Hmmm Hot Pot

I've been seeing a lot of hot pots lately with that darn daily cooking quest. I have pretty much doing it every day for at least a month. I have 3 of the 5 recipes which seems to be better than most that I have asked so far. It is also fairly profitable since you can cook the meat that isn't used for the quests and sell it in the AH. So I'll keep trying! Not today though.

I'm pretty bummed after my work reunion today. It seems the only time I see my former co-workers these days is at a funeral. It seems like he just retired yesterday and now he's gone. He was too young and had an ironic death I guess you would say. He was a respiratory therapist and died from emphysema. I will never understand how respiratory therapists can smoke. But he was stubborn, he knew he was going because he had all the equipment at home and knew how to read it. He wouldn't allow anyone to call for help thought they eventually did but it was too late. It's pretty typical of him though. Never wanted a fuss over him. Always watching over us girls though we never even really knew it. He rescued me a time or two when I had a flat... always doing it himself instead of getting one of the drivers to do it. Always commenting on changes on my car, like when my Honda emblem disappeared (got stolen) and the plastic frame busted around my plate. I thought it kind of odd that he called me darlin' sometimes but I now know why he called me that and made so many comments about my car. He was quite the car fanatic. He owned quite a few in his lifetime which they showed pictures of. When he retired, he had just bought a Harley edition Ford truck and that was his latest pride and joy. As for why he called me darlin', apparently he said that to a lot of people he cared about... even had a message on his answering machine that said "hello darlin'." It's part of a song.... Can't think of the name, that may even be the name, but it's starts out "hello darlin', it's been a long time..." He was always pretty quiet and I had to really listen to understand what he was saying because his voice was so raspy. He also was hard of hearing which I learned he had dealt with at a young age. When the draft came during the Vietnam War, he and a buddy decided they would go sign up with the Air Force so they could serve together. His buddy was accepted, but he flunked the test due to his hearing but was later drafted into the Army. At first I was sad when I heard the news that he died... the rumor was that he died from pneumonia. But when I learned how he died and that he was he was controlling the inevitable the way he wanted I felt a bit better. Seeing how many family and friends that showed up... more friends than he probably even knew. They showed photos that revealed he was really a very happy content person. Everyone who was there when I first started working for this company attended his funeral, most of whom have moved on... we were like family. I realized how sad it was that I learned more about him at his funeral than I did in the years I worked with him but glad that I knew him a bit more about him than others and glad I took the time to say a few words to the man who greeted me each day when I came to clock in for work while he was on break smoking. He would open the door for me going in and open it for me going out. I think that's also why he noticed my car so much... I had to clock in at the main building so it sat there running a few minutes while I ran in and out and he stood guard and then I drove off to the building I worked in. I had a few temps that would ask me to deal with him on some driver issues (he supervised them for a while). He sometimes had a bit of a short temper but he only had gone off on me twice and both times he apologized. Someone heard him apologize once and was in disbelief. He wasn't yelling really, just frustrated at the situation and I think other events lead up to it. I'm glad I went and didn't let the stress of work keep me from going. It was a good dose of reality and a wake up call with good timing since my vacation is next week. I needed a kick in the butt. It was a very bittersweet day.