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?

Can't Catch a Break (Literally!)

I'm fairly sure my mother would say things are "mercury retrograde" for me right now. Frankly, I have no idea what she's talking about, but I do know that more shizzle than normal keeps happening.

I came home today and decided to unfurl the US flag on our porch, which had gotten all wrapped around its pole. As I leaned over to unfurl the flag, my shoes slipped on the edge of the porch and down I went. And not very well. I felt something go pop in my ankle. Thankfully, there's no break, but I'm now the proud owner of a sprained ankle. And sadly, I find myself once again back in a bed rest state of being. At least this time I don't need a spit cup.

I'm not sure which higher powers I've pissed, but clearly I've done something. I just can't believe my luck (or lack of it). At least we have Netflix. And clearly it's time to light some candles or sacrifice a goat or something.

Sick Sucks Part Two

Reading back over my original Sick Sucks post, I realize now how young and naive I was. Because I got a whole lot sicker.

I managed to get an appointment with my physician the next day, and I must have really looked and sounded like shizzle because they took me in right away (despite 15 people hanging out in the lobby). During the previous night, the whole swallowing razor blades feeling in my throat increased to the point where I literally gave up trying to sleep at around 2:00 am. My throat hurt so much that I was not swallowing, instead I was acting like a tobacco chewer, complete with my own spit cup. Which is really disgusting. I will never take saliva for granted again.

Prior to the appointment, I knew I wasn't feeling that great, but even though I felt a bit hot (and the Mrs. remarked on it as well), the home thermometer said I was A-Okay. Things got a bit weird, though, when I started having chills. To deal with the freezing, I jumped into a steaming, melt your skin off hot shower, only to keep shaking and feeling like I was freezing. Quite a strange sensation of pain from the hot water, while your body feels like it's in ice. At the Dr's, I found out I was running a 102 fever, so now I know to throw the home thermometer away.

My Doctor took one look at my throat, described it as gruesome, and then informed me that I reeked of strep. Yes, I was diagnosed by smell. My apologies if any of my readers just threw up a little bit in their mouths after reading that. Who knew strep had a distinctive odor? The Doc gave me some drugs and told me not to leave my bed for a couple of days (and to stay away from everyone).

I spent the next couple of days not sleeping for more than an hour at a time, and not eating or drinking. It just hurt too much to swallow. I had pain killers, but they did little for the pain, just made me a mental zombie. My wife was worried enough to call the Dr. and arrange another appointment, so they gave me bigger, meaner pain killers that still did nothing for the pain, but did at least put me to sleep.

Anyhow, after 3 days of quarantine (and that has really sucked because the little ones don't get why Daddy won't come out of his room to play or read them stories), I'm well enough to drink some tea, eat some jello and blog, of course. Luckily, it doesn't look like the girls or the Mrs. have picked this up. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy (I probably would on my wife's worst enemies, but that's because I really don't like people who mess with my own). Anyhow, the good news is I'm getting better and thanks to everyone who emailed to check up on me.

Sick Sucks

Picture courtesty of AOL Health (Tamago-zake - raw egg and sake cures colds!*)

In between agonizing for my blog-friend on her getting "the call" to A-100 this week (and I think I'm worrying about it much more than she is), I've caught something. Not quite a cold, maybe strep, maybe an ear infection. It started last Friday, when I had that slight something wonky feel, but nothing to complain about. And over the last several days it's increased, culminating into today's day of suck. All I know is the left side of my face from my clogged-feeling ear to my "am-I-swallowing-razor-blades?" throat, is hurting.

Our nanny has been out sick as well (and from the sounds of it from the same thing), so it's just been me and the kids doing the Mr. Mom thing, which is hard to do when you don't want to swallow, much less talk. And not talking is hard to do with my 3-1/2 year old, whose new nickname is Ms. Gabs-a-Lot, although I think she'd prefer Princess Mouth. On top of it, Segunda, who doesn't talk yet, has decided that since I'm around I might as well read every single book in the kiddie library to her. It's cute seeing her stomp down the hall with a new book in her chubby little baby hands, until I realize she expects me to actually read to her. Which means talking. Which means pain. I hope she appreciates this when she's older. Off to the Dr. tomorrow if they have any appointments.

Anyhow, it's selfish, but for those who believe in the power of prayer please put a shout-out so my girls don't catch this. Thanks!

Best of luck to all the wannabe's waiting for this round of A-100 calls!

* It's really just egg nog made with sake, not as disgusting as some might think!

Is It Selfish to Want to Be an FSO?

I'm normally above-average in the optimism department. Some people have the brain chemistry to make them a Debbie Downer, but I am not one of those people (even when things suck). However, I've found that over the last couple of years, I have begun to be increasingly pessimistic about the future. Especially when it comes to the state of the US economy.

There are a lot of reasons for this, most of them having to do with my specialization in the structured finance field, and watching friends and colleagues see their careers and livelihoods implode over the last three years. So maybe my pessimism is a form of post-traumatic stress, but it's hard to feel confident about the economy. You know it's not a good sign when economists from opposite spectra of analysis start getting gloomy.

Which brings me to the topic of my post. I am ashamed to admit this, but my desire for joining the Foreign Service has a new basis - some financial/career stability. I know that's not a guarantee, especially if things really went to heck in a hand basket. Joining the Foreign Service is not a guarantee of lifelong employment. There's the issue of getting tenure; not to mention the question of whether this career move is the right thing for my family. I think it is, but I'm not sure you could ever know until you're actually doing it.

Compared to what's going on in the banking, finance and legal industries, working for State certainly seems a lot more stable. Obviously, career/financial security is not the only reason. But reading the WSJ and FT is turning into torture. It would be great if I enjoyed reading absolutely miserable stats all day, but frankly, I like rainbows and sprinkles occasionally. And I can't help feeling selfish for wanting to be a public employee at the same time that the global financial situation seems to be gearing for another round of crashing. I'm starting to get really itchy to get an offer and into an A-100 before another Lehman incident occurs and the government has no choice but to close its doors for the foreseeable future.

As of today on the register, I am steady at 38 out of 85.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being on the Register

So last week I decided to check where I was on the register. The ever helpful Ms. Tamale Walton told me I was #35 out of 85 fellow Econ FSO-wannabes. A month ago I was #29, a month before that I was #39, so I seem to be staying relatively put. So far, I think I have a good shot at getting "the call" once I take myself off of DNC later this year. Both the June A-100 and August A-100 dipped into scores lower than mine. Barely much lower, but lower all the same. That should reassure me, but when I read the A-100 boards clamoring about how the registers are getting longer and longer and people are getting higher and higher scores, I start to worry that this whole decision to go DNC was not the brightest. I especially feel that way when I have friends and co-bloggers getting into the June and August classes.

Please note, unlike some of the conspiracy theorists out there, I don't think State is getting easier with its Oral Assessment grading policy. I think the economy is just driving a lot of people who are exceedingly well-qualified into taking the FSOT, which is resulting in the profusion of higher scores the last year or so. I just pray that I can keep my place in the 30's long enough. I am really scared of the register ballooning even more over the next 4-5 months; or, even worse, a hiring freeze hitting State at the end of the year. I thought things would be easier once I was on the register, but it's not. I can't imagine how terrible it is to go through this process only to fade off the register. I now have even more mad respect for the people who decide to do this more than once.

My plan is to try and get into the first A-100 class of next year. I don't believe next year's budget has been finalized yet so it's hard to prognosticate, but hopefully they will have a January 2011 A-100; and hopefully I'll be in it. In the interim, I'm going to start burnishing my really rusty Japanese in order to take the language exam to boost my score.

I really hate the waiting and watching. October-ish can't get here soon enough.

New Toy

My birthday came and went recently, and in order to quell that queasy feeling of getting older and the time left on this earth slipping through my fingertips, I splurged on a ridiculous toy that I have to share.

As you might notice from my musical interludes, I love me some music. There are few experiences better than finding a new band or hearing the first few notes of a new song that tickle your brain in just the right way.

So I bought a Sonos. For those of you unfamiliar, it's a music system that networks with your music library and can wirelessly stream whatever music you're in the mood for (including internet radio, pandora, sirius, lastfm, rhapsody, etc.) to your stereo or special zone players. I love it. You can create separate musical zones and play different music simultaneously - need classical in the kitchen while you cook while your friends jam to something else in the media room? It can do it.

I figure this is my last big electronic purchase for the next five years, by which time I imagine digitized, wireless media storage will be standard features for TVs and stereos.

UPDATE: Bumped because I'm terrible with correcting my publish dates.

Update Interlude

Probably won't be much posting for a bit. I'm knee deep in preparing for the move - stage one begins tomorrow while the Mrs. and the little rug rats are out of town for the weekend. I was going to go with them, but thought it offered a great opportunity to move the kids' rooms all at once. My eldest has been pretty funny about the move. She's excited about the new house, but keeps checking to make sure I'll remember to move her bookcase, her toys, and, oh yeah, her bed.

Some good news - the buyers from hell backed down from their crazy, crazy, crazy position, so hopefully we will be mortgage free by the end of the month.

The Mrs. is a fan of Frightened Rabbit, and this tune reminds me of our state of the process towards FS-ness.

Musical Interlude

I've been fairly introspective of late, and that introspection has not led me towards blogging. But that does mean I've been listening to a lot of music lately.



Tiny Tin Hearts is a fantastic band out of Austin. Every time I listen to their album, I think of the countless bars all over the city that you can walk into and find great live music.



And I need to catch up with an old friend, the lead singer of a local band in Austin, who after years and years of chasing the dream gave it up to be a husband and father. I respect his decision, but miss his music.

To Market to Market

So the Mrs. and I have an extra house in Charlotte that we're finally putting on the market. Over the last couple of months we've spent a lot of time interviewing realtors, painters, landscapers and handymen in order to get the house in decent shape and up for sale. It should be listed sometime this week.

It's bittersweet. We both love the home and our neighbors there. The house is smack in the middle of a Mayberry-ish neighborhood. Everyone knows everyone. People sit outside and talk to each other (or even better, bring beers over to drink on the porch). Halloween is absolutely sick there with most of the city bringing their kids to our neighborhood to do the trick-or-treating (if you don't have 10lbs of candy each Halloween, you will run out - the first year we were there we were out of candy in literally an hour). A great neighborhood with great people.

In fact, the only reason we still have the house, three years after we moved to Atlanta, was in the hope that we would have an opportunity to move back. Sadly, we came to a decision at the end of last year that it would be best to go ahead and sell the house. The economy is not coming back as soon as we had hoped (and from my perspective, doesn't actually seem to be coming back much at all), and our areas of legal specialization are hard to find in Charlotte now that the crash of the last couple of years has effectively destroyed the structured finance industry.

So rather than keeping the house and dealing with renters (which has been hit or miss), not to mention dealing with the burden of carrying the extra mortgage, we're going to sell the house. We'll probably take a decent loss since the last two years in Charlotte has seen mass layoffs at the two major employers in town, Bank of America and Wachovia (now owned by Wells Fargo). There are tons and tons of houses on the market, plus far too many foreclosures from people laid off that have just walked from their homes, which doesn't look good for a fast sale or breaking even close to even. But, frankly, that's okay. Sometimes it's better to take the hit in order to focus on the future.

Musical Interlude

All my friends and family in the DC area are enjoying/suffering through the snowpocalypse, which made me think of this song.