Some weeks, my work duties are interesting – they make a good subject for a blog post. But many weeks, I spend my time making incremental progress on more mundane activities. This past week, was like that. Most of the week was taken up with calculations and report preparation for some of the projects that I’ve discussed in other posts.
Following the challenges highlighted in my earlier post, I mobilized to my project site to do geophysical surveys the second week of June. This is the first time in many years that our geotechnical team has done our own geophysical survey work. I think we were successful. Unfortunately, I won’t know one way or the other until we’ve processed and interpreted the data.
We are about halfway through the year, so I think its a good time to take a look at what progress I've made towards my goal of running 2,000 miles this year.
Big news for the blog today! I’ve got an RSS feed set up. If you take a look at the menu bar at the top of the page, there is a new link. Just copy that link, plug it into your favorite RSS reader, and you’ll get notified automatically whenever I post an update.
That’s it for now. I’ve got some more post planned for the near future, and am also planning to play around a bit more with the website style sheets. Look for some more changes in the near future.
Hello readers! First off, thank you for your patience while I took off a few weeks from blogging. I was getting a bit stressed out between my workload, continued attacks on our democratic systems, and some of my other hobbies. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve spent my time outside of work concentrating on Japanese language practice and playing Baldur’s Gate 3 with my wife. With some more relaxed time under my belt I’m feeling a bit more recharged and ready to take on website building and blogging again.
I came across this post on LinkedIn while I was getting ready to make my regular blog post. In case you don’t want to go to LinkedIn, I’ve included a screenshot below and a link to the page on the US DOT website that is included in the original post. Needless to say, this post reflects my personal opinions and does not reflect the views or opinions of my employer.
Does anyone read those emails I'm sending? Who knows?
Hello, folks! We are drawing towards the end of the performance year in my office. It’s a time when folks reflect back on the work they did for the past year and think about how they want their career to continue into the future. I’m not sure how much longer I will have a career, given that the entire Federal government is being scrapped for parts; however, I am choosing radical optimism. I will plan for the best possible future. If that turns out not to be a continued career in public service, I will adjust my plans. For now, let’s go through the five bullets, then talk about planning and feelings.
I’ve sat down to write this post several times over the past two weeks and never managed to finish it. Now I’m a week behind on my posts. The last two weeks have been rough, partially in ways common with my co-workers and some uniquely mine. Let’s get through the bullets and then talk about some feelings.
Wow, this ended up as a really long week. I had several projects at different stages in development all competing for my attention in various ways. I even had to juggle my work schedule to be available for a construction site visit on Friday. Let’s get the bullets out of the way and we can talk through some more details.
Hi folks! Welcome to another week of productivity in the Federal Government. I finally had a full week in office for the first time since our return to office order. While I was working from home several days per week, my wife and I were sharing grocery shopping duties on Friday. Normally, this wasn’t an issue, since I didn’t need to get anywhere by car, my wife could take the car to the store. In order to leave the car available to her, I had to find an alternate way to get myself to the office. Let’s talk more about that later after we go through what I did this week.
Another short week, between using some leave on Monday to recover from an active weekend and having a regular day off on Friday. But that doesn't mean it wasn't eventful.
Friends, the running mileage goal is not going well.
I'm getting settled in after the first full pay period back in our building, and my first full week in my new office. I used some leave this week to attend a convention with Crystal, but crammed in a lot of work anyways.
This first week back in the office went as well as could be expected. We welcomed several Resource Center staff (former full-time remote workers) into out space. Even so, we now have more empty spaces now than we did in January. Because of this situation, I was moved to a larger office.
This was my last week with a hybrid work arrangement before I will be required to report to my office full-time. It was an interesting week. I'll miss access to my family and home during the workday, but I'll survive. Here's to the next chapter.
Here is the backlog of "What Did You Do Last Week" posts. For me, this is an opportunity to take back agency over my work, and to make the best of a weekly annoyance. I've included the bullet points first, followed by some explaination to help those less familiar with the details of my job.
I had not planned to post more about work, but since my last post I’ve seen colleagues discharged for dubious reasons, requirements to justify my employment continuously, and a reduction in force directive. Each of these actions has damaged my morale and messed up my sleep schedule for several days. Reading the news and discussions online has brought me to a realization that few people really understand all of the things that government employees do. While I can’t speak for all of them, I can at least speak for myself.
Many of us are facing challenges in the future. I'm going to talk about some of mine, and hope that we can help support each other.
I'm making a website, and you can too.
Some thoughts about seasonal music, and how some songs better reflect the uncertainty of the end of year.
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