Travel and interviews, visiting, the debrief

Early Monday morning I left the farm for Houston. It was not an unpleasant drive and I hope to be making it many more times in the future. From the farm it is about six hours to Houston center. I got checked into the hotel at about 4 p.m. and because of the hard rain Houston was receiving I stayed in my room through the evening. I even ordered room service. I wanted the extra time to prepare for the interviews the following day.


I am glad I put in the hours of preparation. The interviews covered a broad gambit of information and background with a total of five persons conducting them one-on-one. It started with breakfast at 6:30 a.m. with my main contact. I found out through early conversation that he was staying in the same hotel and had been since early January. He is a well traveled man and is in charge of one of the projects in Angola, but he is familiar with all the ongoing LNG projects.

When we got to the office I was turned over to the Director of Licensing and we chatted for over an hour. His main concern was that I would commit to a relocate to Australia and I hesitated to commit without talking to Mama and the farm occupants. I should not have hesitated. When I called Mama later that afternoon she began giving out facts about Australia and their beef expert numbers. She had even been looking for a small farm in the area where we would be stationed.

I interviewed with four other persons through the remainder of the morning, through lunch and into the afternoon. Many people over the course of the day asked for names of individuals who were in leadership positions while I was at the Bayway Refinery. Who was the Plant Manager? Do you remember who the HSE Director was? I had not researched any of that information so I came up short several times with those questions. I tend to be bad with names and when asked off the cuff I usually go blank. I did send emails today to give those names to the individuals that asked.

By the time I was in the last interview I was talked out. Fortunately, the last person to spend time with me was one of the “specialists” (equal to the position I am seeking) who was not much of a formal conversationalist. We talked shop for about forty five minutes and wrapped things up. I left the office at about 2 p.m.

I dawdled a bit getting out of town because Mama wanted me to go to Costco because the coupons were about to expire, so I did not arrive in Chappell Hill until after 4 p.m. Grandma and Grandpa Kline were waiting on me to go out to dinner with them. We went to a nearby bar-b-que place and talked over dinner.

I suppose the hour and a half drive to them was enough to get me queued up for more conversation. We spent over an hour at the restaurant and then talked into the late evening. Mama was a little jealous because I got to watch NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles with them – first airing, complete with commercials. We do not have that luxury at the farm. I did not have any trouble getting to sleep that night.

My Dad is in better shape than I expected. He has had some problems to deal with from the radiation treatment as well as the chemotherapy he is undergoing for prostate cancer, but he is fairing pretty well all told. He has eight more treatments of radiation to complete the regimen of 42. He told me he feels older now than at any time in his life. He is hoping the recovery process when the treatments are complete will allow some of his strength and energy to return. It is too early to tell how long that recovery will take.

The drive back home must have rejuvenated me further because Mama wanted a complete accounting and Grandma had a thousand questions – interjected among almost as many stories relevant to her experience. By the time she had finished her interjection into the answer I was giving, I had forgotten the question. It was a relief when it was time to go to church.

I do not expect to hear from the Licensing group for some time – perhaps May – but I am glad I got the chance to interview.

Now I have to catch up to the three days of work I missed.