Final release clearance.
Well, barring a last-minute change, tonight is my last Friday night in Federal prison. I received my "final release clearance sheet" today at mail call. I also received what seems to be your last letter to be sent to me here at Club Fed. I am now listening to my last Music From The Mountain. Tonight he is featuring a group from Utica, NY.
According to the release form I received, I am to report to the Lieutenant's office at 2:30 PM on Tuesday. So it would appear that I am going to be dumped off at the regional county jail. I doubt I would be picked up so late in the day. The last time, the detectives had flown down from NY the previous day and picked me up in the morning.
I am going to try and travel with a few stamps, paper, and envelopes. Maybe you will even get a note while I am in transit? Who knows?
Yeah, I can write neat, but it is painful! But then again, it is less painful for you, the Editor. The other thing I thought of as I was reading your letter was, OK, you can type, so handwriting is not an issue, and even in a funk you push a few buttons and voila! Instant envelope stuffing! Not that there is anything wrong with that! Ha ha!
I have spread out my last meals of rice and mackerel in undisclosed, secure locations to prevent their capture by the locker terrorists!
I was lucky to get a "good" quality pair of headphones that I have even carried to the shower.
Tonight from 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM on NPR is a new program on Leonard Bernstein! Monday there was a broadcast of the opening of the new jazz facility at Lincoln Center.
Wherever I end up, I hope there is still an NPR station. I will miss some of the WV Public Radio programs, but as long as I can hear some signs of intelligent life, I can make it!
Well, it is now Saturday at 2:30 PM. I had been writing last night when my cellie needed to use the bathroom, so I ended up bumming around in the Day Area while the room became habitable! So now I will try to put the 7,000 different thoughts in my head down on paper!
The prison here has no purchasing control. Each department can buy their own supplies. So you have twelve to fifteen different people making trips to the local Staples store instead of using the Staples National Government Contract with products at half the store price, plus they deliver for free!
The Mobile MRI truck was in today, so we were locked in at 1:30 PM and just got counted at 2:00 PM. We will be locked in till after the 4:00 PM count. Actually it's not all that tragic, since instead of having over one hundred inmates screaming at the top of their lungs, it is nice and quiet.
Today I listened to the last of some of my favorite programs on good old NPR. This morning at 10:00 AM it was Car Talk. This afternoon the Houston Grand Opera presented The Barber of Seville. Now at 6:00 PM I am listening to Prairie Home Companion! It will take me through 8:00 PM.
The track at Rec is mostly mud, so we passed on the nightly walk yesterday. Lame to be sure, but my boots have a smooth sole and simply slip on the mud as if it was an ice pond!
Today's lunch in the chow hall was what they call "cheese steak." It is served once a month. Today's version consisted of shredded beef that had the consistency of shredded plastic grocery bags. It was the kind of meal that gives Philly cheese steaks a bad name. They did get the greasy part right however, and I must admit that the rolls were nice and soft! They no longer bake from scratch here. Most bread products are of the frozen bake-to-serve type. And sometimes it does actually come out right!
Dinner was my usual mackerel and rice. Since I no longer have a lock on my locker, I picked up a bag of rice and two mackerel from my undisclosed, secure location!
I know this is all over the place. So now I will relax and listen to the radio for a bit. More to come!