it twice and there really isn't any place to put it in my apartment anyway.
The old furnace departs....
The ancient old gravity-feed heating system in my present house is being replaced. There's a guy in the basement right now hacking it up into small pieces to haul it away. Needless to say, this is stirring up all sorts of rust, dust and other nastiness which is aggravating the heck out of my respiratory tract and may be the cause of a headache that just developed in the past hour. It's also just a tiny bit noisy.
I snagged the doors off the furnace. I think they're pretty cool looking. Would make good door stops, given that they're cast iron.
Baked Egg Souffle!
I had breakfast at Panera Bread this morning. First, I must say the atmosphere at the Panera at Neil and Marketview is phenomenal. The customer service staff are energetic, perky, cheerful and eager to help They greet each customer as though they are old friends. "Good morning! How are you?" They laugh, they smile, they talk to themselves, they even sing. They clearly enjoy their jobs and it's a delight to interact with them. They pass along their good humor to all the customers who enter the store. Today was my first experience with them for breakfast. I could see starting my day with them on a regular basis, just to get an early morning boost in mood and morale.
Several of the same staff were working the registered during yesterday's lunch rush. At 12:30, the line of customers reached to the door. The cheerfulness and smiles were still present. I have come to the conclusion that the reason this particular Panera is always busy is due to its excellent customer service. The other Panera in town has unhappy and crabby staff at best and rude staff at worst.
As for the food--I tried the baked egg souffle this morning. I had noticed it on the menu yesterday at lunch. It is described as something like fluffy eggs baked in our French dough. I wasn't sure what to expect. Something like a turnover, perhaps. The souffles are listed as having limited availability, so I wasn't even sure I'd get one. It turned out that I was in luck. I waited six minutes and got one straight from the oven. I ordered the spinach-artichoke version. I must say I really liked it. It was served in its baking dish--a 3 1/2 to 4-inch heavy paper tart pan. The crust (puff pastry?) was nicely browned on top and bottom and was very buttery tasting. The eggs were light and fluffy with bits of spinach and red pepper throughout. I don't think I detected any bits of artichoke, but it was still the best eggs I've had in a long time. I highly recommend it. They also have a four cheese and a spinach-bacon version.
As I sat at my table, planning my day, the busboy came by and said, "Excuse me, may I take your tray?" I replied, "Yes, thank you!" And received a "You're welcome!" and a smile.
At 9:43 the line was extending to the door again. Although it is obvious the staff were gearing up for the lunch rush and setting up the andwich-making end of the line, there are still one or two people patrolling the dining room--taking people's trays, wiping tables/chairs/benches, pushing in chairs, cleaning the coffee and beverage stations, etc. Despite how busy it is, there is no mess of milk or sugar spilled by the coffee dispensers.
If I were going to start a customer service-focussed business, I'd want to hire these people. Clearly the right people have been hired for the job, but some credit must also go to the store management team for encouraging and fostering this attitude in their staff. There is obviously an environment of respect and teamwork. I'm definitely going to find a customer comment card or find some way to comment at the Panera corporate website and tell them what I think.
Decorating the new house:
I realized as I sat at Panera digesting and sipping coffee that the color scheme in the store is something I could do in my house. One of the accent colors is the brownish-yellowish-green that is on my living room walls. Here that color is an accent on the ceiling with pumpkin, rust and yellow walls. I'd rather have my living room walls be orange or yellow, but for now they'll remain green. These colors are ones I associate with Tuscany. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but it's what I've seen in paintings and movies. It makes me think of lazy summer afternoons. I will have to see about stealing their color scheme off their website or boxes.
Speaking of my house, I'm wondering if I need to install a tiled area by the front door. Right now it's all carpeted, but I would think that the carpet by the door will quickly become dirty and worn. I don't think the door clearance will allow me t o put a mat right there on the inside. Certainly I'll put a good door mat outside the door, but once it rains, that isn't as helpful as it could be.
Refrigerators:
I found three fridges I like at Sears. I think my favorite is a 25 cu. ft., French door, bottom-freezer unit made by Amana (Model AFB2534). The single door version (Model ABB2522) looked ok too, but I liked being able to open the whole fridge up with the double doors. There was one side-by-side by Whirlpool I thought was OK. Usually they seem really small inside to me. It's also 25 cu. ft and has ice/water in the door, which is a nice bonus, but also prone to leaking and breaking. Have I mentioned that refrigerators are EXPENSIVE?
The old furnace departs....
The ancient old gravity-feed heating system in my present house is being replaced. There's a guy in the basement right now hacking it up into small pieces to haul it away. Needless to say, this is stirring up all sorts of rust, dust and other nastiness which is aggravating the heck out of my respiratory tract and may be the cause of a headache that just developed in the past hour. It's also just a tiny bit noisy.
I snagged the doors off the furnace. I think they're pretty cool looking. Would make good door stops, given that they're cast iron.
Baked Egg Souffle!
I had breakfast at Panera Bread this morning. First, I must say the atmosphere at the Panera at Neil and Marketview is phenomenal. The customer service staff are energetic, perky, cheerful and eager to help They greet each customer as though they are old friends. "Good morning! How are you?" They laugh, they smile, they talk to themselves, they even sing. They clearly enjoy their jobs and it's a delight to interact with them. They pass along their good humor to all the customers who enter the store. Today was my first experience with them for breakfast. I could see starting my day with them on a regular basis, just to get an early morning boost in mood and morale.
Several of the same staff were working the registered during yesterday's lunch rush. At 12:30, the line of customers reached to the door. The cheerfulness and smiles were still present. I have come to the conclusion that the reason this particular Panera is always busy is due to its excellent customer service. The other Panera in town has unhappy and crabby staff at best and rude staff at worst.
As for the food--I tried the baked egg souffle this morning. I had noticed it on the menu yesterday at lunch. It is described as something like fluffy eggs baked in our French dough. I wasn't sure what to expect. Something like a turnover, perhaps. The souffles are listed as having limited availability, so I wasn't even sure I'd get one. It turned out that I was in luck. I waited six minutes and got one straight from the oven. I ordered the spinach-artichoke version. I must say I really liked it. It was served in its baking dish--a 3 1/2 to 4-inch heavy paper tart pan. The crust (puff pastry?) was nicely browned on top and bottom and was very buttery tasting. The eggs were light and fluffy with bits of spinach and red pepper throughout. I don't think I detected any bits of artichoke, but it was still the best eggs I've had in a long time. I highly recommend it. They also have a four cheese and a spinach-bacon version.
As I sat at my table, planning my day, the busboy came by and said, "Excuse me, may I take your tray?" I replied, "Yes, thank you!" And received a "You're welcome!" and a smile.
At 9:43 the line was extending to the door again. Although it is obvious the staff were gearing up for the lunch rush and setting up the andwich-making end of the line, there are still one or two people patrolling the dining room--taking people's trays, wiping tables/chairs/benches, pushing in chairs, cleaning the coffee and beverage stations, etc. Despite how busy it is, there is no mess of milk or sugar spilled by the coffee dispensers.
If I were going to start a customer service-focussed business, I'd want to hire these people. Clearly the right people have been hired for the job, but some credit must also go to the store management team for encouraging and fostering this attitude in their staff. There is obviously an environment of respect and teamwork. I'm definitely going to find a customer comment card or find some way to comment at the Panera corporate website and tell them what I think.
Decorating the new house:
I realized as I sat at Panera digesting and sipping coffee that the color scheme in the store is something I could do in my house. One of the accent colors is the brownish-yellowish-green that is on my living room walls. Here that color is an accent on the ceiling with pumpkin, rust and yellow walls. I'd rather have my living room walls be orange or yellow, but for now they'll remain green. These colors are ones I associate with Tuscany. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but it's what I've seen in paintings and movies. It makes me think of lazy summer afternoons. I will have to see about stealing their color scheme off their website or boxes.
Speaking of my house, I'm wondering if I need to install a tiled area by the front door. Right now it's all carpeted, but I would think that the carpet by the door will quickly become dirty and worn. I don't think the door clearance will allow me t o put a mat right there on the inside. Certainly I'll put a good door mat outside the door, but once it rains, that isn't as helpful as it could be.
Refrigerators:
I found three fridges I like at Sears. I think my favorite is a 25 cu. ft., French door, bottom-freezer unit made by Amana (Model AFB2534). The single door version (Model ABB2522) looked ok too, but I liked being able to open the whole fridge up with the double doors. There was one side-by-side by Whirlpool I thought was OK. Usually they seem really small inside to me. It's also 25 cu. ft and has ice/water in the door, which is a nice bonus, but also prone to leaking and breaking. Have I mentioned that refrigerators are EXPENSIVE?
Comments
Do you have any idea what the actual color names are or what type of paint it is? My wife and I would like the same burnt red and dirty yellow in our kitchen.
If you have any suggestions it would be appreciated.
Thanks!