Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

I love going to the dentist for a filling. First they numb you up so even now, hours later, I still feel like a stroke victim who’s lost control over half of his face. Then they run a drill which was just as annoying to listen to when it wasn’t inside my mouth as it was (I checked, it was).  Then, when it was all over, I find out that evidently while they’re filing insurance on our behalf, they’re not taking payment from the insurance company – now they file, but you pay it all up front and get reimbursed by the insurance company. Whee.

Good thing I love my dentist (who gave me a lottery ticket for referring a co-worker to him – I won $1.00).

Add to the grumpiness the unseasonably warm, wet weather (I like warm weather, I like wet weather, but not together and not in November when it’s supposed to be cooler) and that the anesthetic has lead to a slight nausea and you have a fun morning.

In slightly better news™, my boss loved a memo I wrote yesterday for the front office, had no changes for it, simply asked that it be put on letterhead and signed out. Sweet. I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen, so is a good, good thing. Also, had a conference call over a payment issue that’s stretched out for months now, and it looks like we’re finally going to get to make some payments in a law suit now that everyone’s on board with the right database info and numbers. Whew. I will be happy to have that little thing off our plate. Now if I could just kill off the other two big projects that won’t die, I can get back to more normal matters…

I think I’m going to have to do a smack-down letter for the board at the cult co-op. We’ve put in a perimeter fence. It is finally going on-line this week (after starting construction May of last year). So, yes, I will be living in a gated community. Mainly this was because of the foot traffic that used the property as a cut-through to get to and from the Metro, some of which preyed on members who lived in the property, many of whom were loud and obnoxious when crossing.

Anyway, because I don’t have a car (there are not enough parking spots for each resident to have one), and because I don’t rent one of our few parking spaces, I don’t qualify (to the board) for one of the fobs that will open the parking lot gates via a radio signal, I only get a fob that opens the pedestrian gates. Never mind that I might have cause to enter in someone else’s car, or a rental car, or even, heaven forfend, ride up on my bicycle. Because I don’t own a car, I somehow don’t need the fob that opens the car gates. This royally pisses me off. I have just as much right to access any part of the property (since it is a co-op, and therefore is all owned in common by the corporation) as anyone who has a car. And, frankly, I’m miffed that I’m not going to be able to roll onto the grounds with my bike, as I can now. Instead I’ll have to get off the bike, haul the bike up onto the curb, wrestle the door open, hold it open with the bike in hand, get inside before it closes on me, and then hop back on and ride up to the building. Not so keen on that idea. So I’m going to fuss, and hopefully get one of the damned car fobs for my bike.

Spent a good chunk of the evening going over resumes one last time so I could rank them for our Board of Directors here at the cult co-op. I’ve been serving on the committee that’s reviewing new property managers’ resumes for the Board before they get their own chance at them, hoping to weed out some of the chaff before they get them. As is the way with these things, some where obviously outstanding, and some were obviously not suited to the position, but the majority were somewhere in the middle. I had a hard time classifying some of them, but I think I put the right ones in the right categories.

I had planned to go to the gym this evening after work (I ran this morning), but was feeling a tad too, er, gassy (damn that veggie burger), to make the gym a comfortable experience either for myself or my fellow weight lifters, so came home and went grocery shopping instead. Did need the groceries, so wasn’t a waste, but had been looking forward to the weight workout. I’m trying to stave off further injury in my chosen three sports (swim, bike, run), and need the help, but when it’s not in the cards, it’s not in the cards.

My parental units found an old personal page from 1999 that was still up for some reason. I thought the ISP had deleted the page, but evidently not. Thankfully I still use the email address from them, so was able to log in, archive the site, and delete it from the ‘net. It would be relatively easy for them to find this particular blog, I’m guessing, but one hopes they know better than to read it. If they do, oh well, they’ll certainly get an eyeful.

Had a Deputy Grand Lawyer come in and dump an assignment in my lap at 5:45 or so this evening, which was interesting. All of the stuff he wants is stuff we can pop out pretty quickly, thankfully, but I zapped an email off to the Assistant Grand Lawyer anyway to let her know so she knows why I’m writing all this stuff for the deputy tomorrow. It’s sometimes good to be the sole source, and sometimes not.

I’ve been dealing a lot the last couple of weeks with a serious budget shortfall that we’re dealing with in one of our accounts under the current Continuing Resolution. For non-DC types, a CR is a stop-gap measure that Congress passes to keep funding flowing, in a limited capacity, until they get off their asses and pass our regular spending bills. The last time the entire Federal government didn’t have a CR was somewhere around 1997 or 1998. Before that it was the mid-80s. It’s a regular occurrence that they don’t bother funding the government until sometime in November, or even as late as March. With the current switch in leadership we’re probably looking at a real bill closer to March.

But that wasn’t what I wanted to write about. What these discussions have entailed has been a series of conversations in which I’ve discovered for the first time just how old the workforce is at my Big Government Agency (BGA). Now, the figure that some exorbitant percentage of the Federal workforce is eligible to retire either right now or within the next five years or so has always been somewhat abstract. What I’m seeing now is that we’re going to be facing some serious leadership issues among the career staff pretty quickly here.

In the CFO’s shop they rattled off the names of several top managers who will be going either next year or the following year (typically people leave in January because of how the pay raises work in the federal government, and how that affects their retirement). By January of 2008 we will be missing all of our current top managers in that office, and I’m not sure how we’re going to replace them. In my own office, the General Counsel’s office, something like 60% of our workforce can retire right now. No waiting, they can just go out the door. At least three of our top managers are doing just that in January, and we’re not in a position to replace them right now with the current budget posture.

We’re in a precarious spot in the Federal government, and I’m not sure where we’re going to get the folks we need to do all of these jobs. I don’t know that we’ve ever been in a position where so much of the civil service was ready to head out the door en masse. And never before was it brought home so vividly as it has been under the current budget cycle. It’s worrisome to contemplate. I’m sure we’ll muddle through somehow, but as the Congress continues to (properly) put more requirements to be accountable with the responsibilities we carry out, it’s going to be more and more difficult unless we can replace folks who are already gone, and start to train replacements for the management that will be leaving soon.

Low-rise briefs take some getting used to.

But I think the effect might be worth it. (possibly NSFW link, underwear pics)

I voted right after 9 this morning, was a breeze – most notable moment was being asked
if I wanted paper or electronic, when my response was, “Paper, paper, paper! None of that electronic crap for me, thanks.”

Biked over to the gym in the rain, worked out for a little over an hour (light weights, high reps – trying not to be too sore tomorrow). Biked home in the rain (wet, wet, wet out there!), stripped down inside, dried the bike chain, showered, started laundry, ran to the pharmacy and grocery store, back to switch laundry, have a salad and now I’m watching the news.

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about the Democratic gains they’re projecting. If the Dems pick up even one house, my professional life will get much, much busier because the Dems actually exercise oversight over the agencies, which means a ton of official letters coming in with requests for information. Whee. It’s a good thing that the Congress exercises their Constitutional prerogatives, but it’s been relatively quiet these first three years at my current Big Government Agency, which isn’t such a bad thing, personally (not not such a good thing, as a citizen).

Anyway, back to watch the elections and get the laundry out of the driers.

… you get to work and you have a faux-hawk, not because that’s how you styled it when you left home, but because that’s how your hair gets squished down inside the helmet.

Been swimming a lot the past week. My skin has been exuding chlorine like mad, even after a post-swim shower. Up to today it’s been random stuff, just doing the occasional 100 repeat or a skill drill or the like. Tonight I hauled out my “Swim Workouts ina Binder” and did an actual form drills workout. Was nice to have some order, and I think I definitely benefitted from doing more organized drill work.

I wanted to note this article from the Washington Post this week – it’s about teens who go vegetarian, so as a veggie it caught my eye, but the opening paragraph was what really caught my eye:

When Leslie Calman’s 16-year-old son, Ben, came home from school one day last year and announced he was going vegetarian, Calman and her partner, Jane Gruenebaum, did what few families do when a child decides to stop eating animals: They immediately supported his decision.

Now, this was just a run of the mill article about families dealing with a teen going veggie, but I had to stop and re-read the paragraph a couple times to make sure I didn’t miss that they had just named this woman and her partner in such a matter of fact, normal presentation. How Freakin’ Cool. It’ll be better once it’s “Calman and her wife,” if they choose to get married, but I was just so happy to see an article in the paper that just presented this type of family portrait without any real fanfare, and as exactly what it is – normal.

Did a short run this morning, less than 2 miles, and no knee pain. The stretching and what not has helped. Have to figure out my gym schedule for weights now, to strengthen the joints and what not, but I’m confident that it’ll work out (no pun intended).
I’m hearing now that the half iron race I was looking at for next fall puts the run on gravel and not pavement, and I’m thinking 13.1 miles on gravel isn’t such a fun idea for me. So I’m back to looking for another one. I’ve also managed to get a bunch of the attorneys at work all psyched about running the Lawyers Have Heart 10k race in June. Should be fun, and I’m hoping we’ll get some of the non-runners hooked on it, too.

Had to take a break from the more serious stuff I’ve been reading lately, and picked up a fantasy novel I’d picked up at some point to use to fill time, and even to my mostly-non-critical eye the author is beating us over the head with the central story – Camelot. Ugh. Subtlety seems to be lost on this guy, and his Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot characters are exactly playing to type. It’s a bit disappointing, I prefer if someone’s going to tell a story over that they do it a tad less obviously, or at least with a better or more interesting retelling. Might have to dump it in favor of some more modern Chinese fiction in translation if this keeps up.

And there goes “tattoo” at the Fort, so it’s time to shut down for bed.