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.