Ramblings of a Mind 3 Degrees Off Center

pilfered from IB

You Are a Black Panther

You see through people. You understand others' motives and plans. You have a knack for predicting the future. You just know what people are going to do. People are attracted to you. You are naturally able to influence other people's thoughts. You have the charisma to be a beloved guru or dictator. It's all about how you handle it.

THE 'FOUR' MEME.

1. Go to the fourth folder where you store your pictures.

2. Find the fourth picture and post it.

3. Explain why you saved it.

4. Tag four others to do the same. - if ya wanna do it - do it, come on it's fun



taken at my family's cottage on the Connecticut coast; taken in 2002

I was with this until the not worrying about details. My boss would be appalled!

( see what you think... )

Okay. If you could do or be anything other than your current occupation, what would it be?

Anything? OK, this assumes I could do it well enough to support myself in the manner I've become accustomed, yes?

I'd be a professional photographer. A sports photographer, I think - for an actual paycheck.

Being able to go to the games and sit court side like that - awesome. Travel and sports for pay. Heaven.

What little things do you derive pleasure from?

damn... I'll just make a list: good wine, coffee and food; puppies and other baby animals; good fanfic; friends; being outside at the beach or the mountains; family; just 'hangin' with people I like...

What's it like to work for the government the way you do? Do you experience a sense of fragmentation and if so, how do you reconcile it? (You don't have to go into specifics nor even answer the question if you don't want.)

What I do is so non-political it really has no bearing. Not even my administrator (the head of my agency) is a political appointment. We're a very small agency within USDA (~1,000 employees across the US) and have special rules (ie. we are not subject to FOI requests) that insulate us even more.

The biggest thing politically I pay attention to in reference to work is the yearly budgets. If they don't get passed in time, we work under continuing agreements and projects might need to be cut or postponed due to lack of funds. Also, depending on how the Farm Bill goes, will play a roll in how farmers feel about the government and hence how they will respond to surveys.

Some things I just can't do. I can't wear a pin that supports a particular candidate nor have any type of political material on my desk. But I can slap a bumper sticker on my car and give donations to the candidate of my choice.

Mainly, I find working for the Feds to have more positive than negative points. I like the job security. But that's my personality. Plus, I still can switch to other gov't jobs without loosing seniority, or look to an outside company - but it's truly my choice.

Easier question: what's your favorite place in all the world?

So far it's kind of a toss up between New Zealand and Tuscany. It's so much easier to get to Italy... and the food and wine are superb but there is something about NZ and the people there...

guess I'll play too:

"Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it."

The questions weren't that tough

But for the life of me I can't figure out what I got wrong...

For darandkerry – part of the meme request thing on LJ

Life - next blurb
by kimly
SVU – Alex/Olivia
Word Count:336
November 18, 2007
A/N: I've not worked on the story Life for over a year, but between some comments from strangers and Ann's timely prodding - I have been dabbling again. So here's the next tiny bit. Picks up the morning after this part ended.


( the blub )