Ten years ago this week I found myself in Las Vegas, not to enjoy its infamous nightlife or try my luck at the casinos, but to face what I would rank as one of the most challenging achievements of my life — maybe second only to earning my Master’s degree. I was in Vegas attending a grueling boot camp crash… read entire post
Category Archives: Work
A Begrudging Return to the Office
In President Biden’s most recent State of the Union address, the president called for the “vast majority” of federal employees to begin transitioning back to the office, citing “significant progress fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has made it safer to do so.” While Biden’s motivation and the current state of COVID may be debatable, what is not debatable is that I… read entire post
All Hands on Deck
Through what can only be called a comedy of errors, “we” (not me) managed to brick nearly 1,000 laptops at work. The details aren’t particularly important (nor am I in a position to discuss them), but let’s just say that a unique combination of outdated operating systems, older third party disk encryption solutions, and Microsoft’s latest patches combined to create… read entire post
At the End of the Furlough, I Don’t Feel Really, Really Special
As suddenly as it began, after 35 days, the furlough ended on January 25 and the government reopened. I have received guidance to report to work on January 28, 2019. The last time I was in the office was on December 21, 2018.
While delivering the news to the American people, President Trump referred to federal employees as “fantastic people”… read entire post
Dinner and Memories
Last Tuesday Susan and I were able to have dinner with Susan Wood-Butorac, a person who directly changed the course of both of our lives.
In the winter of 1995 I was twenty-two years old. I had been working as a contractor at the FAA for eight months, and had only been married to Susan for four. Beginning that fall,… read entire post
Furlough, Can You Go
For the second time in five years, Susan and I have been furloughed.
What that means is, until a budget is passed by congress, all non-essential federal employees — that’s us — are prohibited from working and will not get paid until the furlough is over. We can’t even volunteer to work for free.
The first question everybody asks is,… read entire post
A New Opportunity!
Facebook has a feature called “On This Day” that shows you posts you made this date in previous years. Over the weekend, Facebook reminded me that I got a new job on this day back in 2009… and 2010, 2014, and 2015.
And now, 2016.
October 1st is the first day of the government’s fiscal year. That’s when our budget… read entire post
Why My Desk Looks Like This
Monday evening after hours I got a call informing me that one of our most important servers at work was offline. I’m not officially “on call” like I used to be years ago, but when something like this happens you throw your shoes back on and go see what’s up.
What was “up” — or technically, what wasn’t “up”, was… read entire post
How A Furlough Would Affect Me
ABCNews.com recently ran a story that began with the following statement:
How would a government shutdown impact Americans far removed from the partisan wrangling in the nation’s capital? Most Americans are unlikely to feel a direct impact — seniors will likely continue to get their Medicare and Social Security checks, as will veterans. But a government shutdown could hurt consumer… read entire post
I Apologize for the National Deficit.
Being a Federal Employee means being a part of something much bigger than many people, including myself, can really comprehend. The FAA employs about 50,000 people, with ~5,000 of them working here in Oklahoma. Susan supervises people in a dozen different states; her supervisor lives in a different state, too. My supervisor works in Oklahoma, and while I don’t manage… read entire post