Core Competencies

Still in Baltimore - it's 11:30 at night and even though I spent six and a half hours walking around Washington DC today, I'm still pretty awake.

I decided to take the train down to DC since it's a fairly short trip to get there from Baltimore and I didn't have much else to do today anyway. I've never been to DC before. Like most scenic/historical places I've been, it was neat but not life-changing or anything. Upon seeing something like the White House or Washington Monument, I had the same reaction as when I saw Graceland. "Well, there it is." I dug the Lincoln Memorial - maybe it's because I'm an Illinois native - and the Wright Brothers exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum was pretty cool as well.

It was hot and crowded out there today, and I did my best to see all the big attractions. I was bummed to see that the Smithsonian American History and Arts and Industry museums were closed for renovations. That was a big part of the reason why I went to DC today. Oh well.

A few days ago, I accompanied my wife to her orientation for the day. It was a "spouses day" or whatever. They had some good info and I got to know the people she's working with a bit better. What really struck me was how boring a lot of it was. They weren't reading tax tables to us or anything, but you'd think that the training session for going to work overseas would be pretty exciting. Nope. They talked about all the minutiae of HR and better ways to communicate and what the core competencies were for the fellowship position. I almost lost it when I heard "core competencies." I had my share of those meetings in my years in corporate America. I figured that was just for boring regular cubicle jobs like I had. Jeez, I bet that police snipers and lion tamers and skydivers have training meetings where they talk about improving their core competencies at their annual reviews.

We leave in two days for the DRC. It still hasn't set in that I'm moving there yet, but it is settling in that I don't have a job. I've been so busy with us getting ready for the past month or so that I haven't noticed. As I find myself walking around Baltimore or DC during the day, I realize that most everyone else I see on the street is either on their way to or from their office, or else they're unemployed for one reason or another. It makes it harder for me to enjoy the time off that I have.

That's all for now - I'll try to get one more entry in before we leave on Sunday morning for the DRC.