Recipe: Refried Beans

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I had tried this recipe awhile ago and am still tweaking it.  Here’s what I have so far:

a bit over 3 cups beans (2 15 oz cans drained, washed) – currently using black beans.
2 tbsp garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper

1) saute garlic in oil.  I use lower heat and a pan, about medium.  Brown it.
2) Add everything else, mash good, keep stirring.
3) Increase heat and stir until “well fried” (about 10-15 minutes).  You’ll start getting a little browning and that’s a good sign.  Keep mashing throughout.

Results?  Well still kinda “eh.”  The flavor is there, but subtle – and subtle enough even white corn tortillas mute it.  I need to “jack it up” some more.

As  a rule I don’t use salt but this could probably use a little – I’m also debating soy sauce and/or some red pepper powder.  Suggestions welcome.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

 

The Recruiting Nightmare #10 – People Hate You

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I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the pains of recruiting.  But there’s one result of all the pain that’s  . . . well painful . . .

One of the things I experience in coaching, writing, and speaking on jobs is that people are rarely happy with recruiters and HR in general.  They’re upset they didn’t get jobs, they aren’t happy (understandably) with the system, and this often gets taken out on the poor sod who has to tell them they didn’t get the job.  In short, people often have some Hate Rage for recruiters.

It’s easy to blame the economy, but that’s abstract.  Politics is the same.  Hating the companies themselves is old hat.  But when I’ve talked to people about recruiters and HR, I get a lot of negative feelings about them, expressed quite verbally and colorfully.

Recruiters?  They know this.  They know people aren’t happy.  part of their job literally involves doing things that will get them hated for no good reason.

Try that on for a giant pile of annoying.

It’s not fair to them, but really, it’s not easy.  A huge amount of their job is rejecting people, not hiring people, and finding more people who are, by the odds, not getting hired.  A lot of the job of a recruiter is rejection.

People don’t really cut them enough slack as far as I’m concerned.  But they live with it.

JOB SEEKER TIPS:

  • Just be nice to the recruiters.  Really, because there’s enough people probably being jerks to them.

HELP OUT RECRUITERS:

  • Part of a recruiter’s job is rejecting people.  you may be able to help them communicate better with the rejected if they’re rejecting people in your profession or similar professions.

GEEK EXTRA:

  • I’d like to see a website about “recruiter confessions,” including how recruiters take rejecting people.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

The Rabbit Hole Of Stupid

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You may be late for a very important date, but then something stupid on the internet appears and you become even more late.

The internet allows us to get all kinds of news, information, commentary, and of course, examples of blatant human ignorance and venality.  The latter can come in many forms: it could be ignorant comments on a news article, a story on an excessive idiocy, or an artifact of pure drivel.  Whatever form, it’s distracting.

When you see the stupid, you get curious.  You have to read the comment, then see how people respondent.

When you see the stupid, you have to find out more.  You click the link to read about the latest atrocity of human intellect.

When you see the stupid, you have to face the stupid.  You read an entire article manufactured from delusions and deliberate idiocy just to find out how bad it is.

Then, your time is gone.  It won’t be coming back.  The stupid grabbed your curiosity and absconded with your time, and you helped it.

Anyone can spend hours down the rabbit hole of stupid.  It’s intriguing, fascinating, horrifying, and you have to follow it.  Don’t think I’m immune, my natural curiosity has taken me to some dark places where idiocy shined brightest of all.

I’m not proposing a moratorium on avoiding dumb things; just we be more aware of how we’re easily distracted by them.  If you don’t think this is a problem, then remember you just spent how many minutes reading a blog post on how stupid things can be, so I may have just become part of the problem . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.fantopro.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.