Will we survive the transition?

The new administrator has been named. She was quoted in the article about the program. She doesn't like it. No one at the office seems to be doing anything to proactively reach out to the transition team or anyone else with a new and improved program. The boss is on vacation and so is my team leader. Few of us are even around because of the holidays. The politicals are not responsive. What's going to happen to us? Do I just sit around and wait to be shut down? It seems like we should be looking to strengthen the program and relaunch or do something or be prepared to do something. This idleness is driving me batty. Doesn't help that it's Christmas. I went to a party on Saturday and got beat up by a hill staffer who thinks the program stinks too. Ughhh.

All Nighter

Unless you are sure you are going to get a big bonus or a big promotion, or someone's life is in danger, DO NOT repeat DO NOT ever agree to stay up all night waiting for a bad news story to come out and deal with the aftermath. There are many reasons why work can wait until at least 6AM and wouldn't it be better to get a good night's sleep so that you can power through a crisis first thing then to stay up all night dealing with it, then going to the office and having to deal with again because another person from the chain of command has to get filled in and put their stamp of approval on your work? The answer is yes. I thought it was crazy up until now that our Office of Public Affairs didn't participate on these late night and early morning calls once a news story hit, and I think that I finally understand just how smart they are.

GovTrip to Albany

Why do they give us per diem even if we don't necessarily use it everyday? If I eat three meals today and none is more than 10 bucks, I get to pocket $19 dollars. My colleague told me that I should not look a gift horse in the mouth and that I should consider the $19 pay for my hardship for traveling. What do you think taxpayers?

PS-Albany doesn't have taxis? Or good coffee. Please tell me if I am wrong.

G-Obama!!!

Is it true? or am I just dreaming? I think he won. He won!!! It's such a strange feeling--a good one-- but still very strange. I can't remember what it feels like to win. And even though I did very little to show my support for Obama, I feel like he's my friend, or a wise uncle of mine or something. Perhaps that's a feeling of respect. I can't quite figure it out. Anyways, I am so glad. DC went off on election night. After a kind of mellow election night party at a friend's house, we decided to kick it up a notch and head to the White House, more specifically Lafayette Square in front of the White House. It was a scene. Young people, foreign tourists, immigrants, old people, everyone was singing or chanting "yes, we can". You could even here it in the honking of cars. People were waving flags, exchanging high fives, and generally talking to one another, even complete strangers. It was impressive. Something I will never forget. Thank you my fellow Americans for voting and not being afraid of change.

10:34 PM in DC November 4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a nail biter. Work was so slow today. After waiting in line for 2 hours to vote, I made it to the office and it was if no one was there except for the Republican appointees, the sympathizers, and the new employees (me). I don't think I received an email between 1 and 6 PM today. Where was everyone? The lines weren't that long? Were they already perched on bar stools, watching in anticipation of this election? As a first-timer in DC for a presidential election, I was surprised by the cool mood of everyone. Are we all so excited/freaked that we are paralized? Or do we all just need to have a sake bomb and start getting ready to party?

It's been 10 years since I actually went to a polling place to vote. In Oregon, all voting is by mail. It was kind of a cool feeling to get dressed and walk down to my neighborhood polling place. Everyone seemed so happy to be there to cast their ballot in this historic election. I could choose electronic or paper ballot and I chose paper. Then I got to put it into the machine to see if it recognized my vote. Ding! and red light. I voted! Thanks Starbucks for the free coffee, probably the nicest thing you have done for me ever. I missed the free cone at Ben and Jerry's but I know others appreciated it.

The G-ingko tree has some of the most beautiful leaves I have ever seen. They are so simple and yet their veins make them complicated. Their color of green is refreshing and you never see them turn brown and blow away in the wind. I even have a gingko Christmas tree ornament that someone gave me since moving to DC and I think it's so pretty I leave it up all of the time. I have seen jewelery in the shape of gingko leaves. But the other day I had to wait for a bus in this fair city and I got a little to close to the ripe gingko tree outside of EPA West on 14th St. The gag reflex that I lost in the seventh grade, that prevents me from vomiting, almost came back. Luckily, I seemed to miss getting any of its unique smell on my shoes or I would have had to cleaned my shoes. It is such a wretched stench and I want to know, why? What made the gingko tree go stinko? Is it someway of showing that it's poisonous, I don't think so. My sister told me they eat those gingko balls that fall off of it and smell so badly in Japan--It's a delicacy no less. Could it be a way to attract bugs to it so that it can pollinate or something? Any scientist out there, who can expain it? I would love to understand. I don't want to give the ginko a bad rap if there is a good reason for this aroma. Or maybe I just need to find a japanese restaurant that can roll me up some gingko.

Incidentally, I read that the slime from the fallen berries can often lead to a slippery sidewalk and is a known liability for real estate owners. So please be careful if you are walking down 14th between Pennsylvania and the Mall and DC residents need to be careful in particular. There are a g-damn lot of those trees here in DC.

En-G-aged

This G-girl is getting hitched. It's very exciting and it only took him five years to decide that I was the one for him. Just kidding. I am sure he knew from the moment he met me and my then boyfriend. Whatever, bygones.

We flew back to P-town a couple of weeks ago for FH's annual PAC fundraiser. I knew that even a hot senate race wasn't reason enough to buy me a plane ticket home, but that's what I love about him. It might be almost enough. [We'll see if he makes me buy my own ticket home next year.] It was Music Fest Northwest, a great music event, that lasts for four days and has more than 80 bands playing short shows at all of Portland's venues. We had a few hours before the fundraiser and I was sooooooo tired from flying in the night before and then going straight to two shows and staying out really late. But when your favorite guy asks you to go to a bar on a beautiful late summer afternoon and it's kind of far out of town and you went there on your first date and you have recently been looking at wedding rings..... what girl would say 'no'?

So over some very nice words and two bottles of Miller High Life, the champagne of beers, FH asked me to spend the rest of my life with him and pulled out a beautiful family heirloom ring. I tried not to interrupt him as he popped the question and then I gladly accepted. Twas probably the first time in 5 years that I didn't say something stupid.

They are working us to the bone

I am a month in to a serious herniated disk and knee deep in a big conference, media campaign rollout, annual report, and launch of a new website. Everything I have been working on for the last seven months is due next week. I have to brief the head of the agency in a week. I have to finish writing his speech, and I have to get better.

My days seem to consist of hitting snooz three or four times because I am so tired from staying up late. Then I get to work an hour late. Then it's go go go until 3 or so. Then I eat lunch and leave the office for the first time that day. Then I stay until 745 because if I stay later I can't get out of the building near my office and I have to walk around to the other side of the building, which at this point is more steps than I can handle.

They say working in Washington is supposed to pay off. I wonder how long I will have to wait.

Contractors, Friends or Foes?

The Bush Administration made a big push for contracting out government services in an effort to scale down government agencies. I can see how that might make sense on some levels. Government should do the things only government can do like making policy and enforcing laws but it doesn't mean that contracting everything else out like HR, communications stuff, defense stuff, jails, training, and much, much more will improve the quality of those things. Contracting out government work creates some interesting issues. For example, it creates administrative burden. Yes, I have to spend several hours each month reviewing invoices and reconciling what the contractor was supposed to do with what they say they did and what I think they did. And somehow contracting stuff out is supposed to make me as a bureaucrat better able to conduct my government work because they are doing some it? I am not sure. Right now it feels like coordinating that contract uses all of my "attention to detail" and "ability to multi-task" skills that I used to sell myself and get hired by the agency leaving me little energy left over to do the stuff that my experience and education suggested I would be doing. Okay, okay. Enough belly-aching. The other thing about working with contractors that is unfortunate is that we spend a lot of time working together and we rarely see each other face to face and we don't get to know each other, at least not very easily. Today I spent at least half of my day with contractors or exchanging emails with them on a couple of projects. At 7PM tonight it was me and a contractor working together over the phone. Not me and a staff member. Yes, if they were in the same city, we could go out for a beer, but they aren't. And the culture of the contract world, I assume, is different. Are they all happy-go-lucky 6-digit wage earners? No, I expect many of them work the same hours as me for the same peanuts but it's weird because in some ways you feel like they are your colleagues and teammates and in some ways you feel like they have a different attitude. Are they worried each budget season when the agency puts its budget forward or the Congress decides on a budget cut like we feds are? Why shouldn't they be? In many cases its their contracts that shrink. Still, it seems they are more insulated. Maybe the price we pay for feeling the sting of politics is that we have our GS security and our TSP.

Smarty Pants

So much happens here and I don’t have time to write about it all. People are mean, I visit beautiful places, I learn about some unique aspect of American history. This is DC. Each day is a mixed bag.

It’s true that everyone here is a smarty pants. With so much intelligence floating around in the air, I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that conversations can be exhausting, but it’s like everyone is paid to be an influencer whether it’s one they are paid to lobby the hill for or just which farmer’s market they think is best. Gone are the days of friends from all walks of life. In Portland I knew people who had PhDs and people who barely graduated high school. Not so here. A master’s degree is like a high school diploma. Most people went to an ivy league school. I celebrate the days that I meet folks that went to state schools and are from the 40 states to our east. What about plain old fun? There are always the kickball leagues but I am a little apprehensive. How different can they be?