Company's gone. Did I mention we had company? A guy Rudder went to school with,
also an engineering major, who lived only a few doors down for three years later
went to law school and became a patent attorney. He was out here working on
patents at Rudder's company. And it's not a huge company. I just think
that's totally bizarre, even more than the time we ran into someone I knew from
Penn on a rock-climbing in Texas. Everyone I've told the story to just looks blank
and shrugs, "Yup. Small world." But it still blows my mind.
It was a
good visit. Rudder managed to get tickets for all of us (plus the rest of his
department) to the ballgame Thursday night, where we got to watch the D-Backs
break a 6-game losing streak. Damn, Randy Johnson is something to watch. As long
as you don't have to look at his face close up. Then the college friend, IE, came
home with Rudder on Friday night and we all went to Copelands to remind the boys
of their halcyon days in New Orleans. According to Rudder, I consumed one of the
bottles of wine we ordered, solo, in its entirety. Oops. Of course, drunk women
and memories of New Orleans combine well, so I don't think either of them minded
much. I'm not a sloppy drunk, anyway -- no vomiting or personality changes or
indiscretions to regret later.
Then yesterday we went out to Sedona
for the day. Just as we were about to leave, Rudder started suspecting that the
water pump in his Cherokee was dying. So scratch that, as we didn't want to be
marooned two hours from home. Scratch the Civic, because we wanted to go down
Schnebly Hill Road, a rough dirt road with incredible views of Sedona's red rocks,
and it's Not Recommended for Passenger Cars. You can do it, but you'd better be
resigned to bottoming out a couple of times. And my pickup has no problem with
that road, but riding in the flip-down back seat wasn't on my list of fun ways to
get over a (slight) hangover. IE saved the day by volunteering his rental car, a
Corolla. So for the second time, we took that road in a small rental car,
no doubt pissing off all those people who'd paid big bucks to go on a rugged off-
road tour in a Jeep or Hummer. We got looks that had us laughing all the way down.
We decided that what we really needed was a big sign that said, "IT'S OK. IT'S A
RENTAL CAR." If I ever do that again, I'm making one.
Came home, had
brisket that Rudder had started before we left, and some asparagus and bowties-
and-kasha I threw together. IE seemed to like it all, and I restricted myself to
one beer. We spent the evening talking out on the back patio, where he gave us
fascinating insight (really) into the life of a patent lawyer, and how to do it
right. Cool stuff -- I love hearing about other people's jobs. The weather is
finally cool enough to sit out in the evenings and the mornings, and I think our
patio may have been IE's favorite part of his visit.