Furloughs and Shutdowns

Having lived through the first day of my adult life in a furlough status and on the threshold of day 2, I can state that it is a very weird feeling to have a profession but not be able to go do the things that I am trained to do. 

I like, I think the number is 800,000, of my fellow federal employees are idle. We know that what we do is important and that we contribute in a positive way to life in the US. I was a bit hurt that there were bills introduced to get the National Park Service back on the job before the rest of the federal workforce. I guess seeing the museums shuttered on the Washington Mall brought the reality of what was happening just a bit too close to Congress. 

I went to a meeting of the Howard County Public School Academic Calendar Planning Committee last evening and found that three other of the committee members, like myself, are furloughed. We exchanged some pleasantries about the day, but were very quickly consumed with the business of the committee--but, it helped to know of others outside my own small work unit who are similarly affected by the nonsense occurring within the government.

I was somewhere yesterday and we were naming the states from which people commute to get to work. The states were Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Confusion. 

I have a huge list of things to do today, so I guess I will practice being retired and do all kinds of things to keep myself busy while keeping an eye on the news to see if I can return to work tomorrow and if the insanity to the south will abate.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD