Well, I'm Moving----Again.

F

FullerH

Joined
Nov 25, 1998
Messages
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In what is an unfortunately regular occurrence in government agencies, we are moving into new quarters. We are moving from 450 5th Street, NW, Washington, DC, to 100 F St., NE, Washington, DC. My email remains the same, but all else changes. I am, at the moment, all packed up and ready to go, which means that the only thing that I have up is my office PC. I cannot work, as all of my filings, etc. have been packed and sealed for the move and I am now waiting on someone saying that it is OK for me to leave. Silly, no?
 
Is the new place nice? Any good places to eat nearby? Maybe a nice park to walk in over lunch?
 
You're a civil servant. Quit yer whinin and enjoy it. Where else can you sign out at 5:00pm and get home by 4:00pm?
 
The new building is kittycornered from Washington's Union Station. This is both good and bad. In the daytime, you can walk around on the Capitol Grounds, except that the place is a fort these days with swat teams all over the grounds. It is close to Union Staion which has been converted into a shopping mall, and that is nice. There are a number of restaurants and there is a huge food court there. There is also a B. Dalton Booksellers ( :D ). There has been a covered walkway installed from my new building to Union Station, and that will be very nice in bad weather. You see, there is a Red Line Metro stop there. Triton, it means one more stop on that Red Line, no big deal.

The downside is that the neighborhood is, shall we say, under redevelopment and is a bit on the iffy side after dark. It is sufficiently questionable that the security rent-a-cops for my agency will now be armed (?!), a situation that does not entirely please me unless they do a serious upgrading of the personnel. I mean , they are generally nice enough people, but many of them do not seem terribly bright or terribly quick. I am not certain about equipping them with firearms. I understand that there has been some self-selecting going on among the guard force with some of those not happy with the thought of carrying arms leaving.
 
Do you have FPO's on patrol? If not, contact your facilities management team, you should at least have a couple FPO's on patrol. The rent a cops are nice people, but who knows what they would do. I've seen them let people pulling wheeled luggage bags go through without going through the metal detector, and flip out when a woman goes through with a small purse. Doesn't make any sense to me.
 
BTW, Silenthunter, I officially work from 9 AM to 6 PM five days one week and four days the next with the Friday off. It is called a 5-4-9 Compressed Work Schedule. But you know, the funny thing is that I seldom get out of here until 7 PM or later most nights. You see, they pay me to do a job and not to put in hours and that is how it is with most of the SEC staff. We work the hours necessary to the job, not 9-5.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
Do you have FPO's on patrol? If not, contact your facilities management team, you should at least have a couple FPO's on patrol. The rent a cops are nice people, but who knows what they would do. I've seen them let people pulling wheeled luggage bags go through without going through the metal detector, and flip out when a woman goes through with a small purse. Doesn't make any sense to me.
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As I said, they aren't all of the brightest and best. That's what you get when you contract out to the low bidder.
 
FullerH said:
As I said, they aren't all of the brightest and best. That's what you get when you contract out to the low bidder.
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Yeah, but you should at least get daily patrols from the FPOs.
 
FullerH said:
The downside is that the neighborhood is, shall we say, under redevelopment and is a bit on the iffy side after dark. It is sufficiently questionable that the security rent-a-cops for my agency will now be armed (?!), a situation that does not entirely please me unless they do a serious upgrading of the personnel.
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Yes, but you just got done saying that there are swarms of swat teams just across the street.

:D



Really, though, it sounds like a great location. Maybe walking distance to some of the Smithsonian? That would be awesome to be able to go to the Smithsonian over lunch!
 
Let us not forget the Capitol City Brew Pub, across the street in the old Postal Square Building.
 
Hi All-

If someone doesn't like ya', there's no sense in giving yer' street address! :D

~ Blue Jays ~
 
FullerH said:
The new building is kittycornered from Washington's Union Station. This is both good and bad. In the daytime, you can walk around on the Capitol Grounds, except that the place is a fort these days with swat teams all over the grounds. It is close to Union Staion which has been converted into a shopping mall, and that is nice. There are a number of restaurants and there is a huge food court there. There is also a B. Dalton Booksellers ( :D ). There has been a covered walkway installed from my new building to Union Station, and that will be very nice in bad weather. You see, there is a Red Line Metro stop there. Triton, it means one more stop on that Red Line, no big deal.

.
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Well cool I guess this red line metro is a good thing? Haven't a clue about the vagaries of Washington commuting. How long does it take to get to work?
 
I got moved about 4 years ago, across the river to Arlington. Then I got moved again about a year ago - you guessed it, right back to where I was originally.
 
Back in the 1950s, my Dad had a friend who maintained that there were only buildings enough to house all federal agencies less one. This meant that one agency had to be on trucks, moving, at all times. :) I used to think that this was meant in jest, but I have worked for the SEC for 31 years, am in my fourth building, and God alone knows how many moves within the buildings. At one point, I counted that I had been in 19 offices and had been assigned 20 different telephone numbers. That was before the SEC got this fancy telephone system where your number followed you around as you moved. That certainly made it easier for the outsiders to locate us.
 
Hugh, in case you're still waiting (for "someone" to say it's okay to leave), let me be the one - leave already!

But you bring up an interesting point that deserves full discourse, mainly, your use of the term "kittycorner". I had always heard it pronounced "caddycorner", which may have some connection to a Cadillac, or may just be a transliteration of "cattycorner", making it a closer relative of "kittycorner" than might first appear. To further complicate matters, just this weekend I read the word spelled as "catercorner".

So my question - what is the official position of your 3-letter government agency?
:p
 
Well, RH, I did leave, eventually. I was able to get what I needed from my Assistant Director, which was acceleration of effectiveness of a registration statement upon which we have been working since last May.

BTW, regarding "kitty corner", see question 12 in the quiz at this site, subject of another thread in this forum.
http://www.blogthings.com/amenglishdialecttest/
 
Gollnick said:
Yes, but you just got done saying that there are swarms of swat teams just across the street.

:D
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When I was talking about the cops in SWAT type BDUs, I doubt that they were all SWAT teams. The police around here seem to be more and more wearing BDUs and full gear when on patrol. I can understand it when there is a terror alert on and especially in areas such as the METRO subway system, but just walking around on the street. Of course, the proximity of my old office to the DC Courthouse and to the Police Headquarters may have had something to do with the numbers in BDU.

Really, though, it sounds like a great location. Maybe walking distance to some of the Smithsonian? That would be awesome to be able to go to the Smithsonian over lunch!
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I am at 100 F St., NE, which is north and east of the Smithsonian, while I used to be on E St, NW, between 5th & 6th, about 3 blocks up from the National Gallery of Art and another 3 blocks across the Mall to the Air & Space Museum. I did spend a number of lunches at both. BUt there is quite a lot to do at Union Staiton Mall, including a large B. Dalton Bookseller store. "So many books, so little time."
 
Had lunch at the Cafe Berlin, not that I need German food. It is in the 300 block of Massachsetts Avenue and I had to walk past the Ronald Reagan Republican Center and the Heritage Foundation to get there and to get back. I did think of many of you as I walked past those places. :)

BTW, I had their Bratwurst special, which included today's soup, red cabbage, and German potato salad, along with iced tea. I cannot enjoy a beer as the meds that I take seriously interact badly with any alcohol. I enjoyed myself. :) :) :)
 
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