A Case of the Mooondays

That's what I've got.

The Washington Bullets are in first place in the Eastern Conference. UVA beat Clemson AT Clemson yesterday. The Nationals now own the rights to every Dominican human being living and dead. On a pesonal note, thanks to an impending hefty tax refund (more on this later), I've finally recovered from the financial duldrums I'd been in for several months since the failed sale. In fact, I'm back in the positive column for the month (by $1.59!!), and might be able to finally get some damn restful sleep for once (unless, of course, the Disgruntled Dog decides to bark at evil again at 2 AM). My company is inexplicably sending me on an all-expenses paid four day vacation...er...I mean, "training conference" in Las Vegas this March! Since today's "pick-up dry-cleaning day," I'm wearing comfortable khakis instead of restrictive around the crotch slacks. And finally, I've just made a delicious pot of Dragonwell green tea and I'm listening to one of my favorite songs (St. Germaine - "Soul Salsa Soul").

Anyway, the point is, what reason do I have to be so disgruntled??

Is it because someone took my stapler??

Well, yes and no. But mostly no. I made three resolutions this year: 1.) get my financial shit in order (mostly done); 2.) get in some kind of decent physical shape (mostly in progress); 3.) get a new job that actually has something to do with either degree I've obtained (not even close).

When I'm not analyzing the local real estate market (current level = Ass) or dealing with the problems of my tenants (this past weekends highlights included installing a new doorbell, learning that one of the dryers isn't drying clothes at all, and interviewing several potential tenants for what I thought would be the easiest room of all to rent - the loft room with the sweet balcony in the place I tried to sell over the summer), I work as a Freedom of Information Act analyst contracting for a federal agency.

What this means is that when people submit FOIA requests, I gather up the requested information and review it to see if any of the information falls under one or more of the eight or nine exemptions that would preclude their release to the general public. At one point, I worked for a certain government agency that's been in the news a lot lately (let's say for the past four years) and was able to review fascinating documents with a lot of sensitive information, which was, frankly, cool as hell. Now, however, I work at a smaller office with far fewer FOIA requests of a much more mundane nature. Needless to say, I have a lot of downtime (hence me starting this blog!!)

Anyway, my educational background is international business and in no way can I say that this current job (I've been a FOIA Analyst for almost five years now) is furthering my career in that field. But here's the rub: to break into the international business field, you have to have work experience in the international business field. The only way to gain work experience in the international business field is to be able to break into the international business field. Make sense to you???

So, basically, every day that I work here, I make it that much harder to do what I actually want to do.

And what is it that I actually want to do??

Two chicks at the same time.