Yesterday I got home and decided that what I needed to do was go on some sort of bike ride. I enjoy riding in the mornings with Jennifer (once I get past the primordial dawn grumpiness), but sometimes I just feel a need to go a heck of a lot faster down some of those rural roads that Jennifer is too sensible to speed down. So I rode up Pitt School, fighting a wind that wouldn’t let me go more than ten miles an hour or so, then down Porter, taking advantage of a wind that let me go at twenty miles an hour and more. I came back home all sweaty and sore and feeling great. Aside from charcoal dust and the grease from your grill, there is little in the world that can make you feel more manly than the sweat you get from exercising in the hot sun. And when you’re riding your cool 15 speed hybrid bike down rural roads past cows and sheep and haystacks and farms, you can even pretend that the sweat you got is from good honest outdoors work. Though I suppose that might be a bit of a stretch.

So at any rate, when I got back to our street, I pulled up to the mailbox to check the mail. To my surprise, I found that one of the magazines I’d sent my story to last week had sent it back! For a brand new writer, a rejection slip can be almost as exciting in some ways as a check; it’s the magazine acknowledging your existence. "You, yes you, are worthy, if only of rejection. You may now grovel."

So I opened the large manila envelope, expecting my manuscript and a rejection slip to slide out. Instead, it was my manuscript and a piece of paper with a photocopied note on it:

In its own way, though, it’s okay. For me, it’s almost like when I first started driving, and noticed that other cars were slowing down or stopping or adjusting their course when I approached in my car. "They’re noticing me!" I would think to myself. The first time it happened, I was almost in awe.

Hey, I’ll authentication wherever I can find it.

I’m getting better as this grilling thing. The last chicken meal I cooked was done perfectly: not dry, nor undercooked. I had prepared a dry rub with cayenne, chili powder, and black and white pepper. I’d never used a rub before, and actually had to go to the web to look up how to apply a dry rub to uncooked meat. When describing the process, I told her, "It’s kind of cold and slimy. It’s just like sex with one of my old girlfriends." To which she appropriately replied, "Ew."

Jennifer’s parents had come for the feast. Her father made the standard jokes about the meal when we were planning to get together ("Should we come by at 7 sharp, or just wait until we hear the firetrucks?"), since the last time I’d grilled with him around, I’d tried to shoot the grill into orbit. However, this time around, he saw that there were no pyrotechnics involved, and the chicken was perfectly done. As were the asparagus (I think I’m addicted now to grilled asparagus) and the corn. I explained the ingredients in the rub I used on the chicken and the sauce I used on the vegetables, and I think he was impressed. This is good. Impressing your father-in-law is never a bad thing.

Here’s one of those silly "what type of x are you?" quizzes. I found the result amusing because even though I answered all of the questions honestly, the answer is entirely inappropriate:

Which Royalty Are You? Find out! By Nishi. You are the epitomy of what every man should be. What sets you apart from the other men of rank and nobility is you combine every best quality they possess into one. You are skilled, motivated, ambitious, filled with a sense of purpose and morality. You know when to relax and have fun and when to be serious and courageous. You seek peace, prosperity and love in your life, and as a ruler, you seek it for your kingdom. Others follow you because of your ability to move them, and because you earned their respect. You are admired, even envied, but above all else, greatly loved.

Perhaps I can be the Grill King.

Lord of the Grill. That has a nice ring to it.

Someone has already claimed rocketgrill.com. Bastards. I was beginning to map out my own grilling site, complete with tips and recipes and so on. The focus was going to be how grilling fit in with a healthy lifestyle. I’m still not sure how to fit grilling in with being a Linux administrator, but I have faith.

On the other hand, rocket-grill.com — with a hyphen — is still available. I’m still tempted.