It's not often I tease a blog post ahead of time as I've been doing on
Facebook and
Twitter; I also don't usually plan out my blog topics more than a week in advance. The Atomic Chicken, however, has been on my mind for some time. Years, in fact. In "real life," I earn a living as the custodial supervisor for the local college. Each year in January, before students return from their Christmas break, the various bosses in the facilities department get together for a chili cook-off. However, unlike the start of the school year barbecue (which is matched by a pizza party for the graveyard shift), there is no equivalent event for those custodians who work at night; it is a day shift tradition only, and until August of this year I worked at night. Except, that is, briefly at the beginning of 2007. That year, I joined the day staff as a regular custodian just a week or two before the chili event. I came, and I ate, but I didn't contribute. While I enjoyed (most) of what I had, one thing was missing. Heat. Those of you who have been with me over a year
may recall that I'm somewhat of a pepper belly. A chili cook-off devoid of spice just seemed wrong. As fate would have it, I didn't make it to 2008's chili feed; I was back on the night crew. So when I rejoined the day staff as supervisor this past August, one of the first questions I asked my crew was "are they still doing that chili thing?"
