The Week Stretches Out Before Me.

This week promises to be busy. I have 24 staff level meetings, plus the omnibus public lands bill will be on the floor. This legislation includes the protection of 127,000 acres of public land around Mt. Hood, plus over 150 other pieces of natural resources legislation. My boss wants to speak on the floor, so I have to write his remarks and acquire him 2-3 minutes of time either during the debate on the Rule, or during general debate. Asking for time is like begging. I guess.


Because of my numerous meetings, I will make friends with the hand sanitizer this week. It has occurred to me that when I was sick two weeks ago it was right after my two weeks of marathon meetings, and so I plan on returning to the trough after each meeting to cleanse myself of the microbes of the 50 or so hands I'll be shaking this week. Don't worry, it says there is Vitamin E, so my hands will stay soft.


One of the best things about my job is that it has become to mirror what I've always thought of as my way of thinking. Intellectually I have never been able to settle down. I fail to see the need for me to become an expert in something. I want to know lots about lots of things! Of course my job requires me to know quite a bit about the issues that I cover, but I am not asked to know everything there is about one particular topic. I am, however, called to be able to be spread thin across several different areas and be able to tie it back to Oregon and the District. It's fun, I like it. I was at dinner the other night with a friend from out of town and I remarked that I feel this job has trained me to be able to "pivot" from one topic to the next, something I have to do two times an hour, and this job has made me consider myself apt to be a pretty good blind date: You know what I do so you call me and arrange a meeting; I meet you, we sit and chat about who we are, what each of us want; and in the conclusion we decide whether what we've made of this chat something that could progress further. Yes, I know, it's simplistic, and I have to admit doesn't truly transfer 100% as the people I generally meet aren't female and aren't attractive, but still. We all develop analogies to describe work. Some more humorous and better thought out than others. Mine well included in that.