Thursday, October 28, 2010

A Couple Of Announcements

In the last week or so, my sister asked me if I would babysit her kid both tomorrow and Saturday night. As I had no known plans for that time, I accepted. Normally, I'd be doing volunteer work on Fridays. However, my sister plans on coming to get me late in the afternoon if not sooner. In order to ensure that I will be ready when she arrives, I am taking tomorrow off to pack as well as be present at home whenever she does arrive and is ready to go. (I've already cleared it with the manager to take tomorrow off.) The underlying principle here is to be prepared to work around another person's schedule whenever necessary.

On an unrelated note, as of tomorrow, I will be posting a series of posts called Miss Scissors: Reading is the Key on my reading blog, RAB-PIA. I will be sure to inform you as to when I have posted updates to said series. Hopefully after I finish said series, I will be in a better position to publish more posts pertaining more to the nature of this blog.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Giving Up Something I Don't Need As Much As Someone Else

The thrift store that I volunteer at has been running low on hangers for shirts, dresses, etc. The last day that I had worked there was Wednesday, and I ran out of available hangers off and on and therefore had things I couldn't hang up.

Today, I'm giving up some of my hangers that fit the kind that are normally used at said store. (They normally used colorful plastic hangers or the kind that turn at the head.) I have more hangers myself than I can fit in my closet, which is at least part of why sometimes a blouse will share a hanger with a skirt or pants. When/if more of my "closet clothes" wear out, and provided I don't have more coming into my wardrobe, I'll have more hangers freed up that I can donate. If it means most of my own clothing is put on wire hangers or another kind not used at that store, so be it. For my own personal purposes, a hanger is a hanger.

What about you? Do you possess something that you'd be willing to give up if there is someone who needs it more than you do? If so, can you, for your own purposes, substitute in something else for the item that you don't especially need but someone else does?

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Got My Stuff Done; I Wonder If I Could Help Someone Else

I play this game on Facebook called Cafe World, where one can run their own virtual cafe, cook and serve certain dishes, and visit the cafes of their "neighbors".  The more "cafe points" you get, the more you can level up. When you level up, you have more dishes, another stove, and/or another counter available to you.

One of their latest features is catering, where you have a "catering" order where you serve certain dishes a certain number of times. If you have enough "cafe cash" though, you can get around some of this. Depending on how soon you get the order done, you can get a three-star rating (the best), a two-star, or a one star. The three-star and two-star ratings qualify you for the next order, but the one-star one does not. (That's okay because you can always try the order again.)  You can also enlist the aid of your "neighbors" who can cook some of the dishes you need as well, and said dishes will count towards your order and theirs (if they have the same order).

One of the most recent orders I had was for the anniversary "party" for Cafe World. After I finished that, I re-activated an order for a certain number of serving plates, pots and pans, and steam trays. This one I either have to "buy" said items or ask my "neighbors" to send some. The last time I did it, I got a one-star rating. Unless I get at least a two-star one, I can't do any more orders. Since I don't have enough "cafe cash" and have to wait for people to send me the things that I need, I decided that in the mean time, I'd help some of my neighbors with their orders.

One of the catering orders was a dinner party order that someone was catering. When I was done catering the anniversary order, I "cooked" and "served" what was left of some of the angel fruit cake and jumbo shrimp cocktail that the person had left to get done. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to help them in time for them to get a high enough rating for them to qualify for the next order.

Another catering order was that of my sister's, which was for a birthday party. The dishes that had to be cooked and served were bacon cheeseburgers, triple berry cheesecake, and clubhouse sandwiches, I was able to help with the cheesecake, the sandwiches, and most of the cheeseburgers. The assistance I was able to give was enough to get the order done this afternoon, give her a two-star rating and thus qualify her for the next order (if she chooses to accept it).  I don't know if the order would've gotten done if I hadn't stepped in.

Finally, an order that I'm helping with now is that of someone catering a BBQ for which some BBQ chicken, chocolate cream pie, and voodoo chicken salad served a certain number of times.  I have some BBQ chicken cooking that should be ready by tonight after which I'll cook either the chicken salad or the pie. (There are three rounds of it to go on the latter.) Hopefully, I will be able to help the person in time for them to move on to the next order.

Here's my point with all of this: if you've finished a project of yours (in a game or in real life) or you've come as far as you could with your own project, see if you can help someone else with theirs. After all, it could be your assistance that helps the person get done what needs to get done.