Just Stuff
Feeling a bit out of sorts, I guess. Some varied thoughts:
- My wife has gone out of town today. So, I am a "bachelor" today I guess. Ho-hum. I feel rather lonely, I guess.
- I have caught up on ALL of my grading, and have also posted exam scores for all the ~250 kid's first exams that they had earlier in the week. Many had nice scores.... but some had wretched scores.... as per normal. Next week's Office Hours will likely be a nightmare of several students in tears.
- I was absolutely correct about our Internet/Cable/Phone provider..... the damnable crushing, removal, and replacement of the square of sidewalk (which seemed typical and fine to me) severed our line. The provider now has a TEMPORARY line laying across our yard and our neighbor's yard that was piggy-backed from our neighbor's service. They just let it lay there.... and our neighbor has a lawn service.... which has me worried the lawn service would run over it with a mower, severing it again. I ended up placing marker flags all along the line laying upon the ground to try to have folks see it was there.
- Sometime in the next THREE WEEKS, the provider will come out and dig a new trench for putting the wire underground. Very fortunately, we do not need to be at home for this to happen.
- My wife's schedule yesterday, ended up permitting her to be home for the provider.... and she thereby allowed me to go to the Retiree's Cigar Group. It was a day of very heavy rain (many parts of the day had downpours).... and so only ~1/2 the crew was there.... but it was GREAT being able to talk, chat, and joke with the fellows who did venture out.
- I had a "Brickhouse 6x60 Maduro". It was reasonably pleasant.
- A while ago an adjunct instructor in our Department took home one of my fruit fly vials so she could hide it for a week in her outdoor compost bin (filled with fruit flies). Over the decades, I have occasionally collected myself, or asked folks who have some fruitfly situation (a compost bin, or an apple orchard with decaying fruit) to take a vial to allow the fruit flies to lay eggs in them for me. This provides me with a locally caught strain of "wild" fruit flies I can and do use in some of the research projects I conduct with the undergraduates. While I purchase strains that are inbred control, and inbred genetic variants for use in these research projects as well.... it is nice to have a variety of "wild" beasts as well. I have had two of the several strains of the "wild" beasts now going in my lab for over 10 years each. The several "wild" strains I have harken from all around a three county area, and each has their own interesting proclivities. I name them based on location so I know which is which as they continue to breed.
- I had a Zoom meeting yesterday evening with my two new, student research assistants. These two are going to help me corral in and organize the array of my other research students and help me keep track of how all the research groups are progressing.
- I still keep thinking about the Union Leader pipe tobacco I found of my Dad's. The 60+ year old leaf has me both intrigued and trepidatious at the same time. I keep thinking about how it may be a tremendous disappointment since my Dad did not seemingly like it very much (by the fact he did not consume it himself over the many, many years he had it).
- But, then again, I keep thinking.... that MAY NOT be my impression.... my Dad tended to stick to the two pipe tobaccos he preferred (Sir Walter Raleigh - Non Aromatic, and Prince Albert - Non-Aromatic).... and very, very rarely strayed from them. He had only a very modest collection of a few loose pipe tobaccos from a tobacco shop most of the time.
- While I am quite a bit like my Dad, in that I had a tremendous fondness for just the same two pipe tobaccos he also preferred (see above)..... and a sizable majority of my consumption was of those two varieties.... I was more willing to adventure and sample most any pipe tobacco I would stumble across in my various visits to shops. I have a great number of pouches and tins of other variations of pipe tobaccos in my desk drawers and canisters of my pipe racks.
- As I think I mentioned a while ago.... I would very typically "parfait" my pipes when I would venture beyond SWR and PA. Parfait, means to have one pipe tobacco as the majority base (for me it would typically be SWR or PA), and then I would have a smaller amount (~20-25%) of the bowl, be of a different blend.
- I always liked plain, full bowls of SWR and PA.... no question about it. But, the "parfaits" were the more common way I would sample the other blends, as (to me) the mixture of the new type of pipe tobacco was often akin to a new "seasoning" of the beloved SWR or PA. On those occasions where I would have a full bowl of the "other" blends.... they would be interesting, sometimes quite pleasant.... but they lacked to some degree.... the FULL breadth and depth of experience that I would have when there was also SWR or PA in the mix.
- So, what I am considering.... is when/if I may figure a suitable "safe" special opportunity in the future to actually sample the Union Leader pipe tobacco... I will likely do so as a "parfait". And, I am thinking.... just the fact that it was my Dad's, will give me enjoyment from it.
- I do very much look forward to finding/figuring out another "safe" opportunity to enjoy a pipe. It is never an easy task to find, however. If my willpower were stronger, perhaps it would be a lot easier to find.
- I need to figure out how to fill the rest of the day and evening. Again, it is dull and boring without my wife.






