Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

We’re expecting another big (for DC) snow storm tomorrow through Thursday. Four to eight inches (10-20cm), which is a lot for here. Work laptop came home with me, and I will take advantage of any and all “unscheduled telework” days that pop across, like the “Early Departure ?” DC area Federal offices status message that’s posted for tomorrow (the question mark, present in the original message, was my favorite part; like they weren’t sure they completely meant it).

Commuted in, met the husband in metro on the way home. Ordered pizza for dinner and watched the last half of season one of Big Boys, a British show on Hulu that we’re quite enjoying. Probably an early night tonight as Tuesdays are traditionally busy days for me as people manage to catch up on their weekend/Monday emails and start tossing bombs at the lawyers.

Was out late to a community theater production of Heathers the Musical last night, so no chance to update. Was a fun show, some of what it tried to bring from the movie didn’t quite map, but overall it was fun, and the cast did a good job with it. Very welcome distraction.

A bit of knitting on the shawl, and I started a washcloth to have something quick to do. Finished my replay of Dishonored and all the DLC, and started Dishonored 2, playing as Corvo first (before I go back and replay as Emily). I never finished the third game in the series, so here’s hoping I get through it this time.

Figuratively and literally. Finally managed to pin down management to provide a final agency position on some things which we need for next week, balancing between court orders and administration priorities. After work I finished a hat I was making for the husband and wove in all the ends (Xmas themed, but he’ll be able to use it next year). Learned to use a new pom-pom maker (so much easier than by hand). Then after dinner I picked up the shawl I started last year and made some progress on that. Overall a nicely productive day, without quite as much insanity as the rest of the week.

After work the husband and I went to see Love Hurts, which was just as cheesy and fun as the trailers made it out to be. There’s a delightful unexpected romance that made us laugh out loud at several points. Definitely needed the break from current events, and glad we went.

Unscheduled telework because of weather here (the potential for ice all over the roads, and resultant school delays for those with kids). The husband was also home, though we didn’t interact much because we both had full schedules.

The rest of this week is going to be a mess of people in the federal government checking news and just generally being stressed out. The Fork offer closes tomorrow night, then it’s likely they’ll take action against probationary employees shortly thereafter. As for the rest of us? Supposedly reductions-in-force (layoffs) are coming to take agencies down by some arbitrary percentage. And who knows if they’ll actually follow the regulations that lay out the procedures there, since this team doesn’t seem to care about the law on anything else.

This looks and feels like a coup. I desperately hope I’m wrong here, that somehow we muddle through, but given the capture of all of the branches of government I’m increasingly worried that no one is going to stand up to him, at least not without massive upheaval. I would describe myself as a true believer in the American experiment. I’ve dedicated half my life to serving this country. And I’ve never felt so much angst about where the government is going.

Overslept this morning, which was odd because 1. I set an alarm; and 2. I got more than my normal seven hours of sleep. Was okay, was only a little late. And hey, I got stuck there until 7pm trying to fix some other thing that 47 and president fElon broke anyway, so it didn’t really matter.

Also, I really hope the folks who stayed home, or who didn’t vote for the other party because they ‘weren’t doing enough’ for whatever cause was near and dear to them are happy with everything that’s going on, especially today’s news about the middle east. And I really hope they don’t have the temerity to complain about anything he’s doing within earshot of me, because I’ve had it. These people are bound and determined to destroy 249 years of self governance, without a monarchy, and without (official) aristocracy.

Forgot I needed to go do emissions testing on my mini until someone at work mentioned the DMV. Zipped up to do that after work, passed, then back home again.

Court orders are stopping some of the payment stuff that 47’s people put in place, but we’re still cranking along on a good chunk of it. The nonsense happening at other agencies isn’t happening at mine (yet?), but that could just be that we’re too small and not in charge of anything this crew cares about. In the meantime his tariff and other dramas have actually given us time to try and catch up to the last two weeks. As one wag put it, January was a long year.

Made leave plans for our annual anniversary trip, and I’m prepping the travel orders for my training at the end of the month. Things aren’t normal, but you can’t stop living.

Giving into the clothing store conspiracy, the husband and I went clothes shopping today, after overdue haircuts. Got some dress pants and a couple shirts for myself, so I’ll have some fresh options as we careen toward full time in-the-office schedules. He’s already mostly in the office full time (he works at a local university, in a student facing position, so he has to be there to deal with the kids), so it’s business as usual for him.

Tried Raising Canes for the first time, at the husband’s recommendation. Not bad, I’ll go again. I appreciated that it was one of the simplest fast food menus in existence – how many chicken fingers did you want, and the sides depended on that number. Easy. Not a bad business model, either. I can see why they’re so popular.

At least the car is now clean of new england snow removal chemicals, after sitting in the Metro parking lot in the rain all day. That’s one down side of having a garage – fewer chances for natural car washes. That said, I’ll take the garage any day, since it means the car is closer to a comfortable temperature when we get in, regardless of season. And it won’t get broken into out on the street.

Another exhausting day trying to meet deadlines, and trying to keep everything moving. Was just me, the GC and the Deputy GC in our suite today, though others were online. That situation won’t last much longer – another month and we’re all supposed to be back in full time. Oodles of rumors flying about over the supposed early out promises (which look quite fishy), and some good discussions with some of my older colleagues who are thinking of getting out sooner rather than later, reassuring them that they should do what’s right for them, and that the office & work will go on. Projecting calming rays.

Haircut and clothes shopping tomorrow. I’m in this odd in-between size for dress pants where one size is too tight, but the next size up is too loose. Very annoying. So I’m going to try some different brands, and if I can’t find anything that’s truly fits I guess I’m off to a dry cleaner for alterations, because I cannot take the too loose pants if I have to go in every day (and I won’t wear the too tight size). Ob-nox-ious. Joked yesterday that the return-to-office policy must’ve been partially pushed by professional work wear merchants to sell more clothes, because I imagine a lot of us will need new wardrobes after 5 years of work-from-home.

Practicing for the full return-to-office in the next month or so by leaving my work laptop at work (I went in today and I’m going in tomorrow as well). Feels weird not having it here at home. I have an iPhone for work stuff, which I do like having, mainly because it helps keep people from bugging me on my personal mobile phone, but it’s not the same, though it does let me keep up with email and Teams if I need to. But much like my paper journals, I don’t do work on personal devices, and I don’t do personal on work devices. The government gets enough of my life, I’m not giving them the whole kit and caboodle.

Stuck in way too much traffic getting to the comic shop post-work, because I keep forgetting that this one intersection of University Blvd near the U-MD campus is a total shit show because of purple line light rail construction. Why the city and/or state haven’t retooled the lights there to move things through is a complete mystery. If I actually lived in that city I’d be screaming at my mayor and council members daily until they got it fixed.