Oh No - Work

Today was my first day back in the office in about 2 1/2 weeks. Which is not to say I haven't been working. I have, but from home or at least on the days I wasn't off due to the holidays. Today it was back to the normal grind. My 80 mile commute and the 1 1/2 hours in the Vanpool. Oddly it wasn't that hard getting up at 3:30 this morning to get ready. Maybe it was the anticipation of heading back to work. I was even able to easily fall back into my routine of sleeping most of the way to the base. It was a busy day and I'm definitely behind. I got a lot done today, unfortunately it wasn't on the things that really needed working on. Tomorrow and Thursday are reserved for that. I've been assigned an intern to help train and groom to replace me if I choose to retire this year. She seems eager enough so thats good. I also had my end of year review today. It went well. No pay raise this year though as the President has frozen cost of living adjustments for all Federal workers. I'd like to say I'm bitter about it, but I'm not really. There are millions that are literally a lot worse off then I am. My wife and I both have jobs we enjoy and while the pay isn't the same as our private sector counterparts, the jobs still pay well enough. A 2.0% pay raise or lack thereof isn't going to break us as a family one way or another. After a 2 hour and fifteen minute commute home, I can tell I'm feeling the effects of the long day. I'm exhausted and all I want to do is go to bed, which I plan to do right after I post this.

In case I missed saying it, a Happy New Year and I wish everyone the best for 2011 . May happiness be in all your hearts throughout the year. Good night.

A Follow Up and Things

In a follow up to yesterday's post, Maryland gave Coach Friedgen a proper send off by beating East Carolina 51-20. I was happy to see plenty of Maryland fans had brought along "Thanks Ralph" signs. I'm glad his team was able to send him out on a high note. The team has a lot of young talent. Ralph didn't leave the cupboard bare for the next coach. Things should be bright for next year if the new coach is any good at all. Maryland has said they want to name a new coach by January 4 - the official start of recruiting. Lets hope they stay on schedule.

Given the name of this blog you would think I would mention rowing every once in a while. Well it is winter and the temperatures have been below freezing for an unimaginable time for Virginia. For sure on water rowing is done until 1 April, weather permitting. So it's time for that all so popular winter conditioning. Like in most years past once our last race is over (1st weekend in November), I fall off the wagon during the rest of November and most of December only to try and drag myself back out of the fitness abyss. I have dug my erg out of Daughter#2's old bedroom put on a new handle and did my first 5,000 meter indoor row yesterday. It was painfully slow, but not unexpected given the long layoff. It's just about getting a bit faster and stronger with each workout. I'll be doing another 5,000 meter row tomorrow. If I manage anything close to respectability for my age, I will certainly post it here.

Today was also my last workday for the year. I'm off until Monday and low is the work backed up. That first week back is going to be pure hell. Retirement is sounding better all the time.

Race Results and Mistaken Identity

So Daughter#2 wants to know how the races went on Sunday. Well good and bad. My boat came in 2nd out of two. Not surprising as we were racing a boat whose average age was 20 years younger. The margin of defeat was somewhat embarrassing though. The Son's 4+ also came in last, but a lot closer then my boat. The good? The weather was gorgeous. Sunny, not overly hot and a light breeze. Water conditions were wonderful. Who wouldn't want to row under those conditions? Also good? The club as a whole did really well. The Mens 8+ came in 3rd in a race where only 2 seconds separated the top 4 boats. The Womens 8+s came in 1st and 3rd. The Womens 4+s came in 1-2-3. The Women's Lightweight Quad came in 1st and our Mixed 8+ came in 1st. Quite a good showing. They served some ice cream after the racing was over, which The Son got to enjoy. Since my race was next to last, we chose to just return to the boathouse and not stop at Sandy Run. The Regatta was run out of Sandy Run. It was a good time for all, I think.

In other rowing related news, my Coach has asked me to row in a mixed Double (2X) with her at our next Regatta, which is Diamonds State in Middleton, DE. That takes place next Sunday. I've never entered a sprint race in a boat that small. We practiced this morning to see how thing might go. It wasn't hot, but Lord the humidity. I was soaked by the end. We did four 1,000 meter pieces. I was just exhausted by the end. I had also did the same thing the evening before, also in a Double. I don't think I was fully recovered or more likely, properly hydrated to do back to back practices like that. We have another practice in the Double scheduled for Sunday morning.

In a weird happening on Tuesday I was confused for the base taxi driver. Most of the guys that do the bulk of the driving for my van pool were out on Tuesday. Another driver took us to his office building just outside the base gates and then I had to drive the van onto the base. After dropping off the two remaining riders before proceeding to my building, this women hops in the van and asks to be taken to the base medical clinic. I was sort of taken aback and stunned and not quite sure what to do. I figured she must have had an appointment there and since she was walking with a limp, I figured it wouldn't hurt to take her considering the clinic is on the way to my building. As we drove along she was asking all these questions on where she could and couldn't be picked up by the taxi. It finally dawned on me that this women thought our van was the Base Taxi (they do use the same white 14 person vans although they are clearly marked with signs that say "Base Taxi" on them). I dropped her off without incident never really telling her that my van wasn't the Base Taxi. Weird.

The Cold Dark Side of Work and College Football

I can't tell you how much it sucked when the alarm went off this morning at 3:30. It was so hard to get up. The house was dark and cold. Even our dog had the sense not to get out of bed. Cursing my fate, I did roll out of bed and get in the shower to start getting ready. The only upside was the van we commute in was already warmed up by the time Ann and I got to the commuter lot where we pick it up. There is nothing more depressing then leaving for work in the dark and getting home in the dark. I live the life of a vampire. Work itself wasn't bad for a first day back. It was uncharacteristically quiet. No calls from the Program Office and none from my Contractors. Even my boss, who was in, didn't stop by my desk all day. All that quiet did let me be pretty productive though.

I'm watching the Fiesta Bowl between Boise State and TCU while I type this out. What an injustice that these two non-BCS schools are playing each other rather then one of the ranked BCS schools. It's as if the BCS Committee has relegated them to the equivalent of the kiddie table at Thanksgiving. I think the Committee intentionally sought to minimize the impact these two schools would have on the whole BCS ranking process. Not to mention sparing a school like Oklahoma from being embarrassed again at the hands of a non-BCS school. Sooner or later they have to institute a play-off system. It's the only sport that doesn't have one. All other divisions of college football have one, why not the majors? There would be still plenty of money to spread around, which is what it's all about. This rant brought to you by Jimmy Football. Tailgate tested, tailgate approved.

The Red Eye Home

I took the red eye back from California and landed at Dulles about 6:30 this morning. It was one full flight. Every single seat on the plane was taken. They were bribing people to give up their seats before take off. I don't remember any of the flight as I was fast asleep. I'm lucky that I can sleep on a plane, which is part of the reason I take red eyes. The idea of spending a whole day flying east just seems a colossal waste of a day. By taking the red eye, I have all Friday at home rather then on a plane landing just in time to hit afternoon holiday traffic. No thanks.

Before my flight home, I finished my long week of sitting in a conference room listening to such interesting subjects as work packages, COBRA reports, basis of estimates, resource loading, earned value management, etc. Made for some very long days. I so looked forward to getting out of there. I had a small hop from Sacramento to San Francisco on a commuter flight. Despite the hearings on the commuter plane crash in Buffalo, I get a kick out of riding the smaller planes. The single flight attendant we had was a a hoot. Telling us she hoped we never smoked period let alone not doing it in the bathroom. Or if we ever planned future trips in a pressurized metal tube, think of her airline. So thanks Kathy for the levity.

The majority of the day after getting home was spent just resting up. I took a nap. Woke up and showered and unpacked. Just relaxed the rest of the day and enjoyed the great weather we're having. The Son came over for pizza in the evening. Better yet, it appears that The Son may have a job! He goes in on Wednesday for a final meet and greet, but he has been told that the job is his. Lets hope so. It certainly lightens the mood around here.

Hope everyone has a fun Memorial Day weekend. I know I'm looking forward to some rowing on the Occoquan and some biking on the W&OD Trail. And for those who serve and for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our great country, we salute you. We can never thank you enough.

Sunny California and an Unexpected Road Trip

I'm spending the week in sunny California, in the suburbs of Sacramento, CA, being an observer and babysitter for a bunch of engineers and program management types.  Today was the first day of meetings and OMG can we say boring?  Lord I'm glad I don't do this kind of work (financial management) for a living.  The only good thing I can say about the meeting is the food is good, especially the afternoon cookies. While we are on the subject of California can I talk about the weather?  It's sunny and quite pleasant.  The locals are complaining on how hot it is. True it is in the low 90s, but I laugh at their misery.  Why you ask?  Their 90s is nothing.  The dry heat feels more like the 80s.  Back in Virginia, the 90s comes with matching humidity. You literally sweat standing still.  I think Californians are a bit spoiled.

Over the weekend I got to go on an unplanned road trip.  Ann and I were in the middle of cooking dinner when a call came in from Daughter#2.  She and some friends were out riding the C&O Canal from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown.  They were making a weekend of it and carrying their own camping gear on their bikes.  Unfortunately a strong line of thunderstorms whipped through the area on Saturday night soaking them and flooding the campgrounds. They were wet and cold and miserable so they called to see if I would come pick them up.  It's what Dads do so Ann and I put dinner aside and headed out for the hour and a half trip.  They were in Sharpsburg, MD. Sharpsburg is the site of one of the most famous battles of the civil war.  If you scratching your heads trying to remember the Battle of Sharpsburg, you probably know it under a different name - Antietam. It's the single bloodiest day of war in American history.  Over 23,000 casualties in a single day. I've always wanted to visit the battlefield and I've read several books about the battle and now here I was.  We crossed Antietam Creek on the way into Sharpsburg and I could see the lighted entrance to the Park.  Hopefully I'll get back to see it during the day and not in the dead of night.  Daughter#2 and her friend were hold up at a country store right off the canal.  The couple that owns the store/museum took them in and gave them some hot tea.  The place was hard as heck to find in the rainy night and we drove by it twice before they flagged us down.  They were thrilled to see us and to be picked up.  My eyes are not any where close to being 100% so I let daughter#2 drive home after a stop at the local Sharpsburg Burger King for something to eat.  Daughter#2 and her friend made us breakfast the next morning as a way to say Thanks and was much appreciated.  The kids might grow up and move out, but they still need you every now and again. 

Scans and Treats

It has been so gloomy, drizzly, overcast, cold and rainy for the past month I was beginning to think that some transformation had occurred that had dumped me in England. Finally, today, the sun is shining and it's beginning to warm up. Warmer temperatures cannot come soon enough to suit me.

Yesterday I went to our local X-Ray/Imaging Center for a bone scan. I have what I like to think is a mild case of osteoporosis in my upper hip/lower back area. I'm not prone to breaking anything, but the bones are not what they should be. I take calcium supplements and Fosamax and it seems to be doing the trick. My last bone scan was better than the previous one and hopefully the trend will continue with this scan. I would have totally missed the appointment if I hadn't loaded the date and time into my cell phone. When the alarm went off, I was grumbling that someone had the nerve to call me when I was at home until I saw what it was and then had to scramble to get out the door. It didn't help that I couldn't find the referral from my Doctor. I had given it to Ann for safekeeping. I called her at work, but of course she wasn't at her desk. She never is, it seems, when I really need to reach her. Talk about adopting a new dog? She's always available. Need to reach her in an emergency? Forget it. You are so out of luck. After ripping apart our office and the file cabinet, I located it sitting right next to where my wallet was. Oops. I did make it there in time. Well 3 minutes late, but that's close. The scan itself was pretty uneventful. You just lay back and let the machine does whatever it does. In and out in about 45 minutes including doing the paperwork.

Thursday is the one day I actually look forward to coming to work. At least I do once I manage to drag my butt out of the beg and quit begging the alarm for just 5 more minutes. The reason I look forward to Thursdays is its Treat Day. Today's offerings were bagels, donuts, three different cheeses, crackers and muffins. All quite good and I had my fair share. Yum.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow, finally, I might get out on the water for my first row. It's suppose to be warm enough and as long as it's not too windy, it should be a go. We'll see how out of shape I really am.

For anyone curious about rowing and would like to experience it first hand, the Prince William Rowing Club is offering the first of three "Learn to Row" days this Sunday starting at 1:00PM at the Oxford Boathouse at the Lake Ridge Park Marina in Woodbridge. I'll try to post more information on it tomorrow.

Making the Dance and a Test Ride

It was a slow week, which equals no new blog entries. The most excitement was doing some bookkeeping for the Rowing Club so we could figure out a budget for next year. Fun times.

As documented in my last entry from this past Monday, we got about 8 inches of snow and the temperature never got out of the 20s. Yesterday, Sunday, a week later, the temperature hit 80 and the snow was long gone. We opened windows long closed for the winter. I debated long and hard about how to spend my day - go to erg class or go biking. Given that it's a new to me bike where I actually clip my feet into the pedals, something I've never tried before I've been a bit intimidated by the bike. Rather than get out on the bike trail miles from home, I decided that perhaps it would be prudent to practice riding the bike around the neighborhood and getting my feet in and out of the pedals without falling and doing a face plant on the asphalt. That being the case, I headed off to erg class to get my exercise. As erg classes go, It wasn't too bad and I got 10, 500 meters in. After class I came home and made Taylor Ham and egg sandwiches for Ann and I. At that point I decided it was time to break out the bike. I needed to put some air in the small tires that are on a road bike. I had to play around with a valve adapter for about 10 minutes before I could get the air pump locked on properly and fill the tires. After that I hopped on the bike and headed off. I'm happy to report that the bike rode like a dream (it's a Felt F75) and I was able to get my feet in and out of the pedals without losing my balance. It took some advance planning on my part to make sure that I had plenty of time to think about what I needed to do and then do it. I haven't come across an emergency stop yet so I'm not ready to say that I'm totally comfortable with it yet. I also found out that my legs didn't have much left in them after going to the erg class so I kept the test ride short, about 4 miles. I'm looking forward to more rides as the weather heats up.

Friday, my day off, I had a dentist appointment. No new news there, which is always good news. The rest of the day was spent getting the Rowing Club's books in order in preparation for a meeting of the Board on Saturday morning.

Saturday started off with the Board meeting. I do have to say, the President has some tasty goodies for us. The meeting was long, but we did approve a budget and we were able to hold the line on our membership fees and keep them the same as last year. Hopefully that will meet the needs of our membership during these tough economic times. After the meeting I did the grocery shopping. Always a fun time. I wanted to get that out of the way before the big event of the day, which to us was the final of the Big South Basketball Tournament. The Son's school (Radford) was in the final and playing for a berth in the NCAA Tournament. We missed the first 5 minutes or so as the game before, which was totally meaningless, ran long. It was probably just as well as VMI jumped out 13-0 before Radford scored their first basket. In the end, Radford won going away although not without a few nail biting moments as VMI kept it close throughout. So The Son is very excited about his school going to the Dance although they will probably be a 16 seed and draw Connecticut or UNC in the first round.

All in all, the weekend seemed to fly by and here it is Monday again and I'm back at work. I need longer weekends. I am excited though about having Daylight Savings Time. I need more sunlight in the evening and not so much in the morning seeing I'm at my desk by 630 AM. Morning sunlight doesn't benefit me a lot. One benny this week - my boss is on travel all week.

Back to the Grind

Like many people, today marked the return to my normal routine. Normal for me on a Monday is to get up at 3:30 in order to catch my vanpool at 4:45 to make the 80 mile trip into southern Maryland in order to be at my desk by 6:30. I'd be lying if I said that getting up at 3:30 wasn't hard after sleeping in for the past two weeks. Not that 3:30 is ever all that easy. As I was getting ready I discovered I had forgotten to pick up my shirts from the cleaners. Ooops. I was able to salvage another shirt for today that I don't normally wear anymore. Once on the van, I slept like someone dead to the world all the way in. I was still half asleep as I tried to go through an automatic door that wasn't working. Someone had to mention to try the other door. My day was off to a great start. The best I can say about my first day back was that it was slow. No meetings, my Contractors didn't call and my bosses left me alone. I think everyone was trying to slowly get back into things and plowing through all their unread e-mails. I caught up on some administrative things and did other small tasks before jumping onto the bigger tasks tomorrow. The shock of returning to work was softened somewhat by one of my co-workers preparing a large spice cake with cream cheese frosting. My that was good. There was plenty for me to have a second piece. That made for a nice sugar coma on the way home as I again slept like the dead. I wasn't in the mood to pick up my shirts, but that was unavoidable. I did that while Ann prepared dinner. Tomorrow is another day. It doesn't get any easier.

FOIA - The Other Side of the Coin

I don't talk about work very often and I think we can all agree that's for a good reason. There is a reason the verb to be Dooced is now part of the mainstream blogosphere. I think we can also agree that for the most part the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA is also a good thing. The people have a right to know what their Government is up to. But I'd like to speak from the other side for a moment. First let me say that my agency doesn't do any investigations or the like. We don't compile dossiers on malcontents, etc. What we do is buy things. Very expensive things. In an environment of shrinking budgets everyone is looking for an advantage. A leg up on their competition. So enter FOIA. I'm currently assigned to work two FOIA actions since they involve my contracts. Both are clearly fishing requests related to an upcoming competition I will be involved in. The companies making the requests obviously don't know what to ask for or aren't sure what to ask for and therefore ask for everything. While you may say this is just being thorough, I say it's just using the old adage of lets throw enough sh*t against the wall and see what sticks. Most of what they are requesting just flat out doesn't exist. And when you have an effort that lasts a couple of years and you ask for copies of "all correspondence" you're literally looking at hundreds of letters and e-mails. The job of researching, cataloging, making recommendations on what is releasable and what is not and making copies of all this falls to you know who. We are coming up on the end of the year. I'm up to my eyebrows in work that needs to get done and I really don't have time for these fishing expeditions. However, by law, I have too. So far I've spent about 40 hours trying to fulfill these FOIA requests and I'm still not done. Another frustrating part of it is that I don't know who really is requesting the information. Oh sure I have a name of a company, but they are only acting as a front for who is really asking for the information. There are literally dozens of companies here in the Washington area who exist solely to do this sort of thing. It's all rather sleazy. Frankly you have to wonder who really wades through all the stuff we ultimately provide them and of what value it is. Most of what they really want, pricing information and unique/proprietary data isn't releasable anyway. And they do have to pay for my time and I don't come cheap.

On a similar note, on a competition I was involved in earlier this year, the award of which was protested by one of the losing companies, a decision was just issued on Monday - we won and the protest denied. Yes! Chalk one up for the good guys.

Internet Problems

For the past month or so our Internet connectivity has been somewhat spotty. We have a wireless network here at home compliments of Comcast. We've had it for several years now as it was the only way to save our sanity with everyone wanting to be on the Internet at the same time. Through replacing our computers from time to time and the kids all getting computers as they headed off to college, we have quite the collection of new and old computers connected up. Also, The Son, using his Computer Science degree, has also helped getting the various printers connected up as well. All was running well enough until about a month ago we started having problems with our gateway linking up with the Internet. Over the past month we've had three technicians come to the house to diagnose the problem. All pretty much agreed that the problem was the signal coming in from the street. It wasn't as strong as it should be. The first two also thought that we had too many splitters on our system between the box at the back of our house to our various TVs and gateway. Paperwork was put in to fix the box out on the street, but nothing got any better. Finally this past Tuesday the third Tech arrived. He sort poo poo the whole splitter argument and said the problem was definitely the signal coming from the street. A call was made and confirmation received that paperwork was in the system, but no one had gotten around to looking at the box out on the street. More calls were made and a Comcast truck showed up in short order and voila, a working reliable signal is now reaching our house. It took them all of about 15 minutes to fix whatever was wrong. It's all about priorities I guess. It never affected our TV signal though, which was kind of weird.

Wednesday turned out to be a perfect spring day with temperatures in the 70s. Since I work from home that day, I rushed over to Sandy Run during my lunch hour for a quick row. As I suspected the boathouse was locked up. Most people tend to row before or after work, so I unlocked it and dragged out a rack that holds 5 singles. I grabbed a boat and headed out. Usually when I row I don't have any time constraints and I can row as long as I like, but since I was on my lunch hour, I couldn't be out all that long. So I did a 6 mile row. Given time to drive to and from, get the boat out and row took me about 2 hours. I added an hour at the tail end of my work day to make up the time. Next time I'll try just 4 miles and see how that works. It was a great day to be out on the water though. There was a some debris on the corners of the lake, which is common after heavy rains, but I manged not to hit anything. Even better when I got back to the dock, someone was waiting and offered to take my boat out so I didn't have to wash it and put it away. Score!

Thursday at work was a designated clean up day. A day to get long overdue filing done and generally throw away those old files you haven't looked at in two years. Management went all out for us providing us with both breakfast and lunch. For breakfast it was homemade waffles. Two of the bosses manned waffle irons keeping us full. They also had donuts and some fruit. For lunch they ordered up over 30 pizzas of various types. It seemed like all I did all day was eat. I hardly wanted dinner. Not that I skipped it or anything. I'll need some extra rowing or biking this weekend.

In Virginia we have a requirement to get our cars inspected once a year. This month our minivan was due for its inspection. I was worried it might fail as the van now has over 50,000 miles on it, but still has the original tires. They still have some tread, but it's not like they're brand new. My worries proved unfounded and the van passed so it's good for another year. Yea!

Erging, Flying and Baking

My slow return to some sort of reasonable rowing shape continues. I attended my erg class on Sunday and actually survived and clocked in 11,200 meters. And I could still walk. I actually erged again today. I did another 5,000 meter piece and my splits continue to come down, but still a ways to go, but it's encouraging. Today is the first day I could go out in a single, but it's way to windy. I'll take a look and see how Friday looks. Saturday is definitely out as the high schools will be racing every Saturday between now and mid May. Sunday is also a possibility, but I'd like to reserve that for my bike, but I'm flexible.

Daughter#1 is back in Connecticut after taking some time off and going to Florida. In a little deja vu along the lines of Daughter#2 and her trip, Delta delayed their 7:00PM flight until 10:30PM with actual take off at 11:05. Needless to say, she didn't get home until about 2:30 in the morning. I'm sure she appreciated that. While she was gone, we had some work done on her car. She has been driving around with her "Check Engine" light on for quite a while. Turns out her catalytic converter was no longer functioning. $$$ Also her brakes were basically metal on metal - front and back $$$ Her tires were also worn out and she somehow had managed to dent two of her rims. $$$ Ouch.

Today being Wednesday, it's my day to make dinner. I also have to bring in food for work tomorrow. I usually just buy various baked good for people to nibble on and, in fact, I have bagels and donuts already bought, but today I'm going to try baking some bread to take in. We see how it turns out given my limited baking skills.

The Golden Arches

It's a sad day in the world of fast food. The inventor of the Egg McMuffin, the McDonalds almost perfect fast food breakfast delight, past away today. Herb Peterson was 89.

My start in the business world, such as it was, was working at McDonalds. So much has changed from when I started working there at the tender age of 16. When I worked at McDonalds, it was a drive in. Not as we know drive ins today. There were no speakers and no drive up window. You drove to the McDonalds, got out of your car and walked inside to order and get your food. Then you left. There were no tables. No place to sit. You ate in your car or took it home. In those days working at McDonalds was actually considered cool. It ranked up their with being a lifeguard as the two best summer jobs you could have. It was also a men's only job. No women worked at McDonalds. The menu was also much simpler. Just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, double hamburgers and double cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches, fries, soft drinks, apple pies and milkshakes. That was it. I started in french fries. The fries were made by hand. They didn't come frozen in boxes like they do today. We had these huge 100 pound sacks of potatoes that had to be hauled up from the basement, peeled, sliced and blanched. Since I weighed about 125 pounds at the time, manhandling these sacks of potatoes was quite an effort. And the smell - OMG. Some bags would start to rot before we got to them and the stink down in the basement where they were stored would make your eyes water. Of course being around all that grease that we fried the potatoes in did wonders for my sensitive teen skin. I think I still have some blocked pores from working there. I never developed the speed to work the grill. There was an art to be able to cook twenty-four hamburgers at a time and cook them without either burning the hell out of them or leaving them pink inside. I eventually worked my way up to working the registers in my second year and opening up in the mornings (no breakfast items back in the day). During the two years I worked at a McDonalds, they did introduce the Big Mac. We got to eat for free on our breaks and we consumed Big Macs by the dozen. To this day, I cannot eat a Big Mac. I got to where the taste would make me gag. They also started hiring women after I had been there about a year. At first they would only hire "mature" women. You know, women your Mother's age. I'm not sure what that was all about. I left before teen girls ever worked there. I earned barely the minimum wage, which back then was like $1.50 an hour. I also had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to and from school. Actually I liked working there. It was mostly just weekends during the school year and more full time during the summer. It gave me walking around money, which is all I really needed.

Back to Work

Yesterday was my first day back to work since before Christmas. First day of work, but not in the office since I worked from home. Things were much quieter than normal and certainly not what I suspected. I assumed almost everyone would be back and the e-mails would be flying. Not so. I didn't get a single e-mail directed solely to me. I got a few that were sent to the whole Department,but that was it. I guess most people are still off. Even my industry counterpart was missing in action. The silence did allow me to catch up on a few items. I'm sure it won't last. I was off today using up the last of my 2007 vacation days so I'll work from home again tomorrow. I'm hoping tomorrow will be as quiet as Wednesday.

The Son is having a few minor repairs done to his condo that we discovered since he moved in. I spent this afternoon at the condo to let the handyman doing the work in. He had his bathroom regrouted, and his linen closet door repaired. His sliding glass door also popped off the track and almost fell in on him and his gf. It's an old door and needs to be replaced. The Handyman got it back on the track and adjusted it a bit, but its still marginal. While the work was being done, I just played on The Son's computer and watched tv until he was finished. The work seemed to be well done and not expensive. We'll probably have the handyman come do some things around our house.

I erged again this morning after taking yesterday off since I was working. I did a 30 minute row and did just ok. I'm still rebuilding my aerobic base and its coming slowly. I didn't get the distance I wanted or I'm capable of. Since I'm working tomorrow and I also have a dentist appointment, I'll probably skip rowing tomorrow and row Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully I can improve on my performance during January.

Another Day Another Dollar

Nothing too exciting today. It was a work from home day as I ditched out on my office Christmas party. The day did turn out a little busier than I anticipated as people keep e-mailing me with questions. I have a Request for Proposal out on the street and people have all sorts of questions. You deal with them the best you can.

Working from home did give me a chance to erg today. I did a 5000 meter row and while not beating my best ever time, I was close enough to indicate that I'm getting back into shape. If i can get my average 500 meter split down another second, I'll be right where I should be. I'll try and do another longer row tomorrow. It's hard making myself erg sometimes. It does tend to get a little boring especially on the longer rows.

After finishing up work for the day, I was in the mood for something light and funny. One of my kids, I can't remember if it was Daughter#1 or The Son, gave me "Beerfest" for Christmas last year. I wonder why? Anyway it's pretty stupid movie, but very funny too. It was just what I needed.

After the movie, I somehow got roped into preparing dinner. It was actually fairly easy. It just involved throwing a steak on the grill. It was prepared with peppercorns so it was a bit different. Add french fries and some mixed veggies and we were all set. Unfortunately, we failed to plan for desert and we were all out of ice cream. We settled for some Hershey Kisses instead.

Office Christmas Parties

Tomorrow is our big office Christmas party, not to be confused with our Department Christmas party, which is next week. Parties are nice, but when you're in a vanpool, it becomes an inconvenience to everyone. The parties are held away from the office. Therefore, I have to fine a ride to the party. Then I need to find someone to take me back, usually midparty, so I can catch the van home. I decided to bypass all that this year and work from home tomorrow. I'll have a Dominion Ale and toast my coworkers and wish them a Merry Christmas from afar. It's funny how our office Christmas parties have changed over the years. When I was but a lowly intern, Christmas parties were held in the office. Food was brought in for the masses. Nothing all that fancy. The usual party trays of cold cuts and salads. Contractors that fed off the Defense Department all year and from whom we bought the weapons of war would drop by one by one with large bottles of liquor and wine and cases of beer for us and a good time was had by all. It was pretty amazing actually. Eventually it was decided that Government employees shouldn't be letting the private sector ply us with booze. Actually that was always the case, but Management turned a blind eye to it for that one day a year. So then we partied with alcohol that we bought ourselves. No more appearance of impropriety. Since a lot of us were young and not far removed from college and didn't have rather sophisticated tastes, quantity was still more important than quality. Jack Daniels? Too expense on our meager Government salaries. Falling back on our college knowledge, we would prepare a trashcan full of fruit juices, vodka and some grain alcohol for that added kick. We added dry ice to give it that festive air. One year, in a scene right out of Jonestown, our head Administrative Assistant would literally drag nonimbibers to the trash can and make them drink. The grain alcohol gave us all very rosy cheeks. Very merry indeed. Somehow I inherited the job as head punch maker for a few years. My 15 minutes of fame. The sanctioned parties in the office eventually fell out of favor. No more drinking in the offices. Very unprofessional and all. So now since we're in southern Maryland, its the thing to rent out the local volunteer fire hall. Its all very proper now, but somehow it lacks the same intimacy we had back in the day. Ill leave the partying to the youngsters. God its sad getting old.

In other news, words you don't want to hear: "Dad the check engine light is on in my car". Merry Christmas to you too old Honda Civic. I marveled at the answer from the local Honda dealership in Connecticut when Daughter#1 tried to make an appointment to have the problem diagnosed. "Oh give it a day or two and see if the onboard computer resets itself". Like that will happen. It's like dealing with my computer provider when the Internet is down and we all know how that works out. Life is never dull.

Special Treats

Some days it pays to come into work. Not often, but it does happen. This morning we were surprised by one of our co-workers bringing in a blueberry cobbler. Mmmmmmm...yummy. That should hold me till lunch. Of course between the cobbler and my Coke, I'll probably go into a sugar coma around 9:00. I hope I don't end up drooling all over my keyboard.

Friday Update

Friday was a workday so not a lot of time to do much other than work even, if it was from home. It is kind of amusing though as Ann and I both work from home on Friday and along with The Son's computer, we have five computers running on our wireless home system. Which brings me to a complaint about our work remote access. If we connect via broadband, which we do, we get disconnected after being on for just an hour and have to reconnect. Its truly annoying. Not to mention you're always in the middle of doing something that you haven't saved for a while and then it all disappears into the ether world. So far requests to adjust things have gone unresolved. I'm so glad we've outsourced our whole computer operation.

I was suppose to go out rowing yesterday evening. The forecast was for clear, but windy. I went down to the end of our block where I can see the Occoquan. It looked pretty choppy so I called my partner and cancelled. I don't think she was too pleased. Of course ten minutes after I called, the wind all but disappeared. Figures. We'll try again next week. We're suppose to get a big nor'easter on Sunday so rowing then is out. This is turning out to be a tough spring to row.

I used to be a big baseball fan growing up in NJ. I loved to play the game as a little leaguer, (Yea Newfoundland Cardinals!). I used to love the NY Yankees in their heyday. I can still name all the starters. I owned a Mickey Mantle signature glove (that I still have) and batted using a Yogi Berra model. I think half the team use to use it. I all but cried when I broke it. Back in those days you just put a few small nails in the handle where it was broken, taped it back up and you were good to go. Sort of. It was never quite the same. I adopted the Mets when they came on the scene and suffered through many a losing season till they won the World Series in 1969. After moving from NJ when I was 14 though it was harder and harder to sustain my love for the Mets, the world series not withstanding. When I moved to Virginia as an adult, Washington no longer had a team and frankly without a team I wasn't really interested in following baseball anymore. I still played - softball for a work league. I know there was the Orioles, but lets be honest they're the BALTIMORE Orioles. Peter Angelos position to the contrary, they're not Washington's team. So it was kind of exciting when the Expos moved from Montreal to Washington and became the Nationals. Sure they had no real owner other than MLB who refused to let them have any payroll whatsoever. So we ended up with castoffs that nobody wanted. To every one's surprise they've been pretty competitive. Except that is, for this year. They finally got real owners, a new stadium is being built (despite the gross ineptitude of both MLB (greed is our name) and the DC government (I think they all were schooled at the Marion Barry School for Idiots) ). The new owners have laid out this grand plan of building up the farm system and being ready for next year when the new stadium will open. All well and good, but lord could they have not spent a little money on players this year? They've discarded anyone of any value save one or two players and it shows. They've lost all but two games this year and usually by large margins. Its going to be a long summer for the Nationals. I fear the new owners risk alienating the fans to the extent that it will hurt them in the future. You just can't write off a whole season.

Treat Day

In general, I like my job. Its interesting and pays decent for a civil servant gig. Without doubt though, the highlight of the week is treat day. Every Thursday one of my workmates (at least those that participate) bring in goodies. There are about 16 that are a part of this, so my time to provide treats is once every four months or so. Now being a guy it doesn't take much to please me foodwise, but really if your bringing in treats there are a few simple rules. The first is you need your main dish. For some (like me) who don't or can't bring in something cooked the night before, this means bagels. For a lot of others, its some form of scrambled egg casserole. The only other rule to this is provide something that lends itself to constant nibbling through out the morning. I like to bring in mini donuts. I bring in both kinds - powdered sugar coated or chocolate covered. I also bring grapes for the more healthy eaters among us. Anything beyond this is pure gravy. Greatly appreciated for sure. Muffins? Great. Some sort of danish or bread, like banana bread? Yummy. Assorted cookies? (Chocolate chip - Mmmmm) Bring it on. What I find fault with are those that miss the point that this is primarily a breakfast deal. Hence, the need for your bagels or eggs. Don't give me cake or pie for breakfast. I know you're a great cook, but it just doesn't work. Don't make the minor foods, like banana bread your main course. Its a supplement. And forget anything that has peanut butter and coconut in it. Not appropriate plus I don't like them. Rules to live by. Today it was bagels, but they were all plain bagels so a few points off for that. Variety is good with bagels. I love an everything bagel. Sausage was provided so bonus points. There are two types of grapes to nibble on every time I pass the treat desk. No sweets like donuts or cookies though. I'll give today a "B". Hmmm wonder whats for dinner tonight.

Winter Trials

As anyone who watches the news or lives in the Midwestern, Midatlantic or Northeastern states knows, a big storm came through these last two days. While northern Virginia didn't bear the brunt of the storm, we received a unique blend of snow, sleet, freezing rain, more snow and more sleet. The total accumulation was only 2 to 3 inches, but all that ice mixed with the snow made shoveling the driveway and sidewalks an ordeal. Who knew snow, ice and sleet weighed so much?

As I mentioned in my last post, I did get to work from home on Tuesday to spare me the agony of a long commute home in bad weather. The federal government in the Washington metro area officially closed at 2:00PM so the government actually got a few hours extra from me by working from home. I actually have a nice work schedule considering its, you know, work. I work a compressed work schedule, which means over a two week period, I work my 80 hours in nine days rather than 10. I get every other Friday off. Its like having a three day holiday weekend every two weeks. On top of that I get to telecommute from home every Weds and every other Friday. That means I'm only physically in the office three days a week. Which is nice considering I have an 82 mile commute - one way. I know it sounds crazy, but I have my reasons. My job was relocated from Crystal City, an office/shops/apartment conglomerate tucked in between the Pentagon and National Airport (yes I know its Regan National Airport, but the Republicans aren't in power anymore and their attempts to name everything Regan can go stuff it.), to southern Maryland. I had a choice of finding a new job, relocating to southern MD or commuting. I chose the latter. A lot of my co-workers chose not to move and found new jobs. They were mostly policy type jobs, which didn't interest me. I like my job. I could have moved and actually southern Maryland is quite nice. Lots of water and great crab cakes. Shopping centers? Not so much. Schools? Not the best. My oldest was about to enter her senior year of high school, the twins would be entering their sophomore (daughter) and freshman (son) years. The move would have been particularly hard on them. So after a lot of thinking about it, we decided to stay put and commute. We, Ann and I, take a vanpool rather than drive our own car. Members of the vanpool take turns driving so I don't have to drive that often and I've gotten very good at sleeping on the van. There are days when I hate the commute, but considering most of my fellow commuters in the DC area have at least an hour commute, mine isn't that bad by comparison. It takes about 1 1/2 hours in the morning and 1 3/4 hours in the evening.

Working from home did allow me to erg on Tuesday. I did a personal best for 5,000 meters. My time puts me in approximately the 40 percentile for lightweight men in my age category. Things are heading in the right direction. I didn't erg on Weds and considering it took me 2 1/2 hours to dig out, its just as well. I'll do a 30 minute row on Friday.

Weds is my night to cook dinner. Since Ann and the son are off at work and I'm working from home, its a logical thing to do. Last night I tried some balsamic vinegar pork chops with pumpkin polenta. Pork chops were great the polenta wasn't a big hit. We're trying out new recipes to try and expand our repertoire. We were getting into a bit of a rut with the same 7 or 8 things for dinner..

Hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day. We don't make a big deal out of it here. Ann isn't into candy or flowers or lingerie so its usually a card at most. We didn't even do that this year. I don't think either of us missed it.

Its suppose to be another cold weekend. Hope there's some decent basketball games on. By good games I mean college basketball.