A nice boost!

I made an inquiry yesterday, and received a very positive boost.  I wrote this (names...except mine...omitted):

I recently applied for the position mentioned below; I’m sure you remember me bugging you over and over.

I was wondering if you’d be able to give me some information that may assist me in the future as it concerns to competing for this level of position.  I understand this is a complex position with a lot of various duties and skill sets needed and preferred; are there any in particular areas that I may be able to work on / gain more experience in?  I’m just curious as to what development I could use to further expand in this field.

Thank you for your time over the past couple of months.  I hope to stay in touch!

Thanks in advance!

Within an hour, I got this as a response:

Tom: You were very competitive for this position. We had a very robust certificate of candidates. If I had any advice its continue to obtain depth and breath (sic) of experience including supervision. There are no glaring deficiencies in your portfolio and I believe you are and will continue to be very competitive at the GS 11 level.

Now isn't THAT a nice boost!!?

Well, I figured I couldn't beat that for the day, so took off into the woods.  I was on another recon mission for huckleberries and wanted to check a place I typically find some decent berries.  The drive was uneventful but blissful, if nothing else but because of the fact that I was the ONLY person out there!  I found the berries at that elevation to still be green, so beat feet back home.  There, I was able to quickly grab Sarah and Lucca and head down to the lake.  We all swam for about an hour and then finally noticed it was after six!  What in the world happens to time after you leave work? 

So while Sarah made a run to the store, I quickly got stuff together and got the elderberry wine started!  It's sitting right now, waiting for the yeast to be added tonight.  This one's tough though...I went into a store to buy yeast and Camden tablets the other day and my grand total came to three dollars!  I didn't want to put three dollars on my card, so I picked up another five gallon carboy.  All of a sudden I was now going to make five gallons of an untested recipe using an untested fruit (at least by me.)  Needless to say it makes me a little nervous.  Since I only had 10 lbs instead of the recommended 15lbs of elderberries, I added one less teaspoon acid blend...hoping that will accomplish the necessary "tartness" of the finished product.  (The sweetness comes from the berries themselves since any sweetener...er, sugar...added only gets turned into alcohol.)  But I DID read that the berries could be used as a second run batch to make a rose wine...so I figure this is going to work out alright.  Already the color of the "must" is a nice dark reddish-purple.  Boy I hope the yeast takes!

So there, Butch and Matt.  All those berries I was picking while I should have been hunting elk were finally put to use!  I'll let you know how it tastes in a year.