Long time...

Lack of committment - yes, that's me in a nutshell. I didn't realize it's been so long since I last posted. I can't imagine that this post is going to trigger a daily feed or anything, but I was sitting here and felt, for a hot li'l sec, a bit inspired.

The moment has passed.

Something interesting and totally random: my dog LOVES hall's cough drops. just loves them, I walked in on him trying to get into my purse to get one. wierd - maybe that's why he's consitipated?

Too funny not too post!

A fried of mine sent me this list. I was so tickled I had to share them with you guys:

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These are actual quotes (allegedly) taken from United States Federal Government employee performance evaluations.

1. "Since my last report, this employee has reached rock-bottom & has started to dig."
2. "I would not allow this employee to breed."
3. "This employee is really not so much of a has-been, but more of definite won't be."
4. "Works well when under constant supervision & cornered like a rat in a trap."
5. "When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to change feet."
7. "This young lady has delusions of adequacy."
8. "He sets low personal standards & then consistently fails to achieve them."
9. "This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot."
10. "This employee should go far, & the sooner he starts, the better."
11. "Got a full 6-pack, but lacks the plastic thingy to hold it all together."
12. "A gross ignoramus -- 144 times worse than an ordinary ignoramus."
13. "He doesn't have ulcers, but he's a carrier."
14. "I would like to go hunting with him sometime."
15. "He's been working with glue too much."
16. "He would argue with a signpost."
17. "He brings a lot of joy whenever he leaves the room."
18. "When his IQ reaches 50, he should sell."
19. "If you see two people talking & one looks bored, he's the other one."
20. "A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on."
21. "A prime candidate for natural de-selection."
22. "Donated his brain to science before he was done using it."
23. "Gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn't coming."
24. "He's got two brain cells, one is lost & the other is out looking for it."
25. "If he were any more stupid, he'd have to be watered twice a week."
26. "If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you'd get change."
27. "If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean."
28. "It's hard to believe he beat out 1,000,000 other sperm."
29. "Some drink from the fountain of knowledge; he only gargled."
30. "Takes him 2 hours to watch '60-minutes'"
31. "The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead"

U-Haul SUCKS! - corrected, Antonio Edgerton at the VA Beach Uhaul office SUCKS

OMFG...

I hate uhaul. I can't recall the last time I (or anyone I know) had a decent experience at a uhaul.

Today was the big move day for my brother (hence, the uhaul tie in). Things were going so well - the delivery folks were on time, there weren't any wierd scratches or missing pieces on the appliances, my brother had adequate help (read: I didn't lift a box), the riding mower (john deere is my hero) is freakin awesome - I spent part of the afternoon cutting grass...then we get to the point were we need to return the uhaul. Should be easy peasy, right? Well, only at ghetto ass uhaul does it take more than one hour to return the freakin thing. The guy - Antonio Edgerton is his name - was a complete jackass. At one point, he heads out with the folks in front of us to do the walkthrough, and he's gone for like 15 minutes, so, given that we've already been waiting for around 50 minutes, I walked out to see what was up - the ugly ass idiot was trying to mack on a girl. So of course, I try (but fail) to hold my tongue - before I can stop myself, I hear myself yelling across the parking lot "Hey - do you plan on coming back in to do your job anytime soon? There's a line of folks, some of which have been waiting in line for nearly an hour." His reply - "There's someone in there who can help you".

So, of course, as I walk back in, I announce to everyone that the clown isn't doing any work - he's out there running his freakin mouth. (My brother, being more mature than me - indicates that he is going to call the general manager tomorrow after noting the dumbass moron's name (Antonio Edgerton). I figured I'd do a little rebel rousing and just make sure that the other folks in line (who were much more aggressive than me) knew what the idiot was doing. When he came back in, I think I heard someone say they were going to cuss him when they got to the counter.

I mean, c'mon - there are plenty of people who would take a job that basically entails standing behind a counter and smiling while renting folks overpriced junk vehicles - no one should have to put up with such incompetence. I hope everyone that was in line behind us made his miserable little worthless life a little more miserable.

He is a jackass and a waste of breathable air.

Checking in

That seems to be the title for a bunch of my posts. Here's what's going on in my little world:

The gov't vols group got a bit better organized - not much, but a bit. So they are squared away. Thank goodness the ARC is taking the lead with the evacuees - I don't think they could take the gov't vols group.

This past week I've been pretty busy ramping up on all things grad school. I haven't been to school in 5 years. I forgot how much studying/homework/research there is. But, I'm committed this time (I've started/stopped nearly every year since 2000).

I snapped at my boss today. Told him I have no confidence in his approach to problem solving. Told him that I basically think he's a dumbass. He sort of snapped back - not nearly strong enough (read: smart enough) to gain my respect. He tried to say that he never says that he has no confidence in my financial mgmt skills, so I shouldn't critique his project mgmt skills. I calmly told him that if he had a gripe with my financial mgmt skills, to let me know, because I would want to know, as I suspect he wants to know my opinion since he plopped his booty down in my office asking for my opinion. That's not really what I said - I was a little sharper tongued with my response - but it was basically along the lines of - no one questions/rewrites/asks for corroboration on my work - I've proven to have a rather trustworthy record. I'm such a bitch, I should've left him alone - his boss basically told him he has no confidence in him either. My goal for tomorrow - do a karma check in the morning and try three ways to say something nice every time something nasty is on the tip of my tongue. that should be interesting. I think I'm too jaded to even give that a shot. We'll see.

I'm headed down to Va Beach this weekend to help my brother move. That should be loads of fun! The dogs will have LOTS of room to run. I live in a rowhouse in DC. My brother has 6 acres in Suffolk. I don't know if the dogs will know what to do with themselves! Only concern - I just got a handle on the flea problem.

Ummm, I suppose that is all for now. I've got loads of homework to do. Not to mention loads of work to do. I somehow managed to put quite a bit off while I was traipsing back and forth working on the Katrina relief. Now that the DC efforts are stabilizing, I've got to refocus on the other homeland security issues before me.

Checking In

When you get paid to organize volunteers, and the event happens in which you need to organize volunteers, it sort of sucks when you are so obviously overwhelmed, disorganized, arrogant, etc.

Because many volunteers have full time jobs, our Citizen Corps group requested each agency send over folks to assist with setting up our Katrina visitors. While I had previously assisted with this effort from a government response (working with the exec offices and the DC EMA), this was my first effort as a volunteer - and boy was it disappointing. First, the location was all off. I got a page asking that I report to the DC Armory. I get to the Armory and am told that they are citizen volunteer heavy and don't need any gov't volunteers, I'm welcome to stay, but they don't have anything for me to do. So I head over to the mobile command bus to see what's going on there. Nothing much going on, so I try to regroup and figure out where the breakdown was. Turns out, they actually wanted us to report to the Emergency Ops Center to answer phones (DC has a citywide call center), return calls, do whatever for ServeDC (our Cit Corps group).

So, I head home, take care of the dogs, and head over to the EOC. When I get there, the 3 folks that are manning the station are running around like crazy. I ask for my POC and she asks me what I would like to do. I'm not uppity, so I said I'll do whatever is needed. I'll count paper clips if that is what is needed. I'm tasked with prepping a schedule for volunteers for the next two weeks and identifying coverage gaps.

Ok - right there, I'm like, how do you, the agency that organizes volunteers, not have this info handy already (many days after the event). But I oblige, I prep a schedule, but I don't know any volunteers, I don't have any feedback, I feel incredibly underutilized.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. Mind you, my day job is always demanding 10 hours minimum, but I committed to these guys that as long as there is something for me to do (that is useful), I'll be there for the night shift. They get one more day, then I'm going to start making suggestions on how to improve the situation.

This post is quite choppy and I'm tired, so take my rant with a grain of salt. All in all, I was a little disappointed with the disorganization of our volunteer corps agency. My critique isn't of the volunteers, but of the high paid gov't workers who are supposed to have the basics worked out before the event.

Ok, done.

Ugh

Haven't written in about a week or so. Here's the latest:

Boston's been called off on account of Katrina.

Hawaii's been called of on account of, well, extravagance (sp?) might be a good word.

I bought the wrong textbook and now have to schlepp all the way back to MD to return it and buy the right one.

Let me say - none of the above are complaints. I'm in a complaint-free zone for a while. I have nothing to complain about - I'm safe, I have food and water, I can afford the gas (even if I don't like it costing so much), and I still have a dry place to lay my head at night.

DC sent 10 buses down to Louisiana to pick up 400 folks and shelter them at the DC Armory. They should arrive on Monday - so tomorrow is going to be a busy day, trying to set up the armory and what not. I probably won't post for another week or so, but I'll try and keep the blog updated now and again with the DC relief efforts. Its hard to not feel helpless.

The 10 buses that went down were escorted by 4 cops. Had I known the Boston trip was cancelled before they left, I would've tagged along with them (the cops are my buds - I'm so proud of them) to help with the driving. It's a tight schedule, they left late Friday with intentions of driving straight down, unloading the bus load of supplies and loading up with passengers to drive back. I think they are only scheduling one block of time for sleep. I'll do my part and make sure they (the evacuees) have a coordinated relief post once they get back.

That's it for now -

Travelin on the gov't dime

Whoo hoo!!! Boston, here I come! Well, that's next week. But I LOVE Boston! I'll take pictures and post when I get back. I'm also scheduled to go to Hawaii in October - not sure if I'm up for that long of a flight, but I've never been, so it might be worth it.

Things I want to do in Boston that I didn't get to do last time:

See a Red Sox game.
Spend more time at Fanueil Hall (sp?)
Go to Boston Commons
Walk around the many college campuses (although, last time I was there we were at a MIT conference for a week, but still didn't see much of the campus)

Fun stuff! Tell you about it more later :)