Big Changes Inbound

Greetings Loyal Readers,

A number of big changes incoming for me and probably this blog. I accepted a job with a consulting company doing project management in the same general area that I work in currently. It will probably involve me traveling between DC and other parts of VA and possibly NYC. I'm nervous, but in a good way. I am reminded of the great quote from Ghostbusters, "You don't know what its like out there! I've worked in the private sector. They expect results!" Going to the dark side was something I thought of in the past, mostly for the chance to mix things up and add more travel into the mix, and the money doesn't hurt either.

Big change #2 is that the job is in Washington D.C. So that's a big change as well. I do have some really good friends down there, but I am leaving some good friends up here too. I can't help but think of this movie during this whole process. Anyway, I am coming to terms with my decision and I think it really is the right one. I need to challenge myself and get out of my box, as it were.

I should be in the new job the first week of August and down in DC around Labor Day. This brings us to possible change #3, the blog. I'm contemplating putting the blog on hold until I return to a job that more accurately fits the title of civil servant. I'm also concerned that writing about places I'm visiting for work could get tricky working for a private company. So I'm thinking of going anonymous, which is not like what it is now, more a diary blog. I'm open to thoughts or suggestions.

I'm going to bed. Loong day.

Late Night Delivery Award

Has this happened to you?

Come home after last call with a friend and even though you've eaten all day, you are ravenously hungry? A quick check of Foodler shows that there are only a few places delivering. You order up a feast of Chinese food, over ordering like a boob. And then you promptly in your addled state, fall asleep. The delivery guy arrives with your Chinese feast and promptly unleashes hurls of Mandarin curses as you have your phone on vibrate in your pants, which is on the floor and there's no way you can hear it. Said delivery envoy returns back to the restaurant with the food. You wake up confused with 5 angry voicemails on your phone.

Of course it has. Well my friends, I am awarding the Late Night Delivery Award to Lucky Star Chinese Food in Medford, MA.

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I realized this morning that I had wasted money, because with Foodler you pay ahead of time. This means the restaurant wasn't on the hook for the cash. However imagine my surprise when the guy calls me today while doing laundry and asks if I want to reschedule the delivery! Ah yes, yes, a thousand times yes. No idea why they would do this. They have no obligation. But from now on, whenever drunken cravings call for, I will be using Lucky Star on GP.

Spies Like Us Part 2

So this past week has been pretty significant for a few reasons. One of them I posted about, which is completion of grad school classes. That frees up time during the week for me as well as allows me to start paying off debt. A lot of debt.

Second thing that was pretty remarkable was that I moved through to the next round of the Foreign Service Officer application process. People are amazed, as they know that the test is incredibly hard. I would like to claim to be that good, however Wikipedia can add some corrections:

"For fifty years, Foreign Service Officer applicants who passed an all-day written exam were invited to an oral assessment. In mid-2007, the all-day written exam was shortened and information on a structured resume also began to be considered. The structured resume along with the Qualifications Evaluation Panel, or QEP, which is made up of three Foreign Service Officers, was one of the greatest changes to the Foreign Service Exam in decade"

So now I complete 5 short answers and then submit those to the QEP and hear from them around October if I'm eligible to move onto the Oral Assessment. There's other things going on, and I'll let you all know how what's happening as that unfolds.

Free at last. Free at last.

So I have taken classes at several institutions of higher learning. Vassar College. The New York City Police Academy. Suffolk University. Yesterday was my final class in my final semester at Suffolk. This means that I will be receiving my Masters in Public Administration. The diploma I assume comes at the end of the summer. I will use it to stuff my shoes with to stay warm as I will be reduced to homeless levels of poverty to pay off a degree. A degree which might I add increases my earning potential by around $.45, unlike my doctor and lawyer friends.

And then today my brother Broxton had to show me up by completing his Doctorate defense which means he is a PhD in Geology. God bless us. And God help all those defenseless lake bottoms.

Guess what crap I don't own

So my roommate of 4 years moved out and I found out I was missing some stuff. So tonight I went to target and bought some replacement gear. It includes:

• Iron
  
• Ironing board cover (He oddly left the old board but took the iron)
• Microwave
• Frying pan
• 2 plates
• 1 bowl
• Bucket to put the ice cubes in after you take them out of the trays but want to keep them in the freezer (This is a new addition)

I figured that I would never have more than 1 plate and bowl in action at any given time. I also have paper plates galore, which will suffice if others decide to grace my house with their presence. I also relearned how terrible I am at ironing tonight.

Entries on Gotham

So I was down in New York for a short visit last night and today. For those who are unaware, today is Bunker Hill Day which is a state holiday in MA. Trivia question: Where was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought?

So while in New York, I had some thoughts...

• The cabs have TV now. My cab from the airport seemed to have Channel 7, while the one to the Airport had Channel 4. The TVs have different features, but the end result is the same. If you're from out of town, you're all "Hey lookee here, there's a lady talking to me from the seatback in front of me." If you're a New Yorker, you're thinking that as you can't actually access the internet from the TV, that it's 80% useless. It also has a map that tells you where you are, which I suppose is so that cabbies don't take tourists for an extended ride. But the tourists would have to be geographers I fear. How the hell would I know whether I was taking the long route, unless I could see that I was in Jersey and I wanted to go to Queens. Dumb.
  
• LaGuardia is a poor airport. I know it was the first major airport we had in the city, but the central terminal is a poor design. It's almost as bad as Kansas City, but nothing could really be that bad. It needs an overhaul, but the airport is built on a postage stamp, so they really have nowhere to go. There are great views of Rikers though from the runway.
• I got to order a coffee this morning from one of these. If you don't know what this is, it's a coffee cart and they spring up all around midtown and in other areas predominately near subway stations. They are a unique New York fixture and of the ones I frequented I always had great times talking to the guys inside. Large coffee is still $1, which is a great deal. And my favorite is they know how to make a regular coffee. Regular for those not in the know is not black. That's called a black coffee. A regular in NYC is milk and 2 sugars. Regular in Boston is cream and 2 sugars. I hate cream in my coffee. It makes it way too viscous. I wish there were coffee carts everywhere.
  

Tough Day?

I had a long day that had me wanting to scream into my trashcan. But then I found this photo taken by Mike Clarke/Agence France-Presse. It made me instantly happy.

I hope my nephew is okay over there...

Stop right now and I'll make the sun come back

So this weekend was my 10th college reunion. However I was not in attendance, as I had a test to take. I also was unsure how I was going to be surrounded by so many babies. I took the Foreign Service Officer Test, which is basically the test that is administered to enter the Foreign Service of the State Department. Some have said it's the hardest test ever.

While it was difficult, the test has changed in the last 2 years. It now has 4 different sections. There is a general knowledge section, which is like a written Jeopardy game. Then there is a personal section that asks if you have certain traits and examples of those traits. Then followed by an English grammar and style section, and finally 30 minutes to write an essay.

What I was able to gleam from this 2.5 hour ordeal is that they really want to know how you work under pressure and that the State Department hates the comma second only to Osama Bin Laden. Oh, and thanks to my friend Chuck for telling me to bring #2 pencils which I tore my apartment apart looking for. The test is now given on computer.

I'll find out how I did in 3-4 weeks. Most people have to take it multiple times.According to the bastion of truth Wikipedia of 20,000 annual written test takers, only about 400 make it into the service. Stay tuned. In contrast, it was nothing like the test pictured here, though this is one of my favorite movie scenes.