Dinner was to be at the Embassy Suites – a joint dinner with the Bus Tour of the new NC State University faculty, who began the bus tour idea and always go at the same time as Carolina.
Before the dinner, David (Public Health) and I wanted to take a walk – we’ve been sitting and standing and eating a lot, but not moving around much. We went across the very busy road (we’d been told that was a bad idea, but hey…) and headed up the gravel track toward – the giant Nascar track. We were hoping to go take a peek, but it was too far off. We walked up close enough to see it a long way off, and spoke to a couple of nice friendly people camping out in one of the many rvs. They told us that there were practice runs occurring at the track. It sounded like chemical release sirens, or air raid sirens in old movies – a loud whining drone rising and falling off in the distance. If I was camping out and heard that, I think I would have nightmares.
The dinner itself was very nice – with even nicer appetizers and drinks before – with a decent buffet and a further lecture on the new Nutrition Research Institute facilities. The best part was that it was with the new NC State faculty, who sat mingled in with us. I met a couple of very nice people from the Veterinary School and the Planning School. Their new Special Collections Librarian came over to visit afterwards when I was sitting talking about Michigan’s economy with the veterinarian (who was also named Susan). Susan the vet and Lisa the librarian invited me and Daniel to come visit them to have lunch and meet their new veterinary librarian, whose background is as a medical librarian. I really enjoyed talking to them and would be happy to meet up with them anyway, but it’s especially good because of the professional connection. That’s exactly what was hoped for with this joint dinner.
