Have a Kickass Senior Project

Mission Fucking Accomplished.  I couldn’t be prouder of the final product my team produced for our senior project client.  Our client was blown away by the work we did, out adviser was blown away that our client was blown away, and in the end we all got expensive steaks at a very nice restaurant in Terre Haute.  Did we get top senior project, as was my ultimate goal?  No, and while I don’t entirely agree with one of the projects that received the award, I think we got something better.  The week of final project presentations to the juniors, my project adviser (who I have as professor in another class), wouldn’t stop talking about how great my project went.  It came up at least once in every session that week.  I may not have gotten my team on the best project plaque, but I left an indelible mark in our adviser’s memory, and that’s just as good.  I can’t wait to see what’s done with our final product — we were 85% of the way to a professional iPhone app.  The extra 15% shouldn’t be hard to finish on their end.

Get a Job

When Liberty Mutual didn’t work out, I was bummed.  It was the closest I had gotten, but it didn’t go all the way.  I think I knew in the interview, though, that the job wasn’t entirely right for me.  Following up on a job I had applied to using the career center’s website, I got an interview for a QA position with Veson Nautical.  The interview was with a Rose alum, and while things seemed to go good, I had that same feeling of not quite fitting things.  I think my interviewer felt the same way, but he suggested another role at Veson they were hiring for.  I agreed to an interview — the position had the mix of software skills and technical documentation skills I was looking for.  I interviewed for that position a week later, and it went really well.  I knew coming out of the phone interview I was being flown out, and it was confirmed only a couple hours later.  I’ve never had things go that fast with a company.  In mid-April I flew out and interviewed for the position.  I ended up talking with about 1/3 of the company by the end of the day, and had a really good feeling that I had found the right place, even if it wasn’t Seattle like I had been working towards.  After about a week of waiting, I got an offer, which I accepted.  I have a job now!  In an exciting locale!  Everything is coming together and it feels great.  Now to find an apartment.

Cook at least once a month

This wasn’t a goal so much as a reminder to keep being awesome even when CS’s cooking got me down.  I made awesome tacos, shepherd’s pie, chicken soup, and all sorts of other wonderful recipes.  Going to keep this up as I start living on my own, probably with even more frequency.  I should start taking more photos of what I make, though.  That’s a good new goal: more food photos.

Be More Social/Go Out More

I’m still working on this.  SNL Saturdays are good, but as I move to a city where I’m unfamiliar with most people, I need to start doing more to meet people.  Here’s to another year of going outside my comfort zone.

And that’s it, for now.  More blogging when I’m less consumed by packing and moving.  And graduation.

I LOVE giving gifts this time of year.  I sort of hate the phrase “you didn’t have to get me anything”–I KNOW I didn’t, but I did because I generally feel the person I’m giving something too is a good enough friend to deserve something for Christmas.

Granted, I did give most people I knew at Rose some sort of infectious disease this year.

l to r: common cold, mad cow, malaria, the pox, rabies

I went with something different for my suitemates, though.  I know CS is into robotics, so I got him a robot (pencil sharpener).  SC is a mechanical engineer as well, so I got him something sufficiently nerdy while still something kind of cool: a hypertrochoid drawing set (basically a fancy/geeky spirograph kit).  And then, since we agreed to exchange gifts after break, I can’t list what I got for D, but suffice to say, I think it’s awesome.

I gave my boss from over the summer and close friend a gift certificate to Amazon–I wanted to make sure he knew how much I appreciated all he did for me in the past year.

I won’t go into what I got my immediate family–it’s not all that important, really.  I’ll just summarize the “giving” portion of this post with how giving things went: great.  Everyone seemed to really like what they got, which to me is even better than getting gifts in return.

Not to say I don’t like getting stuff.  Here’s a quick rundown of what I got:

• Jeeves and Wooster: The Complete Series
• Logan’s Run
• Trader Joe’s giftcard (already used to fill up on goodies for the rest of the term)
• $50 to use at the Mall of America (there’s a cookware store I want to visit, but because of weather it’ll have to wait until next time I’m home)
• Pastoralia, George Saunders
• A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace
• Inherent Vice, Thomas Pynchon
• Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman
• Super Mario Brothers Wii
• ICU Cookbook (a compilation of recipes from my mom’s workplace)
• A completely awesome 1980s Doctor Who board game from a friend I hadn’t seen in over a year
• Call Me Ted, Ted Turner The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, Editors of Cook’s Illustrated (exchange at Borders)

The last one was not from family, but from a friend’s mom who thought that since I’m working on my senior project for Turner that I chose it because I profess a deep persisting interest in the life of Ted Turner.  This is not true; said interest, if any, could be satiated by a 5-minute wikipedia search.  I appreciated the thought that went into choosing the book.  I also appreciated the thought that went into including the gift receipt inside the front cover.  Since I am a larger fan of cooking than I am of Ted Turner’s life story, I got a highly-rated cookbook that looks to be an excellent addition to my apartment’s kitchen–I’ve already found 2 or 3 recipes I’m planning on trying the next few times it’s my turn to cook.

All in all, a good Christmas.  On to the New Year.

Here’s what’s in store after the jump:

• Cold Drinks with Cool Profs
• Senior Project Presentations
• In-Person Client Meeting
• I avert disaster
• Finals Week
• Driving Home/Break

I finally got a chance to go to Cold Drinks with Cool Profs.  Hooray for finally being of age!  I’ve wanted to go ever since they were first announced sophomore year–not for the alcohol, but for the opportunity to socialize with my fellow CS/SE majors and profs.  I’ve realized for some time that while I don’t entirely “fit in” with my peers in regards to my interests and career goals, and I don’t want to completely ostracize myself from them.  Problem: I’m kind of awkward in larger-sized social situations.  I like smaller groups, to say the least.  I wasn’t completely out of my depth that night, though–my entire senior project team was there, so I hung out with them and we talked much of the night, eventually joined by our advisor (who continues to be awesome) and a few other students.  I left a bit early with  the member of my group I rode over with (I had no idea where the pub was, and trying to find it at night didn’t seem to be the best strategy), relaxed and ready for the next day’s presentations.

Things learned at CDwCP:

1. Whatever beer I sampled was not to my taste at all.
2. I should find out the name of what I’m sampling before I take some so I can remember not to get it again.
3. Strongbow cider is more to my taste preference.  This is my occasional drink of choice for the time being.

Senior project presentations went really well.  Radio has done wonders for my presentation skills–I’m still a little nervous when presenting, but nowhere near as bad as I used to be.  Since last time one of our group members was wearing a suit (he had an interview the same day), I felt I should continue the tradition and at least wear a blazer.  Aside from some minor technical difficulties when demoing our prototype (the simulator was offscreen when the laptop resolution changed, so we had to make a quick fix), we handled ourselves well and were able to answer any questions.  Our client had previously signed off on our use cases, and was very pleased with the job I had done organizing them.  I’m really happy with where we’re at, and although some of the documentation I had hoped to get done by quarter’s end is still unfinished, we’re at a really good place going into this next quarter.

I don’t want to badmouth any of the other teams, but I was really confused by one of the projects.  Two teams are working on a mega-project, one part of the team developing a game maker for educators and another team developing an online distribution system for games created with the game maker.  On paper, this seems like a good idea–educators working from the same textbooks could prepare a game like jeopardy or something that could be shared.  However, in the demo of their project, I’m not sure they’ve done enough to make their program easy to use.  They’ve changed the names of programming concepts such as “objects” and “actions” into theater terms such as “actors”, “costumes”, “props”, etc., but it’s really not clear how one is supposed to use/create any of these things.  While game ideas such as Jeopardy and Number Munchers were tossed out, the demo they did made neither of these.  Looking at it from the perspective of an educator, it still looks far too complicated–I wouldn’t spend the time to make a game when I can just develop questions and draw a jeopardy grid on the whiteboard.  They mentioned getting a group of educators to act as some sort of advisory committee–I hope they find some and soon before they make something no one will want to use.

With the presentation out of the way, there was only one more major event for senior project this term: meeting the client.  Originally I wanted to ask our client some questions about our non-functional requirements, but once I learned the project manager of the other team being sponsored by our client had suggested Sonka’s Pub (again), I realized this was less formal meeting, more informal getting-to-know-you.  I made a note to e-mail the client my questions in the morning.  The best thing I did pre-meeting: Google search the client’s name to figure out what he looked like.  This was amazingly helpful when there are 8 people who know they’re meeting one of the higherups at this company, but don’t know who he is.  As soon as he entered the back area of Sonka’s we were all gathered in, I immediately recognized him and waved him over.  Our client (let’s call him B as continually typing out “our client” is getting a bit ridiculous) is AMAZING.  So collected, so funny, so warm with all of us.  I was envisioning something more formal, but just shooting the shit with him for a couple of hours about Terre Haute, Rose, our projects, etc. was amazingly relaxing.  When he offered to buy drinks, I remembered what I had learned Tuesday and got a Strongbow (I didn’t drive) to enjoy over the course of the night.  I wasn’t drunk, but the drink helped loosen me up a bit so I wasn’t quite so tense with B.  I’d like to think I made a good impression on him.

There’s been a minor revolt in our kitchen.  CS’s cooking has caused 2 of the 6 who normally dine in our apartment on weekends to go out when it’s his turn.  If I have to lay down one more time from eating something he’s put too much salt in, that number will rise to 3.  He was scheduled to cook this week, and when he was describing what he was planning, something involving linguine and peanut sauce, it didn’t look too well.  His logic behind the choice of recipe (I use that term loosely–I have yet to see CS use a recipe when cooking) was that it was low-fat.  I jokingly accused him of saying I had a weight problem, and he said he had been to Baskin-Robbins.  This is a person who has to get belts in the boys section of Walmart because he can not find the right length in the men’s section.  I can find belts in the men’s section, and I’m only slightly larger than he is.  The claim that we need something low fat is ridiculous.  The night he was scheduled to cook, however, he came in at 5 needing something different, since he’d have to get a lot of stuff at Walmart.  I suggested we make chicken cacciatore with some pre-made sauce I had that only needed chicken and pasta, since it’d be quicker and feed the people he had invited from next door.  I went with him to get groceries, then came back and made dinner while he did the dishes that were in the sink.  At dinner, many compliments were paid to our “collaboration”, as CS put it.  To be fair, he collaborated by driving me to walmart so he could get stuff from the pharmacy section of walmart while I gathered the ingredients and cooked dinner, but I’ve learned to choose my battles at this point.  Disaster temporarily averted.

Finals week wasn’t bad.  I only had a paper and a take-home exam due for my lit classes that Tuesday before I was free to go.  The take-home final was done by 11 am Monday, and I completed 3 of the 5-6 pages I needed for the paper by 2.  I wanted to get in to the prof’s office to have him look at what I had written and the direction I was going before he got swamped with requests, so I headed over to his office, expecting a max wait of 30 minutes.  I waited for an hour and a half (the person before me took 45 minutes to have their paper looked at), but it was totally worth it.  After giving me some good pointers on correcting what I had and suggesting some places to push myself, the prof brought up that I almost have a minor in lit.  After this term, I’ll have gained another minor by accident.  That will be three minors total by the end of the year.  I’m pumped about that–I’ve taken classes that have interested me and managed to profit from them.  I’ve really liked Dr. Taylor as a professor–he’s pushed me as a writer because he knows what I’m capable of.  Hopefully my final paper lived up to that potential.  I’m proud of how I did in all my classes–A in senior project and romanticism, B+ in Computational Science, and B in Modernism, and a GPA that’s now getting close to 3.25 territory.  Now to keep this momentum going.

The drive back went pretty well.  It was raining in a lot of Illinois/Wisconsin, but I can handle rain.  The last part of the drive felt like it took forever–I’m sorry, Wisconsin, but you’re boring.  Really boring.  Break’s been pretty uneventful–I’ve done some Objective-C work so I can be of better use during the coding part of the project this term, gone to the chiropractor, gotten my hair cut.  Thanksgiving was fun–since my aunt that usually does Thanksgiving is moving soon, we just did things for ourselves.  The recipe for turkey with stuffing we used from Alton Brown was fantastic, and the stuffing was delicious (I particularly liked that it used dried cherries), and the pumpkin pie we got from Costco was probably the size of my head in diameter, if not larger.  All in all, a good meal that I’m happy to have helped with.  Met up with an old friend from high school today for coffee and a (bad 80s) movie, and although I was really nervous (something they picked up on), I think it went well for the most part.  As I was driving them home, I was entirely honest with them, and things seem to have been reciprocated.  I’m going to try to move things a little further next break when we get together again.  If nothing else, now I know I can call anytime and should message more often.

I’m ready to head back to Rose and attack winter term.  The drive may be long, but I’m looking forward to getting back to the apartment as well.

As a bonus for getting through this blog entry, here’s what I listened to while I composed it:

• Half of My Heart, John Mayer
• Cheap Kicks, Noisettes
• Fire On High, Electric Light Orchestra
• Assassin, John Mayer
• Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Radiohead
• The Fear, Lily Allen
• Every Now and Then, Noisettes
• Too Much Food, Jason Mraz
• We Talk Like Machines, Savoir Adore
• Portions for Foxes, Rilo Kiley
• Party Hard, Andrew W.K.
• Effigy, Andrew Bird
• Too Blue, 7 Worlds Collide
• In My Place, Coldplay
• Fences, Phoenix
• Don’t Stop Believing, Glee Cast

It started when D’s parents brought a giant orange pumpkin with them when they came to visit.  CS traditionally brings a shite-ton of pumpkins every year after fall break to give away to people because his family grows far too many of them (at least that’s what he claims), and D had scooped him.  It was hilarious.  After fall break (which I spent with D and his family), no pumpkins emerged when CS returned.  It was eerie.  D and I had brought back a white pumpkin for D’s gf.  Again, scooped, or so we thought.

CS had brought back pumpkins, but he was storing them at his girlfriend’s room in another dorm (she has a single).  20 or so went to her sorority, and the rest appeared in the hallway yesterday.  CS chose the largest one because it was all gnarled and “no one else would want it”.  BS.  He just wanted to compete with D’s pumpkin.  I jokingly told D that CS had “pumpkin envy”.  We laughed, partially because it was possibly true, but also because the pumpkin D brought was one of the SMALL ones from his family, and CS’s largest was barely larger.

In my own way, I think I’ve felt a bit of pumpkin envy.  There’s one member of the senior class who isn’t in my major but takes enough of the classes that he’s probably got a minor.  I’ll call him 1-up, since that’s what he always seems to do when I talk with him.  I hate 1-up, but whenever I see him he’s always talking about the offers he’s received or the interviews he’s being flown out for.  And I get jealous–I’ve heard back from Microsoft and Epic, with both saying they’re going to pursue other candidates, and I’m trying to find other places to apply now that my first  choices aren’t really an option.  I know I shouldn’t let his talk hurt me, but it makes me feel just as inadequate as a SE as the pumpkins D brought made CS feel.

I guess if there’s anything to pull from this, it’s that I shouldn’t do what CS did last night.  He carved about 4 or 5 pumpkins which are outside our room.  He’s showing off, and it’s not making him look any better.

CS made steaks again.  Clearly, last time failed and he has something to prove, but making the exact same thing as you did last time doesn’t exactly instill confidence in your audience.

I guess, to be fair, I should explain other things that have built this feeling up.  CS and his girlfriend rarely, if ever, try/eat any sort of sweet baked good that D, D’s girlfriend, or myself have made.  There’s been a few exceptions (he had a piece of the bread pudding I made last night), but for the most part there’s been no reciprocation for us eating what they’ve baked.  This is strike 1.

There’s also been a constant debate about the oven.  CS is a perfect cook–it is the equipment he uses that is to blame.  When the oven is set to 350, it clearly isn’t at 350, because the oven thermometer that he placed in there to check says it isn’t at 350.  Nevermind the fact that an oven circulates around a temperature rather than staying directly at that temp (I haven’t had to take heat transfer and even I know how an oven works).  Nevermind, even, that D, D’s girlfriend, and myself have baked cookies/a cake/biscuits/bread pudding at the listed temperature in our various recipes and had things come out fine; occasionally, things take an additional minute or two, but this is par for the course with any oven.  Clearly it is the oven that is broken, and not the baker.  This is strike 2.

Then there’s communal groceries.  One person buys, everyone pays for food that the entire group will be eating/drinking.  Everyone’s been pretty good about paying, except for CS.  CS “doesn’t carry cash” and tries to pay me in groceries/stuff/whatever–this is not the same.  When reminded of a mythical machine somewhere on campus that provides money with the swipe of a card, CS is hesitant to go.  When I remind him that they take credit cards too, he mentions something about interest rates (he’s always quick to use his card, but at the slightest mention of using it to pay me back, suddenly interest is an issue).  When I mention another rumored device, pieces of paper issued by a bank that work similar to cash when written on and given from one person to a merchant or other person, CS replies that his are at home.  I finally get a promise to get me cash tomorrow using a debit card and an ATM.  This is strike 3.

As you can see, I have plenty to be irritated about.  I’ve been pretty patient about all of this, but something finally snapped tonight after dinner.  CS and his girlfriend were making chocolate chip cookies.  The last time they did this, the cookies were semi-burnt and tasted awful, but CS, girlfriend, and some friend of CS thought they were FANTASTIC and wouldn’t shut up about how great they were.  Because these cookies were “like crack”, CS and his girlfriend started on another batch after dinner.  When I walked out into the main room, they were discussing oven temp.  I don’t know why this of all things incited me, but it did.

I suggested they bake the cookies at 350 like their recipe said.  CS argued with me using the arguments from last time of “the oven doesn’t heat up…I know it’s supposed to circulate, but ours is still off”.  I brought up the track record, amongst other reasoned arguments, but everytime I’d bring something up, he’d start up again with “Actually,…”.  I have enough fun playing the “Actually,…” game with my sister at home; when it happens, it usually ends with me saying “Actually, [sister], I don’t care.”  but those weren’t the words that came out of my mouth when CS and I were talking.

Instead, what I said was “Actually, CS, I don’t give a shit.”  Something like a “Then why are you making a fuss about it” came out but by that time I had started going back to my room, too focused about getting away from the negative energy to throw out a “because I have to suffer through your terrible baking” or something similar, but more vulgar (given the mood I was in, this is likely).

Do I feel bad about saying this? Yes.  Did it feel good to say it? Yes.  I just wish I could have thought a bit before shooting my mouth off.  Oh well.  Time to let it roll off my back and move on with a more positive outlook.

That changed after lunch today.

A few of my good friends are part of the Jewish Culture club on campus, which had a table in the lobby because today was Rosh Hashanah (hereafter abbreviated as RH), the Jewish New Year.  He caught D and I on our way out of lunch, asking us to take  RH with him, and that it would only take a minute.  I had wanted to ask him why, for a second week in a row, there wasn’t a music column in the paper (I’ve written one, as has another DJ, and we figured at least one would be in the paper this week), but decided to wait until after what he had to say.

One of the symbolic foods of RH is an apple slice dipped in honey, representing the sweet things in the year to come.  As we had our apple, he talked about how it was sweet, perhaps too sweet, but just right.  He then told us to think about the good things, the things that drive us to do better, for at least the rest of the day, if not the rest of the year.  And that resonated with me, enough so that I no longer cared that my music review wasn’t in the paper for two weeks in a row.  And the message also made me feel at peace.  And I think it did that for D too, who’s been dealing with even more shit than I have recently.

Will the bad stuff continue to happen?  I’m sure it will, especially with my current suitemates and their various hangers-on.  But I think I’m going to try and keep the RH message in mind–focus on the good that happens and the things that drive me–to get through it.

CS has the tendency to leave a door open when he leaves, whether it’s his roommate’s door when his roommate is in the process of going to bed or the front door of the apartment when he leaves in the morning (I’m all for an open door policy, but I’d rather not be the only one in the apartment with the door right open if I’m still asleep).  When I woke up this morning, D and his girlfriend (or so I thought) were already well awake and playing on the Wii.  The door was ajar, so I said “Did CS do this?  Did he?”

The response?  “CS is right here.”  Oh. Shit.  I quietly went back to my room and shut the door and just sat there for 10 minutes.  Then took a shower.  Then went back to the room, sat down, and just sort of avoided talking to Colin until classtime.  It still hasn’t come up.  If it does, I’ll be honest, but I seem to be lucky so far.  I need to be careful, double-check, and think before I speak poorly about someone.  Also, not being half-asleep would help.  Good to know that CS isn’t the only one who can be taken down a notch.

I’ve needed to go to Walmart since I moved in.  While I brought plenty for the kitchen, as did others, there’s some stuff that we all just forgot and needed to purchase at Walmart.  D and I had planned to go after we both woke up.  When I got up at 11:30 and left the room to use the restroom before planning my part of the list, CS cornered me, wanting to know if I needed anything from Walmart, as he was going.  Half-asleep, I told him I was planning on going, as I needed to get some supplies for dinner that night, since I was cooking.  It was agreed that D, CS, myself, and CS’ girlfriend would go together rather than separately so as to not get items twice.  CS offered to pay with his credit card, and here is where things began to get a bit frustrating.  Actual conversation:

“I get 2% back when I buy groceries.  So if we have $100 worth of groceries, I get $2 back”
“I know how percentages work, CS”

I don’t like shopping with CS.  D and I are aiming to fix it so it’s only the two of us because of this last time.  I make lists for what we need, and adhere as closely to that as possible.  CS makes a list as well, but then buys a bunch of stuff besides, raising the total of our communal total (items are separated into “individual” and “communal”–everyone pays for their individual plus their portion of the communal).  Of course, despite whether we will be using it/eating something made with it or not, it seems like most of CS’ stuff counts as “communal”.  He tried to claim the beer was communal.  D and I both informed him that if we weren’t going to be drinking it, we weren’t going to be paying for it.  These became part of his individual total along with word from me that if I wanted one (and I probably won’t), that I would gladly pay him for the one I took.

For my first shared meal in the apartment, I wanted to do something that I was familiar with that I knew would go over well, so I made Chicken Tikka Masala with the Masala sauce I brought down with me from Trader Joe’s.  The recipe is right on the jar–cook some (preferably Basmati) rice in another pot according to its directions.  While that cooks, take about 1 pound of chicken (I used pre-cooked fajita-seasoned strips) and cut it into 1-inch cubes.  Place in a pan with the jar of sauce and about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of water and let simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When done, serve on top of the cooked rice.  It’s simple, unpretentious, and really really good (particularly if you add some red pepper flake to the sauce for just a little bit of heat).  It went over really well with the group, but CS’ behavior while I was cooking, and while everyone was eating, seemed really rude.  Rather than talking about what we were having and talking about the smell coming from the simmering sauce, as most others were, CS was taling instead about what he was doing the next night–steak and a vegetable.  He talked about what cut of meat he got (a crappy one, to be honest), how he was going to season it, how his dad could make a cheap cut of meat better than most steakhouses, isn’t it going to be just great.  This continues all through dinner, and felt like a slap in the face.

I had a little reason to be concerned.  CS and his girlfriend had made cookies that afternoon.  Peanut butter blossoms (basically a standard PB cookie with hershey’s kisses in the middle after they’ve baked) are a fairly simple cookie to make, but somehow they screwed up.  After 10 minutes in the oven, CS wondered why they hadn’t flattened out.  This was blamed on the oven not being the proper temp, but when I asked, they hadn’t pressed down the cookies with a fork beforehand–something I’ve seen in every PB cookie recipe I’ve seen, even for the ones with hershey’s kisses.  I suggested this, but apparently I know nothing about baking PB cookies.  When the cookies were done, they were okay, but nothing overly special–there wasn’t enough of a peanut butter flavor to them and they seemed a little bland, like more sugar was needed.  This was enough to make me wary when CS said he’d be doing breakfast as well, but I agreed to wake up when he said he’d be making them to give him a fair chance.

When I woke up at 9 that morning, I didn’t hear anything going on in the kitchen.  I walked out into the dark living room to find that CS was just coming out of his room as well!  CS said that breakfast wasn’t going to be made for at least another half hour to an hour since no one was up.  This ticked me off, since I usually don’t set my alarm on the weekends and was a bit tired.  I crawled back into bed for 30 minutes and joined everyone in the main room of the apartment.  Once made, CS’ breakfast sandwiches were good–the eggs were nicely scrambled and the italian sausage was a nice counterpoint that added a little heat/flavor to it.  Maybe I had been wrong to judge CS’ cooking skills based on just the cookies.  Maybe he was more than just talk.

While D and I played on the Wii that afternoon, CS began to prep the steaks, tenderizing them and coating them with a rub that included meat tenderizer and lemon pepper.  I wasn’t really paying attention to how he was doing it or how much rub was going on the flatiron steaks he had bought, as I couldn’t see from where I was sitting.  He began to grill them, and the first batch (of two) was soon ready.  As they were cooking, I could smell pepper in the air–I was worried, but knew that a peppery flavor is sometimes good on a steak.  D’s girlfriend got the first steak since we still had our hands full with the game.  After she took a bite, a look came over her.  This could not be good.

After finishing the level at hand, I went to grab a steak, which CS was patting with a paper towel to remove excess rub.  It didn’t seem like a good sign that, post-cooking, the steaks looked like hamburger patties rather than steaks (although that could have just been the cut he got–a quick wiki search reveals flatiron steaks are cut from the chuck region of the cow).  I cut a bite off and put it in my mouth.  I nearly spit it out.  It was too salty, too peppery, and too lemony–alltogether awful.  D’s girlfriend realized this about the same time, and we asked how heavily the steaks had been seasoned.  These clearly didn’t need a heavy dry rub like they had been given, and no amount of scraping rub off would help the flavor–the great job of tenderizing CS did made sure the meat was permeated with the flavor.  It was all I could do to choke down the steak and veg (which got saturated with the juice from the meat and tasted salty) with a glass of water.  CS chose to do something he couldn’t quite remember in an attempt to impress us all and had fallen flat on his face.  While it seemed a bit mean to feel this way, the schadenfreude of this after all the disrespect I had been given the night before made up for this.

D, his girlfriend, and I went for a walk that turned into a drive down to Sonic to cleanse our palates with some cherry limeades (note to Sonic: have your free limeade coupons distributed to mailboxes.  Leaving a pile outside the ARA leads to students (self included) taking stacks of them to create a never-ending limeade source.)  It ended up not helping with the gastrointestinal woes we were suffering as a result of the salty steaks, but at the time, it tasted good, as did the feeling of retribution.