40 miles of city commuting in 100 degree heat with a gat damn Bern Watts. Not a good choice.

Kind of. I was mostly just checking to see if I was cray for thinking I was the one that should've left.

jimmytango, how long did it take for you to get where you are at, the position and knowledge of food.

id like to work my way up the ladder and i know there is so much i need to learn

I bet it started somewhere along the lines of cafeteria lunch lady. :roflmao2:

When I was 16, I needed a job and a friend was a dishwasher at a ****ty restaurant. I was living with him and he said I needed a job to pay for my own drugs and food and cigarettes and booze so that I'd stop mooching off of him. I found out that kitchen staff at his place got free meals, so when they fired someone I started washing dishes, because I figured that if I worked there I wouldn't have to pay for food, so that'd give me money for other ****. After a couple of months, a cook left and I got bumped up. For a few years I bounced around the country trying to get my music career going, (I'm a drummer, mostly) and always ended up working in a restaurant to pay the bills. I finally got sick of foodservice and did sales and construction for a while and hated them both, so I went back to kitchens. When my sister died in November 2006, one of the last things she said to me was that I needed to go to culinary school and make a career out of it. So, that's what I did. After that I targeted places I felt I could learn from (Alinea, Trotter's, MOTO, Tru, Blackbird) and bugged them until they either gave me jobs or internships. Yeah, I literally just annoyed them until they let me work haha. For the past year or so, I've been chasing a bigger paycheck instead of chasing more knowledge, which generally is a bad idea, but it seems to have worked out for me thus far.

TL.DR: I worked my ass off for 11 years because I wanted money for things I shouldn't have had in the first place..

Edit: That is the condensed version of around 11 years of my life, but only five of them have been seriously dedicated to cooking.

Today I woke up early and managed the 50 different websites, blogs and forums I run :p then I went to work for 8 hours doing inspections, scheduling and training officers, then I went and did a killer cardiac and lower body workout at the gym and now I am home on here for a bit :)

Today I:
 

Today my dad got his new cargo bike. I am going to ride it around tomorrow. And maybe get a friend to sit on the back. It's going to be fun, but I feel like I might not be able to turn. Is this an actual problem people have? Or will the wheelbase not be a problem?

Also just saw Brave with the sqrlfriend. It was pretty good. Surely the best looking Pixar movie, but maybe a little lacking in plot/content. It'd be fair to say it felt like a fairy tail.

sigh... id really like to go back to school but with probation fines even though im almost off, student loans in default and generally being ****ed all around its not going to happen. i dont want to just be a ****ing line cook.

I had been drinking a bit, so I neglected to mention that I quit culinary school halfway through because it's ****ing bull****.

This week is turning out to be an absolute **** storm. A falling out of sorts with one of my best friends, depression came back to visit, my landlord is telling me that although we got rent caught up we did it too late and we are still getting evicted, I will easily clear 70 hours at work, and I'm not going to be able to go to my friend's wedding next weekend because I need to find a place to live. At least I still have my bike, right?

Today I'd better turn off the radio an put in a movie. I may kill radio if I hear weather lady say chance of showeeers ones more time- It's been raining SOLID since 5:00 am !!!

You both hourly? Shift pay?

And here we have the reasoning behind it. I'm salary, he's hourly.

thats it exactly. we do the same thing

Yup, seems like you don't work for a moron. Even worse, you work for a bean counter.

Salary or not, there is a such thing as over-working your staff.

Ah, nothing like that late teens/early twenties period in life when reality sets in and you finally realize that you have to get your **** together. Was there not too long ago.

Today I am going to take all my collected 600 / Ultegra parts and install them on the Proctor road bike... :)

Our forecast is sunny, followed by more sunny, followed by even more... sunny.

I'm 27, have been more or less on my own since the day after my 16th birthday, and until about six months ago I had my **** more together than any of my friends. This year though, everything's falling apart.

The dude I covered for on my day off yesterday said he was gonna take my shift tonight. He texted me about 25 minutes before he was supposed to be here and said he couldn't do it. So, now I'm at work. Again. Looks like I might hit 80 hours this week.

In related news, I'm kind of in the mood to start grabbing people by the head and twisting them off like bottlecaps.

Consider yourself lucky. My late teens/early twenties were during the internet boom when any 20 year old who could type could make 50K starting. Then next thing they know they're pushing 30 going "Why did I get my **** together?" I went that route then moved to the kitchen -- so at 30 I finally got to be a degenerate, ADD 20-something (with a little less hair of course).

I've found that chefs that overwork their cooks wind up with more loyal cooks that follow them everywhere. Sorta like Stockholm Syndrome.

I like cargo bikes. They are super fun.

Just got my 7710's in the mail..... hnnnnnng

Today's my 21st birthday. Sitting outside drinking an Edmund Fitzgerald next to the grill. Family didn't show up to whatever gathering was supposed to happen and my mom thinks I'm bummed, but in all actuality it means I have more free food and beer to myself, and I don't have to smile and nod as much. Win.

^ LOL @ Sixty Fiver's quote in your sig. Sixty Fiver, you're my new favorite person.