COVID-19 diary – week 22

Thinking thoughts and posting whatever comes to mind during my self-isolation. We’re in this together (well, those of us actually doing this).


I missed a week. Sue me. My contract ended last week, so it was several weeks of “hair on fire” chaos in order to gather all the transition materials the new company would need.


I felt very bitter about the loss and personally attacked last week when I found out the contracting officer was trying to get me blocked from moving over to another contract my company has at this agency. But then I realized it’s because she has a grudge against our company and that I’m a damn good worker … so she’s doing it because she doesn’t want us to succeed in this other area.


Said contracting officer has a grudge because we caught her cheating. During a contract competition last year, she reached out to one particular company and told them where their proposal was lacking. She didn’t give that courtesy to any other bidders. Surprise, surprise … that company won. We protested and won the protest. We got our attorney’s fees back and she got a slap on the wrist, but was STILL the contracting officer. One year later, the contract was up for re-compete again and we lost this time. Shocking.


Anyway, I was upset at first and now I’m over it. I don’t know if I want to be in that environment anyway. My company is putting me on overhead for now to keep me busy while we hash out the other contract or find somewhere else for me to land.


I took the end of last week off and the wife and I went to Annapolis for a mini-break. We got a very nice room with a great view of the harbor. We ventured out twice to get food and walk the town; the city was mostly empty probably because of the heat. We spent the rest of the time in the room, reading, watching the harbor, and just relaxing. It was just the recharge we both needed.

Sunset over the Maryland State House

I’m less stressed and full of anger over the state of the world these past two weeks. That can only be attributed to the fact that I’ve spent very little time on Facebook. I do a quick check of notifications in the morning, then the same in the evening with a quick scroll through the first few posts on my feed. That’s it. So if I haven’t commented or “liked” anything of yours in a while … blame the algorithm!


We celebrated the wife’s birthday last week. She’s such an amazing person, I thank my lucky stars every day that I get to spend time with her. We spoiled her with some presents, a trip to a bookstore, and some coffee and pastries from a couple of our favorite haunts.


She started work last Friday. It’s going to be an adventure for her. The county is starting with distance learning for the first quarter and will re-evaluate based on what’s going on in the world. She’s got a good setup to help her stay productive hopefully and has a good wellness plan in place to help her stay sane.


As for the state of things, I think people are fooling themselves if they think it’s going back to normal anytime soon. I would bet the United States keeps skidding along, bouncing in and out of “back to normal” and “uh-oh, self-isolate again!” for at least the remainder of the year … more likely into next summer. There are enough people in this country not taking it seriously that it ends up ruining it for everybody. I’m saddened that we’re a country full of such selfish people.


I started reading “Factfulness” and it’s really giving me a different perspective on the world. It’s full of great information on how the world has (and is) better than it was. It also has lessons in how to be a more critical thinker. I’m only about half way through it and I highly recommend it to anybody who wants to be a better thinker/analyzer or just wants to read about a positive spin on the planet on which we live.


All-in-all I’m hanging in there. Clearly a new path ahead of me in my professional career, so we’ll see how that goes. Feels good to have the toxic government folks behind me (even if only temporarily) and to know I did a great job in a difficult environment.


Stay safe folks. Wear your masks. Keep your distance. Stay inside. Wash your hands.

One comment

  1. You are a constant amazement to us. We couldn’t ask for a smarter, kinder or more loving son, and we couldn’t be prouder of you. Love you, Pip.

Comments are closed.