Highlights:
- The Dunham street gang added the Marina Variety Store and Sunrise Bistro to its Thursday morning group breakfast spots.
- March 14-16 participated in the Yorktown volunteer trip to visit the Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington, NC; the Airborne Museum in Fayetteville and the U.S. Army Basic Training Center in Columbia, South Carolina. See separate blog:
- March 18 we celebrated our anniversary at Maison.
- March 20-24 attended the Foreign Affairs Counterterrorism Training at the Department's Foreign Affairs Security Training Center in Blackstone VA. This course is required for all active Foreign Service personnell every six years.
- March 31 - April 9 Credit One Charlestonn Open volunteering as a Tournament Ambassador. Ons Jabeur defeated defending champion Belinda Bencic 7-6, 6-4. This photo and brief article appeared in the Daniel Island News during the tournament.
- April 19-23 Went out to San Francisco to attend the Serra Hight School 50 Year Alumni Club reunion. We went together with Ken Colombo and his wife Quay. Having graduated in 1961 I missed my 50 year reunion in 2011.
- We also got together at the Basque Center for dinner with classmates Stan Johnson and Joan Maher. On the weekend we visited my cousins the Ken, Bob and Jim Porter, Sue Meehan and Sissy Gillott. My former Peace Corps buddy Jack Colbourn and his wife Kathy met us for dinner at the West Coast Cafe, Italian restaurant in San Bruno late Sunday before we caught our late flight.
- May 13 we attended the Charleston Jazz Summer Samba featuring Brazilian music by artists Duda Lucena, Heather Rice and Alva Anderson.
- June 6-9 Jeffrey and Sharon visited us from Atlanta. Instead of accepting an offer to stay with us they stayed in a hotel "The Dewberry". Expensive hotel near Marion Square. I guess they wanted to be independent and not impose on us. In retrospect I think we should have paid for the hotel. We did have them over and went out to dinner at the Isle of Palms but they pretty much did sightseeing on their own.
- June Residential Elevator completed installation of new elevator.
- June 26 - September 28 TDY Assignment to American Embassy Malabo Equitorial Guinea. See separate blog:
My last inspection trip with the OIG was to Geneva at the offices of the USUN in 2019. In November 2023 I decided to leave the OIG. I actually regret that I didn't leave OIG earlier but, even though I wasn't travelling, I still did all the financial management survey work for each cycle (Fall, Winter and Spring) and continued doing consulting work at the CGFS Charleston office. I also did a lot of training for new inspectors and was considered the financial management expert in OIG/ISP. I did arrange an orientation and provided training for two Management Inspectors for a week at CGFS Charleston before leaving. I still missed the benefit of travel.
Looking for something different I always felt that I could do the Management Officer job at an embassy. I approached both the Africa (AF) and NEA (Near East Asia) bureaus about the possibility of a transfer as a Retired Annuitant (REA). Fortunately for me AF was receptive and I was able to work with HR to effect a transfer and retained my grade. The rest is history as I ended up in Malabo for three months. The OIG was not pleased that I would leave them for another bureau as they gave me quite a send off thinking I was retiring. See the separate blog for more about my experience. I did decide to retire for good the next year. While the pay, perdiem and extra allowances were good I figured that it was time considering 35 years of service and a comfortable Foreign Service annuity.
- Well I came home just in time to help Doris recover from her replacement knee surgery which she had on October 7. She had quite a difficult time getting over the surgery as she was basically confined to downstairs and walk with either crutches or a walker for about eight weeks. She has a nurse visit three days a week to assist with exercises and start walking.
- Doris started Physical Therapy (PT) with Imagine PT in December but had an issue with being able to bend her knee to 120 degrees as recommended after three months. Consequently she had to go back to Dr. McCrosson and get a Manipulation to allow her to bend her knee to the recommend level. Continued PT with Imagine helped her to gradually walk on her own and eventually was able do stairs even though the elevator was a God send.
- I did resume my volunteer duties at the Yorktown on Tuesday morning and was happy that I was able to take three months off and get back with my colleagues on the 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. shift at the information desk.
 |
| Will Doak (Navy), Dick Prevette (Air Force) and Tom Simons (Navy) |
- David came for his annual visit over Thanksgiving and joined us for dinner.
- Doris was making good progress through the end of the year continuing with Imagine.
- David came for Christmas and had a wonderful dinner at Grill 225 to celebrate his birthday on Christmas Eve.
U.S. Events:
World Events:
Movies:
95th Academy awards Everything Everywhere All at Once Best Picture; Best Actor Brendan Fraser, The Whale; Best Actress Michelle Yeah Everything Everywhere All at Once, Best supporting Actor Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Best Supporting Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once. Best Director Daniel Kwan, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Super Bowl 57
The Chiefs defeated the Eagles 38-35. The Chiefs were trailing 24-14 at the half. Patrick Mahomes was named MVP. Andy Reid the Chiefs coach spent 14 seasons with the Eagles and never won a Super Bowl. He finally earned his ring after seven years with the Chiefs.
World Series
The Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games. It was the first world series title for Texas. The MVP was Corey Seager who won for the second time. Three time world champion manager Bruce Bochy won his fourth world series and tied Walter Alston and Joe Torre.
