No real progress on the assignment search. I have a job and
that’ll continue; it’s just nailing down the assignment. Again, I have lots of
time so I’m not sweating it but it’s just becoming more and more of a time
suck.
For various reasons, three of the four from last update are
not available, and I’ve mentally nixed the last one but it’s technically still
in the running. And, because it’s just that complicated, three more contenders
are in the picture.
A: Not a nice place, but the job I’d like at the grade level
I’d like. Two years and, time zone-wise, not too far away. Due to hardship and
other differentials, it would pay the most, I think, but it would also pretty
much require a car.
B: A is at an “at-grade” assignment that goes all over an
area for two years, like what I do now but over an entire area. Would necessitate
living out of a suitcase for two years.
C: A higher-up position in an office that’s not my favorite
but in a really nice location. It’s three years. Would probably also need a
car.
A, despite not being the most attractive location, would
probably be good for me. The thing is, no one’s contacted me about it yet. The
date listed that they need someone is sooner, not later, so that might be it
but who knows. I’m not wasting gray matter trying to figure it out. They get in
touch with me or they don’t; no skin off my nose.
B is one I’d put in for when this whole crap started but I
hadn’t heard so I thought they were ignoring me since I’m not available until
so late. I’d banished it from my mind and then all of a sudden I got an email
from someone about it. I replied that I was interested so we’ll see where it
goes, if at all. Although I don’t like the idea of eating meals out for the
next two years, I do like the idea of collecting Marriott points and frequent
flyer miles. We’ll see if they want to talk.
Of those three, C is the only one for which I’ve already interviewed,
and, being the red-tape inducing employer I have, I’d be expected to interview
with two more people before committing, and so would anyone else who applies. I
feel like I’d have a good opportunity to get promoted in the next three years
if I was in that job. The downside to it is, there aren’t other people in my
same position, which makes going on vacation hard. In that job, there has to be
someone covering every working day.
Actually, that’s a beauty of B: you can go on vacation
between assignments and don’t have to worry about your emails piling up.
I’m very much trying not to think about all this, but it
pops up all the time because people ask or I get emails about it. Last week, my
career advisor person sent a form letter to people who are yet unassigned to
get a move on or be threatened with being assigned to DC. I don’t want that –
housing is too expensive and I don’t want NoVa to get its state income tax
claws in me – and since I’m not available until late, it’s OK that I’m still
looking. I have a couple months before it gets serious.
And there’s plenty to do in the meantime. The weather is fantastic,
at least today. We had some serious could-hardly-walk
wind, followed by a massive rainstorm on Thursday. I got home before the sky
unleashed, then ran across to the gym to swim. Even though it’s just across the
street, I arrived drenched but since I was jumping into a pool anyway it didn’t
matter. I could see the lightning and torrential downpours but I was perfectly
content to swim laps and work my shoulder.
We also got a first-run movie! Disney has some kind of deal
with veterans, and they send a cast member to posts with the movie. The cast
member, and I think a State courier, show the movie multiple times in a short
time span. They do it as a goodwill thing for the troops, which is cool. We
had, I think, six different showing including one outdoors on the side of a
building. It seems like a cool gig, at least if you like the movie. Disney did
it before with the last Star Wars movie. I think we also had a Mission
Impossible one somehow, but I don’t know if that was Disney or another studio.
I’m not really a comic movie buff but it was fun, and I wasn’t
doing anything else at 11 a.m. that day. Since I haven’t seen any of the other
Marvel things, I was a bit lost when they were anywhere but Earth, but it was a
nice way to spend an afternoon.
