Fragmenting into Fall

I'm back with more fragments of my life. 

Today I started another eight-week graduate course. Hooray (except not really). 

It turns out I am going to attempt to present some of my research from this summer at a conference in June 2021. If it gets rejected, I won't be following up on it on the blog. I'm crossing my fingers because it's at a cool location and if my presentation is approved  (and the pandemic isn't still raging like crazy and the whole thing gets canceled)....I will take the wife and make a whole trip out of it! I don't think the school will have the cash to pony up for travel, but I will apply for it. 

My own classes started a few weeks ago. So far, they are great students.... but with Zoom I just can't remember who is in what class, what face goes with what name, etc. until their little faces populate the screen. Even then, some don't have their camera on and I really don't know anything about them. Oh well, it's the new normal. 

I started a soft re-watch of Star Trek: Voyager. It's underrated... What I mean by "soft re-watch" is that if I am not feeling the episode or I hated it before, I just skip it.  I did a soft re-watch on DS9 two years ago but never quite finished my soft re-watch of TNG. So far, it's a great comfort to watch mindlessly at night (and my wife makes fun of me all the time and I don't mind). I just started season four and I have probably only skipped 4-5 episodes a season anyway. STV has some clunkers, but honestly, that's just ST. There are always some bad episodes! 

I was partially inspired by Renegade Cut's excellent video below: 

Almost all of Renegade Cut's stuff is great, especially his political videos and film analysis Give the channel a try. 

COOKING NEWS (yes, COOKING NEWS)

This past summer I started to cook a little more for the fam. Well, I always could follow directions and do the necessities.  Although I took particular pride in my grilled cheese sandwiches (secret ingredient to make your life complete: put a thin layer of bean dip in there and you will thank the Lord your read this blog after your first gooey bite). 

Some Highlights included: 

I think I perfected my mashed potatoes (admittedly, it's easy, just add a ton of butter). 

I make pretty decent home-made biscuits now.

I also pan-grilled some decent cheeseburger sliders in the house.

I also really messed up a cookie recipe and the cookies crumbled like crazy (in part because I was trying to wing a bit of it). 

All that to led to last night's masterpiece. I followed Adam Ragusea's recipe on Chicken Parm (just go to YT and look his channel up, soooo good!)  and my family loved it. I felt like a pro and I admit it was a  very satisfying feeling that I don't get at work or anywhere else.  I got some ideas for my next recipe, should be fun. 

End of COOKING NEWS, yes COOKING NEWS......

School at the house with three kids, while my wife juggles two part-time jobs and I have a full-time job is, well, not fun. Especially tough dealing with our 3rd grader, and look, I can't blame the kiddo all that much either...they need less Zoom time and more flexibility. Again, can't complain too much as we're all struggling in this brave new world (that sucks). 

I read a lot of news and now I will be reading for grad school, but I have started a re-read of The Silmarillion last week, cuz I guess I like slow, dense storytelling? I dunno, it feels right and safe late at night to forget the troubles of the world. 

That's all I got for ya. 

In the meantime, be sure your butt is registered to vote this fall, don't let it worry you too much, and don't forget to do a load of laundry tonight (you won't regret that you have clean underwear in the morning).