Who Moved My Car?

I have a car in DC. It mostly collects leaves. I have never driven to work. Only once did I drive to a friend's house. I have driven to Annapolis and Whole Foods more than anywhere else. Still it's nice to have the car to get away for a hike or weekend out of town. So it's no surprise that I sometimes forget where I park in Georgetown. Sometimes on the North side of my block. Sometimes on the side street. Well the other day I had a rude awakening when I returned from a long weekend in Oregon to find my car missing and a temporary NO PARKING sign on the tree in front of my house. A call to the City did not confirm that it had been towed. They didn't have it recorded as a towed vehicle. It took all day and much detective work to figure out that my car had been moved. Yes, the private tow company had chosen to move my car to a "safe" location on a nearby street rather than tow my car to the DC lot. Fantastic! I was so relieved when I finally got the tow contractor to tell me which street it was on. Now for getting the City to implement a policy where they give you notice of upcoming street repair so that your car doesn't even get "moved". My work is cut out for me.

Billy Goats and Busy Days

This morning it was brunch in Navy Yard and this afternoon it was hiking the Billy Goat Trail on the Potomac followed by a beer at the Old Angler's Inn. The kind of Sunday you hope for when you move to DC. The sunset was beautiful. What was amazing was how many people were out on the trail. The canal and tow path are a really interesting part of DC's history taking hikers and bikers from Georgetown all the way to Ohio. We didn't go quite that far but the hike was a fun obstacle course of rocks and other Sunday hikers. The Potomac does not rival the rivers of Oregon and Washington for the fish or water sports, but it excels at grand rapids and beautiful rock formations. And the color of the leaves on the water is nothing you can find in the west.

Not-a-Dull-Moment DC

Sailing on the Chesapeake, beer gardens in Maryland, hiking in Virginia, happy hours everywhere, German lectures, embassy parties, museums (for free). DC has so much to offer it's quite ridiculous. When I am not attending one of these events/visiting one of these locales I am holing up in my tiny G-town apartment trying to make sense of what I have just learned using Google, newspapers, TV and podcasts. Or reading or listening about it on my iPod between activities. The bus ride into work gives me 25 minutes of time to educate.

And then there is everything that I need to learn abot EPA, my program, the federal gov't, the budget process, the current election, climate change.........

But as it gets colder, my guess is it will become less enticing to go out to so many events. That wind chill. Brrrr.

Not a dull moment in DC.

Boo Bureaucracy

I have spent the last month trying to get settled in and actually do some work for the people. The layers of b-cracy didn't bother me much until this week. And this isn't even related to the mission of the agency I work for. I am talking about how to get into the phone directory, how to send a piece of mail to another agency office, how to get health insurance, how to manage a contract, or how to get travel authorized. Although I sat through a whole day or new employee orientation when I needed to send a document to the relocation office, which is not in DC (Cincinatti?), I didn't know how to do it and so I put my own stamp on it and sent it in the mail. Later on, everyone laughed at me. Little did I know I could have done that for free with inter-office agency. I won't bore you with the details of this week because in the end what matters is no one was hurt, I didn't need my health insurance and I did get paid for the first time. But could someone please explain why my pay check says its from the Department of Defense?

G-Hair

I live in G-town. I have become a G-girl and tonight I found my first G-hair! It's only been a month since I arrived, 3 weeks since I started my job. To tell you the truth I don't feel stressed out; I do feel old though. Sometime in the last few months the little sucker started growing I suspect since it's now the length of a band-aid. Zum Gluck it's hidden under a whole head of hair but if I decided to change my cowlick I would have no choice but to pull it. Ouch.

Ore-Gone

The took it and they wouldn't give it back not even cut up in pieces or with VOID written across it. My Oregon driver's license is gone. My Oregon license plates have been replaced, almost, with DC ones. They should offer help on how to remove plates. at present I have OR on the back and DC on the front because I seriously cannot get the OR plate off. Perhaps the world is trying to tell me something.

The good news is. I can legally park in DC for one year. Ahhh the weight that has been lifted. Advice. If you are moving to DC, don't bring your car. Hybrid, bio-diesel or car of any kind. They don't need any more cars here and if you knew what you would have to go through I would bet you would sell it before you got here.

Losing My Oregon-ness

They make it rather impossible for DC transplants to maintain their other-state identity. Or maybe I it’s just a way to discourage the ownership of cars in the District. It’s true, there is no right to drive a Car in the Constitution but I have mine in DC. Hey, I drove out here and am a little scared of the idea of not being able to get out of the city and away from the hustle and bustle as often as I want to. That said, it’s been two weeks and I have had to plan several a day around my car. First I could not venture more than 2 hours away from it because of the zoned parking that required either a permit, which I didn’t have yet, or two-hour limit. So I stuck close the apt and moved it every few hours.

My big plan was to get “reciprocity” which is a thing you pay the DMV for to allow you to keep out of state plates and park in the District. This costs 240 bucks and is only good for 6 months. But in going to the police precinct to get my temporary parking permit, which you have to show a copy of your lease to get *Thank god the copy of the sublease that I wrote up worked, the nice lady told me I probably wouldn’t get it because you have to prove that you may only be here for 6 months. Can’t anyone prove that you might only be here for 6 months? I mean it’s not like I enlisted. At will employment?

To prevent this from becoming the longest entry to date I will jump to the end. I decided it was worth it to pay the 259 to just have my car registered in DC, giving up my precious Oregon plates and also surrendering my Oregon Driver’s License, which will prevent me from being able to vote in the November election in Oregon. I was ready to do this yesterday. Really I was. I made it all the way to the vehicle testing center, the first stop in this madness and I passed inspection except for the crack in my windshield. Oh my GOD. I was so frustrated. Why don’t they say that on the website or at least let me go with on a contingency that I have to fix it within 30 days? Now I am back at square one. I have to get another temporary permit so that I can make it til next Saturday without getting a ticket. I have to have my windshield fixed. But I have one more week to be an Oregonian and will I ever really change?

3 Days on the Job

I finally started my first real job as a master of public administration. After a 6-hour orientation learning about all of the perks of federal employment including representation in a union, although I am still not sure which one I am in or why I would want to pay the money to join when I can be a freerider, I filled out enough forms for them to let me go. And still, after six hours, I hadn't even chosen a health plan, decided what life insurance policy, or savings plan I was going to participate in. But that is for another day. Hopefully I can wade through the info before the enrollment period is up.

Anyhow, the office is nice. I have my own cube! No window view unless I stand up. Glad I am tall. Nice people in a nice building with free concerts at lunch and in the evenings in the courtyard (Go Hammer, Go Hammer Go, more on that later).

One of the nice things is the compressed schedule (one day off every other week) but for that I have to work 9 and half hour days. Ugghhh. Once I have more to do than just read, I might be able to get through them. Today it felt like an eternity.

My impression is that the program is very organized. They truly have a process for everything.. and a meeting for everything and at every level: division, team, project, etc. They also have a contractor to do almost everything. In fact, I am not sure what g-people do besides administer contracts, check on their employee benefits, and have conference calls. I am sure I will soon learn.

My first assignment was to write a response to a reporter. After I wrote it, I had to have it approved by my boss, then the division communications person, then the agency communications person. Wow.

Generally feeling ok about things even though during the team meeting today they started talking about budget cuts and RIFs (reduction in force aka downsizing). This is all part of the experience, right?

We'll see what Day 4 has in store for me. Email perhaps? I got phone service and voice mail today.

Beach Blanket Bingo - I won

This nice girl from the Left Coast got a rude awakening at the Atlantic Shore today. I am out in Delaware with my relatives who live in Maryland and own a house in Bethany Beach. My 6-year old cousin and I decided to hit the beach for the afternoon. After packing up the radio flyer with everything we would need (cooler, umbrella, towels, snacks, sand toys and chairs) as everyone does in this neighborhood we headed to the beach. Upon arrival I realized that finding a place to park yourself at the beach is more difficult than one would think and requires both social and physical strategery. The only opening in the long fence of umbrellas and beach furniture that I found was loosely populated with vacant beach chairs. No owners in sight, an obvious choice. Don't take over but gently encroach. Upon unloading one chair I got an "Excuse me" from above. The renter/owner did not seem to want us to park our butts in front of her house in her beach area. Immediately she calls to the kids to come and assume there positions in the chairs she has been staging on the beach but they will have none of it. Sheesh. This ain't Kansas. In Oregon we don't have space issues on our beach. We are more concerned with trash and the temperature of the water. Come on.

Luckily our neighbors on the other side were much more understanding and offer not only to let us in but to demonstrate for me how one uses a beach umbrella. After I explain to them I am new on the Coast, they profess their love for Obama (?) and my cousin and their daughter scamper off to the water to enjoy an afternoon at the Atlantic Coast. A charming little snow cone cart showed up later on, we don't have those in Oregon.

Maiden Oregon Arrives in G-Town

After a 10-day cross-country trip with my b-friend, I arrive in DC after midnight on a Saturday night. Found the mysterious apartment I had rented a room in site unseen and roommates unmet. Good thing Georgetown is cute. The heat and humidity was intoxicating. Found the keys hidden for me in front of the front door under a brick. Hello. That's the kind of thing people in Portland are even afraid to do sometimes.

I entered the apartment. Very cute and funky. Kind of a European dream apartment, kind of a Eugene college slum. My room, the size of a king-size bed. Just needs some love.

We couldn't stay put for more than 30 minutes because of our wanderlust still pulsing through our veins so we walked down the street to an old neighborhood haunt, Murphy's. Very quaint and classic bar. JFK proposed to Jackie in booth number 3. The college students rule the night in Georgetown. We considered a couple of other bars but were taken aback by the noise. Do they all wear perfect J.Crew outfits and talk at the top of their lungs while imbibing? When I was in college we never even wore makeup and that was the 90s. I have got a lot to learn from these girls. Or do I?

Roomates are nice. Downstairs tenants are nice and energetic. Haven't met the basement tenants. Ohh and apparently there are rats in the neighborhood. I am afraid to take the garbage out. Do we have rats in Oregon? Not in the West Hills of Portland.

Just getting settled in. B-friend flew home. Sadness sets in. I am all alone for a week. My job begins next week.

That's all for first impressions. I have to go move my car before I get a ticket. Every two hours until I figure out how to get a parking pass. Uggh.