Finding Famous Jameis

I miss Gene Deckerhoff. In Morocco, I used to be able to find the FSU games streamed online somewhere. Ditto for Indonesia, but now the Almighty Dollar has blocked me out. Games are no longer streamed and you have to subscribe to something.

My issue is I can’t find out what to subscribe to in order to get Gene. The ESPN online is hard enough, as my ESPN provider is not a cable network.

So sometimes FSU can be hard to come by – even harder than when I was half a world away. And now that the Noles are getting to be back on top (knocking on wood here), I don’t want to miss them.

Om DC, every college has some sort of a booster club gathering to watch games, so I decided to go down to the local bar and watch the NC State game with them. Since it was an afternoon game I figured what the heck.

When I learned that there was an FSU bar in town, I didn’t realize the enormity of it. I figured it be like the SEMINoles (that’s be the Southeastern Michigan Noles), who, on game days, met at a local bar and commandeered a room.

This was on a much grander scale.

The bar, Union Pub in this case, was absolutely, completely overrun by Seminoles. Every single TV had the game on. After TDs, they played the fight song in the bar. The waitstaff wore Union Pub FSU shirts with the 2013 schedule printed on the back. There was even a booster club raffle. (The prizes were mostly booze, so I didn’t buy one.)

With the exception of a lone NE State fan and a table full of drunk, misplaced Cornhuskers, it was all Seminole.

So, it was kind of cool that the atmosphere was there, but I just didn’t enjoy it so much. I’m not a bar person and going at it alone in a packed house was just too intimidating for this introvert. I hung out and watched the first half in the bar (I was late due to the metro hating me), where they wasn’t even a speck of a table to sidle up to.

During the third, the eating places cleared out a bit and I grabbed a seat on the patio and got dinner. I was pretty much famished and wolfed it down. By the end of the third, though, the drunken Huskers combined with the chilly and windy weather chased me out and I headed back.

I won’t be doing it again for the Miami game, but would consider it for other afternoon games, I guess. I’m not sure. During football games, I don’t really want to socialize. I just want to watch football.

But it was a decent weekend, and had it not been chilly I would have been content to sit by my lonesome on the patio and watched the game. I was just so chilled – hard to believe I was in North Dakota just a few months ago.

Like the tail end of my ND tour, I am trying to explore the area a bit. Saturday I wandered into the city, if just for a bit. I’ve putzed around the district a tiny bit, catching a glimpse of this memorial or that White House mostly in passing.

I visited Chincoteague, too, and on Sunday I got out and about a place nearby that felt like it was a world away.

Just down the street (or the metro, anyway) from the district is Alexandria, Virginia, which is just a wonderful and peaceful place to hang out on a Sunday. The weather was a lot better than Saturday and it was just gorgeous to wander around.

One of my classmates had recommended it, so I just headed out after church. Had a great time just walking and seeing the remnants of what must have been Dog-o-ween: lots of pups in costume. Ate a catfish po’ boy and sat and watched the water, which is always peaceful.

I’d totally go back for another Sunday afternoon. There were some awesome-looking restaurants and it was kind of tough to decide on one. I was fairly happy with the po’ boy, though, and the cupcakes on which I splurged later.

I have got to cut myself off, though. Now that I am getting a paycheck, I am also spending said paycheck. Saturday, long before the Noles game, I sunk $1210 into my teeth in the first of two dental visits, then I hit Target for my first $100 trip of the week.

Although China pretty much has everything, I’m going ahead and stocking up on what I can. I’m not sure of the availability of certain brands. Since I am allowed to take 7,200 pounds of stuff (and I only own 2,300 pounds of it – I checked), I figure why not? It’s something to aim for before I leave.

I’m also trying to schedule doctor’s appointments, too. My wrinkle with that is the fact my insurance card isn’t in. I got one but my name was spelled wrong and the corrected one hasn’t come in.

I have this standing list of “to do before I leave” that just keeps growing. It feels like I might never leave, but I’m still trying to be OK with taking it day by day. It’s not like I have an option.

Moving on

I’ve got six weeks of federal employment down. The first three were orientation and the second were billed as “specialist training.”

This is vague. I’ve no idea what I am getting into. I’ve communicated with my predecessor in Guangzhou (she’s out of the office now; three weeks’ vacation at Everest Base Camp) and she keeps dropping names of software and systems things that I’ve never heard of.

I thought these things would be taught in class, but nope.

Don’t get me wrong, we did stuff. Not as much as I was thinking we’d do, but we did stuff.

Some came via guest speakers, most of whom were entertaining.

On Friday, we heard from someone who “works the line.” No, this is not a knockoff of Johnny Cash. It is Statespeak for someone who works in the office of the Secretary, a/k/a Kerry.

This speaker was highly entertaining and very likeable. She’d been in training four years before and had just gotten her position “on the line.”

To catch people up, the tours are mostly two-year tours and the first two are “directed,” meaning ultimately you go where you’re told. After that you essentially apply to positions (“bid” in Statespeak), just like anyone who’s looking for a job.

On paper, it seems like it kind of stinks, so we’ll see how it plays out for me in four years.

But anyway, this woman being in her four year means “the line” was her first job on which she “bid.” It’s a high-prestige position, too, so that’s really cool for her.

Her description of the position actually made me think I’d like to do it, and I’d really never thought about working in DC. For this, though, wow.

She’d taken the job in July and since then had been to training in London, then to an event in Bogota, then an event in London, and then to another event in the Philippines. And in there somewhere, she was in New York working when the UN General Assembly was there. Sign me up.

At this point, I’ve forgotten why I brought this up … Oh, yeah. Four years. She’d said she had been in training four years ago – the very same room and indeed, right there, she said, pointing to a seat in the back – and commented that in training, “you learn everything about the State Department but nothing about your job.”

And wow, that might have been the most honest, accurate and insightful thing said during specialist training.

Yes, we briefly learned how to write cables and the style for correspondence. But other things have been just so darn vague and abstract that I’ve wondered what is going on here.

This is, however, the only time that State can tell us things as a group while we’re in the States. That’s helpful, but the thing is, a lot of the stuff deals with things we won’t encounter for three, four and more years down the road. It’s tough to know where to file that in your brain so you will recall it when it’s needed.

But now that training is over and I can just hope and pray that I recall the knowledge at the right time, whether it’s the stuff I need to do before departing or the stuff I need to do after tenure for promotion.

Next, we have random training. I think this is to kill time before our visas arrive, but it’s not like it’s wasted. The stuff was scheduled with eye down the road: some are the things required for promotion (which won’t come until after tenure, takes 2-5 years).

We’ve also got “distance learning” days scheduled in. These are days when we’re supposed to do online classes. My problem with that is I’ve already taken all the suggested ones and more. I’m kind of running out of related classes to do.

I have one in the hopper if it’s cleared by my “Career Development Officer” so maybe that will come through. In the meantime, I’m having to clean up a lot of little messes.

Last week was brutal for finances. Not spending money – though I did that, too – but tracking it down.

First, I had a fright when I realized a $1250 deposit I’d mailed from DC to Florida on 9/30 hadn’t been deposited into my account. After several phone calls and emails to various people we were able to determine that the right bank had received the money but put it into someone else’s account. That got resolved.

Now, I’m waiting on a $100 check to arrive to me in DC so that I can mail it back to Florida. It was said to be mailed over a week ago. I am not sure where the carrier pigeon got shot down, but I sure don’t have it yet.

My new credit union account, with one here in DC, mailed my credit card to Florida, which I specifically told them at least twice not to do. I had planned on picking that up tomorrow. Nope.

Then, I’m trying to transfer two IRAs into my new federal retirement account. I sent them both the federal paperwork.

One transferred the money no problem. Only my account doesn’t show it yet. The other refused to transfer it. Seriously, folks?

And lastly, I am putting $193 from each check into two separate accounts for savings. I got paid on Thursday and checked tonight if it went into my new credit union.

I can’t tell because I can’t create an online account. I’m told I have a login, which I never set up but there’s no way to. I keep doing the automated “send me my login” thing, it hasn’t done so. It looks like I’ll be in that credit union’s office tomorrow even though I don’t have to pick up the credit card.

The other bank that is supposed to receive the $193 doesn’t have it in my account. I went back and checked – and this is my bad – and I gave them my MEMBER number, which, for this place, is different than the account number.

So tomorrow, my plan is to knock out that one class and then call all those financial institutions and try to get my financial world straightened out.

Oh, and give blood. The Red Cross is coming and I figured I’d try. I usually am on the bubble, but I had salmon on Saturday and a Fuddrucker’s burger today in preparation.

Misty in Chincoteague

For my first federal holiday, I decided to take a holiday.

So far during the shutdown, I have been one of the lucky ones and haven’t been furloughed. It seems we’ll have at least next week, and that’s pay week. My financial confidence is growing slowly and I wanted to take advantage of the holiday.

The idea of a holiday, especially a little-celebrated federal holiday like Columbus Day, is really entertaining. With the exception of this last Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas I haven’t taken holidays off lately, which means dating back to 2007. And I can’t think of a time when I was off on Columbus Day. I mean, who celebrates that?

Anyway, with the thought of another paycheck next week I’m moving ahead with being a regular American, which means spending money.

My first foray was to go to the dentist in the US for the first time since 2007. Not surprisingly, I got a list of $1900 worth of stuff that needs to be done. Sigh. But I knew this was coming.

But that’s not a highlight for a three-day weekend. I pulled out the map and tried to find a place to go to for a little bit. I mean, it’s likely the last vacation I’ll have in the States until my first home leave, so I wanted to do something. Even if it wasn’t far away.

So I Hotwired a rental car and chose Chincoteague Island, which is only about three hours away. This is assuming you don’t get lost. “Lost” is a really vague term while on vacation with no set itinerary. Fortunately, since I didn’t bring my GPS.

Chincoteague Island is in Virginia (I had to reiterate this to the rental car people for some reason. I started to think the car might lock up when I crossed the state line or something, but nothing nefarious happened.) on the Eastern Seaboard.

The ride here is probably really gorgeous, but it has been a soggy, soggy time in the DC area. There’s been at least a steady misting from the get-go.

And "misty" is appropriate, I guess, because the reason I wanted to go to Chincoteague is because it’s the setting of “Misty of Chincoteague,” one of my favorite books from my youth. Marguerite Henry wrote it in 1947 and several related books followed. (As it turns out, there’s at least one I never read, “Misty Twilight” or something like that.)

For those who don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, the story centers around an annual event on the island called Pony Penning Day. In the book, a brother and sister save money and buy the filly of a wild pony than no one was able to bring in called Phantom.

The ponies originate on Assateague Island, across the channel. They’ve been there for 200 years. No one can really say for sure how they got there, but the legend in the book is the one about a shipwrecked Spanish ship that was loaded with horses. Some of the horses escaped, and the ones that roam the island today are descendants of those.

On Pony Penning Day, which is held at the end of July, “saltwater cowboys” round up the 150 or so horses on the 37-mile island (the island stretches into Maryland, but I think the boat tour guy said the horses were only in the Virginia part, but I’m not sure) and herd them across the channel to Chincoteague Island.

There, the colts and fillies are separated from their parents and sold at auction, although some people “buy back” some of the foals. That, I learned today, is when a benefactor basically makes a donation to the fire department and sends the pony back to the island to replenish the herd. (The fire department acts as the caretakers for the horses and runs the roundup and the auction, plus a carnival that goes along with it.)

In the book, Paul goes on the roundup and gets the Phantom, who has a filly by her side. She’s a flash in the wind, so he calls her Misty. Paul and his sister Maureen buy both the Phantom and Misty, but Paul winds up turning Phantom loose again because she’s a free spirit. Misty, OTOH, is “Misty of Chincoteague” and wants to stay with Paul and Maureen.

Misty is still a big part of the community. There’s even a statue downtown, modeled after one of the illustrations in the book. An artist named Wesley Dennis did all the illustrations for all Henry’s books, and they are just phenomenal.

The book was made into a movie, which I’ve never seen, and that’s blasted all over town, too.

But it’s not a hugely commercial place. It’s a beach town. Oysters and crabs are as big as the ponies. Well, in popularity, anyway.

I did a boat tour so that I could head over to Assateague to see the ponies (it’s a federal park/refuge so it’s closed due to the shutdown) and got the rundown on the seafood side of it.

I don’t think I realized how much I miss beach. I loved the boat. I miss salt water, salty air and all that. I could definitely retire to an island.

Photos to come. I have to unearth my connector cord thing first, but even before that I am going to splurge (in more ways than one) at one of the many ice cream shops I’ve seen.

Shooting up with “Breaking Bad”

For years, people have been telling me that I’d enjoy “Breaking Bad.” I’m not into TV all that much, at least as it airs. I don’t have the commitment in me to watch it on whatever channel it comes on, but once they get to Netflix, I don’t mind trying out new shows.

On that, I recommend “House of Cards.”

Anyway, last weekend or so – right before the overall season finale on real TV – I finally decided to start on “Breaking Bad.” As the first season was only eight episodes or so, I watched them in a few days but then got waylaid with my DVD Netflix order.

As an aside, I am not sure why I continue to put movies in my queue that the rest of the word says are bad. I don’t always have the same views as the rest of the world – in fact, I usually don’t – but on movies, the general public has a good grasp on movies.

So I should have known better than to put “The Great Gatsby” into my to-view list. It took me three days to make it past the first 30 minutes. Yeah, big red flag there. It was pretty horrible.

After that diversion, I got back to “BB” and am currently in the third season. Gotta say, it’s everything people said. Very addicting.

Really, I don’t understand why people watch TV as it airs. It’s much better, in my mind, to watch three at a time or whatever at your own convenience.

For some reason, I thought my whole training period would be foot-to-the-floor busy, but I haven’t been. I’ve had periods of dead time that I just hadn’t anticipated.

Our training schedule – there are 10 of us – is basically 9-4 with an hour lunch and 1-2 breaks in the morning and afternoon. It’s not bad.

So far, my end of it has not been directly affected by the shutdown, although that could change. I recognize that I am lucky and blessed to have received a paycheck and, so far as I know, still be on track for the next one.

But the slowness is welcome; I’ve been doing a few of the additional classes online and in general, trying to get ready for deployment.

One of the pre-departure errands is vaccinations. For those who haven’t heard, I’ll be heading to SE Asia (email me for more detail) and there is a slew of shots I need.

I’ve had many, thanks to my PC service, but things like typhoid expire. (Fortunately, I don’t think the rabies series does.) And PC didn’t record some of the ones I know that I’ve had.

But I lack a spate, and last week I got started on them. Holy smokes. I did the flu shot on Thursday and made the appointment for the rest on Friday.  

Well, Thursday came and I went at lunch to get, I think it was, seven shots. However, since I have to go back in for the second of one of those series a bit later, we broke it up, plus on one, I am going for the oral instead of the shot. It lasts five years vs. two, and it's one less hole in my arm.

The oral thing turned out to be way, way worse than the shots. It’s one of those you take on an empty stomach, so I did it right before I got to bed. The normal side effects include diarrhea, 100+ temperature, abdominal pains and the like, but I slept just fine I and figured I was OK.

Wrong. Friday I was just blah. I didn’t have any of the listed effects to the extreme or anything, but it wasn’t a good day. Plus, I’d gotten three shots in one arm and two in the other, so I couldn’t even lift my arms.

Totally listless, I muddled through class and then just came and crashed on the sofa, with “Breaking Bad” on Netflix.

Since the oral thing is a series of four pills, one a day over a span of six days, I hoped to God that my Friday reaction was from the whole HepA-B-Japenceph-flu-yellowfever combo and not just the oral thing.

Apparently not. I took the second of the four last night and this morning, same thing. I’d had delusional plans of playing tourist in an abandoned District of Columbia, but that just didn’t happen. I drug myself to church and was so out of it I don’t even know what the pastor talked about. I was sweating up a storm and had shortness of breath – the whole nine yards.

So I came back home, turned on “BB” again and just did nothing. Sheesh, I don’t even think I drooled.

Tomorrow I am due to take another, and I’m going to change the tactic to take it in the morning. Since it seems to take awhile to kick in, I will try to state off the nasty/listless feeling until I get out of class.

Fortunately, I should be well over this vaccine long before the second round of shots, which is scheduled to be on Halloween. I thought that was appropriate.

It’s more than just a fantasy

Zippy and Daddy’s 50^th anniversary is next year, and since I won’t be around, I tried to line up a gift in advance. (It always comes to me.)

Of course, Zippy is of no help when it comes to big gifts. Daddy doesn’t care, either.

When I suggested a cruise, Zippy’s only response was, “But who would go with me?” So that was out.

When I posed the question to Mary Lynn, she suggested Yankee Fantasy Camp. After all, Zippy loved it when Charles went a couple of years ago. She crashed the final day’s events and even got to see Richard Gere.

But when I asked Z about it, she kind of made it sound like she wasn’t interested. Between that and it being a really hard sell to Barry, I kind of left it. At least until I went to Charlotte and Charles showed Z his custom Yankee uniform and she looked pretty envious.

I decided to do it, but being an AC volunteer at $200 a week doesn’t really make that a smart purchase, so I pursued the siblings. Laurie was an easier sell. Wendy was pretty easy, but since she never has any money she couldn’t go even.

Barry thought it was a stupid idea, but he finally gave us the go-ahead. Of course, I had already decided to do it so that worked out well.

Even though it was supposed to be an anniversary present, since that falls in June we decided to give it to her on her birthday.

Well, that was fine except she was born about a month too late. All the medical paperwork is due on Nov. 1, which, last I checked, falls before Nov. 9.

So Laurie and I decided to give it to her when I came down for Mackenzie’s birthday.

Originally, I’d figured on being in North Dakota and had made plans to come down on Thursday, but after taking the new job that went out the window with the “no leave during training” rule.

So instead I did a quick up and down over the weekend. Mackenzie and Cracker Barrel. That was it. No friends, no malls. There was no time.

But it was fantastic. Mackenzie didn't have a family birthday party (Barry didn’t have her that weekend) but she invited me to the Japanese steakhouse with her friends. She'd invited four and her mom took them to dinner.

I'd cleared it in advance that Nic and Zac could come (this was my last chance to see her before I leave for post) and Laurie came along, too. It worked out well because we sat at one side of the table and they sat at the other -- no boy cousins embarrassing her or anything.

I gave her a little silver jewelry box with a silver cross necklace. She squealed when she opened it and so did her friends. Score! I really had agonized over the purchase so it worked out well.

Sunday morning we met Barry at Cracker Barrel. Zippy, true to form, didn’t want to get up and go in the morning. I wound up sending Daddy, Laurie and the boys in one car to force her to go with me in another. It would have NOT been cool had she not attended!

Laurie had wrapped the folder with the Yankee camp information in anniversary wrapping and put it in a box with Christmas gift wrap. That was in a box with birthday gift wrap.

Zippy was totally confused but I just said I wasn't going to be there for those holidays and that was why.

She got to the inside and of course had the wrong side of the folder facing her but when she opened it her jaw totally dropped. She just kept saying “I can’t believe I’m going to Yankee Fantasy Camp.”

So that gift was a definite home run.