I'm sad

DC. Not a liqour store, just a Safeway. Which pretty much functions as the wine/beer store for me since there isn't another one around.

white people aren't welcome in your safeway? i'm intrigued too

i go to safeway too. sometimes i am the only white person there but i am never made to feel unwelcome at safeway.

I'm from DC. Where in DC? U street safeway?

Yeah, it's not typical. It was just dudes roaming the parking lot, one before shopping and one after. Sometimes when it rains it pours.

Takoma Park safeway on Piney Branch

you should say something like, "what this safeway doesn't have any crackers?"

that would be funny.

lol

what is contract management exactly?

z maybe we could have an all-maryland fap someday. no dc people allowed though

Contract management

http://www.ncmahq.org/files/BannerAds/banner1.jpg

"business success through contract management excellence"

And you implied that your job is somehow void of passion.

no really

I can only speak in terms of contracts relating to the government. Basically whenever the govt. wants to outsource something (and nowadays, they outsource fucking EVERYTHING, from soldiering to cleaning the toilets to IT stuff), some poor schlump has to write up a technical proposal, get the contractor's counterproposal, write up a budget, conditions that must be met, on and on. Then, once the contract is signed and everything, the same poor sadbutt(<<this is me, btw) has to monitor the contractor and make sure they're doing what they're supposed to, deliverables are delivered on time, etc. Trust me, it's a fucking BLAST.

The icing on the cake is that when you get hired, or at least when I got hired, they don't mention anything about working with contracts. Then, sometime in the second week they're like "oh btw, you have to manage the contract for OAP Corp. Ltd. Fund Bros, sorry, it's gonna eat up most of your time now, you got punk'd lol!"

The NCMA website has a "member's only" section. Hot contract management action.

did you go to graduate school for this? like business school or something? it sounds kinda hard.

z maybe we could have an all-maryland fap someday. no dc people allowed though

That sounds GREAT. Although I wouldn't mind including DC people (or Baltimore peeps too, for that matter).

Wiki on contract management:

Contract management or contract administration is the management of contracts made with customers, vendors, partners, or employees. Contract management includes negotiating the terms and conditions in contracts and ensuring compliance with the terms and conditions, as well as documenting and agreeing any changes that may arise during its implementation or execution. It can be summarized as the process of systematically and efficiently managing contract creating, execution, and analysis for the purpose of maximizing financial and operational performance and minimizing risk.

Actually, it sounds like it might be interesting. A little bloodless, I guess, but interesting.

did you go to graduate school for this? like business school or something? it sounds kinda hard.

I went to graduate school for environmental policy. I really want to work with energy/electricity/utilities/energy efficiency/climate. Any and/or all of that. For some reason I thought that at the environmental protection agency I'd be able to do something related to the environment. Somehow I ended up in a Brazil-esque division that really has nothing to do with the environment. I mean, the dataflows we manage are environmental in nature, but to be honest they could be statistics on coat hanger production and the basic job would be exactly the same. It's my fault for taking the job, but I really needed to land something quick to pay the bills.

I also think it sounds potentially interesting, especially if you were working in an interesting area of government.

It could be valuable experience for a job at the GAO or someplace like that. Insider knowledge for government watchdogs and auditors.

Is it easier to land interesting government jobs from inside the government, or does having your foot in the door make no real difference?

That sounds GREAT. Although I wouldn't mind including DC people (or Baltimore peeps too, for that matter).

― Internet! (Z S), Monday, September 7, 2009 9:28 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ok they can come too. i live in baltimore for the past 3 months btw

i'm not gonna try to convince you that your job is interesting if you don't think it is Z S but at least you're not a high school teacher

yeah i would think it was interesting just because i like boring stuff and i need a job

IM A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER, and I like my job just fine.

I guess it would be interesting for some people. Maybe it's more exciting in other divisions. The contract I'm "managing" is depressing. The first day I talked to my boss, he's like "yeah so we're giving you a contract that's being phased out over the next two years. We're cutting your budget by 3/4, just keeping the basics of it going until we can replace it with something better. Any questions?"

Is it easier to land interesting government jobs from inside the government, or does having your foot in the door make no real difference?

Way easier, which is how I justified taking the job. There are lots of jobs that are only advertised internally, and preference is given to current govt. employees. And plus you can always take an elevator up a floor to the division that's hiring and say hello and introduce yourself, which helps. Unfortunately I have to serve out a two year term as part of my hiring process, so I'm stuck in hell for months and months to come.

Mainly I'm just worried about someone finding out that I spend 75% of my working day browsing NYT, political and energy blogs.

Harbl, I thought you were an attorney in a Public Defender's Office. Is my memory misfiring?

at least the reading's topical

xpost i'm a high school teacher too and i've been finding it extremely dreary lately

I was reading an article on the NYT the other day titled something like "What do you do if your coworker is slacking off?" and my first thought was "oh shit, that might be me"

daniel esq i don't know how you would know that but i am not a real lawyer yet. i have worked in a bunch of different pd's offices though.

Only way I would know that is by reading it on/inferring it from ILX threads.

"I see your posts on law-related threads," is a better way of putting it.

oh sorry i didn't mean that to sound like i was saying you're crepey haha

No worries. OTOH, I haven't been called crepey on ILX yet, and I aim to keep it that way.

you work in a PD office, everybody around you is creepy.

I have friends in the State Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office; it's difficult work.

gotta wait for bar results to come in so i'll be temping or something for a while

i'm not gonna try to convince you that your job is interesting if you don't think it is Z S but at least you're not a high school teacher

― moonship journey to baja, Tuesday, 8 September 2009 01:35 (14 minutes ago)

Aw, that's what I'm going to school to be.

I'm going to school to be ZS. abbottron3k @ zsu.edu

are you serious? TURN BACK

wait, sorry. what's the phrase? I am 3 sheets to the wind, or whatever

For a second I thought you were going to school for contracting, but I know you're teaching biology so contract work probably isn't your main focus!

No I am going to school to figure out how to be an awesome blonde dude who makes animated gifs & has cool kittens.

And then graduate in third place.

At the graduation ceremony the parents would sit awkwardly together and avoid eye contact

ok they can come too. i live in baltimore for the past 3 months btw

― harbl, Monday, September 7, 2009 9:33 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

harbl are you going to any of high zero this year? say hi and introduce yourself if you are, I'm going to it most nights

ZS you should come up to Bmore too! lose the DC blues / travel is broadening

I don't have a car, but if I can convince my gf to go that sounds really fun. This has been a really lonely labor day weekend, since she's been home in MO for a funeral all week and I don't know too many people in DC yet. Getting out of town sounds so good right now.

What a crummy weekend!