Wah...zaa...bi

Quite literally pronounced Wah-zah-bee, just as it's viewed in the clever billboard shown here.

I don't like to consider myself a 'foodie', but I love me some quality sushi. At times quality sushi means high dollar costs, but that's not necessarily so with my new discovery of the newest sushi/steakhouse in town. Not all the time do us MindCometeers have the funds or time to go out and discover something new but this is my contribution to your food selection.

Wazzabi, located on Gay Road in Winter Park (please quit giggling now) just opened on January 31st. Alluring decor, brand new bathrooms that don't require you to touch more than the door handle, it had all the elements to prove for a good first stab at a new restaurant. An elusively large menu, and an even more impressive patio with antique Japanese molded tree tables only added to it's perfection.

This enjoyable visit all sprung from a catchy advertisement as seen in the billboard picture. Then my friends, tell their friends, who tell their friends, etc. Just goes to show you that this entrepreneurial thing is still in, and that the sushi trend will probably over-populate itself.

Oh, the irony.

Race Fans Unite!

The overcast skies and cold temps couldn't damper the spirit of race fans at the Daytona 500 last Sunday. The MindComet team joined with some of our favorite people, Mark and Joe from SPEED, to enjoy the day.

I was so excited to see the premier NASCAR event and cheer on my favorite driver, Jr.! Apparently, so were a lot of other people.

After a visit to the SPEED trailer to stock up on SPEED swag, we grabbed some chicken strips, french fries and cheese pretzels (healthy!) and headed to our seats. Naturally, we passed some interesting folks along the way.

It was quite a trek, and the facilities along the way were a bit crowded.

It's hard being a girl sometimes.

The event kicked off with driver introductions, a performance by Bon Jovi and a "Tribute to America" show. Then, the lovely Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas sang the National Anthem. So much power, so little body fat.

It was an action-packed race-lots of crashes (no injuries, thankfully), penalties and really fast, really loud cars!

Throughout the day, MindComet and SPEED crews huddled together in the chilly mist and watched the new Nextel Fanview scanners, which let you listen to driver/crew conversations and watch live video of the race, including footage from a few different in-car cameras. I thought it was really cool. Is that nerdy?

There were many drivers who took the lead during the day, including Tony Stewart, who was later penalized for ramming another driver off the track and sent to the back of the line. Ahh, just like grade school.

Jeff Gordon hit the pit A LOT (ha ha). I love the pit stops. The crew changes four tires in like 10 seconds! I can't even get out of my car in the morning in 10 seconds. Plus, I'm a sucker for a good peel out.

Unfortunately, Jr. didn't win the Daytona 500, but he finished a respectable fifth. It doesn't really matter to me, he is still the number one hottie.

Brew-haha

The MindComet office has reached a new level. A symbol of success.

Drum Roll Please... Sound the trumpets...

We now have coffee service. Gone are the days of 3:00 PM runs to the convenience store because we drank all of the coffee and haven't made it to the store to replace it. Gone are the days of too weak coffee or too strong coffee. Just one pre-measured strength that is perfect every time. We have moved up to the big time!

Every other week a trained coffee service professional will magically appear, replenishing our supply of hot cocoa, coffee, sugar, creamer, filters and all other coffee accoutrements. Our trained coffee service professional will also deep clean our insulated coffee carafes.

So that's it, right? We just brew it and drink it?

WRONG!

As you probably can imagine, with our symbol of success comes responsibility. Based on our track record with kitchen cleanliness, there are a few policies and procedures the java junkies must follow to be sure our beautiful 2.2 liter carafes stay in good working order.

If you, prior to joining the MindComet team, were raised by wolves and you don't know how to brew coffee, detailed instructions are provided below.


Step 1: Filling
Remove the filter basket from the machine, and place a fresh filter in the empty basket. Open a pre-measured package of coffee and pour the grounds into the filter. Return basket to coffee machine.

Step 2: Prepping
Place a clean empty carafe under the filter basket. It is not necessary to remove the pump to brew coffee. There is actually a funnel to help ensure not a precious drop is wasted.

Step 3: Brewing
Once you make sure the coffee machine is turned on press the Brew Start button.

Now what?

Go back to your desk and get some work done.

The coffee will be ready in a few minutes. Just don't wait too long or the coffee clutch will have emptied the carafe, not left any for you and not brewed another pot (Please peeps, don't do that, it's rude...) This means you have to go back to Step 1.

Step 4: Drinking
So you finally got your cup of coffee? Great! Enjoy it. 'Cause we're not finished yet.

At the end of the day the carafes that have held coffee at any point during the day must be rinsed.

Step 5: Cleaning
Remove the carafe pump, and fill the carafe with warm water. Replace the pump, close the lid, and pump some warm water through to get all remaining coffee residue out of the pump. Open the lid, remove the pump and empty the water out of the carafe. Replace the pump and place the carafe on the table.

I know the last step might confuse all of the "neatniks" that have done such a stellar job of keeping the kitchen clean. While I did say the trained coffee professional would come and deep clean our carafes, it does not let us off the hook for required general maintenance. As hard as it may be, think of it as straightening up.

By keeping the carafes clean, we can be assured of continued fine tasting coffee.

The Battle of the Two Beards

An epic clash of the unshaven was logged into the history books recently. Two members of MindComet's production team boldly threw aside their regular razor regimen and locked into bitter beard combat. It was a contest of wills... the prize: one 7-11 Slurpee to he who holds out the longest.

The first several days of the contest were somewhat uneventful - both participants remained confident that victory was inevitable. Then came the itch. The urge to reach for the razor was undeniable, but somehow both held on. Fingernails having since been worn down by constant scratching, both warriors started to weaken. Days passed, girlfriends complained, small children ran in fear, yet still they persevered! Finally, one man was left standing, his opponent caving in to the pressure. Left smooth by a mach 3 and looking like a baby's rear he hung his head low in defeat.

Oh yeah... Be sure to use a moisturizing aftershave Mr. "guy who will not be named but is on the left side of this picture", we wouldn't want you to get razor burn!

PS - Where's my slurpee???!

The Eternal Smokers

Here in the IT department we have a nice view of the outdoor break area behind our building. Smokers from all of the companies in our building congregate there to take a break, have a smoke, and get some fresh air (well, except for all that nasty cigarette smoke). Anyway, one of the developers here recently noticed that the same three people from one of the other companies here at MindComet World HQ were spending inordinately long amounts of time outside smoking. And by inordinate, I mean hours a day. This developer insists that they were out there for three hours over the course of several breaks one day smoking, blabbing to each other, and yakking on their call phones. I covertly snapped this picture as evidence:



The guy in the middle has a thing for gold necklaces.

Anyway, I theorize that they must be either unionized labor or government employees.