What a busy few days.

My friend ended up stopping by yesterday. He was pretty much on time, and dinner was pretty much ready when he arrived. However, my scotch reserves were low and I thought to lay in a small keg of beer for the evening as well as the stronger spirits. So, off we went, first to this then to that store before finally finding the specific goods needed. A bottle of 12 year Balvenie single malt, a bottle of Chivas Regal (I had sort of hoped for Johnny Walker black as a lesser secondary, but I allowed him his preference on this), and then I ended up with two kegs of Spaten Premium beer (I made purchase of one for fear I would not find a chilled keg, as the first three stores had nothing, however, it was warm and I kept looking to see if I could find a chilled keg, which I finally did, thus two… and no skin off my nose even so).

We returned to my apartment and began sorting the food and drink, arranging the meal, and settling down to food, talk, and drink. Between the two of us, we ate the whole chuck roast, a goodly number of potatoes, a pound or two of vegetables, a keg of beer, a half gallon of tea, and a good part of each of those purchased bottles along with a decent portion of the Templeton rye whiskey I happened to have on hand.

Though I am sure there are better cooks, my method, obtained from several sources and then specialized my own way, usually produces a very fine roast. It no longer gets that hard meat texture, the grain and bite are smooth and just soft enough not to be soggy or loose (I prefer a little cohesion to my meats). It was a fine mellow rare-medium rare, and delicious. I make no guarantees when I cook that someone will like it, even if I do it exactly as I planned to do it. I do however have very specific goals with any food and I do have an informed pallet, sense of smell and taste (combined to some degree), and I am rather finicky about certain things. This was a pleasure to eat, knowing I had cooked it was a small pride. But the best part was that as I served it, I knew that whether he liked it or not, my guest was being served the finest roast I am able to produce.

A little beer to begin the meal, and we were off and running. We ate a bit together first, then one of us would talk a bit, the other take advantage of this and gobble a bit until it was his turn to talk. Between beer, food, and talk, we used a good number of hours. But the conversation did not become a bore, some things are just that way. Two curious, doubting, trying to understand minds, which go from mature to childish, and manly to foolish for no other reason than want can have a great time discussing things. After the meal, and before the real drinks, we decided to see each other’s newest guns. We actually have quite similar tastes. He has a .45 1911 for self defense. I liked it, it had a good feel and aimed well. He also has a stainless single action .22 revolver, a .22 luger style all stainless Ruger, and a 10/22 .22 long rifle. Now, all of my guns are new. When he lived next door I did not even have my shotgun yet. I think he was pleased and maybe a bit surprised that, true to my word, I had indeed taken to arms. He liked my choice in the XD, and liked how well it aimed for him. He also really enjoyed my jazzed up 10/22. The great thing about having him stop and us discussing this is I had purchased extended magazines (30’s) for my 10/22. However, the extended magazines will not work with the target barrel (or mine, for sure), so I had 2 magazines and a magazine loader that were useless to me, sitting around waiting for a new owner. After finding he had a standard 10/22 barrel, I found the equipment a new owner. I got those out and handed them over. He asked how much, and considering them a write-off, it came to zero. I figure if he gets some use out of them, that should be enough. Grad school will keep him broke for a while, broker than me for sure.

Well, we ended up having quite a night. As for sipping, I am a bit out of practice. I still gave it a good showing, and I enjoyed. But I certainly cannot swig a bottle of J. Walker black solo, plus sip a few other odds and ends. I am not sure how late we were up, but I do remember eventually getting him blankets, a flat sheet, and such for the couch, then heading for my own sack. I think I slept. In any case, I did wake up. I tried to get up around 8:00, emptying my bladder, then stumbling out to see if my guest was functional and in better shape than myself. Well, not really. He decided not to head out quite so early, and thought maybe a little more sleep would be good. I could not agree, more that is. So, off I went, resting a few more hours. I think we started waking around 12:00 or 13:00, I offered him a bagel, then had one myself. Though it was daylight, and we could have gone shooting, I think him starting out this late made that not possible. So, he loaded up and headed out. There are some people I really miss, he is among them. It is rare to find someone I can talk to and really, one I think has some clue what I am talking about. As well, I think he has some pretty good ideas and knows a few things, and can just say it too.

Well, it was getting late, and I knew I had to get some other plans on the road. I was to give my speech to a group of men tonight, some of them giving their own speech in the weeks to final and then as well to the whole group on our weekend retreat, some of them involved with the group in other ways. With my friend showing up and some complications of various sorts, I had not been doing a great job with the speech. I had finished it, but I had no time to actually practice it, let alone trimming, editing in other ways, or anything more than simply getting it done. I went to print it, but I had some weird trouble with my printer. I think it had to do with the fact that the drivers for it are haphazard productions for an all-in-one printer HP no longer wishes to support. Beyond that, the default printer mode does not seem to stick to this, so I end up sometimes getting a Windows XP printing program, one which does not support printing more than one page at a time. Anyway, so while I was working on this, time had become very short and I needed this thing to print. I get it going, start up the printing, and then go in to take a shower. As the printing begins, a paper falls, and I pick it up and am about to set it in the collector tray when I realize the print is rough, some of it is difficult to read. The black ink cartridge must be nearly done. As I am looking through the paper work to see if it will do, I blow my nose, and… swish… a gusher of a bloody nose. I have not had one of those in years, maybe decades. It really was spontaneous as my nose blowing had been quite tame. So, I run into the bathroom, hoping I did not get any blood on the paperwork as I am not sure I could reprint anything readable and would not want to take in bloody sheets to read from. As I get into the bathroom, either I reached to my face to adjust something, or place tissue to stem the bleeding, or to get my glasses to clean, I must have bumped them. At which time, the bolt comes undone and the glasses frame parts and I lose one lens. Amazingly I did not lose the bolt. But, I did have to try and get everything under control, get my shower, and get going. It was now a little after 18:00. I was exactly on time, well, if I was at the meeting place, dressed, and ready. No, I had to shower, dress, and drive 30 minutes or more, once I found the lost lens and the tools to repair my glasses then cleaned them, and made sure the document was all readable. A quick call to let the facilitator know I was indeed planning to be there but my planning was not really going well, and if that would be fine. It turns out that there was business regarding the weekend event which needed attention and I arrived exactly when I was needed. As well, I was not really important to the decisions as they were mostly administrative and dealt with the people who know who is doing what, how, and when, and so it worked out well. I am very glad I did not just give up, which I had thought about doing.

I think I surprised some people. Actually, I think I surprised all of them. I do not think they were quite prepared for the facts that I was came out and just stated about my life. I was not sure I would do it either. I know those men will be thinking about some things, and some things have a new and personal meaning to them. Actually, it went fairly well. The remarks and suggestions I received after I finished were extremely useful. As well, a few hugs and handshakes afterwards certainly made a difference. And, really, I did not feel all that bad or uncomfortable giving the speech. Some of it was a little tight, some of it shook me as I remembered, but it really went well, inside and out. Oh, I shook, giving the speech, but I would shake giving a speech about basketball too. I think I shook less on this than giving one about basketball. I think I will be able to really tack this down and turn out a top notch speech. With a little practice, I should do well. I just hope it serves a good purpose.

Oh, now to look at homework. I did not have my friend look at it. Something in his voice when I brought it up suggested that this was not a nice favor to ask. So, I let it slide. I am not sure if I will be able to find the solutions, or any assistance, nor am I sure I will have difficulty, but I know I had better get going on that. And, I think I had better begin finding resources. It sounds like this class is going to be a boot to the side of the head kind of fun. And, I am hoping that if I can help out my study partner from time to time, that like last time, it will be reciprocated. Beyond, since my goal is graduate school or law school, I really need to begin cracking down and owning this material. After speaking with my friend, he indicated that getting A’s and B’s is not enough. To do well, one really has to try and own the material, early on, and maintain that. Since this is my first engineering course actually dealing with engineering, it behooves me to buckle down hard and push. The math I think I can maintain, and expand. The physics… I will mostly have to figure out how to survive that, and actually figure out how to learn to own some small part of it. But the engineering material I cannot negotiate at all about. This is it, if I want more I have to bleed more, period.