I'm finally getting to post this...

It has been a really crazy week. Every time I tried to post something happened. I've had to deal with taking the GRE (Verbal:610; Quantitative: 790; WHOOP!), getting test scores back (100 FTW!), meeting due-dates for assignments, purging computer viruses, tolerating stupid roommates, and now getting sick... stupid roommate, getting sick and giving it to me. What kind of disgusting insufficiently_thoughtful_person spits up phlegm in the same sink we brush our teeth at? I'm looking forward to the weekend. Sheesh...

The last week or so has had one fun factor though. I've gotten to talk to one of my professors who's considering moving into precious metals (esp. gold) because he's near retirement and afraid of inflation. With me this involves discussion of my coin collection which has about 100 ounces of silver and some gold. So I've gotten to talk to him about how I store it and where I go to buy it.

He's thinking of getting a safe and having it set into the foundation of his house. I admire the attempt at security but that's not really something I specialize in. I also can't claim to have dealt with purchases of the size he's considering. What I have been able to give him though are links to places where he can order what he wants without having to travel or pay exorbitant prices and places where he can find articles related to the subject. He wants coins as opposed to bars because it's more divisible and easier to spend out a little at a time. To that end I suggested silver since these days it's a little like having a $20 bill (one of the most common in use). Gold conversely is hard to have in an amount that's less than a $50-100 value. I don't know if he was convinced or not. He shares the common hang-up that silver is "bulky." I really just don't see it that way though. A large dollar value of silver can take up a surprisingly small amount of space. Most of the bulk of my collection has more to do with the manner in which I store it, not what's being stored.

He's generally just viewing it as an investment but I have gotten to talk about the collecting element of it that I enjoy (gave him a link to the registry too). Those that have seen my signature set know that I don't let it bother me that a coin is considered a bullion "investment" item; I collect it anyway because I like it. I've had only limited success in getting him interested in the collecting dynamic, but as we all know, that's just not for everyone. In the mean time, it's just been fun to talk about coins and collecting with another engineer that doesn't seem to think I'm a little nuts. Well, maybe that's not fair. The other seniors tend to respect me; they just think my hobby is lame... That hasn't stopped me yet though!

On a side note, if any of you guys out there one day have kids in college, don't freak out when they admit to you that they're at a bar when you call them at 10:30 PM. You should certainly never proceed to tell the child's 80+ year old grandparent and older siblings, and then laugh about it. Seriously folks, this is why we don't tell you things... familial ridicule over drinking two beers with friends is just not fair to a 22 year old. Again; Sheesh...