Odds and Ends

Various things on my mind today--

Not to take anything away from the over-hyped media and celebrity event going on in Washington today, but an Inauguaration is probably one of the most important things that happens in this country. It's more than a man, the Presidency is an institution. Today represents a scheduled orderly transfer of power from one person to the next. It's a much better system than many other countries, where there are unscheduled disorderly transfers of power. Best Wishes, President Bush; Godspeed President Obama.

You never appreciate the convenience of indoor plumbing until you go without for a while. Ok, so we did have indoor plumbing, but not on the main floor so I got a lot of exercise over the past 3 months running up or down steps. But I'm happy to report that the sink and toilet are back in and functioning! WOO HOO!

A couple of my blogging friends have recently gotten good news regarding their careers, one a job and another some interviews for continued education. I congratulate both of them on these exciting times.

Meanwhile I continue to wait for work on something that my company calls bench, which is essentially getting paid to sit around waiting for another assignment. I'm lucky in this economic environment not to be laid off which happened in 2002, when I should have gone on bench, but that company decided not to provide it anymore. That also makes me skittish about it. It's also not as much fun as it may sound. At any time I could get a call for an assignment and have to be there in less than a week. The last two gigs I got "happened" in about 2 days. In the meantime I really can't plan day to day because I may need to do an interview at any time. And I can't focus on looking for other jobs in the normal sense, since I'd like to stay with the company I'm with because of their near future plans for me and what I do.

I'll write a full post about this soon, but I had my first experience with Jury Duty a couple of weeks ago. I had never been called before and I ended up participating in a trial. A definite interesting experience.

Finally, I'm totally bummed that neither the Eagles nor the Ravens got to the Super Bowl, but I congratulate the Cardinals and Steelers who did.