It's been a while since I've posted much on here so I thought it was time to say hey.

Hey.

I still come here a few times a week to make sure I'm not totally out of the loop on the happenings and general asshatery around here, LOL!

I hope everyone is doing well. Things here are crazy as usual with too much work. Actually, in a week and a half I have an on-site job interview for a new job. I've talked a few times with the guy who would be my future boss and he really wants me there on his team so hopefully the interview will seal the deal. This would be a major career opportunity for me to get back to a job I would like to do. I probably shouldn't say the company's name right now since I'm currently under review for temporary security access to the facility... but it's at a lab that deals with nuclear thing-a-ma-bobs. If all goes well at the interview I'd be under examination for a full security clearance, which required me to fill out a quarter inch thick stack of paperwork already.

With any luck I'll be able to get out of this town and move by the end of the year... hopefully before the snow starts falling.

Well, I guess that's about it for now.

Take care,

-JT

J

I've been moving toward retirement for a year or so, and have noticed that life choices, in my case keeping my nose clean "more like not getting caught" has been paying off.

In your case, a secret clearance is a huge carreer payoff. All the luck in the world for your success. Personally, I don't believe in pure luck. You have support in your past actions, and possitive thoughts today.

I really can't wait to get out of here, this part of town was awesome when I moved here back in 2004. Since then it's gone downhill... it's not quite a ghetto or a slum, but it's getting trashy from too many undergrads. It used to be all professors, grad studens, or families on this side of town, but now there are so many undergrads moving over here that it's turning to **** real fast. I picked this place because it was about as far out of town as possible... one more street and the town ends and the farm fields begin... that's how far out we are. And yet this seems to be the place where everyone is moving into anymore.

What's wrong with "kids" these days? Half the time I don't even feel safe here anymore because the crime is getting out of control (the .45 ACP on my hip seems to make me feel better though, LOL).

I guess I'm just turning into an old fart... damn kids need to stay off my lawn, LOL!

Hey Adam, how's it going? I reviewed both of those Cabinetta lanceros but I hesitated to post them because both tasted pretty bad compared to what the others I've had in that line have tasted like. It seems like the other reviewers had better luck than me though.

No worries brother. What you taste is what you taste, if it didn't work for you, then it didn't work. No worries.

I wish you had dropped me a note about it though, so I could forward it to Jon, Cuenca and Mario. They're all really stand up guys and not afraid to listen when someone has had a bad experience.

I talked to Jon about it not too long ago on Twitter (he's a freaking riot on Twitter, LOL!). The ones I had weren't bad at all: construction, draw, burn, volume of smoke... all great. The only down side was lack of flavor. - it didn't taste bad... it just didn't taste like much of anything at all. I mentioned this to Jon and said that I liked the robustos a lot better, he agreed and said that he liked the torp (No. 2) even more than the robusto. I asked him if they ever thought about reversing the wrappers to make the maduro part the majority of the cigar and he said "funny you should mention that, we're working on that now" (or something like that since I can't remember his exact words).

Gotcha, yeah, they are good about taking feedback. Jon tends to prefer the larger RG cigars himself, whereas Saka is all about coronas and lanceros, it's a good contrast really. I talked to Jon about reversing the order of the capas last November he explained that one of the reasons Cuenca did the capas the way he did was that the (Ecuadoran) Connecticut shade capas have an unattractive mouthfeel. They are slimy, they have a flax seed type taste, and are just fragile as all heck. The dark Nicaraguan criollo has a lightly rough texture, it has a spice and flavor that leaves a tiny tingle on your lips, and it's a tough leaf, so the head of the cigar won't fall apart if you clench it between your teeth. Not to mention that the criollo is applied over the top of the EC shade, so the immediate thought of reversing them doesn't quite work and might not yield the same flavor, but by the time we were done talking, there was some mention of taking some broadleaf over to JdN and playing with the idea a bit.

Also just got a promotion....

Best of luck with it all!!