I spent all last week breathing in drywall dust thanks to construction at the office. Thus, I spent most of the weekend sacked out on the couch watching campy 80s movies and cracking the new Dresden (very good so far…you should read it). I’m required to do some actual work this week (both for the […]

So really, it was flying to Atlanta, but the history major in me leapt to Sherman’s march, and I felt like pissing off some Confederate sympathizers who might be reading, because that’s what we Damn Yankees are wont to do. So there. In any case, when we last left the ongoing narrative of my life, […]

I greet you, dear reader, from the suburbs of Atlanta, GA, while I eat my breakfast this fine balmy (and pollen-laden) morning here in the Capital of the Peach State, which I will likely get to see very little of over the next couple of days, unless one counts the interiors of hotel rooms and […]

warning: may contain old man yelling at cloud I guess it’s good news that I haven’t had reason to bitch about work for over six months since I started this new job. It’s a good job, with a great group of people (both locally and across the country), and I get to do all sorts […]

…when placed under stress. Life’s been very busy of late, as my wife’s been away a lot due to serious volunteer commitments. It doesn’t help these are commitments that require a certain amount of confidentiality and circumspection – there’s stuff she can’t talk about outside her committee. She disappears and has adventures, and I don’t […]

As of 4:30 yesterday afternoon, I’m done working for the rest of the year. Had a really nice holiday luncheon with my co-workers yesterday where we all ate way too much delicious Italian food, then spent the afternoon putting a bunch of things to bed and setting up my out-of-office autoresponder. So now, it’s two […]

Even though the Government is still shut down, I went back to work on Monday, as I’d been, thanks to a broad interpretation of the Pay Our Military Act, determined “essential”, at least until someone makes another decision that I’m not. Who knows if I’m going to get paid for it any time soon, though. […]

So, it’s the fourth day of the government shutdown. I haven’t been to work since Tuesday morning, when I went in for fifteen minutes to sign the letter telling me I was “non-essential” and changing my voice mail to reflect the fact that I won’t be available until congress gets their heads out of their […]

So, it’s looking more and more likely that, barring a miracle before midnight, Tuesday morning I’ll be heading into the office to sign furlough paperwork, then getting essentially locked out until Congress can stop playing chicken with my paycheck. While I’m known for getting occasionally political in this space, I haven’t actually done so in […]

I’m in kind of a countdown mode lately, both working my ass off and spinning my wheels at the same time. That description seems contradictory, but if you’ve found yourself staring down a big change on the horizon with enough time to brace for it and put a few lingering affairs in order before the […]