Starting Over

It's a strange place to still be blogging on this site. Two offers received; two offers rejected. I made the decision to say no, and I have to live with it. I guess I decided to gamble on something that was far more important to me. Sadly, I lost that gamble. And now I'm back to the FS process. I have stayed away from the A-100 boards, so I have no idea what the registers are like anymore. Given that the economy is still treading water, I can't imagine they are very short. When I take the exam again in February, I will sign up for the econ register again I imagine. Although, and this is somewhat funny, my experience as a professor has me leaning towards the consular register. Never thought I'd say that - but my feelings about consular have changed quite a bit. Maybe it's that I feel a need for service to my fellow man, and the consular track does seem like the most hands on with respect to helping others. But who knows - that is an impression of the outside looking in. Maybe it's completely different. One of my former study buddies, a PD track FSO, hated his consular posting and felt like it was all about getting through X hundred plus applicants a day and not about doing good work. Funny, I do feel like I'm following the bubbles. First, as a structured finance attorney. Second, as a law professor (apps have been declining tremendously). Now, I'll probably be applying for a job in the government just in time for some massive budget cutting/hiring freezes.

Waiting

Another of my old OA study buddies has left the States for his new post in Beijing. The last of my study group leaves for Sao Paulo in a couple of months. I'm now waiting for the results of the PNQ, and I can't imagine I'll have much to post about until I find out.

On a related note, ITMTGP has the greatest (and saddest) post on seeing one's time on the registry come and go with no offer. I'll probably re-link to it when my current candidacy expires, sometime in September.

Mission: Foreign Service, who had disappeared after not getting through the QEP stage, has made a reappearance. Hopefully for some time to come.

Coincidentally, Valdesse also has a recent posting on his immersion program in Turkish. Sadly, the Mrs. and I are also thinking learning a .4 language might be the only route to go to be "guaranteed" an offer over the next couple of years.

No real plot or purpose to this post, I'm just waiting. Anyhew, best of luck everyone on getting through the next stage.

Ouch

My doctor reads my chart.

So I had surgery last week. Well, surgeries. Not exactly fun. Definitely nothing long-term nor life threatening, but for someone who has always been in decent health despite a profligate lifestyle, it has been a wake-up call.

I hurt. And I'm not recovering the way I expected. And I feel old. Especially when I can't play with my daughters. And they need a lot of playing with. Anyhow, I apologize for the whinging.*

Once I feel better, it's time to start eating my broccoli and hitting the gym. It will definitely distract me from the pain of starting the FS process all over again.

*But I will never apologize for loving the word "whinge."

9 Minutes

So I took my language test this morning. It lasted a total of 9 minutes. 9 minutes that included talking to the BEX operator, acknowledging the NDA rules, and hearing the test instructions from the tester. 9 minutes that also included getting hung up on and having to call BEX back. 9 minutes from the first dial-in to hanging up.

Hmmmm.

T-Minus 7 Days

My Japanese language test will be next Wednesday. When I look at this, I feel pretty confident. Since Japanese is considered a difficult language, I only need to pass the ILR Level 2 (which corresponds to FSI's standards, I believe).

ILR Level 2 Speaking - EXAMPLE from DLIFLC on Vimeo.

But then it's been a decade since I used my Japanese on a daily basis, and it's shocking how much I've lost. And there are days when the Japanese won't come out - it feels like I have a swollen tongue and a crippled brain. The smart thing would be to push it back a couple more weeks. But, I just don't want to wait any longer. So...smart move or not, it's pretty much all or nothing for next Wednesday, because the way the register has been going it's a slim chance of getting the call for September even with the language bump.

I'm not sure what I'm more depressed about - the slim chance with my candidacy coming to an end, or that I've lost so much of my once formidable language skills. Le sigh.

Anyhow, thanks to a poster on the A-100 boards, if you are interested in checking out the various ILR levels, go here.

Love and Hate

I love the A-100 yahoo boards for all the great info. And boy do I hate the A-100 yahoo boards, too. Especially for the gunner posts. I thought I left gunners behind in law school, but the posts by people worrying about getting a call when all they have is a 6.2 score is a bit ridiculous.

Anyhow, given the current economic situation of the US government, maybe the gunner-monkeys should worry. The Senate hasn't passed a budget in over 2 years (gotta love that partisanship). We've been running on CRs for, what, a year now? I can't imagine the House is going to improve any increase in the US debt limit without some budget cuts. And we all know what politicians like to cut first and deepest - those areas where constituents are not likely to be be affected. In other words, any funding that has the words "foreign" attached to it.

For those of us wanting to join the FS, continuing resolutions would at least keep hiring stable at current levels. That might not be the best thing for the country, but there you go. Once a single party has control of Congress and the presidency, or when the adults start running things, then we might get a new budget. Basic math will tell you that everyone should be expecting deep, deep budget cuts in the future once that happens.

I know a lot of FSO's are concerned by the HR1 bill that would cut locality pay for FSOs serving overseas. I agree, it's pretty ridiculous that junior FSOs are essentially the only part of the US government that don't seem to get this. But, I'd also be worried about future layoffs of untenured FSOs and closings of smaller embassies and consulates and a general shrinking of the Foreign Service overall as the politicians look to cut whatever they can that will have the least ramifications for their re-election. And let's not forget long-term pay freezes.

I'm going to have to go re-read this so I can remember why I'm trying to do this.

What Ever Happened to FSOWannabe?

For those of you who might still see my blog from time to time and wonder if I'm still alive...I am.

So what the heck? It's been about ten months since my last real post - quite slacker like. Well...there's good news and bad news. the good news is that EVERY single person in my FSOA study group received an offer to join the FS.

The bad news is that I'm the only one that said no.

As some who used to read this blog may know, or at the very least not be surprised by, the Mrs. FSOWannabe had some deep reservations about the career change. And when the chance to join the Foreign Service became real...things got pretty bad. And the career was (and isn't) worth my family, so dream denied.

And if that were the end of it, this blog would still be languishing.

Since last August, I started a new career as a law professor. It's...okay. I really, truly enjoy teaching, and I enjoy working with law students. That being said, I generally feel a lot of guilt being a law professor teaching law students that have a very small chance of being employed right out the gate. FULL DISCLOSURE: I have no idea what the graduate career statistics are for my school and I have no interaction whatsoever with our career services office. That being said, I know where my school is ranked (low) and I know how the economy for lawyers is (terrible). It's also difficult because my law career was completely different from my law students - I was big law working for Fortune 50 companies. Most of our law students hang their own shingle or become public defenders/DA's. Very different worlds.

And don't get me started on faculty politics. Rarely have I seen so much pride for so little accomplishment.

And I think the Mrs. has also noted my mixed feelings about being a law professor. In the interim, she also made a career change and went in-house for one of the last of the big banks. Going in-house was one accomplishment she needed. Although I think she would be the first to admit she'd be happy to stay there, I think she also realizes that no matter how far she might advance, there are other things to live for. Earlier this year, she had a chance to travel to SE Asia to spend time with a friend who works for the CDC. While out there, she had some experiences that opened her back up to the idea of the FS life.

And now we're back.

I have one more offer available and only a couple months left on the register. Not sure I have much of a chance with my current OA score (5.5), but I'm taking a language test in a couple of weeks for the .17 bump (wish me luck). So it's pretty much resting on a July offer for the September A-100. And I'm registering for the June FSOT for just in case the July offer doesn't come my way.

Crack Open the Wine!

So the last two people from my OA study session found out they have FINALLY made it on to the register! It only took 6+ months. They are both Public Diplomacy cone, so they are joining an already too long register. Luckily, one has a good chance of getting the call for October. The other needs to brush up his Arabic for the extra points. I am so happy for our group. Everyone passed, and now everyone is on the register. Congratulations, guys!

Sorry, ITMTGP, I know the last thing you want to hear is more PD people getting on the register. I hate this process, too.

UPDATE: Gah! My fellow study-buddy who I thought for sure would get an offer for October missed out by a hair on getting an offer. He's 20 or so out of 174 on the PD register. Who knows were he'll be by the next class. I hate this process.

What Does 18,000 Lbs Look Like?

So I've been impressed by all the hard work going on at the B Files to pare down on the clutter at her home in preparation for the call to A-100. Which got me to thinking. FSO's are allowed 18,000 lbs of "stuff" for storage. My understanding (and I could be completely wrong), is that of that 18,000 lbs, an actual 7200 lbs of stuff can follow you around the world from post to post. So what does 18,000 lbs of furniture, bedding, electronic equipment, clothes, papers, books, tchotchkes, and any other miscellaneous crap look like? What about 7200 lbs of stuff?

So does anyone out there have any thoughts, or know of any links that can give you a general idea?

Jeepers

The consulate in Juarez has been closed due to credible security threats. More here. Hopefully all our embassy personnel will stay safe.

Good News?

I wonder if this will impact hiring on the FS front as well?

DNC'd!

So after must discussion and some planning at the FSOWannabe household, we've decided to DNC it for a while in order to take care of some personal and professional goals. It's hard not to be a bit nervous about it. If I had not DNC'd, I would have been called for the June A-100, which would have meant attending with one of my fellow OA study group members. I am not too convinced about the economic recovery going on, best case I think we're seeing an L-shaped recovery similar to Japan's after their bubble burst in the late 80's. So while on the DNC I'm a bit scared of massive cuts to the State Department's hiring budget. This article has a discussion on the proposed cuts (and it seems international affairs budgets are some of the first cuts to be had). It would really suck to get all the way through this process only to never get an invite due to tightened hiring needs.

In other news, out of my study group 3 out of 5 of us have made it to the register already. One is in the May A-100, another is going to attend the June A-100, and another has just passed his Chinese language test so that he can come onto the PD register with a high score.

New Geometries

So the move is over...thank god it's finally over. And last Monday we finally sold our house in Charlotte. We had a couple of hiccups, which hurt our bottom line, but in the end it's done and it's good to know that we have finally closed the Charlotte chapter of our lives.*


As for the move to our new place in Atlanta... well, it could have gone better. The move was painful - specifically because I handled about 90% of it. I took about a hundred small trips with my little SUV, slowly clearing out room by room. Once every little thing was gone, I rented a U-Haul and hired a couple of guys to help move the really big stuff. Not the most efficient way to do it, but it certainly helped with making sure that our rooms were set up in an organized manner - and it was definitely cheaper than using a moving company. My wife and I have done several rushed moves, which often resulted in boxes left unopened for years at a time. Sadly, we still have a bunch of boxes in our carport. This move I am determined to go through everything and determine what to do with all the junk we've accumulated over the last decade. I swear we're not hoarders, but we really need to do some sorting, donating, and tossing. I really want to pare down and get out of the habit of moving boxes from place to place - so nothing is coming into the house from the carport without a place for it to go. On a positive note, I think we will be really settled into the new place within the next week.

So we've been in the new house for a week and a half now, and I'm going through that pleasant period of cognitive dissonance with the new rooms and layout of the house not fitting the rooms and layout of the old house. One particularly disconcerting fact is that the new master bedroom has the same paint and general layout as our previous master bedroom - the one difference being that the closet and adjoining bathroom are switched. I won't tell you how many times during the first week that I got up to go to the bathroom and ended up in a closet. That embarrassing fact having been said, I do love having moved. I guess it's the military brat in me, but after a move I feel like everything is new and there's new stuff to explore and do - even though in our case we've just moved a mile from where we used to live. This reminds me of an old friend in Japan who liked to move the furniture around in his apartment every 4 months or so. He said that changing the layout of his apartment and making new geometries out of the space every so often helped to break up the mental inertia, and having tried it from time to time, I have come to agree.

I'm currently setting up our kitchen, which involves washing every dish, pot, pan, utensil, etc. that we own. It's a bit weird, but every time I move to a new place I am absolutely compelled to make sure any cooking/eating utensil is "freshly" cleaned before putting it away (even though I know this stuff is clean and came out of one cabinet just to be put into another). Call it my little display of OCD, but I always have this feeling that moving cooties have attached to my kitchen stuff, hence the need to re-wash. So I've set up my stereo and ipod in the kitchen so I can listen to music while washing. Here are some tunes I've been listening to.

Update on the Foreign Service and DNC to come!

*Don't worry, Charlotte friends, we still love you!

More Bad Border News

Someone threw an explosive device into the consulate grounds in Nuevo Laredo. Thankfully, other than some minor property damage, no one was injured. More info here.

Just a coincidental, random act of terror, or is it somehow related to the murders of consulate workers in Juarez last month?

Language Proficiency and the Foreign Service

For those interested in federal agency news, the Washington Post's Fed Page is a great resource. The other day Joe Davidson had an interesting opinion piece on a speech by John Negroponte regarding the challenges that the Foreign Service faces.

Unsurprising, since it seems to be a consistent criticism, the main challenge according to Negroponte is "the need for officers who can speak the languages of the world." As anyone who has spent even a little time trying to learn a language, it's a challenge to rewire your brain, not to mention the part about learning new words, grammatical constructions, and alphabets (or not so much alphabets with certain non-phonetic written languages - I'm looking at you Japanese and Chinese!).

But I wonder how big a problem this is. It's not like there isn't a Foreign Service Institute, which has a specific goal of training FSO's in whatever languages are needed. And I imagine most FSO's are pretty thrilled about learning new languages. If language acquisition and fluency is a problem in the FS, a key portion of the article explains why: "Another challenge is the widely held perception among Foreign Service officers that State's promotion system does not consider time spent in language training when evaluating officers for promotion, which may discourage officers from investing the time required to achieve proficiency in certain languages," the report said. Although HR officials dispute this perception, the department has not conducted a statistically significant assessment of the impact of language training on promotions."

Not to be blunt, but if this is a valid criticism, then the State Department would need to really commit to the additional expense and time necessary for appropriate training. Any FSO's out there have any thoughts on this?

On the Register!

So I was a little surprised to find a letter from the State Department today telling me that,

"...your name has been added to the register of those awaiting appointment to the Foreign Service as an Entry Level Officer in the Economic Affairs career track."

That happened a lot faster than anticipated. I thought for sure the TS clearance and final adjudication would have taken a lot longer. Guess I'm a tons more boring than I thought (and I think I'm pretty boring)! Now to DNC for a short period or not to DNC! That is a question for me and Mrs. FSOWannabe!

Something Wicked This Way Comes?

Talking heads on the telly are all abuzz about how the public sector is making more than the private sector based on this recent USA Today article. Without even taking into account health and pension benefits, the article states that, on average, federal workers make about 10% a year more than private workers (comparing jobs that appear in both public and private sectors).

From my perspective, where joining the Foreign Service would mean a massive cut in family income (around 70%), I have a hard time crediting this article. But maybe that's because I'm looking to join the Foreign Service for reasons other than remuneration. I imagine most mid-career candidates for the FS agree that what motivates them is certainly not the money. And reading the comments to the article is a bit depressing with the anti-government screeds that seem to imply government employees aren't worth getting paid at all, and the pro-government commenters implying that their salaries should exist outside of normal economic parameters.

I keep thinking of my father, a career Air Force officer who went to work every day at 5am and came home every day after 6pm. He worked tirelessly, and when he retired he joined NASA to continue working for the government and the projects he believed in. And he really didn't get paid well. Shamefully, my first job straight out of law school paid me more than he made after 30 years in government employ. And he had tons of colleagues that went to the private sector and made millions (several who tried to recruit him and which he turned down). I like to think that most government employees have the same level of commitment as my father did. But sometimes I feel like there are two public sectors. There is the public sector filled with dedicated, patriotic and hard-working people. And then there is the DMV.

Anyhow, with this article and all the goings on in Congress, the current issues with the economy and the budget, I wonder if there might end up being paycuts in government, or worse, hiring freezes.

Not before my A-100, please!