9/30/2015 - As I mentioned earlier, it’s been a busy two weeks. My “road trip” last week was for two medical appointments in Hampton and Richmond, but I also got to stock up on groceries and visit with my brother in between. I was pleasantly surprised when I found a store in Williamsburg that carried Selkirk Abbey Brewery’s 10° - a Belgian quadrupel that I once dubbed THE after work beverage. At nearly 10% alcohol, it was unlike any beer I drank and you really only needed one. Of course I got a cell phone pic and texted the brewery owner! Richmond was interesting, though the consult with a cardio-thoracic surgeon could have happened over the phone. My brother showed me an article about Virginia cider-the adult kind. I visited Blue Bee Cidery, which is in the city near the VA. They had some good products. I also walked around the corner to eat at Camden’s Dogtown Market, a big salad with their version of an oyster po’ boy. Great distractions on an otherwise uneventful trip. Yes, I still have a torn descending aorta, but not serious enough for further surgery - yet. Hoping it stays that way.
I finally scored an interview in Memphis! I was a little freaked out. Though I interview well in person, I didn’t know what to expect on the phone and this was my first real progress with applications there. I didn't know if it was 10 am my time or theirs (Memphis is Central). Then as the clock kept moving I started to wonder of I was supposed to call. I tried to call the admin person who set it up-no answer. The state office is in the VA medical center in Memphis, so I checked the number and called twice-no answer. Then the admin emailed me back and said the director had been trying to call and getting voicemail. After turning it on and off twice, I just stared at my phone. About a half hour later, the director called me on his cell phone. The interview was simple, except the part about "where do you see yourself in 5 years." With a shutdown looming, I don't know where I'll be on Thursday! I do, however, have to travel over the weekend with follow up interview scheduled by them on Monday.
We were hit with high winds, crazy surf, and some rain this week. The ocean was about 150 feet closer than usual, driven by east winds and an offshore storm. One night, a small dune formed around my car which took some effort to get over on the morning. The rain finally came on Friday and flooded roads and beach access ramps. For one day this season, I did not sell one permit. A customer came in who thought He’s made a discovery. Unknown to me and my office partner, there is a portion of a wreck visible sometimes about 25 miles south of here. After the interview I took a ride and there she was, exposed by the storm and sitting on the shore - the GA Kohler. Built in 1919, it was a big schooner that wrecked in the “graveyard of the Atlantic” in 1933. Ten years later, the wood was burned in an attempt to recover the iron fittings. Apparently it occasionally comes and goes, seen and unseen but in the same place, a ghost of the “graveyard”.
On Tuesday, I went to Duck and Corolla, north of here, with two goals. First I wanted to see one of the “other” Outer Banks lighthouses, in Corolla and privately run, but my main goal of the day was to sit and eat a Duck Donut in Duck North Carolina. Duck Donuts are unique in that they are made to order. As I opened the box, I viewed and smelled a pair of pastries that were loaded with toppings - chocolate icing and coconut on one, peanut butter icing and chocolate sprinkles on the other - and still soft and gooey. It was a coffee and donut heavenly moment. I managed to work off a little of that sugar and caffeine rush on the boardwalk that is on the Currituck Sound side of town. A few showers, but otherwise a sunny and warm day. On the way back I was planning a drive to Memphis and dreaming.
