Is Anyone Still Reading? I Hope So!

So, I've been quiet for a while. Sorry I've been so busy; I haven't even filed in a long ass time. So, in preparation (or procrastination) to do that, I've decided to say hello and let everyone know my status.

Lately the inn has been not as busy as the last few years. We've had some very strange weekends only half booked when they should be fully booked. Since the inn isn't doing as well, it's become very difficult to support the properties it has now been charged with supporting. Not only is the inn responsible for my house, it is also responsible for my mother's new house on the Cape. This just isn't possible. So we've now got my house up for sale.

Have you ever sold a house? Well this is my first time. Our realtor is spankin and creepy all at once. Her bangs could take you. Not in a Jersey, 80's type way, but a really swishy, strong, bang power type way. It freaks me out. Selling this house in particular has been a major boon for me. It made me clean out everything. It forced my mother to come down and really go through the attic and the basement and closets, throwing out so many things that we needed a small dumpster and lots of neighbors to take away all the furniture we didn't want. I think it was cathartic for the moms. Then the painting started. I painted the garage doors from a dark, hunter green, to a light gray. The light gray also went onto a wooden sun rise over the front door, done by my courageous boyfriend on a rickety extension ladder! Then I painted my bedroom, again, erasing that dark, hunter green, to a beautiful linen white! Lately I've seen places we need to touch up all over the house, but I'm not going to unless I run out of other things to do. (not likely)

As of late, we've been talking to a professional inn broker. She thinks we should sell the whole kit and caboodle (including the house I currently live in now) as one package, somewhere in the area of $2 mil. Personally, that would be amazing. For everyone else who works here, it would be probably not be ideal. While my innkeeper for that last year is leaving to move to SF, the next one has no idea that we might be selling. I have no idea if it is reasonable to expect the new owners to keep a person in that position. It probably isn't. I wish I could stipulate that to the new owners. And what about all the people that are returning here because they love US? I know it sounds pretty self centered, but I believe a LOT of people come here because they like me and the service we provide, not because the house is beautiful, etc.

Lastly, we have some very large people staying here this week. They have already broken the bed in one of the rooms. They are moving into a different room at the end of the week. They are both huge. While I don't care how large someone is, I felt really bad for them when their bed did not hold up under them. All of this happened while my innkeeper was on duty, and then I heard about it secondhand. A few hours after I went on duty today they came back to the inn. I introduced myself and let them know I was working on the bed problem, and wanted to know if there was anything I could do to make their stay better. I also let them know that my boyfriend was a furniture expert and that he was getting them a part the next day for the bed. Then they told me that it was only ONE of them that had been laying in the bed at the time! Oh, these poor people. I tried not to make it embarrassing for them, and act like it was a malfunction of the bed (which the boyfriend said it was), and while it felt genuine, I hope they didn't feel like it was fake.

We also have some mafia staying with us, an American who sounds like a Scotsman, an old dude who complains about stuff and then says something really nice right after, a dude who never says anything but totally likes to party with his work buddy by drinking expensive wines they discuss in the drawing room, the aforementioned colleague, and some super cool people from California.

My boyfriend loves to keep dropping little hints that if I want to run the inn forever I should, and that would be alright with him. While I've never discussed anything that's going on with him and I in this arena, it'll suffice to say that living here with him would not be convenient for his job, which is 80 miles north of here. Also, I'm interested in baking still, not people. I've been taking some professional cake decorating classes in the city, and I think I've formed a plan for the future. If I end up having kids with this guy, I can't do it at the inn. It's too much. I think what I'll do is find a house, convert the kitchen to a commercial status, and then bake wedding cakes, so I can work and have babies. Or maybe I'll be a personal trainer. It could work, and there's basically no overhead.

Well, that's thoughts for now. I'll try to post more, really I will!

Cleaning

That's right, sometimes I clean the rooms myself. Especially when it is slow, and we have less than 3 rooms rented at a time. The housekeeper stays home, and I or my innkeeper get to clean any rooms that need doing. So today I was putting the Bridal Chamber back in order and I was reminded of A) how much I appreciate having a housekeeper and B) how disrespectful people can be when using a space that is not their own.

Somehow, these people managed to get toothpaste at least two feet from the sink, and onto the mirror! There was soap and a mystery substance everywhere in the main bathroom, and I think they broke into the housekeeping closet so that they could use every towel we had in the room! (Is it possible we don't put out enough towels? We usually put out 4 large bath towels, 3 hand towels, a bathmat, and 3 wash cloths.)

The Bridal Chamber also gets the oh so special treatment of having breakfast brought up to their room. When I looked at the mess in this area, I was sad, because I realized that my innkeeper's cooking is NOT up to par, just looking at what was left over. One bowl of something I couldn't even tell what it was, but now that I think about it, it could be whipped cream. He also made rice pudding (on the same day as whipped cream?), pancakes and muffins. There was no evidence of fresh fruit (a requirement) and the coffee wasn't drunk at all. Given, my innkeeper had a most horrible yesterday when he sliced his left ring finger open and needed 7 stitches. There was no blood on the table, so at least that wasn't a problem. Anyway, this is a major symptom that I need to take care of immediately!

Today we have a whole slew of funeral guests coming. Someone's Aunt Marge died this Sunday after everyone at her nursing home got ill (not everyone died, I assure you). So now we've rented three rooms to that family, and they're also going to have a small reception here after the funeral, so I'm putting on the coffee, whipping out the bottled water, and putting up restroom signs with arrows. This is mainly how we make our income in the winter, basically being busy when people die. I think I need to do a brochure run at all the local funeral homes real soon.

Okay, back to the Bridal Chamber, just needed a break from the mess!

from the land of the dead

So...I just got back from a state B&B association conference. I thought it was gonna be pretty cool. I'd get to meet other people who do the same thing I do, we'd share war stories about guests gone awry, I'd get to learn something from the veterans, and maybe get a few suggestions as to how to get our Murder Mystery Weekend booked. Well, I was WRONG!

The conference took place in Canandaigua, aka BumFuck, NY. Tis finger lake country, lots of wines (well, crappy NYS wines), apples, Wegmans & grapes. I've never seen so many grape pie stands in a 5 mile stretch. I wonder how they stay in business! Seriously, it took 5.5 hours each way for my mother and I to drive there. We pulled into our hotel, which was right on the lake. It was done up in a very lodgy fashion, I felt like I had stepped into the Great Northern, and that suddenly Agent Cooper would be sipping hot, amazing coffee. Well, Kyle MacLachlan never appeared, and the coffee was awful. There was a gas fireplace in the room though, and radiant heat in the bathroom, so that was pretty neat.

After checking in, we drove over to the conference site. Another restaurant on the lake, which featured mediocre food and a decent banquet hall. The view at this place was just as cool as our hotel's. Our trip to the conference site was highlighted by Cheshire, a town we decided to call "Toilet Paper Town" because it was a tiny blink of a place, completely draped in toilet paper from when the high school kids cover the town for Halloween. Apparently they just let it disintegrate over time, and it really looked like winter there. They even hit the sheriff's station.

On arriving at the conference, I was introduced to some people my mother knew. Everyone was over the age of 50, except for me. I couldn't help thinking that none of those people would be innkeeping 15 years from now. We also walked around and met all the vendors who would be at all three days of the conference events. Home Depot was even there, sponsoring a drawing for a complete wireless drill, power saw & flashlight set. There were a couple of soap vendors, some software people & a video twosome of boys who looked like they were fresh out of college. We all had dinner, had a little meeting and crawled into bed.

The next day we had breakfast at the conference site, and then proceeded to go through a series of workshops. The first was about leadership. I was very confused, as I think everyone there owned their own place, so weren't they already leaders? The next workshop was about branding. This is something we've also already done, and I think my mother has been training me in since birth. So both workshops turned out to be completely lame for me, but hopefully fun for the few aspiring innkeepers in attendance.

Then it was scavenger hunt time, oh boy! We were sent in teams to the town to take digital photos, visit shops and landmarks, and get to the know the town in a little shameless marketing style. We received all sorts of useless items, such as shitty chocolate in the shape of the state of NY, candles that smelled way too strong, and my favorite thing, a little toy that makes a funny noise when you swirl it around in the air.

We came back to home base, compared notes with everyone, and then had the vendor's drawing. Some folks gave away 20% off gift certificates, or a $100 gift certificate to LL Bean. Everyone was waiting on the Home Depot drawing. Finally, they pulled my name out! I won the drill! I've never won anything. I was pretty stoked. I picked up my set, and right after that a dude won a soap basket, and then asked me if I would like to trade. I said "Not on your life buddy!"

That night was the Winemakers Dinner, back at our hotel, another part of the conference I was looking forward to. Unfortunately, it was another let down, except for the part where we got to see some Native American dancing. That part was pretty cool, beautiful colors, fun people, and things I'd never seen before, plus a retelling of the Iroquois creation tale involving a turtle and the sky woman. The NYS wine was horrible, and the grape pie for dessert was nasty. My mother loved it though.

We had another breakfast the next day with the rest of the Hudson Valley crew. We got down to the war stories part, where I told the story of the finger lady, and my mom told the story of one of our innkeepers and her adventures with some trannies, and the story that followed that really solidified the fact that we are not like other innkeepers. The only thing that came out of these people was a story about how one time they had gotten a booking for an adult woman, her father, and her baby. The inn in question only had one room left, and it only had a queen size bed. The woman had decided to take it, and the innkeeper felt like something weird was going on. The innkeeper was later relieved to find out that they were canceling at the last minute and she wouldn't have to deal with them! I wanted to raise my hand and volunteer the information that I take naps in the same bed with my father all the time! But I decided to keep my mouth shut and just go with the so not interesting flow.

We ran out of there right after breakfast and went straight to the Canandaigua Spice Company, which is the BEST thing about Canandaigua. I was able to buy strange things, like organic lovage, and beluga lentils, for almost nothing, and I am so happy! After that it was back to civilization, with a murder mystery in the car to listen to with Mumsy.

In the end, I learned almost nothing, except that we are very unique people, and that one should buy their spices in upstate New York!

Back From Inner Space

Sorry folks, I know it's been a while, but damn, have I been busy!

Being back at the inn has been surprisingly comfortable. Even after going back and looking at old posts, I wasn't daunted by the responsibility and day to day ridiculousness that makes the inn what it is.

I moved back into my old room from high school. Even that wasn't so bad. I've set it up in a similar fashion to how it used to be, and it's a little cave-like, but I don't mind. El Presidente, my mother, has since moved out to her new home in Cape Cod. She's managed to move most of her things there, but certain items still loom over me, reminding me of her presence. A perfect example is her box o birds. It's about 3 x 2, and built into the wall of our living room. While it's a stunning conversation piece, it's also a lot of dead bodies on display in what is now MY living room. Thank whatever it will be moving to an Ebay counter near you soon!

We're also switching innkeepers. Autumn, who started when I left, has decided to move out and start making a living through making bags and clothing and such. She's an excellent seamstress, and I will be sorry to see her go. She's leaving because it's just a really tough job to do when you've got two small children at home after you leave work. What job isn't though? I both admire and pity her in this situation, and it makes me wonder how I'll ever get to a point where I can feel comfortable having babies and still doing the inn thing.

I had a funny dream the other night. El Presidente fired the housekeeper, Glenda, who in real life is first rate. In the dream, Glenda was fired for being a terrible grocery shopper. But she does not have this responsibility at the inn. I was able to convince her to come back to work, as long as I convinced El Presidente to never set foot in the building again. On telling my mother of this dream, she was delighted to hear it. She said that it meant that I was taking ownership seriously, and that I was afraid that she and I would differ on some major decisions.

I'm also happy to say that I've been meeting a lot of wonderful people who've been passing through the inn. This fall was fantastic, and I even went to the Great Jack O Lantern Blaze this year. If you've never been, check it out next year, it's well worth going. I'll post some pictures soon.

Hope to be writing more soon, and thank you all for continuing to check the blog, as I never officially gave it up, and y'all have been yelling at me for so long!

Off and Loving It!

This last week has been absolutely lovely! One of the joys in life for me is being able to wake up with no alarm, whenever I happen to come out of the sleep coma naturally. Since I'll be back to getting up early in about two more weeks, I'm making sure to do that every single day while I can.

I've even gotten to see the people who meant the most to me from work! Joe and I had beers together last week at his house. Coincidentally, he lives just a few blocks from me. When I arrived, there were three glistening steaks set out, waiting for the grill. While we drank and smoked, I got to hear some things about Joe from his long time friend and roommate, Jimmy, that I never knew. For instance, Joe used to pitch in the major leagues, when he was about 20 (remember, he's a little over 50 now) and didn't continue along that career track because he slipped on some ice and hurt his pitching arm. Apparently he was throwing at speeds of 103 mph at the time.

It's always amazing to me to hear about someone who's had a chance to live more of their life than I have, and all the twists and turns that happen over the course of 50 years or more, just to one person! Later on Joe and I were talking about moments in life where the fear of dying or being seriously injured was a major factor. He mentioned that he had been in a modern day duel of sorts, against a member of a biker gang. The duel was called "The Rage" and it involved sitting cross legged across from your opponent, blindfolded. A weapon of your choosing was laid between the duelers, and the battle ensued. The rest of the gang sat around you, waiting for something to happen. Joe is a very good storyteller and he kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. He also used to breed labradors. I'm sure you're probably thinking that all these facts might be fabricated, but really, what did Joe have to gain from lying about something like this? We're never going to be romantically linked, as our relationship is rather sibling-like if anything can describe it.

Joe also said all the things I was hoping he would say about my recent absence from work. Things weren't the same without me, he liked me way better than the new baker. He always used to come into the bakery to make jokes and give me a hard time, and now he barely goes in there except to grab produce. The new baker is apparently very serious, and he resents her leaving him little baked items because he thinks she is just trying to feed her own ego. Now I used to leave him little things too, or ask him to taste something just to check if it needed something else. But I guess I came across as not really needing approval, even though I did. For me, there is a camaraderie in a kitchen that is built not only on social interaction, but also on skillz. Just as I would test things out on the rest of the kitchen, they would send things right back to me, and of course cook anything they could that I requested. Sometimes Joe would discuss his thoughts about that day's specials with me, and when he was stuck, I'd try to give him some ideas for what he could do, without any personal investment, should he decide on a different course of action. But there was still a part of me that felt like I needed to prove something to him as a chef. He knew that I had had my own place in the past, but I had never really told him that 99.9% of my cooking experience had been in the hot kitchen, not the bakery. I'm sure he never thought about it, but I wanted him to know that my real skills were there. I finally had my opportunity to show them off when we hung out that night. There was no thought to having something accompany the steaks, and I suggested maybe we go pick up some veggies at the grocery store. Joe was game, so he accompanied me to the store. I have never shopped with a fellow chef in a grocery store before. It was a fun experience, as we whipped through the aisles like lightning. I hate shopping overall, and it always irks me when I have to shop with someone who pauses at everything of interest, and often puts things in the cart they won't be buying later. Joe was nothing of the sort, and while being 3 or 4 beers into the night, he was all business. Anyway, I picked up some ingredients for a salad I really love to make and eat, that I used to make all the time at my cafe. We got back to the house and we whipped up the salad together. My moment had come when he pronounced that the salad was amazing. It really made me happy.

I also got to go dancing with Miguel, his wife, and two of his friends at a Spanish bar. It was so much fun, and I even held my own playing pool. I wasn't attracted to anyone, so I could be the jackass that I am with no holds barred. It was great fun. His wife is lovely, and I really hope they come to see me at the inn sometime. Sadly, they said that Miguel was NOT floating around the restaurant, and that he had been relegated to being the pastry chef's assistant. Mig doesn't like her very much either, and I told him to find another place to work, as the owners just don't know what they want. I mean, why are they okay with giving the experienced pastry chef the assistant and not me? It just doesn't make sense.

I went and picked up my last paycheck, and that went fine. I was dressed up for a date I was going on later and I looked very girly and sexy. It seems somewhat strange to be dressed like that in a kitchen with everybody all in uniform, and sweaty and smelling like fish and raw meat, but it was a fun twist to me.

Just to let y'all know, I'll be moving back to the inn this week. Then I'll be traveling for a few weeks, so the blog will probably take a rest, but you never know, I might feel the urge to start bouncing ideas off of y'all. Be sure to check out some of the links I'll be posting, as I've just started tuning into a whole bunch of terrific food blogs.

Have a great few weeks everybody, and I'll definitely back by the first week of September when I'll be officially installed at the inn!

A Special Entry

Folks, I know it's Sunday, but so much has happened in the last couple of days that I must capture my feelings about events before they fade into the long term data storage of my brain.

On Wednesday someone named Cathy tried out for the pastry position. She's a CIA grad, has worked with Martha Stewart's company, and definitely has some serious talent in the pastillage scheme. I wasn't into everything she made, but I also didn't taste everything either. I wasn't impressed with her technique of using imitation strawberry extract in her whipped cream for strawberry shortcake, but she also gave me a few tips on things I could be doing better. I was super friendly to her and tried to make her feel comfy in the kitchen, as if things worked out with her, I'd be free sooner. It would probably mean one less paycheck for me, but it would be a good trade off. We left the restaurant at the same time, and she said she was a little sad because if she took the job, I wouldn't be there. She had enjoyed my company. That was nice.

I was also nervously anticipating Miguel's try for the job. He auditioned for the pastry position the next day. He had plenty of time to prep some dessert dishes for review on Thursday night. I tried to help him with panna cotta, which he wanted to use too much gelatin in, but also neglected to put the panna cotta into the forms he wanted it to set up in when he made the dish. He set it up, then had to whisk the hell out of it to be able to pour it into the forms. Whatever, it was real thick, not quite what you want out of panna cotta, but the berry sauces he made to accompany it were lovely and it worked out anyway. I actually left work earlier that day, and returned to do his tasting with the chef I wrote about last week who is his master. I introduced myself to the chef and his wife, who is also a pastry chef. Both were lovely people and I could see why Miguel would always look forward to working with them. The major quality we discussed about why we all loved Miguel, was the fact that he's very sincere and loyal. Such a sweetheart. As usual, Miguel had been a dishwasher that the chef had promoted. While many people who work in kitchens are work very hard, Miguel stood out from the rest. Anyway he also made four other dishes for the tasting: Ice Cream Cake (with peppermint candies crushed on top, lovely), Checkerboard Cake, (plain, but it's just sponge cake really), Tiramisu (delicious, spectacular. I usually hate tiramisu), and Molten Chocolate Cake. The MCC was quite good. I never make it, as it's kind of played out for me, but I really enjoyed his version, which had something white in the middle, and he served it with a grapefruit and orange salad. I couldn't stop eating the salad either.

Mig's tasting went so well that I was now stuck, I wasn't sure whom to root for. If Cathy took it, she'd be very prepared for the job, and all of the work Miguel and I had done would be for naught. If Miguel got it, then he would be thrown deep into the belly of the beast, not knowing everything, and still trying to understand seemingly simple concepts, such as the breads and Fatima. He would have to buy some books and tools, which though I had most of already when I'd started, I'd still had to invest over $200 in when I began. Should he have to spend money like that? Should the restaurant take a chance like that? I wasn't sure.

Mig and I worked together the next day like nothing was different. By the end of the day, we found out the he was going to "float" around the kitchen. He'd be learning both in the pastry kitchen and the regular one. I sat down with the chef and asked about "the poop." He said they were bringing Cathy on as the main pastry chef, and she was starting tomorrow night. I asked when he needed me to clear my stuff out and he said that day would be good, and sorry to see me leave so soon, but the payroll was getting huge. I told him no worries, I was expecting this. I diligently packed up all my stuff, from my cuisinart and books, to the stereo, and of course a cup of Fatima. Mig's master had suggested I change her name to one that Miguel could relate to better to understand her, so we changed her name to Guadelupe. We laughed and I told him not to kill her just because I was gone. I was not as happy as I thought I would be to leave. Even though I am stepping into my new role as Vice President at the inn, I am sad I will not be working with the people I have grown to love in a very short time. Luckily, I had to return the next day for my second to last paycheck and I was amazed by the hugs that came from many people in the place. Miguel and Joe both played it pretty cool, but let me know their sadness for my absence. I'll be stopping there next week to pick up the rest of my pay, and I think it will be strange, but nice to see them one more time. I did manage to hand out some brochures about the inn to the people who mattered, so we wouldn't lose touch, so that was good.

And now, I embark on moving all my things slowly, but taking a little time off from working hard before I have to juice it all the time! It was a terrific learning experience, and I now know how much I still have to learn to be an accomplished baker, A LOT.

Miguelito & Kitchen Politics

I am supremely comfident that Miguel, (now AKA Miguelito, which is what everyone seems to call him, since he's the youngest kitchen slave), is much more gifted than I in the department of spatial relations. The kid is already better at making a cake look very smooth than I am. I'm not saying I can't do it, I just don't have the patience for it. I also just don't see it sometimes, and that's where the spatial relations part comes in. When I was doing a lot of practice in the drawing realm, I read a lot about negative space, and it was an idea I understood and used more often in trying to capture the true image of something. While the main idea of negative space doesn't really apply to cake decor, let's just say I'm really good at telling Miguelito when his cake needs to be more perfect, but I just can't get the cake there myself in an efficient amount of time. He can! So I've told him that if he's remotely interested in this line of kitchen work, he should go for it. He's suited to it.

Alas, I believe he probably won't be taking over my spot. Even though he's starting to understand what goes into a lot of recipes that you need to do this job, and he's very good at making everything look the same, he has a vague future in front of him. He's been working in kitchens for at least the last three years. His last longstanding job was at a terrific place on the Hudson and more south of where he's working now. At that reataurant, he latched onto a chef, who subsequently left for a position in NYC. He invited Miguel to work there with him. Miguel went, getting a ride from the chef to and from work every day. The chef left the NYC job too. Miguel couldn't afford to go to NYC on his own without a ride, so he quit too, and since then he's been waiting for his master to get another job and take him there to work with him. I think if he didn't have this possible opportunity out there, he might take more to what we've been doing, at least with more zeal. I don't know if the owners here know this part of Miguel. Basically, I see training this kid as a waste of time, as he will eventually leave, and it could be as soon as 2 weeks from now. But whatever, that's not my problem! I get an assistant; I get to review almost everything I've leatned. It's a good situation for me, even if I end up staying the full four weeks I gave as possible notice, just to train someone who probably won't stick around. I'm very happy though, that Miguel is now taking care of all cake decoration, so as to get a good base in the hardest part of the job. He's also not bad with writing with chocolate.

The major shortcoming I think Miguel will have to overcome, should he decide to really take this on, is that he is not equipped for the job in the material sense. Now Jean, the previous chef, was so equipped, he didn't need tons of recipe books, but he had one that he had developed over the years. I have about 7 of them in the kitchen. I have knives, dough scrapers, peelers, pastry bag tips, spatulas, and a cuisinart in the kitchen. Everything has to be marked so that people don't think they can just use my stuff. Everything besides the cuisinart gets packed and locked up when I leave because I don't trust the dishwahers to bring my stuff back. Miguel has relatively little compared to my arsenal. I don't think he has money to buy books, but I could be wrong. If I get an assignment, and I don't know how to make certain things, I look them up. He won't be able to do that except on the internet, and you can't always trust that stuff. Even the book recipes I have, I have had to tweak in many instances. Miguel could certainly work without the cuisinart, but what will he do without any tools? I highly doubt the restaurant will buy enough for him to really have everything he needs. This part of it is what makes me think of the position as a sub-contracting type thing. Now working in a kitchen, you don't necessarily have to bring your own knives, but pastry is a responsibility where you have to be extremely creative if you have to make specific shapes, and not buy a product that just does it for you. Once again, not my problem.

Kitchen politics have remained basically the same since I gave my notice, but they are also putting more of a load on the pastry kitchen. The money guy hasn't really talked to me since I broke the news, except of course to give me more work and to wince when I ask him for my paycheck. I sort of like it that I'm taking money out of his hands now, for all that he's put me through and will never understand nor try to empathize with my situration.

When the chef first got back from vacation, where he had heard the news of my throwing in the towel, he was a little cold to me. I wouldn't evpect him to hug me or anything, but I was sort of expecting him to try to change my mind about my decision. There was nothing of the sort, and I believe he probably had stuff going on at home that made him sort of moody. After a few days, he returned to his normal self, and only mentioned my leaving once, in a "just making sure he understood the siituation" kind of way.

Chef: "So you're giving us four weeks notice huh?"
Me: "Yep."

That was it. After that, he's been less talkative, as why be friendly with someone you're probably kind of disappointed in? But he's been jovial sometimes, and overall alright. My favorite chef to talk to is the sous chef. His name is Joe, and he's funny as hell. He told me the rest of the people he works with are all douchebags compared to me. And yesterday he said he wanted to worship me for my bagels. Miguel has begun to call him Joselito, so I now go back and forth calling him that and Jo-Jo. He's sweet, and a terrific chef, though alternates putting too much salt and then not enough salt in things. I will miss him immensely. One thing about work environments that I've always found is that I would never become friends with people like Joe if we didn't work together. I treasure that stuff. Sorry to get mushy, but it's true. I know I will be happier at the inn, but I am already wistful of some of the things about this job.