I really love my job at the moment, yet at the same time, I miss being in the classroom and working on academic stuff. Thing is, I need some kind of library close at hand, or maybe listening to some conference papers to shake up my thinking. Or so I think. I feel totally out of the loop; I am returning to my disability project, and need to find ( Read more... )

There is some kind of old saying that you will use what ever you learn at some point in your life -- I am not exactly sure of the saying, but I am sure it is old, and pretty true ( Read more... )

In some ways, I am glad these summer months are over. It means an end to this three digit heat. And end to the dry season of few new people coming to post. An end to the people I did not like who were leaving post (which means, in the coming months, people I like will be leaving ( Read more... )

O.k. -- So we have a new employee association that is not interested in doing anything except look after the accounts. They have no ambition or initiative, and instead of organizing events, happy hours, and trips--like every ERA board before them--they complain about how *hard* the committee's job really is. Case in point: gym memberships. We ( Read more... )

In my never ending attempts to win CLO of the year before the year is up, I have decided to plan a Local Staff Appreciation day. With all of the continuing resolutions, debt ceilings, and random congressional nonsense, I figured our local staff needed to know that we appreciate their standing by us as people thousands of miles away messed with ( Read more... )

For the last year or so, I have had a tutor twice a week, come to the consulate and do one-on-one classes. Mostly fun, because we can focus on things that I need to focus upon. But Gil, the tutor, is also a musician, and several months ago I found out that he had translated the songs for the musical "Hairspray," into Espaniol ( Read more... )

You all may remember Jenny G's roommate from Harlem, Gabriella Barnstone. The dancer/choreographer/director/yoga instructor ( Read more... )

Today in the Staff Meeting (department heads and section heads, plus the Counsel General), I got a round of applause for a successful event -- last wednesday's Salsa competition ( Read more... )

So, we are figuring out when our departure from Mexico will be. Due to our leave and training schedule, we should be completely out of here the week of Christmas. Six more months to go ( Read more... )

When the apocalypse came, no one really took notice. The earth quakes were easily dealt with since building codes had advanced since biblical times, and technology mopped up the rest of what the apocalypse planners thought would really ruin our day thousands of years ago. The locusts were killed with less effort than it takes to aim a can of RAID ( Read more... )