shutdown
Mon Jan 22 17:03 EST 2018
Another government "shutdown" started at midnight Saturday morning. As is not unusual, I was working at midnight. Whether the shutdown affects your employment depends on your contract. My position is considered "essential", and we work straight through shutdowns. (Being "essential" means we don't get snow days off either, so win-some, lose-some.)
Irony: after bitter-cold weather for much of January (including a 6°F/-14°C wind chill one night), today it was 60°F/15.6°C when I left home and 65°F/18.3°C at my office - inviting bike-commuting weather when many people suddenly weren't going to work. But a day off is also an opportunity for a day of cycling, so this weather need not be wasted on the non-working. Yesterday's weather was similar, and I took advantage of it to do bike maintenance outdoors.
Monday 23:00
Congress have reached some sort of accommodation and passed a continuing resolution to restore funding temporarily (for 17 days??), and the shutdown is over tomorrow. 3 days, 2 on the weekend, so not much of a shutdown. But simply starting and ending a shutdown is a lot of work for a lot of people - a lot of wasted time (and money).
E.g. Many people in many agencies had to update a lot of web pages to say things like Due to the Federal Government shutdown, NOAA.gov and most associated websites are unavailable. However, because the information this site provides is necessary to protect life and property, it will be updated and maintained during the Federal Government shutdown.
And change them all back tomorrow.
Some furloughed people probably had to come in for a half day (unpaid) and do whatever administrative procedures their department needed to go into shutdown mode. And they'll undo them all tomorrow.
One change from the last shutdown is that the National Parks were not closed. This affects my commute since my preferred route uses the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath and the adjacent Capital Crescent Trail, and the Canal is a national park. My first alternate route has a short stretch along the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac at Roosevelt Island; again NPService. Most people ignored these closures, since there aren't sensible alternatives.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/953306.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Another government "shutdown" started at midnight Saturday morning. As is not unusual, I was working at midnight. Whether the shutdown affects your employment depends on your contract. My position is considered "essential", and we work straight through shutdowns. (Being "essential" means we don't get snow days off either, so win-some, lose-some.)
Irony: after bitter-cold weather for much of January (including a 6°F/-14°C wind chill one night), today it was 60°F/15.6°C when I left home and 65°F/18.3°C at my office - inviting bike-commuting weather when many people suddenly weren't going to work. But a day off is also an opportunity for a day of cycling, so this weather need not be wasted on the non-working. Yesterday's weather was similar, and I took advantage of it to do bike maintenance outdoors.
Monday 23:00
Congress have reached some sort of accommodation and passed a continuing resolution to restore funding temporarily (for 17 days??), and the shutdown is over tomorrow. 3 days, 2 on the weekend, so not much of a shutdown. But simply starting and ending a shutdown is a lot of work for a lot of people - a lot of wasted time (and money).
E.g. Many people in many agencies had to update a lot of web pages to say things like Due to the Federal Government shutdown, NOAA.gov and most associated websites are unavailable. However, because the information this site provides is necessary to protect life and property, it will be updated and maintained during the Federal Government shutdown.
And change them all back tomorrow.
Some furloughed people probably had to come in for a half day (unpaid) and do whatever administrative procedures their department needed to go into shutdown mode. And they'll undo them all tomorrow.
One change from the last shutdown is that the National Parks were not closed. This affects my commute since my preferred route uses the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath and the adjacent Capital Crescent Trail, and the Canal is a national park. My first alternate route has a short stretch along the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac at Roosevelt Island; again NPService. Most people ignored these closures, since there aren't sensible alternatives.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/953306.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]