Following the workout I returned home to find Blake and Mari in the kitchen making pumpkin bread. That reminded me of the sweet potato pancakes Tauni and I had in Memphis, so I decided to see if I could find a recipe. Sure enough on recipe.com I found a recipe for Louisiana sweet potato pancakes, which had received 5 star reviews. I happened to have a few sweet potatoes in the pantry, having read that they are the perfect food. I boiled a couple potatoes, and mixed them with flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking powder, egg and milk. They were spectacular with a bit of honey and maple syrup.
From there I showered, put on my new black suit and made my way to the Million Air terminal at the airport to meet the president of Senegal with Parky. I arrived early enough that the only other people there were Brad Cook and Jon McNaughten of SUU and the half dozen or so Secret Service men assigned to protect the president. Next to arrive was the press in the form of Lee Benson, the only person present not wearing a suit. The Secret Service asked for his press credential. He managed to produce a faded employee card, which didn't impress them. They told him that if he approached the president without a press credential hanging from his neck someone would put him down. I think Lee caught their drift. Nonetheless, after the president and his encourage of 40 people arrived in two airplanes, Parky escorted Lee to the president's limo, where Lee managed to ask a few questions without any of the Secret Service men getting trigger happy.
The president drove off at the head of a motorcade in a white SUV followed by a half dozen or more black vans. Later at the hotel the Senegalese ambassador to the US reamed out the Secret Service chief for putting the presidential car at the head of the motorcade and having the president in white car that stood out from all the black vans. She had a point. It was as if the Secret Service had arranged for the president to be in a car labeled, "Hey assassins. Here I am. Come and get me." Fortunately, despite the invitation, the motorcade made it to the Grand America Hotel without incident.
We hung out at the hotel for awhile, Parky going over and revising the president's schedule with the ambassador. We then proceeded to a reception at the Alta Club, hosted by former governor and Bush cabinet member, Mike Leavitt, an SUU graduate for whom a public policy institute at SUU is named. Present were a number of legislators and business leaders. After the opening ceremony, at which the president was given various awards and gifts, the president met with business leaders who explained their interest in doing business or charitable work in Senegal. The reception was followed by dinner at the Grand America, hosted by the Waterford Institute, whose early learning program has been implemented on a pilot basis in Senegal. Tauni and I sat at a table with the vice president of the Senegalese assembly, the Senegalese military attache to the embassy in Washington, and the embassy's economic officer. The vice president assured me that our housing project could be very important to his country, and otherwise had little to say. The embassy officials, on the other hand, had a lot to say, including explaining that Iran's Ahmadinejad is a very smart man, skillful in raising questions about US foreign policy. We really had a delightful conversation. The military attache had spent 7 years in Germany, attending their war college among other things, so he and I even chatted in German for awhile.
The next morning I got up early and drove with Bruce Anderson and Dean Hutchings to Cedar City for meetings there regarding the housing project. We met first with Matt Edwards, the SUU faculty member who has designed the house we propose to build, and later, after a short field trip to the Kolob overlook in Zion National Park, met with the president and his advisors regarding the housing project. The president seemed to like what he heard, telling us that he would give us 200 acres of land if we would build houses in Senegal.
Parky was thrilled at the outcome. Though I was happy that there is opportunity in Senegal, and charmed by the Senegalese people I met, Dean, Bruce and I were all sobered by the magnitude of the project before us. Completing the housing design, building a prototype, and then launching a real company to build houses in two African countries, Senegal and Tanzania, will require a huge amount of work. But if we can really do it, our providing affordable housing and mortgage financing will be a wonderful thing for those countries. And it won't do us any harm either.
Parky is talking of going to Senegal and Morocco in October and Tanzania in December. Got to finish the 90 Days first. Then off to see the world, a lighter, fitter, and hopefully more sane man than I was before the 90-day program began.
Over the weekend Tauni told me she is interested in enrolling in the next 90-day group. I texted Marci with the news. Tauni is scheduled to interview with her next Wednesday. Can't wait to hear how that turns out.
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