Rijid's brother got us a complete set of cookware, including a nonstick frying pan, with a lid. This is great, and the NSFPw/L is everything I could have wanted. But now I have duplicates of a bunch of other sized pots, taking up space which I don't really have. Also, the option of being lazy and using a new pot instead of just doing the dishes is a dangerous road that I really shouldn't be allowed to go down.

My parents bought me a cast iron frying pan, with no lid. This is completely typical of my parents.

(The pans from Derrick and Jenn might also be typical. Kind of a "throw enough money at the target and you're bound to hit at least part of it" motif. That's not really very fair, though. I feel bad enough about critcizing my own family. I really shouldn't drag his family into this too. It was an interesting parallel, but I think I'm through with it now. Besides, my parents interpretations of what I want are much more intruiging.)

Now, I've heard a lot good things about cast iron, and I have in fact kind of wanted some of my very own for quite some time. I look forward to using this pan, at some nebulous future point when I feel like "real" cooking. But, what I specifically wanted right now was something to cook RiceARoni in. RiceARoni is a harsh mistress. You have to start it in a nonstick frying pan, and then you have to cover it.

This is a bitchy thing to complain about, I know. Never look a gift frying pan in the mouth. I might be prepared to just let it slide, but then last week I was reminded of another gift from my parents.

Last spring, when I was all about the resumes, I mentioned to my parents that my computer had no word processing technology, and I felt bad about using Rijid's computer 24/7. The next time I saw my mom, she gave me something called "StarOffice." It does everything Word97 does, and more. Best of all, it's more or less compatable with MS Word, kind of. That "kind of" is key.

I had a great time, typing resumes and cover letters on my computer, and printing them from my computer, and all was well. Every single time I saved, StarOffice would warn me that "Saving in external formats may cause information loss" but it never seemed to follow through on this threat, so I ignored it.

Last week, I saw a job I might have wanted. Assistant manager at a poster framing store. Retail management in any form is a step closer to bookstore management, right? So, what the hell. The ad specified that it wanted resumes faxed, but I called the phone number, and explained that I had no fax machine. Could I interest them in a mailed resume, or perhaps an e-mail attachment? An attachment would be fine. I fired up StarOffice, and told it that I would like my document made MS Word readable. "Saving in external formats may cause information loss," StarOffice told me. Yeah, that's nice, whatever. I blithely hit "send" and went on with my life. Later, I got paranoid about what "information loss" might mean, so I sent the same attachment to myself.

Damn you to hell, StarOffice. For reasons known only to itself, StarOffice decided I really wanted a few random paragraphs of my resume in bold. It seems to still all be spelled correctly, and with all the pertinent information, but it looks retarded, and I wouldn't hire someone who sent me a resume like that.

It's not like this was my dream job, or anything. Next time, I'll send it to Rijid's computer and double check it BEFORE sending it to anyone real. It's just frustrating.

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