2002-02-22 - 5:01 p.m.

Been one of those weeks running around like a chicken with its head cut off....

Today was woobie day. I got to accompany my boss downtown to propose some ideas to our Program Manager for a briefing he has to give his Associate Administrator to give the Deputy Administrator of the FAA. Got that? Needless to say this involved a lot of typing up notes, and sitting around waiting for folks to get out of meetings. Wee...

After some long discussions about how to proper uplevel overly technical detailed points to a high level government official type, my boss inquired about the collection of beany-baby style ducks on my Program Managers monitor. Apparently he had been ranting about getting pecked to death by ducks in the administration causing grief for a procurement he is trying to accomplish. At times it seems like upper management wants to please everyone, so the slightest complaints from any quarter and wheels start spinning. Rather frustrating. To me, their job is to make decisions, not be political machines, but that is a totally different rant. Apparently weeks later, the ducks started arriving anonymously.... hehe. I wonder if my wife has been working at the FAA and not telling me....

Some times it pays to play stupid. After recent events, the FAA insisted that anyone having access to any form of operational data, no matter how obscure needed a background check. Guess they don't trust the DoD, but I digress.... To indicate you've had this check, they are issuing fancy little stickers for the badges. Unfortunately, my badge was issued by an FAA office in NJ, and I was informed I need to get my sticker from there. Not wanting to drive 3 hours each way to sign my name and get a sticker, I decided I'd play dumb and see if they'd give me a sticker from headquarters. After much confusion and arguing between the folks issuing stickers, I succeeded. Woohoo!

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