The work week itself has been exceedingly dull. Other than chasing around one of the data trading partners’ sending of a bunch of duplicate transactions and checking on the status of the few remaining FY21 requirement acquisitions, there’s not been a lot, because, as I said, my pile is largely worked through, and everyone else […]

It always hits me hard today, though I always get through it. That said, I’ll be taking some time to think and remember, because that’s what we do. I take the lessons to heart, both obvious and implicit. Also, he would have totally dug the source of this post’s title. Cheers, Dad. You deserve a […]

I’m a little frustrated with the weather this week. Well, I’m frustrated with a bunch of things, really, especially at work, as I work to navigate a process that isn’t a process in the current “official” job, and deal with system partners who won’t listen to truths they don’t like in the “old” job that […]

I was, on the whole, actually pretty happy with the weekend, even if I didn’t quite hit a couple of interesting milestones. As if I don’t have enough deadlines and due dates thanks to my career as a public sector bureaucrat, I find myself forever setting other arbitrary lines to cross in my non-work life […]

Warning: contains promotional content! It has been, as they say, another week. And, looking back, a hell of a year. This time last year, things were just starting to get weird as the first cases of COVID-19 started popping up around these parts, leading to, well…you know. With the vaccines starting to work their way […]

Given current circumstances, as mentioned previously, Marscon didn’t happen as scheduled in person in Williamsburg this year, but a bunch of regulars stepped up to help create a virtual experience for those of us missing our chosen family of misfits. In the form of a bunch of online meetups, streaming video, and all the other […]

So, given the last ten days or so in Washington, we’re in all kinds of uncharted territory. While the former civics/history teacher in me is fascinated, the concerned citizen in me is, well, concerned, and not in a Susan Collins way. While I am absolutely in favor of impeachment here, because there have to be […]

Today is my last scheduled day of work for 2020. I’ve tied up everything I need to apart from one email response from one individual, who’s reply need only consist of “thumbs up*” for me to close the book on this particular item and feel like I’m keeping the project on track. Also, my body […]

Indeed, a week. As briefly teased in earlier dispatches, I’ve spent a large part of the week dealing with petty bureaucrats and their petty power-trips. It has, for the large part, sucked, though after working with some dare-i-say “allies” within the organization, I unleashed a little bit of bureaucratic jujitsu of my own, and have […]

Like I said yesterday, we’re going to be waiting a little bit for this one, but from where I’m sitting, things looks to be breaking our way. All it’s going to take is time. It’s the same way we get through any week, really, and this week’s been a long one for other reasons as […]