Thanks, Vets

Even though I have to work today, as opposed to Veterans’ Days Past when my contracting boss has gifted us all with a free day off (no clue why he didn’t go that route this year – Low on funds in the contract budget? Just trying to toughen us up?), I still appreciate all that our servicemen and –women have done for the country. U! S! A! U! S! A!

I don’t appreciate the WMATA at all, which is very much the same old story and unlikely to ever change in the future. Apparently they are doing major Orange Line work today, because in their estimation nobody worth worrying about has to work on Veterans’ Day, I guess. So I had to drive down 66 to the terminal station, ride three stops, get off, get on a bus, go three more stops, get off the bus, get back on the train, ride two more stops, get off and change lines, and then ride four more stops to Crystal City. I know I should be equally irritated at the VRE for having no service today, but I’m not. VRE is observing Veterans’ Day and giving their crews the day off, and I respect that. Metro is performing track maintenance on a holiday. Metro is the worst.

Anyway, it’s extremely quiet around here today with only the handful of contractors who are either hoarding or running low on paid time off and/or floating holidays. Last week was five full days which were surprisingly busy, although most of that increased activity consisted of me pulling reports to provide numbers for a problem which everyone is getting frantic about and I personally have no way of addressing. We’ll see how that continues throughout this month, but this week is for all intents and purposes a four-day since today doesn’t count and next week is only three days until Thanksgiving. I reckon I can keep things together for another couple weeks.

Parting observation: I knew the office would be minimally staffed today, which meant pretty relaxed in terms of the typical business dress code. I could have skipped shaving, just like I do most Casual Fridays … but I didn’t, because after not shaving since last Thursday, my jawline was getting unpleasantly itchy. I also could have worn blue jeans, which is usually verboten even on CasFri … but I didn’t, because all of my jeans are totally frayed ragged around the cuffs, and that feels a bit too unprofessional to me even for a working holiday. So here I am, answerable to no one but myself yet perfunctorily groomed and in khakis and a collared shirt. I must be getting old.