Having been a city boy all my life (Hong Kong, NYC, Boston), my transition to living in Togus got off to a rocky start. I was nearly stranded on my first grocery run to the Hannaford in Augusta when I learned that GPS navigation on my smartphone does not work without data access while roaming. My usual sources of multimedia and entertainment were also lacking, although the availability of MiFi in the house allowed me to catch up on season 3 of Lost via Netflix streaming. Fortunately, I found reprieve from the cold and solitude after returning from my interview at Duke and catching an earlier flight back to Portland to meet Melody for dinner at Fore Street. It was well worth the extra $50 airline fee for tasty wood-grilled mussels and a few extra hours with my wife. We spent Sunday exploring nearby Augusta and China (the town in Maine, not the country), shopping in strip malls and dining at the China Dine-Ah. After hearing the catchy jingle on the radio all weekend long, we could not resist the quality homestyle cooking like meatloaf and sheperd’s pie. When I finally returned home to Boston to cover call this weekend, I had tons of emails and receipts to file away, but fortunately, no ruptured globes to repair. Although the Togus rotation has been laid back so far, I’ll be looking forward to our upcoming vacation with Melody’s family over Thanksgiving.