Other people's opinions.

I have been reading the NYTIMES online since 1997 or 1998. In Sept or August, they started charging for certain pieces of content using a subscription service called "Times Select"

Most of the subscription-only content is for opinion pieces from their 'influential writers.'
Have I been tempted to subscribe? Not really.

It seems to me that they got it backwards. If they want their writers to stay influential, they should allow their opinion pieces to be read for free. And they should charge me to read the primary news articles that their 'influential' writers are opining about. I religiously read the arts/books section and the home/garden section. And, if I were to pay for content, the NYTIMES should send me a daily subscription to their paper via email so I could read the paper daily without having to be wired (e.g. sitting in an airplane).

All I'm saying is that it is difficult to imagine.

Okay, some of my off-hand comments about marriage have been misunderstood by several friends so I feel like I need to issue a clarification.

Point 1: They Do. I Don't.
The title of this blog entry was supposed to be a clever reference to my Dad's gaffe during the rehearsal dinner. Christine and David got married that weekend. I did not get married that weekend. A mere statement of fact. They did get married. I didn't get married. But I chose not to write it like that because I wanted to retain the parallelism of the well known phrase in the wedding ceremony - I do.

Point 2: Oooh. Scary.
Yes, I think marriage is scary. However, that is not the same thing as saying "I never want to get married."

The enormity of the commitment and the seriousness of this commitment suddenly became apparent that weekend in Nashville. OR, more accurately, I understood that I could not fathom the enormity and seriouness of the commitment that marriage entails. And considering where I am in life right now (the details I won't bore you with), the idea of entering into a marriage is very difficult concept to wrap my mind around.

But marriage isn't the only concept that I can't wrap my mind around - it keeps distinguished company with concepts like enlightenment, democracy, differential equations, quantum mechanics, the works of A.S. Byatt and Martin Amis, mechanics of a slicing a tennis swing, internal combustion engines, transferring my iTunes library xml file to another computer.

Some things I'll keep plugging away at to understand (the iTunes issue and the tennis swing issue). Other things I'm content to just not understand for the rest of my life (Martin Amis and differential equations). Marriage and the internal combustion engine just don't seem all that urgent for me to resolve at this point in my life.

Yes, I'm back in Portland where it is raining.

Waiting.

I'm waiting impatiently to leave Austin TX and return home to Portland, OR. I had a nice break this past weekend in Nashville, TN where I attended my brother's wedding.

(Some random thoughts about marriage have been flitting about in my head - I won't go into detail here, but the sum of those thoughts basically amounts to: Oooh. Scary.)

Of course there is a dark tropical cloud hanging over my impending exit from Austin TX. Her name is Wilma.
I've been reassured that I am NOT on the shortlist for any Wilma staffing that maybe required. But my name (and everyone else's name) will be on the long-list if Wilma's landfall causes extensive damage.

I've already mapped out the things I want to do at home this weekend in Portland. Tennis, yoga, drinks with friends and neighbors, clean house, read mail, visit the farmers market, sleep, go to the library, watch some movies, and not answer the phone if someone calls me from a 202 area code (Washington, DC - where HQ assigns staffing).

They do. I don't.

My older brother got married this weekend.
The ceremony and reception went off without a hitch, minimal family insanity, and a good time was had by all.

My mother was very worried about her prominent role in the ceremony. But after extensive coaching and visualization exercises (see picture) she successfully lit the candle on the altar.

The highlights of the wedding weekend were as follows:

Rehearsal Dinner - My dad stood up to make a toast. He opened his speech by saying, "Eva and I are happy that you all could be here to celebrate the wedding of David and Jennifer."
The whole room roared with laughter.

Reception - The best man delivered a hilarious toast and presented the bride and groom with his wedding gift to them. Custom bobble-head dolls. He said that the dolls could be used to re-enact the wedding ceremony for years to come and nod their heads as they said, "I do."

A Grand Day Out

Waiting for our ride.















Our ride.















Strapped in and ready to go.















In the air!















The view from my seat of Reliant Stadium - Houston, TX















The field office in Beaumont, TX.















Home again. Well, not quite home. But maybe soon.

Tapped Out.

Here's an interesting factoid from my federal agency:

800 - Maximum # of people deployed in the field from my agency at one-time prior to 2004 FL hurricanes.

1850 - Maximum # of people deployed from my agency due to the 2004 FL hurricanes.

3300 - Current # of people deployed from my agency.

That means that 11% of our agency is deployed on hurricane-response related work. 60-day deployments are going to be the norm and not the exception. I'm on day-41.

It's all true. And then some.

Saw this article in the NYTIMES about the mis-management of ICE in Federal Emergency responses.

Ice

FEMA requests my agency to contracts for ice and water. This article is pretty accurate. Except it doesn't mention the fact that FEMA does this rigamarole for EVERY disaster. Well, at least every disaster since I've been working (Isabel 2003, FL 2004, and 2005).

Earlier this week there were some NYTIMES articles scrutinizing the contracts let by FEMA and my agency (Corps of Engineers) to big companies with ties to the Republican Party. I'd say that those articles were about 50% accurate. Yes, FEMA awarded big contracts for housing without competing them. USACE awards their biggest contracts (debris, roofing, ice, water) during 'peace-time' using the typical competitive contracting processes. And the reason why 'big companies' win out over the 'little companies' is that 'big companies' have the deeper pockets to pay their employees while they wait for 6-9 months to get their first gov't payment. 'Little companies' can't do business that way.

It's all about business. And then some.