It's WINDSday | July 17, 2024
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Celebrating the Power of Wind, Clean Energy and a Green Environment | |
Chesapeake Cable Plant Will Redefine Our Skyline | |
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At 500 feet and 38 stories, the 17-year-old Westin hotel/condo at Town Center is Virginia's tallest building. A South Korean firm is about to raise the bar, announcing that a $680-million subsea cable manufacturing plant it will build on 94 acres along the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake will be 200 feet and 32 floors higher.
Kudos to WAVY-TV reporter Brett Hall for asking why the South Korean company needs a 700-foot structure, which will undoubtedly redefine the downtown skyline. “Patrick Shim, the managing director for manufacturer LS GreenLink, says the height is important because they want to assemble miles of subsea cables at a time, and gravity naturally helps push the material down to make it tighter.”
In his story, Trevor Metcalfe of Inside Business said the long drop “adequately centers the components of the cable.”
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For CVOW, Dominion Energy has purchased over 545 miles of inter-array and export cables to connect its 176 wind turbines and bring 2,600 megawatts of power to shore. Italy-based Prysmian is fashioning them at plants in Germany, Finland, and Holland.
Construction on the LS GreenLink factory is scheduled to begin next year. Stay tuned for news about how to apply for one of the 330 jobs the project will generate and when we can expect our newest skyscraper to appear in the firmament.
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Kyle Fowlkes Turned Lemons into Lemonade at Sate in Newport News | |
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COVID.
The pandemic put many industries on life support, not the least of which was hospitality, as Americans huddled in their homes, away from "strangers."
The suspension of conventions in 2020 prompted the Hampton (Roads) Convention Center and its partner hotel, Embassy Suites, to furlough most of the staff (180 down to 10), including its accomplished head of food services since 2008, Kyle Fowlkes.
| The 1998 Warwick High product (Michael Vick was a classmate) and 2003 Johnson and Wales grad got busy. "I started a food truck that sold a tasty, skewered meat called a satay, generating long lines outside the Shipyard, festivals, and elsewhere." And that spawned a full-service restaurant, "Sate, A New American Experience," in place of the departed Lunch Bell at City Center. "We have only been open since November, and we're killin' it right now." | |
No wonder. Tiramisu French Toast with Bailey’s Mascarpone and Million Dollar Bacon for Sunday brunch, and for lunch and/or dinner, Charred Octopus appetizer, Fowlkes Burger topped with a fried egg, Espresso Crusted Lamb Chops, Hookie Jookie Punch and for dessert, Drunken’ Banana Puddin’.
The food truck is still on the street, now cross-promoting the brick-and-mortar eatery on Town Center Drive (open daily except Monday) that is making Newport News native Kyle Fowlkes a hometown sensation.
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Windsong is a 1975 Song and a 1953 Vintage Perfume | |
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Our music maven Hunter Hughes tells us there is a song called Windsong (and he will play it this Sunday on his WHRV show).
It was the title cut on the beloved John Denver, born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., 1975 album of the same name, which included the hits Calypso and Fly Away. Here’s a verse:
Thunder of mountains, the roar of the sea
The wind is the taker and giver of mornings
The wind is the symbol of all that is free
So welcome the wind and the wisdom she offers
Follow her summons when she calls again
At the age of 53, Denver died in a plane crash in 1997 in Monterey, California. He was the pilot and lone occupant.
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There is also a perfume called Windsong, launched in 1953 by Georges Matchabelli, an amateur chemist, prince, and ambassador who emigrated to the US from Georgia in 1921 after the Russian Revolution.
In 1926, he and his actress wife Norina established the Prince Matchabelli Perfume Company, which has been sold several times since.
The fragrance may be best known for its song or jingle, which includes the memorable line, "I can't seem to forget you; your Windsong stays on my mind."
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A Man and a Shed is Also
a Firefighter and Lawn Guy
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When he's marketing his well-crafted wooden trays, kitchen tools, bottle openers, and furniture, Jeff Reichelderfer is "A Man and a Shed." But that's just one of this multi-talented ex-Marine's jobs. "I do 48 hours on, 48 hours off as a firefighter at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and I also have a lawn-cutting business."
But it's clear his heart is in the garage (shed) of his Deep Creek home, where he devotes many off-hours to cutting cherry, maple, black walnut, and other hardwoods into slabs and then shaves and stains them into customized works of art.
"I had never done this before my wife Melissa asked me to build a toy organizer," he says. I was hooked."
Want your own Reichelderfer? Email Jeff at amanandashed@gmail.com or follow him on Facebook to learn where The Man will be displaying and selling next.
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