stuff n’at

Testing this baby

2011-06-04T12:36:00.001-04:00

Boy feeds Aussie zoo's animals to croc

2008-10-03T11:34:00.000-04:00

Consider the title above, and have a read.

Boy feeds Aussie zoo's animals to croc

My first questions are:
1. Where were the parents?
2. Where did he come up with this idea?

Dog gets stuck in sink drain during bath

2008-09-29T13:11:00.001-04:00

Your reaction may be as mixed on this one as mine was.

Dog gets stuck in sink drain during bath
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08273/916036-100.stm

Tuna Pesto Wraps

2008-09-25T21:40:00.004-04:00

I had a jar of pesto hanging around and some tortillas, and decided to search for a recipe to make things interesting, but I also wanted something simple. I ran across the following recipe. Being lazy, I just mixed up the tuna, pesto and ranch, added some lettuce leaves, and rolled it up in the tortilla -- but YMMV.

You can find the recipe here.

Pesto Tuna Wraps Recipe #325761

Pesto and ranch dressing make a flavorful tuna salad. This makes a quick and easy lunch out of stuff I usually have on hand. I like adding lots of crunchy veggies, so I add bell peppers, celery, chopped apple, or whatever else I have. Use more or less ranch dressing and pesto, depending on how you like it.
15 min 15 min prep
SERVES 2

6 ounces canned tuna
2 tablespoons pesto sauce
3 tablespoons ranch dressing or light ranch salad dressing
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated or monterey jack cheese
2 cups lettuce
2 flour tortillas
1 teaspoon black pepper
4 ounces of sliced black olives
2 stalks celery, chopped (AND or OR)
1/2 apple, chopped into small pieces

Wash and dry lettuce and tear into small pieces. Set aside.

Open tuna and drain well. Drain black olives, too.

Mix tuna, pesto, and ranch dressing in a bowl.

Mix in cheese, black olives, chopped celery, chopped apples, and black pepper. Set aside.

Warm tortillas lightly in hot cast iron pan or in oven. (I use my toaster oven.) Tortillas should be warmed until soft and flexible, but not long enough to get dry or crisp. (That's the secret of a good wrap.).

Place tortilla on a flat surface.

Scatter lettuce onto tortilla.

Spoon Tuna salad on top of the lettuce.

Roll up your wrap and you're done!

WRAPPING TIPS - grab the tortilla at 3 and 9 o'clock, and fold each side in about 1/3 towards the middle. Then fold from 6 o'clock up, tucking the edge of the tortilla up and aroundthe fillings and sort of curling it under the filling a bit. Then roll forwards, pulling towards you a bit as you go, and ending with the loose edge of the tortilla on the underside of the roll. I hope that makes sense! Spreading a very thin layer of dressing or sauce over the tortilla before adding the filling makes it hold together better. But you can use toothpicks. I like to slice wraps into 2 halves, but that's just presentation.

RIP Richard Wright

2008-09-15T18:00:00.003-04:00

I'm so bummed. :(

Floyd founder Wright dies at 65

The ever-expanding McGivern household

2008-09-06T21:53:00.006-04:00

All my life, I've always had a pet -- typically, a dog or a cat. Usually a dog. I love animals, and my mother does as well, but as she's gotten older and since my husband and I are always working, a dog has become impractical. So today, we went to to the local family-owned pet store which we frequent in order to purchase some pet food, and ended up coming home with...

We've been tossing around some names, of which two seems to be winning: Skittles, and Whitey. She's still a very skittish kitten, and we just happened to take to calling her Skittles; Whitey came about because we all thought it was a funny name for a black cat. Additionally, it was the name of my mother's cat when she was a little girl.

The other little girl (our daughter) seems to be handling the kitten much better than she did a few months ago, so we're glad about that.

So then here are some more photos of terminal cuteness for you.

The funny things that happen here

2008-09-05T10:57:00.002-04:00

There's been an unusual "Church" that has requested a special exception to a zoning ordinance in order that they run their "church" out of their home. Followers must be at least 21 years old to participate in the weekly service that starts at midnight on Saturdays, and charges $75 per couple and $50 per single person. No charge for single women.

Uh huh. Right.

An alleged sex club, the story itself is not what had me howling -- all manner of weirdness happens on a daily basis in the 'burgh -- but rather PittGirl's take on the story.

Let the fun begin.

Bats in our Belfry

2008-08-31T10:52:00.012-04:00

So we have a new visitor to the McGivern household. Yesterday, my husband noticed droppings on the table on our back porch, and when he openend the umbrella, a bat flew out of the umbrella.

So today, we went outside and c a r e f u l l y lifted up the umbrella to see our little friend gripping one of the umbrella's bars and sleeping peacefully. The first is a closeup shot to give you a bit more detail of the bat itself; the second is the view from the underside of the umbrella, showing the bat's location.

Edit: a couple more shots, even better:

So, my company is hiring...

2008-08-29T08:44:00.004-04:00

My company, the Bank of New York Mellon, is hiring. And not just for the below items; check out www.bnymellon.com -- click on the Careers section and then select Search Jobs to view job postings and express interest. If interested in the below, the job reference number is 74764.

The Client Accounting and Reporting Services group (CARS) is seeking to fill Accounting and Reporting Specialist and Senior Specialist positions in Pittsburgh.

ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING SPECIALIST/SR. SPECIALIST
Client Accounting and Reporting Services (CARS) is a client-facing group responsible for the processing and support of complete, accurate and timely valuation and financial statements for institutional clients. We support a mix of large and complex client relationships that include daily, weekly and monthly valued accounts. We have daily contact with clients and assist them with all of their standard and customized accounting and reporting needs, as well as supporting ad-hoc requests and projects. Since we are responsible for the ultimate reporting to the client, we interact with, and must understand the roles and functions of, many other support groups within The Bank of New York Mellon. We provide extensive support of our online information delivery tools and work closely with clients' agents (e.g. consultants, auditors) to ensure that they are receiving timely and accurate information. We also support our clients' trading and cash investment processes. Within CARS, our associates work on teams with hours ranging from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for monthly valuation to 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for daily valuation.

BI Analyst position in Pittsburgh

2008-08-28T14:23:00.002-04:00

Data Warehouse Consultants (www.dwconsultants.com) is seeking a Business Intelligence Analyst for a position in Pittsburgh, PA.

Responsibilities:

* Translates business requirements into analytical and reporting specifications to develop new reports or improve current reports using a Business Intelligence tool such as Cognos.

* Responsible for integrating data from multiple sources to build business intelligence environments that measure and help analyze business performance.

* Maintains and enhances the Business Intelligence environment including upgrades and patches.

* Supports and trains end users on Business Intelligence tools.

Skills/Experience:

* Three (3) years experience using Business Intelligence Tools such as Cognos.

* Three (3) years experience working with Relational Databases.

* Three (3) years of Cognos experience preferred.

* Two (2) years of Oracle experience preferred.

* Two (2) years of SQL Server experience preferred.

* One (1) year of health care experience preferred.

* Permanent U.S. Citizen is highly preferred

* B.S. Computer Science or related field.

*Direct candidates only, please

For immediate consideration, send your resume to info@dwconsultants.com

Right

2008-08-28T11:19:00.001-04:00

Right, so I've been thinking about doing this for a while, but didn't really know what I wanted to do. It's a fact that I want to 'do it all' and probably should have more focus in my life.

But I digress.

Instead of taking my advice to focus, this blog will cover whatever the hell I feel like posting. It is as it says in Pittsburghese: about "stuff". N'at.

Now, that may mean music, politics, business analysis, finances, geek stuff, computers, and general nonsense. Notice that I separate "geek stuff" and "computers," since one can find geekiness outside of computers these days. I also will be posting the occasional job opportunities that recruiters and individuals pass on to me.

Feel free to read what you want and ignore the rest. As always, I am ...