I'm not a very good blog poster...witness my month-long lack of posts. I'll keep trying (and likely failing) to do better though.
In the meantime, here is a great infographic from the CBO that lays out the federal budget in one concise page. Although maybe it tends to focus your attention too much on the national debt. Some economists (Paul Krugman for instance) argue strenuously that the debt may be a long-term problem but it is not one in the short term. By focusing on the federal budget this leaves out the story of the functioning of the whole economy.
That's ok though because here is a slideshow of other graphs from the Washington Post. It's their economic year in review. More varied than the CBO one but still interesting.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Thanksgiving fun and airport not
I had a good time for Thanksgiving and I probably shouldn’t write this message now because I am currently all stuck and depressed in the South Bend Airport. My ridiculously early flight got delayed (at this point…likely to be canceled) due to mechanical problems so now rather than getting back to DC at 10 am I probably won’t get there until 5 pm. Phooey. I am currently rebooked on a 1:30 pm (rather than 5:45 am) flight out of South Bend. I am still hoping that they will be able to get our original plane in the air after all and I will get to Detroit sooner than that but there may not be much hope.
Ok, enough bemoaning. Rather than dwell on that unfortunate circumstance I will write a nice long post and tell you all about my Thanksgiving. The first question you make ask is, “What is Sarah doing in South Bend, Indiana anyway?” Which I acknowledge is a good question.
I couldn’t face the long trip back to Oregon for a brief Thanksgiving holiday so I did something else fun instead. I spent Thanksgiving with Nicole at her place. Nicole, for those of you who don’t know, is one of my very good friends from college and she is currently in the final stages of finishing her PhD in medieval literature at the University of Notre Dame. Hence she is located in South Bend. It was only a four hour trip from DC to Indiana so that was pretty manageable.
I got up bright (well actually dark) and early Wednesday morning and caught my flight to Indiana. That leg of the trip went fine, and Nicole met me at the airport. It was a nice sunny day so we toured the sights of Notre Dame and I learned some of the circuitous history of the institution that leads to a university with a French names being known as the “Irish”. (Basically a lot of the clientele that were interested in a Catholic university in earlier decades were Irish Catholics because that was a lot of the Catholic population in the US in the early 20th century.) Nicole is there because they have a Medieval Institute for the study of all things Medieval which is a great fit for her interest in early English romance manuscripts (think Arthur and the Round Table). Then we went back to the house and I took a nap. That’s what happens when I get up at 3:30 in the morning. Nicole started the Thanksgiving cooking while I was out and I helped finish the pies when I finally woke up. I made the family recipe for refrigerator rolls too.
The next day we cooked any number of fabulous things including a very large turkey. We were going to have a proper Thanksgiving, defined as yummy food and lots of it. Nicole had actually invited a number of friends to come eat with her, but most of them had other plans. So it ended up being the two of us, Leslie Ann, one of Nicole’s roommates (they share a 3 bedroom apartment), and Tanya, a friend of theirs who is finishing up her dissertation for a computer science PhD. She is doing something with mapping and modeling social interaction networks, Suzanne, so she was talking about lines and vertices like you do.
We had a ridiculous excess of food and it was all good. This meant we could spend the rest of the week eating turkey leftovers which is a wonderful thing. Here are some pictures of the Feast:
And here are the four of us afterwards; “happy and full” is the operative phrase.
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| Sarah |
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| Nicole |
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| Leslie Ann |
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| Tanya |
Friday was another nice day so we spent the afternoon at the Potawatomi Zoo. Zoos are always fun but it was an excuse to get outside as much as anything. Here is a picture of the extra-silly looking Bactrian camels. They look twice as silly as Dromedary camels because they have two humps rather than one. I think that’s the only zoo picture I have actually. But that will prove we were there. They had an excellent flock of pink flamingos (looking just like lawn ornaments!), some really funny looking Egyptian cattle with gigantic horns, several rather depressed tigers, a couple of lions, and many other expected zoo animals. The river otters looked like they were having a very good time. They had a really big bull bison named Geronimo, and he just recently got a lady friend. So they may be hoping for a cute baby bison in a year or two. Actually they have quite a lot of animals for a small zoo. It is clearly a very kid-friendly one too.
Saturday required more sleeping in. Later I went for a run around the Notre Dame campus while Nicole did a little work in her carrel. It is basically a cupboard to keep a grad student in—she does have a door which is nice so you can leave things there but not anywhere near enough floor space to distinguish it with the name of office. You would definitely not want to close the door if you were inside. That evening we watched the obligatory Notre Dame football game while knitting and eating pie. ND was playing Stanford and unfortunately they were badly overmatched.
Then we got up really early and Nicole drove me to the South Bend airport (only about 20 minutes drive) to catch my flight. Alas for me, that part of the plan didn’t go so well. I got to the airport fine but there hasn’t been much reward for sitting here so far. It is almost 9:00 and all I have to show for myself is a ham and egg croissant from the airport lunch counter. Delta gave us vouchers for $6 to use toward breakfast but that really doesn’t make up for the seven hour flight delay!
I’ll post an update this evening when I finally do get home. Maybe the saga of the faulty turn rudder will have a happy ending after all (you can see why we didn’t really want the plane to take off, even though it made us all late, broken steering doesn’t seem like a good idea).
Update: Well they've completely canceled our flight on the schedule. It looks like a wonderful day at the airport for me.
Second update: Most of the other passengers managed to get on the 11:58 flight to Detroit. Alas I did not however. I won't be leaving South Bend until 1:30. I wish I had known this sooner, but there kept being possibilities of getting out sooner, but they all fell through for me. I don't even know if I can blame Delta, it's probably just bad luck, but I still don't appreciate it.
Second update: Most of the other passengers managed to get on the 11:58 flight to Detroit. Alas I did not however. I won't be leaving South Bend until 1:30. I wish I had known this sooner, but there kept being possibilities of getting out sooner, but they all fell through for me. I don't even know if I can blame Delta, it's probably just bad luck, but I still don't appreciate it.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
"We're Number One!"
... some health policy ranting for the weekend.
Courtesy of Kaiser Health News, here's a brief summary of the Medicare "doc fix":
Yes, it really is as stupid as it sounds. This particular mess dates back to the 1990s when Congress had the, on-the-face-of-it sensible, idea that total Medicare payments to doctors should grow no faster than the rest of the economy. However there were two problems with that: one, aggregate (and doctor-specific) medical costs have grown faster than general inflation for years, both before and after this particular balanced budget amendment, and two, the tool for controlling these costs was to limit prices paid to doctors without limiting the number of services performed for Medicare beneficiaries (and three, it lumps some very disparate things from primary care visits to drug infusion therapy under the umbrella of "physician services" some of these categories of costs have grown much faster than others).
Then of course when they don't like the results of their own cost-control formula, Congress passes a fix that delays the pay cut to doctors for a year (which they've been doing for the last ten years) but doesn't abolish the formula because as long as it still exists and, under current law, "really will take effect next year" then they don't have to find money to pay for the billions it will cost to abolish the spending cap formula over the next decade. And they do the same thing the next year. And furthermore it is cumulative so what was a 10% difference in payments 5 years ago is now a 27% projected cut...next year it will be more than 30%.
Also a new report from the OECD shows that the US is still number one in health spending. We spent $7,960 per person on health care in 2009, compared to the average of $3,233. For that price...our 5-year breast cancer survival rates are the best in the world but our rates of hospital admissions for uncontrolled asthma are 2.4 times higher than the OECD average, our life expectancy at birth is lower. You do well in the US if you have cancer, less well if you have chronic disease or need primary care. More here on the KHN blog.
Courtesy of Kaiser Health News, here's a brief summary of the Medicare "doc fix":
The Fiscal Times: Is There a Doctor Fix in the House….And Senate?
Last June, the Congressional Budget Office calculated it would (cost) $275 billion to maintain (Medicare) physician pay at current levels over the next ten years. ... it's likely that this year's fix - like last year's fix - will be a one- or two-year stopgap measure that uses ten years of savings from some minor limits on spending in other parts of the Medicare program. That’s right. Congress votes and the president signs a bill that counts ten years of savings to pay for one or two years of spending (Goozner, 11/23).
Yes, it really is as stupid as it sounds. This particular mess dates back to the 1990s when Congress had the, on-the-face-of-it sensible, idea that total Medicare payments to doctors should grow no faster than the rest of the economy. However there were two problems with that: one, aggregate (and doctor-specific) medical costs have grown faster than general inflation for years, both before and after this particular balanced budget amendment, and two, the tool for controlling these costs was to limit prices paid to doctors without limiting the number of services performed for Medicare beneficiaries (and three, it lumps some very disparate things from primary care visits to drug infusion therapy under the umbrella of "physician services" some of these categories of costs have grown much faster than others).
Then of course when they don't like the results of their own cost-control formula, Congress passes a fix that delays the pay cut to doctors for a year (which they've been doing for the last ten years) but doesn't abolish the formula because as long as it still exists and, under current law, "really will take effect next year" then they don't have to find money to pay for the billions it will cost to abolish the spending cap formula over the next decade. And they do the same thing the next year. And furthermore it is cumulative so what was a 10% difference in payments 5 years ago is now a 27% projected cut...next year it will be more than 30%.
Also a new report from the OECD shows that the US is still number one in health spending. We spent $7,960 per person on health care in 2009, compared to the average of $3,233. For that price...our 5-year breast cancer survival rates are the best in the world but our rates of hospital admissions for uncontrolled asthma are 2.4 times higher than the OECD average, our life expectancy at birth is lower. You do well in the US if you have cancer, less well if you have chronic disease or need primary care. More here on the KHN blog.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Gardening today
I'm afraid I don't have any pictures but I got in some nice gardening today. I spent a while talking to Mom (thank you cell phone headset) while planting garlic, spinach, and kale. I don't know what will actually grow over the winter here, but it's worth a try. It was almost 18 degrees here today (that's Celsius of course, 65 degree for you hidebound Fahrenheiters). Not that I should talk, I had to calculate the conversion myself. But we should be operating on Celsius, just like we should be using dollars coins. So I will continue my ad hoc one-woman crusades to encourage both of those activities.
After that I spent another hour listening to the radio while digging rotted straw into my second bed. I'm constructing low raised (or at least separated by boards) beds using some lumber out of a weathering stack that was sitting on the side of the lot. Clearly no one had been using it for some time so I just appropriated some pieces. As Miles says, it is often easier to beg pardon than ask permission. No one has complained about it yet so I'll just keep gardening along.
The soil needs a lot of amendment so I'm reclaiming rotted straw from the straw bales around the perimeter. I assume they were originally placed there for erosion control but now the ground is pretty well grassed in and the bales are collapsing... Thus creating a handy source of soil organics for me.
And while digging straw into my second bed I listened to this interesting segment on Interfaith Voices. It's a public radio show (of course) that's on the local station on Sunday afternoons. The first segment in today's episode was an interview with Bob Lupton about his new book, Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse it). You can go to their website to listen to this week's show. This first segment was about 20 minutes long. His argument is that giving, especially one-way giving, can feel great for the giver but may be problematic for the recipient. He goes on to suggest that we need much more assessment of the effects of charities on those they serve and cites the example of mission trips. It's not enough to say that our group had an amazing experience and really coalesced around this project... What was the impact on the community they worked in after the mission group had left?
Anyway it was a provocative piece and something to think about especially in the season of charitable fundraising. That is probably one of the things that makes the Heifer Project stand out for me. Their model incorporates the recipient "giving on" and and so moves toward the meaningful exchange and away from the abject recipient model.
What are your thoughts about right, and wrong, kinds of charity? Listening to his story I agree that the church breakfast project where I'm helping to cook on Sunday mornings definitely has some of those flaws. It's not immediately obvious what could be changed given the available resources and time constraints though. I'll have to keep mulling it over.
After that I spent another hour listening to the radio while digging rotted straw into my second bed. I'm constructing low raised (or at least separated by boards) beds using some lumber out of a weathering stack that was sitting on the side of the lot. Clearly no one had been using it for some time so I just appropriated some pieces. As Miles says, it is often easier to beg pardon than ask permission. No one has complained about it yet so I'll just keep gardening along.
The soil needs a lot of amendment so I'm reclaiming rotted straw from the straw bales around the perimeter. I assume they were originally placed there for erosion control but now the ground is pretty well grassed in and the bales are collapsing... Thus creating a handy source of soil organics for me.
And while digging straw into my second bed I listened to this interesting segment on Interfaith Voices. It's a public radio show (of course) that's on the local station on Sunday afternoons. The first segment in today's episode was an interview with Bob Lupton about his new book, Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse it). You can go to their website to listen to this week's show. This first segment was about 20 minutes long. His argument is that giving, especially one-way giving, can feel great for the giver but may be problematic for the recipient. He goes on to suggest that we need much more assessment of the effects of charities on those they serve and cites the example of mission trips. It's not enough to say that our group had an amazing experience and really coalesced around this project... What was the impact on the community they worked in after the mission group had left?
Anyway it was a provocative piece and something to think about especially in the season of charitable fundraising. That is probably one of the things that makes the Heifer Project stand out for me. Their model incorporates the recipient "giving on" and and so moves toward the meaningful exchange and away from the abject recipient model.
What are your thoughts about right, and wrong, kinds of charity? Listening to his story I agree that the church breakfast project where I'm helping to cook on Sunday mornings definitely has some of those flaws. It's not immediately obvious what could be changed given the available resources and time constraints though. I'll have to keep mulling it over.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Salad!
Yes, I do things other than cook. But somehow that is what I often think of sharing. I was tired tonight and wanted something different to eat to I got a bag of baby spinach at Safeway and made a fabulous salad.
Take a look!
It had spinach, mandarin orange pieces, dried tart cherries, chevre cheese, and chopped sugar & spice pecans with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Winter is really the time for this salad somehow, probably because the spinach and citrus tastes so good in the season of reduced fruit.
Along with the roasted sweet potatoes (that I also got on the way home, a store across the street is quite handy sometimes) it made for a very good dinner. I followed that up with a batch of granola. It's good to have around and the warm oven was nice company on this chilly night. I think we're forecast to get the first frost of the year tonight. Yep. It's November and they're talking about the first frost. This is definitely farther south than I'm used to.
I was working on my underwriting project today at work. It's complicated in that there are a lot of moving pieces and computer systems to learn but once I figure those out I think it will be fairly straightforward. It's definitely an opportunity to learn about a large government system for providing and tracking client services, mortgage insurance contracts in this case, but similar issues would apply to many other types of services...tracking building projects, grants, highway projects...
And then I walked home and read the news online. Ezra Klein's Wonkblog with the Washington Post often has a couple of interesting pieces and can point me at other good stories too. For example here is a post about where the projected federal budget debt is actually coming from in the next nine years. Answer: the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire completely would do more to reduce the deficit than anything the supercomputer is talking about.
And here's a rant from Jonathan Gruber about the politics and the situation surrounding the Affordable Care Act. I appreciate that he flat-out calls Romney lying for trying to distinguish his Massachusetts health care reform from Obama's federal reform. They are the same approach. The major difference is that Massachusetts got the Feds to pay for their reform and so shifted the costs off of the state books. Nationwide we don't have the option of getting someone else to pay for expanding access to health care services.
And I want to quote Gruber's final lines:
It might be the quickest way to get us to national single-payer though.
Well, enough with the wild speculation. We'll hear the Court's decision by June.
Take a look!
It had spinach, mandarin orange pieces, dried tart cherries, chevre cheese, and chopped sugar & spice pecans with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Winter is really the time for this salad somehow, probably because the spinach and citrus tastes so good in the season of reduced fruit.
Along with the roasted sweet potatoes (that I also got on the way home, a store across the street is quite handy sometimes) it made for a very good dinner. I followed that up with a batch of granola. It's good to have around and the warm oven was nice company on this chilly night. I think we're forecast to get the first frost of the year tonight. Yep. It's November and they're talking about the first frost. This is definitely farther south than I'm used to.
I was working on my underwriting project today at work. It's complicated in that there are a lot of moving pieces and computer systems to learn but once I figure those out I think it will be fairly straightforward. It's definitely an opportunity to learn about a large government system for providing and tracking client services, mortgage insurance contracts in this case, but similar issues would apply to many other types of services...tracking building projects, grants, highway projects...
And then I walked home and read the news online. Ezra Klein's Wonkblog with the Washington Post often has a couple of interesting pieces and can point me at other good stories too. For example here is a post about where the projected federal budget debt is actually coming from in the next nine years. Answer: the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire completely would do more to reduce the deficit than anything the supercomputer is talking about.
And here's a rant from Jonathan Gruber about the politics and the situation surrounding the Affordable Care Act. I appreciate that he flat-out calls Romney lying for trying to distinguish his Massachusetts health care reform from Obama's federal reform. They are the same approach. The major difference is that Massachusetts got the Feds to pay for their reform and so shifted the costs off of the state books. Nationwide we don't have the option of getting someone else to pay for expanding access to health care services.
And I want to quote Gruber's final lines:
"Basically, this is the last hope for a free-market solution for covering the uninsured. If this fails, then you either give up on the uninsured or you go to single-payer. Those are the only two options left. And the Republicans, if they're willing to stand up and say, 'We give up on the uninsured,' then great, let them say that and let the voters come to the polls and decide, but they won't say that."Now my late-night amusement is the what-if of the Supreme Court striking down the individual mandate but leaving the rest of the ACA intact. That would be the insurance industry's worst nightmare because they would have to sell insurance policies to people when we become sick. If Congress remains sufficiently gridlocked they might not even take any action to change it which would be a really uncomfortable, and ironic, outcome for all concerned.
It might be the quickest way to get us to national single-payer though.
Well, enough with the wild speculation. We'll hear the Court's decision by June.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Must Have Jam
Kinda like a zombie, only it's "Jam...jam..." rather than "Brains...brains..."
But store jam is so bad and all sugar and barely tastes like fruit and mystery fruit at that even when there is a picture of a blackberry on the label. This reality led me to go pick strawberries, or rather go pick up strawberries. I need some good jam that tastes like real fruit.
So I bought frozen strawberries, let them thaw in the fridge for a couple days, and made jam tonight. Here's the evidence:
Look at my treasure:
And of course once I had jam I had to make a quick batch of biscuits to eat some jam on. For your future information, 1/2 cup of flour makes three biscuits.
Yummy!
Evaluating the price:
Safeway had a coupon for a 40 oz bag of frozen strawberries for $5, or $2 per pound. I don't know if that's a good deal or not (it's more than we paid for U-pick berries with Erin last spring, isn't it Karl?) but it was a total of $5 for the strawberries, $3.50 for the pectin, half a lemon, and some sugar. Say $10 for the whole batch. It made about 6 cups which is probably at least 6 jars of jam, and a jar of jam definitely costs more than $2 in the store so it's a pretty good deal even with commercially priced berries.
And now I have proper freezer jam that actually tastes like berries and not like sugar.
In other news I had an interesting day at work. Tanya, one of the 2010 HUD PMFs, organized a Pecha Kucha session with three current PMFs speaking about the work of their offices. The Pecha Kucha format is a presentation with 20 slides, each slide shown for only 20 seconds. It is quick and lively. I enjoyed hearing about the activities of some of my fellows. It is a good way to get a broader picture of what all is going on at HUD. Following the Pecha Kucha we got into a discussion about employee retention and making HUD a better place to work for younger employees. Apparently HUD has one of the lowest five-year retention rates for new employees in the federal government so there are plenty of opportunities for improvement. It was a real example of the kind of creative and change-motivated thinking that is supposed to be one of the contributions of us in the PMF program. I quite appreciate seeing it in action, and I will definitely get involved with the "Under Five" working group.
Well it's after 10 so I'm headed to bed. I'm trying to get to sleep earlier since I've been getting up at 5:40 in the morning. Fortunately I've got that walk to work to get my blood flowing in the morning.
But store jam is so bad and all sugar and barely tastes like fruit and mystery fruit at that even when there is a picture of a blackberry on the label. This reality led me to go pick strawberries, or rather go pick up strawberries. I need some good jam that tastes like real fruit.
So I bought frozen strawberries, let them thaw in the fridge for a couple days, and made jam tonight. Here's the evidence:
Look at my treasure:
And of course once I had jam I had to make a quick batch of biscuits to eat some jam on. For your future information, 1/2 cup of flour makes three biscuits.
Yummy!
Evaluating the price:
Safeway had a coupon for a 40 oz bag of frozen strawberries for $5, or $2 per pound. I don't know if that's a good deal or not (it's more than we paid for U-pick berries with Erin last spring, isn't it Karl?) but it was a total of $5 for the strawberries, $3.50 for the pectin, half a lemon, and some sugar. Say $10 for the whole batch. It made about 6 cups which is probably at least 6 jars of jam, and a jar of jam definitely costs more than $2 in the store so it's a pretty good deal even with commercially priced berries.
And now I have proper freezer jam that actually tastes like berries and not like sugar.
In other news I had an interesting day at work. Tanya, one of the 2010 HUD PMFs, organized a Pecha Kucha session with three current PMFs speaking about the work of their offices. The Pecha Kucha format is a presentation with 20 slides, each slide shown for only 20 seconds. It is quick and lively. I enjoyed hearing about the activities of some of my fellows. It is a good way to get a broader picture of what all is going on at HUD. Following the Pecha Kucha we got into a discussion about employee retention and making HUD a better place to work for younger employees. Apparently HUD has one of the lowest five-year retention rates for new employees in the federal government so there are plenty of opportunities for improvement. It was a real example of the kind of creative and change-motivated thinking that is supposed to be one of the contributions of us in the PMF program. I quite appreciate seeing it in action, and I will definitely get involved with the "Under Five" working group.
Well it's after 10 so I'm headed to bed. I'm trying to get to sleep earlier since I've been getting up at 5:40 in the morning. Fortunately I've got that walk to work to get my blood flowing in the morning.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Garden plot and APHA
I got a garden! I got a garden!
Ok, so it's really a 100 square foot plot of weeds, but it's got potential. Unfortunately it probably doesn't have durability since this is a temporary community garden site on a vacant lot down the street. The Lutheran church was cool enough to use part of the site for a garden when they tore down their old (and apparently poorly constructed) building. But they will be rebuilding the site as an apartment complex, mixed-use building, and new church so the community garden only lasts until they start construction. Hopefully that won't be until next fall though so I should have at least a year of gardening there.
The soil is not great, but I'm using the rotted bales of straw that are around the place as a soil amendment. That, some purchased [gasp!] manure and a good dose of miracle grow ought to accomplish relatively decent gardening next summer. I know it's not particularly organic or soil-building to use concentrated chemical fertilizers like miracle grow but this is an unusual situation. I don't have time for the long-term soil development that makes for a truly great garden so I'll take the quick response of refined chemicals instead.
Here's a picture of the site. My plot is on the end closest to where I'm standing to photograph it. I just started digging out a bed (look for the red spading fork) and stopped to take the picture.
And here's what it looked like when I finished the day's digging.
Boards and edging really help make it look like a garden. I'm attempting to solarize the weeds in the second bed with plastic bags. I'm not sure it's going to work though because the weather may be too cold and the sun too low in the sky.
The garden was last week. This week, Sunday through Wednesday I attending the APHA Annual Meeting. APHA is the American Public Health Association. It is the group for public health research, practice, and advocacy. It has a HUGE conference though. I heard there were around 12,000 registered attendees. There are so many simultaneous sessions that it ispractically impossible to prioritize.
Here's a picture of the closing session of APHA. Not that it is terribly exciting since it looks like every other conference speech, but I'll prove I was there.
Oh here's a niftier picture. The replica tall ship, Pride of Baltimore II, came to visit the DC waterfront a couple of weekends ago. She is as "1812-era topsail schooner privateer." She is a modernized replica which means she looks about the same on the outside but has electronic navigation and a (small) backup diesel engine on the inside. It's hard to imagine, walking around on the deck that over 100 men would have lived on a ship like this in her privateering days. Talk about crowded! Also this ship and lots of other organizations and sites in Baltimore are planning a whole bunch of special events next year for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. You ought to come visit me and check them out.
Here's the ship:
I'm working on getting up earlier (I want to try to start work at 7 so I'll have a little daylight left when I get out for the day) so I'd better head to bed. I'll leave you with this link to a news piece about Oregon doctors using electronic health records though. Why? Because, one Go Oregon (also OPB helped on the reporting), and two I keep meaning to share more health policy stuff with my readers. That's part of why I'm here in DC after all.
Have a good night.
-Sarah
Ok, so it's really a 100 square foot plot of weeds, but it's got potential. Unfortunately it probably doesn't have durability since this is a temporary community garden site on a vacant lot down the street. The Lutheran church was cool enough to use part of the site for a garden when they tore down their old (and apparently poorly constructed) building. But they will be rebuilding the site as an apartment complex, mixed-use building, and new church so the community garden only lasts until they start construction. Hopefully that won't be until next fall though so I should have at least a year of gardening there.
The soil is not great, but I'm using the rotted bales of straw that are around the place as a soil amendment. That, some purchased [gasp!] manure and a good dose of miracle grow ought to accomplish relatively decent gardening next summer. I know it's not particularly organic or soil-building to use concentrated chemical fertilizers like miracle grow but this is an unusual situation. I don't have time for the long-term soil development that makes for a truly great garden so I'll take the quick response of refined chemicals instead.
Here's a picture of the site. My plot is on the end closest to where I'm standing to photograph it. I just started digging out a bed (look for the red spading fork) and stopped to take the picture.
And here's what it looked like when I finished the day's digging.
The garden was last week. This week, Sunday through Wednesday I attending the APHA Annual Meeting. APHA is the American Public Health Association. It is the group for public health research, practice, and advocacy. It has a HUGE conference though. I heard there were around 12,000 registered attendees. There are so many simultaneous sessions that it is
Here's a picture of the closing session of APHA. Not that it is terribly exciting since it looks like every other conference speech, but I'll prove I was there.
Oh here's a niftier picture. The replica tall ship, Pride of Baltimore II, came to visit the DC waterfront a couple of weekends ago. She is as "1812-era topsail schooner privateer." She is a modernized replica which means she looks about the same on the outside but has electronic navigation and a (small) backup diesel engine on the inside. It's hard to imagine, walking around on the deck that over 100 men would have lived on a ship like this in her privateering days. Talk about crowded! Also this ship and lots of other organizations and sites in Baltimore are planning a whole bunch of special events next year for the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. You ought to come visit me and check them out.
Here's the ship:
I'm working on getting up earlier (I want to try to start work at 7 so I'll have a little daylight left when I get out for the day) so I'd better head to bed. I'll leave you with this link to a news piece about Oregon doctors using electronic health records though. Why? Because, one Go Oregon (also OPB helped on the reporting), and two I keep meaning to share more health policy stuff with my readers. That's part of why I'm here in DC after all.
Have a good night.
-Sarah
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Smithies go to the farm
We had a lovely Smith Alumnae Farm Trip today. I started this idea a while ago, and it finally came to fruition, thanks to Daisy and others. The first hangup was organizing transportation which is what ended my first attempt. But this time it all worked. I made muffins and dashed out the door at 8:15 this morning (then had to run back because I left the muffins on the counter...argh!). I was a bit later than I intended but it was ok in the end. Then caught the train up to Tacoma station and met Daisy, Cassie, and Molly at the coffee shop. Cassie was driving this car and there were two other groups leaving from Silver Springs and Alexandria.
It was a beautiful morning for a drive with a sunny sky and brisk breeze. The leaves are starting to turn so the trees are spangled with color. We drove about an hour and a half west into Virginia to Hollins Farm, near the town of Delaplane. This is a in-development U-pick farm and orchard. Unfortunately their apples trees are still rather small so they didn't actually have any apples left to be picked although they had bins of picked fruit for sale. So the apple scene wasn't as rewarding as I had hoped. However there was lots of other fun stuff at the farm including a large pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and a field of autumn greens and turnips. We picked some of everything and spent lots of time chatting. Our strategy of turning right got us through the corn maze very quickly--I think we took the shortest route possible.
Here's a picture of the group up by the greens field.
You can see how sunny it was. I got some nice small turnips, beet greens with tiny beets on them, kale, and a few leaves of mustard greens in this field. I also bought a bag of apples (Rome variety so they'll mostly be cooked I suspect) and several squash for cooking. I'd rather have squash than a jack-o-lantern. I did have to carry it back home on Metro after all.
Here's a couple of pictures of the view from the hill. This particular pumpkin patch was basically on top of the hill so it had a great view and was a great place to hang out.
The sky looks less blue because we're looking into the sun but it was a nice view of rolling hills.
Oh and here's a picture of the squash sitting on my table. They look kinda buttercup-like except for the color. I'll report on how they taste once I cook one. Actually since this picture is taken with a flash they look really bright!
I hope they are as tasty as they are colorful. The plain one is a small butternut squash.
After I got home I went to the library before it closed at 5:30. Then I went for a run this evening over to the East Potomac Park island and up around the Washington Monument. It was a beautiful evening too although the sun is already setting BEFORE 6:30. So sad to see it go.
I'm scheduled to volunteer for the WAMU (the local NPR station) fall fund drive Monday evening. I never made it to the Oregon one so I'll work at DC's instead. I'll let you know what I think about it Mom. I'm meeting Rudy, the garden manager for the temporary community garden on the site of the once and futureSt. Michael's St. Mathew's church tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll be able to get a plot for the winter and spring at least. They are gardening there before construction starts on the new church and mix-ed use development that will be built on that lot in a year or two.
Good night all.
-Sarah
It was a beautiful morning for a drive with a sunny sky and brisk breeze. The leaves are starting to turn so the trees are spangled with color. We drove about an hour and a half west into Virginia to Hollins Farm, near the town of Delaplane. This is a in-development U-pick farm and orchard. Unfortunately their apples trees are still rather small so they didn't actually have any apples left to be picked although they had bins of picked fruit for sale. So the apple scene wasn't as rewarding as I had hoped. However there was lots of other fun stuff at the farm including a large pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and a field of autumn greens and turnips. We picked some of everything and spent lots of time chatting. Our strategy of turning right got us through the corn maze very quickly--I think we took the shortest route possible.
Here's a picture of the group up by the greens field.
You can see how sunny it was. I got some nice small turnips, beet greens with tiny beets on them, kale, and a few leaves of mustard greens in this field. I also bought a bag of apples (Rome variety so they'll mostly be cooked I suspect) and several squash for cooking. I'd rather have squash than a jack-o-lantern. I did have to carry it back home on Metro after all.
Here's a couple of pictures of the view from the hill. This particular pumpkin patch was basically on top of the hill so it had a great view and was a great place to hang out.
The sky looks less blue because we're looking into the sun but it was a nice view of rolling hills.
Oh and here's a picture of the squash sitting on my table. They look kinda buttercup-like except for the color. I'll report on how they taste once I cook one. Actually since this picture is taken with a flash they look really bright!
I hope they are as tasty as they are colorful. The plain one is a small butternut squash.
After I got home I went to the library before it closed at 5:30. Then I went for a run this evening over to the East Potomac Park island and up around the Washington Monument. It was a beautiful evening too although the sun is already setting BEFORE 6:30. So sad to see it go.
I'm scheduled to volunteer for the WAMU (the local NPR station) fall fund drive Monday evening. I never made it to the Oregon one so I'll work at DC's instead. I'll let you know what I think about it Mom. I'm meeting Rudy, the garden manager for the temporary community garden on the site of the once and future
Good night all.
-Sarah
Monday, September 26, 2011
It's all pizza from here!
or Terry and Anna come to dinner.
(also I really like curious titles)
Check it out, I'm writing a prompt and timely post. Isn't that strange? I had a very nice evening because Terry and Anna came over to my apartment for dinner. For those of you who aren't Halfwayites, they are friends from Halfway who are here in DC for a few short days to see some of the numerous sites and cool museums. Fortunately though I managed to spend not one, but two evenings with them. Saturday evening we me for dinner over by Union Station and attempted to find Linda's favorite brewhouse, Capital City Brewing. Unfortunately unbeknownst to us they had moved to a new address on New York Avenue and we didn't find them. So we went to Finnegan's Irish Pub instead because it was there (it was fine but nothing remarkable on the restaurant scene).
But we had a nice visit and I had the bright idea that they should come over for dinner at my place. We decided that Monday night made the most sense so I got all inspired about what to cook and went shopping on Sunday. And actually I had Brent and Andrew, two other PSU alums who are currently working in DC, over for homemade pizza Sunday night. So I'm been having very social dinners lately. I rather like having people over, because you know I cook better (or at least more to my own personal taste) than nearly all restaurants and when I'm the chef then it is done right.
So to get back to my non-linear tale, I made pizza Sunday for the guys and I had way too much toppings and ingredients for 3 people so I had leftover dough and toppings. I had already bought some fish (a 1.3 pound haddock filet to be precise) for Monday though. This led to me editing my menu a bit and I skipped the roasted sweet potatoes that I originally thought of. So ultimately the Monday menu was:
Another reason to tell you about dinner, beyond the fact that it was fun, is to encourage you (yes you, reading this right now) to come visit me too. I'll cook you dinner as well. I even have a purple futon so you can even sleep here.
Here's the poached fish recipe because it was really good and I think it would work well with all sorts of fish. As stated, I used haddock though because it was on sale. It was good, white and flaky in a cod-type way. It's not a very precise recipe. (adapted from More Best Recipes from the editors of Cook's Illustrated, fish braising page 343)
Braised White Fish (Fish Margherita)
Slice some onion, a half is fine if that's what you have. Start sauteing it in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium in a 2" deep pan with a tight fitting lid, but don't put the lit on yet. Thinly slice 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and add the slices to the onions. Dice some red bell pepper, 1/3 cup maybe, and add to the onions and garlic. Saute a bit more on medium. Put the lid on if they need help cooking. They should brown a bit but not a whole lot. Add 1 can (15 ounces) of diced tomatoes (I like petite dice because they are a bit smaller) and their juice. Add 1/2 cup or so of white wine--the Riesling was good. Add a bit of sugar and balsamic vinegar to taste (1 or 2 teaspoons of each). Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a while to combine flavors but it doesn't have to cook terribly long. Meanwhile rinse off your fish filet and slice it into 3" chunks (or whatever size makes sense). I left the skin on the haddock and it was fine; actually I think it may have improved the flavor. Nestle the chunks of fish down in the sauce and spoon tomatoes over the top. It should be simmering but not cooking too hard. Add more white wine if you need liquid. Put on the lid and cook at a gentle simmer. When the fish is half to 2/3s done (depending how thick it is), turn the flame off and let it keep cooking through residual heat with the lid on. This way it will cook through without drying out. It will probably take 10-15 minutes in all. The fish should be opaque through and flake gently. Taste for seasonings. Top with a couple of handfuls of thinly sliced fresh basil. Serve with bread or something to mop up the yummy sauce. Mmmm.
I'm afraid I didn't take a picture of it before we started eating. But it was red and white and green with the basil on top. So maybe you could call it Fish Margherita? I just made that name up and I'm going to claim it.
In other news, I need to read the information about making Thrift Savings Plan investment decisions. But I wrote this post for you instead so I guess I'll do that tomorrow.
Goodnight all.
With love from DC,
-Sarah
(also I really like curious titles)
Check it out, I'm writing a prompt and timely post. Isn't that strange? I had a very nice evening because Terry and Anna came over to my apartment for dinner. For those of you who aren't Halfwayites, they are friends from Halfway who are here in DC for a few short days to see some of the numerous sites and cool museums. Fortunately though I managed to spend not one, but two evenings with them. Saturday evening we me for dinner over by Union Station and attempted to find Linda's favorite brewhouse, Capital City Brewing. Unfortunately unbeknownst to us they had moved to a new address on New York Avenue and we didn't find them. So we went to Finnegan's Irish Pub instead because it was there (it was fine but nothing remarkable on the restaurant scene).
But we had a nice visit and I had the bright idea that they should come over for dinner at my place. We decided that Monday night made the most sense so I got all inspired about what to cook and went shopping on Sunday. And actually I had Brent and Andrew, two other PSU alums who are currently working in DC, over for homemade pizza Sunday night. So I'm been having very social dinners lately. I rather like having people over, because you know I cook better (or at least more to my own personal taste) than nearly all restaurants and when I'm the chef then it is done right.
So to get back to my non-linear tale, I made pizza Sunday for the guys and I had way too much toppings and ingredients for 3 people so I had leftover dough and toppings. I had already bought some fish (a 1.3 pound haddock filet to be precise) for Monday though. This led to me editing my menu a bit and I skipped the roasted sweet potatoes that I originally thought of. So ultimately the Monday menu was:
- Corn and tomato pizza (farmers market sweet corn and tomatoes)
- Broccoli salad with bacon
- Haddock poached in tomatoes and white wine (a Yellowtail Riesling to be precise)
- And the last of the farmers market peaches and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for dessert
 |
| Monday night dinner with Terry and Anna |
Another reason to tell you about dinner, beyond the fact that it was fun, is to encourage you (yes you, reading this right now) to come visit me too. I'll cook you dinner as well. I even have a purple futon so you can even sleep here.
Here's the poached fish recipe because it was really good and I think it would work well with all sorts of fish. As stated, I used haddock though because it was on sale. It was good, white and flaky in a cod-type way. It's not a very precise recipe. (adapted from More Best Recipes from the editors of Cook's Illustrated, fish braising page 343)
Braised White Fish (Fish Margherita)
Slice some onion, a half is fine if that's what you have. Start sauteing it in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium in a 2" deep pan with a tight fitting lid, but don't put the lit on yet. Thinly slice 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and add the slices to the onions. Dice some red bell pepper, 1/3 cup maybe, and add to the onions and garlic. Saute a bit more on medium. Put the lid on if they need help cooking. They should brown a bit but not a whole lot. Add 1 can (15 ounces) of diced tomatoes (I like petite dice because they are a bit smaller) and their juice. Add 1/2 cup or so of white wine--the Riesling was good. Add a bit of sugar and balsamic vinegar to taste (1 or 2 teaspoons of each). Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a while to combine flavors but it doesn't have to cook terribly long. Meanwhile rinse off your fish filet and slice it into 3" chunks (or whatever size makes sense). I left the skin on the haddock and it was fine; actually I think it may have improved the flavor. Nestle the chunks of fish down in the sauce and spoon tomatoes over the top. It should be simmering but not cooking too hard. Add more white wine if you need liquid. Put on the lid and cook at a gentle simmer. When the fish is half to 2/3s done (depending how thick it is), turn the flame off and let it keep cooking through residual heat with the lid on. This way it will cook through without drying out. It will probably take 10-15 minutes in all. The fish should be opaque through and flake gently. Taste for seasonings. Top with a couple of handfuls of thinly sliced fresh basil. Serve with bread or something to mop up the yummy sauce. Mmmm.
I'm afraid I didn't take a picture of it before we started eating. But it was red and white and green with the basil on top. So maybe you could call it Fish Margherita? I just made that name up and I'm going to claim it.
In other news, I need to read the information about making Thrift Savings Plan investment decisions. But I wrote this post for you instead so I guess I'll do that tomorrow.
Goodnight all.
With love from DC,
-Sarah
Monday, September 19, 2011
Oops I missed the groundhog
That was the other neat thing we saw on the bike ride Sunday. This unfamiliar rodent that was pretty big but not a badger, too fuzzy to be a beaver, and otherwise unfamiliar to a couple of Westerners ran under the fence next too us. We debated but weren't sure what it was. However with further research I think it was probably a groundhog, otherwise known, according to Wikipedia, as a woodchuck. It was certainly a big brown rodent.
Here's a picture of someone else's groundhog, assuming I can successfully link to the picture.
The picture comes from wikimedia commons, thanks to them!
-Sarah
Here's a picture of someone else's groundhog, assuming I can successfully link to the picture.
-Sarah
A paycheck is certainly news!
I got my first paycheck today. Ok, I electronically received my first paycheck today. It actually doesn't seem nearly as exciting to log in to your online bank account and see the line item "Fed Payroll something-or-other" as it would be to take an actual paper check down to the bank and cash it. But on the other hand the electronic deposit comes a lot faster, and I didn't have to do anything in order to get the money in my account.
I'm still waiting for them to process all of the employee benefits (like health insurance) so I don't think all of the deductions are correct yet. However my pay grade and salary look right so that is a very promising start. TSP was only 3% rather than the 5% I wanted so I changed that through the online interface. (I also got the Employee Personal Page login today.) The rest I will have to wait and see. For those who don't know, the Thrift Savings Plan is the Fed equivalent of private 401(k) retirement savings programs.
In other news, I had a good trip to Chicago last week. Most of you probably don't know that I arrived at HUD and immediately had to arrange federal travel to fly to Chicago the week of September 12 for a program office-wide training event. It was a little bit hairy getting all of the paperwork and my travel credit card and all processed on time. However it all worked out with only a little bit of correction after the fact so I did pretty well. The training session was very good. The biggest benefit was meeting all of the other new employees that have been hired by the Section 232 component of the Office of Healthcare Programs over the last year. We compared new employee notes quite a bit. For some perspective, the number of applications they receive under 232 has gone from about 200 per year four years ago to almost 800 a year today. Apparently it's been a huge workload increase and they really need more people although they've done a great job improving the process and are up to [I ought to have this in my head, but I'm going to get the number wrong!] 600+ applications processed this year.
If you are lucky I will get a couple of Chicago pictures posted in the next couple of days...including a shot of the big shiny "bean" that is such an iconic tourist picture. I didn't photograph the new Marilyn Monroe statue since I'm not very well practiced at carrying my camera around. Here's a link to a Huffington Post blog with pictures if you want. Curiously the statue will only be up for about a year. I wonder why.
Kevin and I went for a great bike ride yesterday afternoon. Sorry no pictures though. We rode across the river and down the Mt. Vernon Trail to downtown Alexandria. Then back over the Potomac on another bridge and up through the new National Harbor development, Oxon Hill Farm, and some rather hilly parts of Anacostia. It was a radically varied range of city environments. Old Town Alexandria is very quaint with brick architecture (Federal style maybe?). The Woodrow Wilson Bridge was long and steep. It reminded me of cousin Gary talking about riding over the bridge in Florida in order to train for hills. National Harbor is very spanking new and still in development with the roads that lead to empty fields with "future site of..." signs. They were building fancy bike paths but didn't yet have many users down there.
Oxon Hill Farm is apparently a National Park Service site. It had classic farm buildings and lots of nice woodlands. We saw a bunch of silly little Eastern whitetail deer down at the bottom of the hill. I didn't spot any antlers. I think they seemed darker and smaller than our whitetails, but I didn't get that close of a look at them is it is hard to be sure. Nice woods and fields and it was a great temperature for a bike ride so this part of the trip was really nice.
Getting back through Anacostia was a bit more interesting. We ran into a couple of places with nowhere to ride safely since the road was fast with no shoulder so we had to hike our bikes along the barrow ditch a bit. But we got through eventually and rode up MLK Avenue. Clearly not a great part of town, but it looks like redevelopment and gentrification is even going on there. I didn't feel unsafe, but I won't be biking back there either. If nothing else it was just too hard to find a direct way though without any bike lanes. I guess if I want to go back to Oxon, I'll either take Metro or go around through Alexandria. I might be able to bike there from the Southern Avenue station.
This Thursday there is a bike party down in Yards Park, which is on the river near the Nationals baseball stadium. It's sponsored by Capital Bikeshare in honor of their one-year anniversary. I'm certainly planning to go so maybe I can get some more bike maps and learn new routes there.
That's all for now. It's late here and time for bed!
Love to you all.
-Sarah
I'm still waiting for them to process all of the employee benefits (like health insurance) so I don't think all of the deductions are correct yet. However my pay grade and salary look right so that is a very promising start. TSP was only 3% rather than the 5% I wanted so I changed that through the online interface. (I also got the Employee Personal Page login today.) The rest I will have to wait and see. For those who don't know, the Thrift Savings Plan is the Fed equivalent of private 401(k) retirement savings programs.
In other news, I had a good trip to Chicago last week. Most of you probably don't know that I arrived at HUD and immediately had to arrange federal travel to fly to Chicago the week of September 12 for a program office-wide training event. It was a little bit hairy getting all of the paperwork and my travel credit card and all processed on time. However it all worked out with only a little bit of correction after the fact so I did pretty well. The training session was very good. The biggest benefit was meeting all of the other new employees that have been hired by the Section 232 component of the Office of Healthcare Programs over the last year. We compared new employee notes quite a bit. For some perspective, the number of applications they receive under 232 has gone from about 200 per year four years ago to almost 800 a year today. Apparently it's been a huge workload increase and they really need more people although they've done a great job improving the process and are up to [I ought to have this in my head, but I'm going to get the number wrong!] 600+ applications processed this year.
If you are lucky I will get a couple of Chicago pictures posted in the next couple of days...including a shot of the big shiny "bean" that is such an iconic tourist picture. I didn't photograph the new Marilyn Monroe statue since I'm not very well practiced at carrying my camera around. Here's a link to a Huffington Post blog with pictures if you want. Curiously the statue will only be up for about a year. I wonder why.
Kevin and I went for a great bike ride yesterday afternoon. Sorry no pictures though. We rode across the river and down the Mt. Vernon Trail to downtown Alexandria. Then back over the Potomac on another bridge and up through the new National Harbor development, Oxon Hill Farm, and some rather hilly parts of Anacostia. It was a radically varied range of city environments. Old Town Alexandria is very quaint with brick architecture (Federal style maybe?). The Woodrow Wilson Bridge was long and steep. It reminded me of cousin Gary talking about riding over the bridge in Florida in order to train for hills. National Harbor is very spanking new and still in development with the roads that lead to empty fields with "future site of..." signs. They were building fancy bike paths but didn't yet have many users down there.
Oxon Hill Farm is apparently a National Park Service site. It had classic farm buildings and lots of nice woodlands. We saw a bunch of silly little Eastern whitetail deer down at the bottom of the hill. I didn't spot any antlers. I think they seemed darker and smaller than our whitetails, but I didn't get that close of a look at them is it is hard to be sure. Nice woods and fields and it was a great temperature for a bike ride so this part of the trip was really nice.
Getting back through Anacostia was a bit more interesting. We ran into a couple of places with nowhere to ride safely since the road was fast with no shoulder so we had to hike our bikes along the barrow ditch a bit. But we got through eventually and rode up MLK Avenue. Clearly not a great part of town, but it looks like redevelopment and gentrification is even going on there. I didn't feel unsafe, but I won't be biking back there either. If nothing else it was just too hard to find a direct way though without any bike lanes. I guess if I want to go back to Oxon, I'll either take Metro or go around through Alexandria. I might be able to bike there from the Southern Avenue station.
This Thursday there is a bike party down in Yards Park, which is on the river near the Nationals baseball stadium. It's sponsored by Capital Bikeshare in honor of their one-year anniversary. I'm certainly planning to go so maybe I can get some more bike maps and learn new routes there.
That's all for now. It's late here and time for bed!
Love to you all.
-Sarah
Saturday, September 3, 2011
I think I have to dress like a mortgage banker!
Which you must admit is very strange for me. But the reality is that the clients of my office are most immediately the banks seeking to buy mortgage insurance on their hospital and nursing home lending. And they are mortgage bankers. So following the principle that you need to dress like your clients, I really should be dressing like the bankers at least for meetings.
Alas, I need to go clothes shopping this weekend. My goal is to find acceptable pieces that are machine washable. Really, is machine washable too much to ask? It would be nice if I didn't have to iron too but that might be hoping for too much.
In other news, I think I had a reasonably productive week at work. A lot of that was starting paperwork and getting signed up for various things, but those need to get done too. I even took on the travel scheduling system because they are sending me to a new employee and lender training in Chicago the week of September 12. So I had to try to expedite that as much as possible. Hopefully my fed travel credit card will come in next Tuesday.
Today I'm meeting Kevin (a nice guy who is also new to the area and very usefully has a pickup) to pick up some chairs I found on Freecycle and a Craigslist shelf. I'm getting the apartment reasonably furnished with a fairly eclectic collection. As Irene (a neighbor down the hall) says, "Late garage sale, early basement." It works though. I'll have to keep watching to find a futon for guests though. I have hopes of finding one through Freecycle if I'm patient.
Interesting (to me at least) is this post on Ezra Klein's Washington Post blog. It's not new to those of us who are familiar with the issues, but it's a concise presentation of the long term federal health care spending problem. Of course the farther in the future you get the less useful predictions are. Really what these charts say to me is that something will change, I just don't know what.
-Sarah
Alas, I need to go clothes shopping this weekend. My goal is to find acceptable pieces that are machine washable. Really, is machine washable too much to ask? It would be nice if I didn't have to iron too but that might be hoping for too much.
In other news, I think I had a reasonably productive week at work. A lot of that was starting paperwork and getting signed up for various things, but those need to get done too. I even took on the travel scheduling system because they are sending me to a new employee and lender training in Chicago the week of September 12. So I had to try to expedite that as much as possible. Hopefully my fed travel credit card will come in next Tuesday.
Today I'm meeting Kevin (a nice guy who is also new to the area and very usefully has a pickup) to pick up some chairs I found on Freecycle and a Craigslist shelf. I'm getting the apartment reasonably furnished with a fairly eclectic collection. As Irene (a neighbor down the hall) says, "Late garage sale, early basement." It works though. I'll have to keep watching to find a futon for guests though. I have hopes of finding one through Freecycle if I'm patient.
Interesting (to me at least) is this post on Ezra Klein's Washington Post blog. It's not new to those of us who are familiar with the issues, but it's a concise presentation of the long term federal health care spending problem. Of course the farther in the future you get the less useful predictions are. Really what these charts say to me is that something will change, I just don't know what.
-Sarah
Monday, August 29, 2011
At work, day one
Well it was orientation today. And I think it was a little disorganized because a lot of people were out of the office or doing telework today in the aftermath of the hurricane. Not that there was any damage in downtown, but I think some of the suburbs were still without power and a number of schools were closed today.
Interestingly there were a a number of newly-minted law grads who were starting in the Legal Honors program. Apparently this is the only way to get into HUD (and I think other agencies) as a newly minted attorney on an actual "attorney track". There were a lot of JDs applying to the PMF program but the work they do as PMFs is usually not really law focused according to what I have heard. There were a couple of other HUD PMFs too.
So we had a nice big group of orientees with lots of people who were new to federal work. We spent most of the day going through procedures and filling out paperwork, of course. I did get my voice mail box set up this afternoon. When I got to my new office almost everyone was gone for the day though. I read through some of my paperwork and finally met two of the directors when they got out of meetings. Nice men and they were glad to see me.
That's all I have for now. I need to go research health plan options and life insurance rules and premiums. Apparently if you don't sign up for life insurance when you are hired it can be hard to add on later. However I really don't need life insurance right now. Well I'll do a little research.
Sorry but no pictures.
-Sarah
Interestingly there were a a number of newly-minted law grads who were starting in the Legal Honors program. Apparently this is the only way to get into HUD (and I think other agencies) as a newly minted attorney on an actual "attorney track". There were a lot of JDs applying to the PMF program but the work they do as PMFs is usually not really law focused according to what I have heard. There were a couple of other HUD PMFs too.
So we had a nice big group of orientees with lots of people who were new to federal work. We spent most of the day going through procedures and filling out paperwork, of course. I did get my voice mail box set up this afternoon. When I got to my new office almost everyone was gone for the day though. I read through some of my paperwork and finally met two of the directors when they got out of meetings. Nice men and they were glad to see me.
That's all I have for now. I need to go research health plan options and life insurance rules and premiums. Apparently if you don't sign up for life insurance when you are hired it can be hard to add on later. However I really don't need life insurance right now. Well I'll do a little research.
Sorry but no pictures.
-Sarah
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Hurricane update
As I'm sure you've heard on the news, we are following up the Virginia earthquake with a hurricane. That's pretty good, disaster-wise but I think I may hold out for a rain of frogs too. Cute little green treefrogs would be nice.
However I'm sure you are all holding out for hurricane information with bated breath. I'm sorry to tell you that it doesn't look like much more than a good rainstorm here so far. It's 4:40 PM in DC as I am writing this. I went for a run in the rain this morning (the fivefinger shoes are good for splashing in puddles too) and then I read a book and took a nap. It didn't seem very auspicious to try to visit garage sales on foot today. There will be more later.
I need to do some furniture arranging, and then maybe I'll take some pictures of my apartment for you. In the meantime, here is a video of the rain out my balcony window.
Let me know how well posting a video like this works. I could also try posing on youtube and linking to the video there.
-Sarah
However I'm sure you are all holding out for hurricane information with bated breath. I'm sorry to tell you that it doesn't look like much more than a good rainstorm here so far. It's 4:40 PM in DC as I am writing this. I went for a run in the rain this morning (the fivefinger shoes are good for splashing in puddles too) and then I read a book and took a nap. It didn't seem very auspicious to try to visit garage sales on foot today. There will be more later.
I need to do some furniture arranging, and then maybe I'll take some pictures of my apartment for you. In the meantime, here is a video of the rain out my balcony window.
Let me know how well posting a video like this works. I could also try posing on youtube and linking to the video there.
-Sarah
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Corn in the microwave and biking in the rain
So how do you cook an ear of corn when you don't have a pot wider that about 6 inches? I contrived and it turns out that one ear of corn will cook just fine in a Pyrex pan in the microwave with a little bit of water around it. Of course that leads you to the question, "What corn?" Well here is the tale of my adventures this afternoon.
This morning I braved the DMV and got my DC drivers license. Conveniently the service center for this quadrant of the city is located just down the road, inconveniently they had long lines even at 8:15 in the morning. I got out at 10:00 so it took more than an hour just waiting. I'm so spoiled by the Baker DMV...they never have a line at all! But I got it done so now I can be an official DC resident. I get to complain about taxation without representation. I can't wait!
After that I made the call to switch over my rented Comcast modem to the one I bought (so I don't have to keep paying $7/month rent), and then I mapped out the route to bike up to the Comcast service center on NE Michigan Avenue to return the old one. Fortunately I planned ahead and wore running clothes because it looked like possible rain. (The running clothes work well because they dry fast.) It did indeed rain on me but it was warm enough that it almost felt good. The toe shoes work well for biking too and stay comfortable when wet.
So all in all it was another nice ride up the Metro Branch Trail and I didn't get very lost trying to find the place. It's close to the Catholic University of America which has some amusing architecture including a "National Basilica" with a really big spire.
On the way home I went through Columbia Heights and found the international market that was suggested as a source for Lizano. They did indeed stock it and $6 later I had my very own bottle. Yay! I actually already cooked a little pan of black beans (and ate most of them without it) so now I can make proper gallo pinto. Here's a picture of my new garage sale shelves with the bottle sitting on them:
After the market I went by the Thursday evening farmers market on Vermont Street "by the White House." It was a fairly small market but they had some good things and it wasn't too busy so it was easy to navigate. I got:
Here is a picture of the sunset out my balcony this evening though. I fear in the winter that the sun may set behind the tree instead of straight down the street behind Arena Stage, but right now I have a great view of the sunset.
This morning I braved the DMV and got my DC drivers license. Conveniently the service center for this quadrant of the city is located just down the road, inconveniently they had long lines even at 8:15 in the morning. I got out at 10:00 so it took more than an hour just waiting. I'm so spoiled by the Baker DMV...they never have a line at all! But I got it done so now I can be an official DC resident. I get to complain about taxation without representation. I can't wait!
After that I made the call to switch over my rented Comcast modem to the one I bought (so I don't have to keep paying $7/month rent), and then I mapped out the route to bike up to the Comcast service center on NE Michigan Avenue to return the old one. Fortunately I planned ahead and wore running clothes because it looked like possible rain. (The running clothes work well because they dry fast.) It did indeed rain on me but it was warm enough that it almost felt good. The toe shoes work well for biking too and stay comfortable when wet.
So all in all it was another nice ride up the Metro Branch Trail and I didn't get very lost trying to find the place. It's close to the Catholic University of America which has some amusing architecture including a "National Basilica" with a really big spire.
On the way home I went through Columbia Heights and found the international market that was suggested as a source for Lizano. They did indeed stock it and $6 later I had my very own bottle. Yay! I actually already cooked a little pan of black beans (and ate most of them without it) so now I can make proper gallo pinto. Here's a picture of my new garage sale shelves with the bottle sitting on them:
After the market I went by the Thursday evening farmers market on Vermont Street "by the White House." It was a fairly small market but they had some good things and it wasn't too busy so it was easy to navigate. I got:
- One ear of fresh corn
- Three tomatoes
- Six peaches (the varieties were several that I wasn't familiar with so I don't remember them except for the "Mango peach")
- Three nectarines
Here is a picture of the sunset out my balcony this evening though. I fear in the winter that the sun may set behind the tree instead of straight down the street behind Arena Stage, but right now I have a great view of the sunset.
You can even see an airplane heading in to National airport against the cloud.
Breaking news: It appears that we may get considerable dregs from the fringes of Hurricane Irene. They have canceled the MKL Memorial dedication for Sunday due to fear of the weather causing considerable problems when combined with the expected crowds. That is really too bad because I bet a lot of people from out of town made plans and reservations a long time ago.
What I long post this is. Go me! [Well we all know it wouldn't be long for Nicole, but it is long for me.]
-Sarah
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
We had an earthquake and I missed it!
Actually I'm kinda surprised I didn't notice since it was apparently 5.9 (correction: later changed to 5.8). I rode my bike up to Home Depot (where I finally found baking tiles) and on the way home the traffic was crazy even for DC. Although I could sneak around most of it in my handy-dandy bike lane. When I checked my email and saw the news I learned about the earthquake. I expect that explains the traffic since many people probably left work early. I think that also explains why the elevators in the building are out and I had to carry my bike up the stairs.
The only way I can figure I missed the quake is that it happened while I was riding by Union Station and I just thought the rumbling was another train going by. As you can tell from my complaints I am entirely fine of course.
I did have a nice ride up the Metropolitan Branch Trail though. It is a dedicated bike & walk lane that parallels the railroad. So not very scenic but a good grade most of the time. Home Depot is on Rhode Island Avenue about where the trail crosses it.
If you're wondering, here's the Washington Post article about the earthquake: http://www.washingtonpost.com/earthquake-rattles-washington-area/2011/08/23/gIQATMOGZJ_story.html
-Sarah
The only way I can figure I missed the quake is that it happened while I was riding by Union Station and I just thought the rumbling was another train going by. As you can tell from my complaints I am entirely fine of course.
I did have a nice ride up the Metropolitan Branch Trail though. It is a dedicated bike & walk lane that parallels the railroad. So not very scenic but a good grade most of the time. Home Depot is on Rhode Island Avenue about where the trail crosses it.
If you're wondering, here's the Washington Post article about the earthquake: http://www.washingtonpost.com/earthquake-rattles-washington-area/2011/08/23/gIQATMOGZJ_story.html
-Sarah
Monday, August 22, 2011
I ran down to the memorial tonight...
Yeah, it's pretty cool to be able to say that! Of course in this town you actually have to specify which one. This time it was the new MLK memorial. You have probably heard on the news that the official dedication will be Sunday with (expected) vast crowds and hoopla and all. It is open all this week though for people to walk by if they wish.
It was a really not day, only in the 80s today (of course that really should be high 20s, 'cause why are we still using Fahrenheit anyway?) and not very humid. I took advantage of it by biking this morning and going for a run this evening. Alas I did not take my camera so I don't have any pictures of the memorial or the lovely sunset as I ran around the Tidal Basin to share with you.
Here's a picture of my new running shoes though:
As you can see I've joined the toe shoe movement. I'll credit the example set by Glenn and Evan. I do like them so far although it would be nice to find some dirt trails to run on. All the concrete around the Mall and the memorials does get rather hard.
-Sarah
It was a really not day, only in the 80s today (of course that really should be high 20s, 'cause why are we still using Fahrenheit anyway?) and not very humid. I took advantage of it by biking this morning and going for a run this evening. Alas I did not take my camera so I don't have any pictures of the memorial or the lovely sunset as I ran around the Tidal Basin to share with you.
Here's a picture of my new running shoes though:
As you can see I've joined the toe shoe movement. I'll credit the example set by Glenn and Evan. I do like them so far although it would be nice to find some dirt trails to run on. All the concrete around the Mall and the memorials does get rather hard.
-Sarah
Friday, August 19, 2011
The best use for Crocs
This makes for a rather random post number two, but I'm trying to get in the habit of noting short fun things. I'd rather have more frequent short posts rather than long ones. The fact of the matter is that I am more likely to tell you things if I keep it short!
This evening we had a torrential rain and thunder storm here in DC. The rain really fell in torrents for a while. I had a package slip on my door though so I slipped on my new Crocs after dinner and walked over to the West building where the concierge desk is. It's always fun to get presents, even if I already know what they are. (In this case it was my new sheets from Sierra. They are light purple and very soft.)
One the way over though, I learned that Crocs are great for splashing in puddles.The water swishes in and out of the holes in the toes and then the shoes get all squeaky and you can feel like a duck and splash around. At least this works as long as it isn't too cold and, given the hot muggy day we had here, it certainly felt good to me this evening. There was some pretty spectacular lightning too, although I couldn't actually see very much of it out my window.
In other news I bought a bike today from Phoenix Cycles. It's a program based over in Arlington that teaches at-risk youth to work on bikes and provides the usual sort of activities and counseling I believe. One of the ways they make money for the program is by rehabbing and selling donated used bikes. I decided that was a program I would just as soon support and I though that I might find more selection in one place than trying to respond to craigslist ads. As it turned out, they had a number of bikes for sale but not many of them fit me. But one was all it took and I finally settled on a Schwinn Crosscut with fairly upright handlebars and, I think, larger tires than my old bike. I hope naming the bike means more to my readers (like you, Bill?) than to me. One of the reasons I fizzled on craigslist is that I was overwhelmed by all of the brand name and spec listings that I didn't really understand.
The folks at Phoenix were very nice though and I am very happy to have wheels again. It didn't take me long at all to really start missing riding. I think this bike will work very well as a city beater and for the occasional longer weekend ride too. I also spent the $30 for a good solid U-lock, and I hope that between riding a relatively old and scratched up bike and being careful to lock it up when it's not safe in my front hall that I will manage to escape the infamous DC bike theft problem. At least this bike doesn't scream "Steal me now!" when you look at it the way a new one would. I still spent $160 on it though so it probably does have some theft-value.
So here's a picture of the bike:
As you can see it is purple. I've got something of a theme going with that color at the moment: sheets, bike, and the Crocs which were at least the most fun of the things I got at Goodwill.
Well that's all for tonight. Here's to hoping for another good rainstorm!
~Sarah
This evening we had a torrential rain and thunder storm here in DC. The rain really fell in torrents for a while. I had a package slip on my door though so I slipped on my new Crocs after dinner and walked over to the West building where the concierge desk is. It's always fun to get presents, even if I already know what they are. (In this case it was my new sheets from Sierra. They are light purple and very soft.)
One the way over though, I learned that Crocs are great for splashing in puddles.The water swishes in and out of the holes in the toes and then the shoes get all squeaky and you can feel like a duck and splash around. At least this works as long as it isn't too cold and, given the hot muggy day we had here, it certainly felt good to me this evening. There was some pretty spectacular lightning too, although I couldn't actually see very much of it out my window.
In other news I bought a bike today from Phoenix Cycles. It's a program based over in Arlington that teaches at-risk youth to work on bikes and provides the usual sort of activities and counseling I believe. One of the ways they make money for the program is by rehabbing and selling donated used bikes. I decided that was a program I would just as soon support and I though that I might find more selection in one place than trying to respond to craigslist ads. As it turned out, they had a number of bikes for sale but not many of them fit me. But one was all it took and I finally settled on a Schwinn Crosscut with fairly upright handlebars and, I think, larger tires than my old bike. I hope naming the bike means more to my readers (like you, Bill?) than to me. One of the reasons I fizzled on craigslist is that I was overwhelmed by all of the brand name and spec listings that I didn't really understand.
The folks at Phoenix were very nice though and I am very happy to have wheels again. It didn't take me long at all to really start missing riding. I think this bike will work very well as a city beater and for the occasional longer weekend ride too. I also spent the $30 for a good solid U-lock, and I hope that between riding a relatively old and scratched up bike and being careful to lock it up when it's not safe in my front hall that I will manage to escape the infamous DC bike theft problem. At least this bike doesn't scream "Steal me now!" when you look at it the way a new one would. I still spent $160 on it though so it probably does have some theft-value.
So here's a picture of the bike:
As you can see it is purple. I've got something of a theme going with that color at the moment: sheets, bike, and the Crocs which were at least the most fun of the things I got at Goodwill.
Well that's all for tonight. Here's to hoping for another good rainstorm!
~Sarah
Monday, July 18, 2011
The first one
Well I'm planning to set up a blog to chronicle my adventures. I'll start with a really simple post to learn how this works. I even added a location tag I think.
I'm planning to use this blog communicate with family and friends and share pictures and events about the new job I will soon be starting in Washington DC.
Just for fun, here's a picture of me at graduation this spring receiving my Master of Public Health degree. I'll get some more interesting ones of Portland up soon.
I'm planning to use this blog communicate with family and friends and share pictures and events about the new job I will soon be starting in Washington DC.
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