dejection at that moment, as my mind was assuming the latter. I will admit I was more than dejected; perhaps despondent. I really wanted this technical portion of my article to be reviewed for blatant er- rors, and it seemed as if that opportunity just slipped through my fingers. I had no backup to my plan to get a superior to review my work — if only for a few mo- ments, and just enough to spot any fatal flaws. I decided I would have to be more forward with Mr. Lynk aſter lunch, as I assumed the mystery man would be long gone when lunchtime came. Lunchtime came, and the man was still in the same chair at the table in the back of the room, and he was quite alone (though I was just marginally happy to see him sitting there). I would be quite rude, aſter that earlier introduction by shotgun, to just walk past. I decided I would engage him. As I approached him at the rear of the room, I started feeling as if I had nothing to lose. I realized at least I would have a chance at the second-best person to look at my work. It occurred to me that the gentleman must be at least worthy of some value, and I questioned myself for “judg- ing a book by its cover.” Aſter all, the in- structor recommended him. A Pleasant Surprise I approached him, introduced myself, stated what my project was and asked politely if he would take a look. In a some- what muted though thoroughly polite and vibrant tone, he agreed. I opened up my laptop and started nervously explain- ing to the gentleman what he was look- ing at. I began with my KBA. I had used the Corbin Russwin Master Ring KBA in a way not shown in the C/R Cylinder Manual. I had studied the portion of the original text for so long that I could no longer be sure of myself. The man gazed on and was rather still and uncommunicative. I at first thought WWW.ALOA.ORG “The most technical part of my article just survived — dare I say — ‘peer review.’” he might be faking interest and being very polite, or perhaps he had no foggy idea what I was crowing on about. At this moment, I began to realize this man was studying my KBA as if to break it, stretch it, turn it over and see if it would fail in the mental tests he was exercising it through. Not wanting to impede the stream of inner thought I was witness- ing, it was my turn to be mute. It was now quite obvious this quite un- assuming, thin 60-something-year-old man I have never met was engaged in the process of decoding, possibly grappling with my work as if it was a mind puzzle. It grew very quiet at that table, with just the two of us in that large empty room with the strange patterns on the commercial carpet and the hum of the HVAC. As the long seconds turned into even longer, I started to feel as if I was intruding in this man’s “private time.” Was he sleeping, but with his eyes open? Was my article simply atrocious and my conclusions pathetic? I finally built up courage and began to stir. But before I could speak, the gen- tleman said, “I see what you are doing there.” He then asked a couple of clarify- ing questions. As I answered him, I felt as if all of Niagara Falls just washed away my confusion and self-doubt. He asked pointed and expert-driven questions. I explained how and where I took liberty with the original text, and he seemed to concur that my extrapolations were not “out of bounds.” Most importantly, nothing negative was said regarding my conclusions. I thanked him excitedly, mostly relieved. I realized I just consumed 20 minutes of this man’s one-hour lunch break and felt immediately awful for that. He gave me his business card and took his leave. I went to the dining area and quickly filled a plate of leſtovers (not a lot of salad eaters at ALOA it seems, as I had the leafy greens all to myself). I found people I knew at a close table and sat down to start as they were finishing. Great! The most technical part of my article just survived — dare I say — “peer review.” A Few Weeks Later Fast forward a couple weeks to when I was back home in Florida. I was at my desk and intently focused on studying for the L-08 High Security Cylinder Ser- vicing Elective PRP. This, aſter all, was the primary reason for traveling to Las Vegas: to learn firsthand what I needed to pass this PRP. That evening, I need- ed to dig into Medeco deeper. I knew there would be questions on the exam about keying rules regarding master and change keys and their relationship to the cuts on the control key for operating the control lug as the “rules” specifically re- lated to Medeco. “How could there not be Medeco questions on this PRP?” I thought. Aſter all, I was told at that time that Medeco supplied the majority of all North American high-security cylinder work. This made me realize I had bet- ter know Medeco theory as thoroughly as possible. I was studying the textbook provided in Mr. Lynk’s class. As I flipped toward the Medeco section, I noticed a business card. It’s common for me to stuff busi- ness cards I obtain at shows, classes or conventions into the books or literature I gather along the way. It was the nice, quiet man’s card that he gave me aſter JANUARY 2022 KEYNOTES 21
