The Shutdown Diary: Yuletide Edition, Days 7 through ???

Disclaimer: The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

Well, Congress gaveled open and then, moments later, gaveled closed again yesterday, ensuring that the shutdown will last into the new year when the 116th Congress convenes on January 3rd.
So we are guaranteed a shutdown through, at a minimum, January 3rd. But the reality is probably a shutdown through the 4th or longer.

Yippee.

Hey, but it’s fodder for my blog, right?

You know, I’m not the only one in my office with a quirky online shutdown presence. One of my colleagues had posted cute shutdown pictures of her new Frenchie puppy. Awwww. 🐶

Another, issues elaborate curses on the ineffective lawmakers.  The most recent involved fire ants in their shoes. 🐜🐜🐜🐜 They are exquisite. Like my blog, the curses are her shutdown "thing." She issues them every time a shutdown rolls (all too frequently) around. I think in another life surely she was a voodoo priestess. And the objects of her curses should well take heed. Powerful juju emanates from her scornful evil eye.

Why do we do it? The blog, the curses, the adorbs puppy pic?  It blows off steam. It explains our world. It holds us together.

So what’s up for the day for The Working Mom?  The boy, his dad, and one of the boy’s uncles are working on the boy’s Pinewood Derby car. And a long walk and a shutdown mani/pedi are in the works for me. Oh, and my 15 minutes (no more no less) of work emails, of course.

Guess we shall see what happens when Congress reconvenes in the new year.

Cheers!

The Shutdown Diary: Yuletide Edition, Day 6

Disclaimer: The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

Cup of coffee in hand, I did my 15 minutes of email-checking.

Before that, I checked the news: Congress has no votes scheduled for today, so we are virtually guaranteed to be shutdown tomorrow as well.

On the docket for today (get it? docket? I’m a lawyer who is furloughed and, therefore, has no docket?):  laundry, straightening the house, and a family outing for ice skating. Except for the "I might not get paid" part, it’s a far more enjoyable plan than the day of hearings I had scheduled if I were working. Of course, the essential attorney at the office has to cover those hearings, so I feel bad about that. But she does have guaranteed pay when the shutdown is over, so....  Nah, still doesn’t balance out. I feel bad about it. It should be me suffering those hearings.

Oh and I’m wearing my new Christmas Porg sweater to go skating!

Happy Thursday, folks!

The Shutdown Diary: Yuletide Edition, Day 5

Disclaimer: The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.
Orderly shutdown procedures have been implemented. I did my out of office due to lapsed funding voice message. I did my out of office due to lapsed funding email. And I checked emails for what’s essential, forwarded them, and then logged off.
With Christmas over, the reality of the shutdown starts to sink in. How long will it last? No one knows. But with Congress not reconvening until tomorrow, you can bet it lasts through Friday (e.g., Day 7).
From now on, until and unless I am recalled to work, I will check my emails for up to 15 minutes a day, no more, and will forward pertinent emails to the attorney on duty.
And other than that. I hang out and do stuff.
Today’s stuff was taking down the outdoor Christmas decorations. Mission accomplished!
Now I’m going to watch a Disney movie with my boy!

The Shutdown Diary: Days 2 through 4

Disclaimer: The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.
With Congress is in recess until December 27th, we are guaranteed to be closed through at least Thursday.
And Mick Mulvaney predicts that the shutdown could go into the new year.
With such certain uncertainty it seems there’s nothing to talk about in re The Shutdown. At least for a few days, "shuttered" is our status quo.
But we still have Christmas celebrating and Christmas cheer to keep us happy an occupied.
Have a great holiday, folks, see you on the flip side when Congress reconvenes.
Merry Christmas!

The Shutdown Diary: Yuletide Edition, Day 1

Disclaimer: The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.
Day 1, of course, is a Saturday, so there’s no real change to my routine.
The day started with a walk with my lovely friend and our dogs wherein we attempt to solve the problems of the world.
But not the shutdown. Alas, we have no solutions for that. None that all parties in DC would agree to, at any rate.
We do agree, however, that tamales are an awesome Christmas treat. If you aren’t talented enough (or do not have enough time) to make them yourself, go buy some. Add them to your holiday menus. Take the advice of two lady lawyer and every Mexican grandma ever, eat tamales at Christmas.
The rest of the day has been last minute Christmas prep:  a little gift-wrapping, a little baking.
This is in the oven right now:

It’s from this book, a favorite of my husband’s from childhood.

It will be our post-tamales Christmas Eve dessert. The Boy’s been wanting to make it for a month. (You know, since Thanksgiving, when we read the book.)
As for the shutdown, well, seems like nothing is happening anytime soon. From the Washington Post:
"Few lawmakers were in the Capitol on Saturday morning, and no votes were scheduled in either chamber. Many lawmakers took off Friday night to return to their home states as they await word of the talks, having been assured that they will get 24 hours notice before any vote occurs to reopen the government."
So we’ll watch and see, but I’m thinking we do orderly shutdown procedures come December 26th.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find my easy baked Brie recipe.  I’m taking it to a little get together with friends later today.
Cheers!

The Shutdown Diary: Yuletide Edition

Disclaimer:  The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

Oh, hey!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Merry Christmas!

Joyous Kwanzaa!

And (maybe even) Happy New Year!

We are headed into another government shutdown.  Just in time for Santa!

So, to recap:  The President and Congress, once again, disagree about funding the government.  As of about 7:00 p.m. Eastern, the House had adjourned with plans to reconvene at noon on Saturday, December 22nd.  And the Senate has no deal.  That means, barring a miracle, that the government shuts down at midnight (Eastern) tonight.

Welcome to the Yuletide Shutdown!

We won't go into the whys and wherefores of the reason there is yet another impasse.  You know the whys and wherefores.  And you know that at least one side of the budget tussle predicts that it will be a long shutdown.

I don't know about you, but this governing-by-crisis is getting kind of old.  And not just because I am a to-be-furloughed government worker . . . but because I am an American who wants a functional government.

Meanwhile, the stock market is on track for the worst December since the Great Depression.  Yay.

This week alone has been the worst week for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 2008.  Super.

You remember the market crash in 2008, right?  Here's a graphic to remind you:

Same website, The Balance, has another graphic highlighting the ten biggest one-day losses in the history of the Dow.  Guess what years have had 4 each.  Hint:  They both begin with "20" and end with an 8.  Here, see for yourself:

But, don't give up on 2018 just yet.  It still has 10 days left to surge ahead of 2008 and win the title of DJIA Shittiest Year Ever.

My cup runneth over.

To add to that happy news, and, as a reminder, non-excepted government employees have no guarantee of being paid after a government shutdown.  In the past, we have gotten back pay.  But we are not guaranteed the back pay.  Only excepted employees are guaranteed back pay.  (Excepted employees still have to come to work and will get paid, but not until the shutdown is over.  So it could, conceivably, be weeks before even they see a paycheck.)

Here's a fun fact:  A lot of us were planning to take paid annual leave over the next week or two to spend time with our families.  So you might think that this is No Big because we can just take the paid leave during the shutdown and not suffer the economic consequences of no pay.  Alas, no.  Paid leave is not allowed during the shutdown.  So you're just furloughed and you can't draw salary from your annual leave time.  Also, if you were an employee who had "use or lose" leave hours that you were hoping to spend during the holidays, those hours are now going to fall into the "lose" category on account of the shutdown.  Total bummer.

So here we are, just before Christmas, and we may not be paid for what could be a long time.  So bills, mortgage payments, food, incidentals . . . all that has to come out of savings or be charged up on credit cards.  And so . . . that really, actually, totally, and completely sucks.

So, yeah, I guess I'll just watch the news and wait and drink a liberal pour of mulled wine.

Merry Christmas!

P. S.  I wonder if NORAD's Santa radar will still run on Christmas Eve.  Probably will . . . probably deemed essential . . . national defense and all.

Crepe

Sometimes I catch a glimpse of my reflection from a certain angle and I see it. Crepe.

My neck is turning to crepe paper.

Also, the backs of my hands. 

And the skin around my eyes. 

And the skin in some of the areas of my body that I usually keep covered. 

This isn’t surprising, really. 

I’m 48. 

Crepey skin in late middle age is not the least bit surprising. 

So I’m not surprised, but ....

It’s a little jarring sometimes to glance in the mirror thinking you’re going to check that your bobbed hair is smooth and be distracted by your neck.

And it’s crepe-like appearance. 

This sounds shallow. 

It is shallow.

I don’t really CARE. (But I do kind of care.)

There are worse things than crepey skin. And I experience almost none of them whilst occasionally being surprised by my neck.

THEREFORE, I am grateful to be healthy enough to be old enough to have this jarringly crepey neck. #middleage

My House is a Mess

I like order.  I find it calming. I like organizing things. It’s zen. 

My house is the opposite of order. It’s a series of piles — books, toys, games, papers, random things that come through the door.  I try to get control of it. I try to organize and give everything a place. But it’s a losing battle. 

And I get embarrassed. I, honestly, sometimes don’t want people in the house. I don’t want them to witness the barely controlled chaos. 

But I had an epiphany last night, while my son and his friend happily played together surrounded by entropy. 

People don’t really care about this as much as I care about this. 

And if they do care, if they do judge, they are just jerks.  Lots of people’s houses are messy.  It’s okay that it doesn’t look like a page from a Martha Stewart magazine in here. 

Sure, I’ll still straighten up when guests come over, but I’m not going to worry about the mess anymore. And if someone drops by, I’ll just move the pile of stuffed animals from a chair and offer them a seat. 

Throwing it all away.

Okay, not all. But a lot of it. A lot of "stuff."

Being a parent involves throwing a lot of stuff away. Stuff you would have thought of as treasures as a kid.

Plastic tops. 

Sticky wall crawlers. 

Kids meal toys. Lots and lots of kids meal toys. 

All those four packs of red, blue, green and yellow crayons you get at restaurants that don’t give out toys with their kids meals.

Temporary tattoos. 

Broken crayons. 

Stickers. 

Dried up play-doh.

Dried up markers. 

Those don’t hurt.

But some things do. 

Scribbled drawings on a million scraps of paper.

The 1,000th origami throwing star he made.

All the drink pull tabs and rocks and bits of string and sticks and candy wrappers that he slips into his pockets during the day.

You can’t keep it all any more than you can keep him from growing up.

But you keep some of it.

Tokens of a childhood that goes too fast. 

And he stays your boy, no matter how big he gets. 

Off the Grid

Well, not totally off, but, let’s say back to 2008 levels of grid engagement. Engagement? Entanglement? Enmeshment?

In any event, I deactivated my Facebook account a little over a month ago. I’m not sure of the exact date. But it was early May 2018. Irony: Few people will read this post because it will not be cross-posted to Facebook. Hmmm. 

Maybe, I’ll reactivate my Facebook account, post the blog entry, then deactivate it after a couple of days. 

Nah. 

The whole point of this post is that I am not on Facebook anymore and to discourse on what that’s been like, and why I did it. Going back on to talk about how great it’s been not being on Facebook seems counterintuitive at best, hypocritical at worst. 

And it HAS been great. 

I’m less stressed out. Truly, Facebook wasn’t all bad, but I felt pressure. I felt pressure to check it, to "keep up." I felt pressure to click "like", lest I offend someone by causing them to think (maybe), "Why didn’t The Working Mom like this post?" I felt pressure when I read and saw some of your posts and they made me feel not great about myself . . . or not great about you. I felt pressure to hold the "right" opinions. If I was too conservative for some or too liberal for others, I came under fire, which was not fun. (Although in truth, y’all, the liberals were far more likely to attack than the conservatives, at least in my feed. I’m a flaming liberal -- for Texas -- but maybe we do need to think about our approach to topics we disagree on, lest we alienate our allies.  But I digress, Mr. DeNiro. Maybe Facebook is not the right arena for these kinds of discussions -- political, social, religious.)

Increasingly, I found I did not like being on display. Increasingly, I felt like I had to moderate myself in ways that seemed unnatural. (Unnatural for Facebook, yeah, which is inherently unnatural.)  Increasingly, I wished for fewer likes and opinions. Increasingly, I didn’t want everyone to know what I was doing or what I just did or what I was wearing or the conversation I just had or the show I just watched. Increasingly, I wished for a smaller friend list, a much smaller one. Increasingly, I saw how shallow the interactions were, how one resurrection of a years-old photo of my then-sick/now-dead cat produced present-day wishes for his speedy recovery. (An experience that was, at once, painful, annoying, and infuriating.) Increasingly, I wished for freedom from the immediacy of the information cycle. I wished NOT to learn about "it" on Facebook. (This goes for Twitter too, but I don’t follow many news sources -- or people even -- on Twitter, so it’s not as bad there.  Basically, my Twitter feed is 90% Star Wars.)  Increasingly, I wanted to pull back. 

And then there’s the privacy issue. Facebook has surreptitiously taken and disclosed so much of our information to political think tanks, foreign powers, and marketers. It bothers you too, right?, when you see items advertised in your Facebook feed that you have just googled or searched for on Amazon.com. It’s unsettling. And how do they know? How, indeed? And if they can manipulate our shopping that way, what about the rest of our behaviors?  I didn’t want to continue to feed the beast. They had what I’d given them. I didn’t have to continue to give them more. 

Except.

I’ve stayed on some social media. I’m on Twitter (@Mom2IPK). I’m on Instagram (@merdypurdy). So my info is still out there in ways. Facebook owns Instagram, so I’m not completely out of its clutches. But Instagram doesn’t have a hold on me like Facebook did. Neither does Twitter. They just don’t invade your mind (or my mind, anyway) the way that Facebook did.

I’ve thought about whether I might come back to Facebook one day. How would that look? Would I sneak back on and make my profile private while I curated my privacy settings and deleted "friends"?   Maybe. That seems like a lot of work. And would it really be worth it? I don’t know. It should not take that much time and mental energy to participate in something like Facebook. It seems like it should be easier than it is. It should not take this much thought and constant curating to ensure one’s sanity and privacy. So maybe I don’t want to be there after all. Maybe I don’t really want to come back.

I do miss out on things: community event notifications, Facebook groups I might find useful, seeing pictures of my friends’ kids and family.

I don’t miss the pressure, though, nor the aggravation and the vulnerable feeling of being too exposed. 

So I’m staying off Facebook, at least for now. The good thing about deactivating is that you can always reactivate when you want to, when you’re ready. Right now, I don’t. I’m not. I’m happy here on my little-read blog and my tightly held Twitter and Instagram accounts. The broad boulevard of Facebook is still too much for me right now. 

Middle Aged Dance Party

I used to love to dance.

Not just ballet, tap and jazz lessons that filled most of the first two decades of my life, but DANCE.

I loved to dance at school dances, fraternity parties, clubs, around my house.  I would dance until I was dripping with sweat and my spiral perm was Michael-Jackson-in-Thriller kinky.  Those of you who might be reading this and were there will remember.  I didn't care if I made myself ridiculous while dancing because dancing was . . . joy . . . and freedom.

Sometime, sometime after law school, I sort of stopped.  Stopped dancing?  Stopped being as joyful?  Maybe.

I became weary.  World weary.  Physically weary.  Weary weary.

I think a lot of us stop like that when we get older, when we finally start being "adults."

For about a week, I've been listening to the Ready Player One soundtrack on Spotify.  Back and forth, day after day, with a 1980s dance party blaring from my mom-mobile speakers.

I've been yodeling along with Danny Elfman on Dead Man's Party . . .  singing gibberish with Howard Jones on Like to Get to Know You Well . . . shouting and growling with Simon LeBon on a number of songs (he did -- and does still -- a lot of shouting and growling, have you noticed?) . . . wailing through Burning Down the House with David Byrne . . . and pleadingly trying to follow Pat Benatar through Invincible . . . .  And wanting to dance, thinking about dancing, sometimes head-dancing a little bit.

I imagine dancing to James Brown is Dead as I hurtle down I-35.  I imagine what moves I'd make and when I'd make them.  I imagine what facial expressions I would use, choreographing the unchoreographical joy of spontaneous club dancing in my head.  I want to do it for real, dance like that with that kind of abandon.

Where is my middle aged dance party?

The Shutdown Diary, Valentine Edition: Postscript

Well, color me surprised.  They did it.

The government technically shut down for several hours this morning, while Ron Paul continued his one man crusade against increased spending (in the face of his vote to reduce revenues by way of sweeping tax cuts late last year).  While we slept, the Senate finally passed the budget, which funds certain programs for two years or more, and funds the government for another six weeks while they hammer together a real budget.  (So, you know, stay tuned in late March, right?)

Around 5:30 a.m. Central, the House also passed the bill, sending it to the President to sign.

Here's a link to the highlights of what the new spending bill does.  There are a lot of good things in the bill, though left-leaners don't like that it fails to address the dreamers and DACA (which issue does require attention) and right-leaners don't like the departure from fiscal austerity that they favor (and I also sympathize with their aversion to deficit-making spending).

So the Valentine shutdown was over before it began.  I'm frankly glad of it.  But the starting and stopping that comes from short term budgets and the now-regular run up to the brink of a shutdown (and, now twice, with a brief shutdown to follow) has got to stop.  This is no way to run a government.  Congress can do better.  And I encourage them to do better before March 23rd, when government funding is set to run out again.  Let's not put it to the last minute yet again.  (And by "let's," I mean, "you guys," because I am at your relative mercy . . . .)

Happy early Valentine's Day, folks.  See you after St. Patrick's Day, maybe . . . .

(Oh, and what did I DO today in light of the non-shutdown?  Went to work.  Went to the ophthalmologist. Went to lunch.  Went home for a nap to sleep off the eye dilation.)

Shutdown Diary, the Valentine Edition: Preface

Disclaimer:  The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

Oh for fuck's sake.

Honestly.

It's 8:50 p.m. Central time.  I just checked CSPAN2:  It was showing a Ron Paul speech from earlier today in the lower lefthand corner and a view of an empty Senate chamber in the upper right with the legend, "Awaiting Senator to Speak."  Some random Senator, two hours before funding ends, is going to make a speech.

Cool.

So they'll definitely get this new deal voted on in the Senate and then get the House to vote on it AND get the President to sign it into law in the next two hours.  Right?  Sure.

Who could have predicted this two and a half weeks ago, right?, that we'd be doing this again?  Oh wait, I did.  😉

And the stock market is going ape-shit too.  I'm sure the volatility in the market has nothing to do with the volatility in our government.

This is so frustrating.

I refrained from using more profanity just there.  Good girl.  Proud of me.

Hey, Mr. McConnell and Mr. Schumer, who was in charge of getting Ron Paul onboard with your two-year budget deal?  Did that person take a nap?

Never mind, I'm not watching CSPAN2 until 11 p.m. my time this go 'round.  I'm going to grab my puppy and a glass of wine and switch over to watch the Olympics until I get tired.  (And what's all this with the songs with lyrics in figure skating?  Is this new?  I don't like it.  When does curling start?)

See y'all on the flip side.

Shutdown Diary, January 2018: Day 3, An Orderly Shutdown

Disclaimer:  The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

When the government shuts down, it doesn't just stop.  We who work for the government must actually do the work of shutting it down.  That means that we all go into the office today, despite the lapse in funding, to put up the appropriate out of office messages on our phones and emails, to file continuance motions, and generally to tie up all the loose ends so that everything will be semi-okay while we are out for however long we are out.  A skeletal crew is left in charge of each office to address emergencies, but we're literally, by statute, not allowed to do any work during the shutdown once we've completed our "orderly shutdown."

So I did that, the orderly shutdown.  It was confusing -- I think partly because no one expected the government to really shutdown.  People weren't as prepared as we were in 2013.  And it was stressful.  We had to request continuances of matters set for today, tomorrow, the rest of the week.  We didn't know what would happen.  I still don't know whether the continuance motion I filed was granted or denied.  But we had to do it and then leave and just kind of hope that everything turned out okay, and that the attorney in charge didn't find that she needed to be in three different courts at once.

After I orderly shut down my business, I came home and walked the dog. I was very tired.  And hungry.  Orderly shutdowns are exhausting, at least mentally.

My fellow federal worker husband arrived home soon after I did, and we had lunch.  Then we folded all that laundry that I washed yesterday.  Then we waited.  (Oh, and ate some Milk Duds.)  I tried to have a nap, but all of the lawn equipment operating in our neighborhood made that difficult, though not impossible, because I did sleep a little, dreaming of leaf blowers (the best kind of nap, noted my lovely spouse, ruefully).

The Boy, by the way, went to school today, as it is a Monday.

As of mid-afternoon, the Senate had reached a deal to fund the government through February 8th (so, you know, about two and a half weeks), with the promise to the Democrats that DACA legislation would be taken up by mid-February (so, you know, not within the period between now and when funding would run out again on February 8th).

That doesn't seems like much of a deal to me, but, on the other hand, I think that the Senate Democrats have made the political calculus that shutting the government down over immigration is not as popular as they may have thought.  While it's true that a majority of Americans want something done to help the children brought to this country outside of proper immigration procedures, a majority of Americans also do not believe that it is worth shutting the government down.  In a midterm election year, the Senate Democrats may have determined that the political risk to themselves of continuing the shutdown is just too great. So I surmise that they probably accepted the promise of a vote on DACA "soon," versus continued negative headlines.

That's all just conjecture on my part, of course, but it stands to reason . . . .

Around 4:00 p.m. Central, the very, very short CR passed the Senate and moved to the House for consideration.  Since it's not exactly the same bill they sent to the Senate Thursday/Friday of last week, they have to vote on the new deal.

I actually turned on C-SPAN to watch some of the debate in the House (wondering what in the world, really, there was to debate).  Here's my summary:

Republican:  Your fault.
Democrat:  Nuh-uh.
Republican:  Uh-huh!
Democrat:  Nuh-uh!
Republican:  Uh-huh-infinitity!
Democrat:  Nuh-uh-infinity-plus-one!

They fortunately completed this very important discussion before the day was over -- it took less than an hour, really -- and the bill was sent to the President for signature.

The orderly shutdown today was, mercifully, mostly unneeded, and we should be back to work in earnest tomorrow.

Until next time, folks!   (Say . . . mid-February? 😁)

Shutdown Diary, January 2018: Day 2, in which I do a LOT of laundry

Disclaimer:  The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

For some reason, The Boy was really wound up last night after the lock in.  He didn't get to sleep until after 11:46 last night.  I am that precise because that is the last time I remember seeing on my iPhone.  I wonder if there was a lot of sugar at the lock in . . . .

Today, hubby and I woke up around 7:00 and had breakfast.  I walked the dog.  And my partner in life and I had coffee and toast with peanut butter for him and yogurt and granola for me as we watched the latest episode of This Old House.

By the way, in the last shutdown diary, we had a cat, Roxy.  Roxy died in 2016.  He was diabetic and had many skin and allergy problems.  Poor guy finally succumbed.  He was an old guy, though, and lived a full life.  But it was still sad when we lost him.

The dog is a new addition.  He's a puppy, actually, 11 weeks old.  He's a cavapoo and, so far, he seems really cute and smart.  He needs a lot of training, of course, but I think that once he's gone to puppy kindergarten (that is, Basic Obedience 1, 2, and 3, and then the Tricks class), he's be a really fun dog.  He's fun right now, of course, but a handful.  He is a lot more work than I thought, and the first few days of adjustment were difficult -- I won't lie -- but we've all started to settle in nicely.  His name is Schoeff, pronounced "Chef."  (I know, I know -- It's a weirdly spelled name that no one will get right when they look at it.  It was the name his breeder gave him and we liked it so we kept it.  It apparently means "lay assessor at court" or "juror" in German.  Fitting name for the dog of two lawyers, and their boy.)  Schoeff likes This Old House and gets upset if you pause it.

So, anyway, it's Sunday.  A day at home is a typical day, just like yesterday, except we check the news a bit more often.  And a typical day for me means laundry!  We tend to have between 4 and 6 loads of laundry a week.  How can three people generate so much laundry?  And how much laundry do other, larger families generate?  How do you do it?

And the status of the shutdown as of the publication of this blog entry?  No deal. We are still close. Next vote on a budget is scheduled for noon Eastern tomorrow.

Status is decidedly quo.  The newspapers say that they're going to try to get a deal by the end of tomorrow.  And though that sounds hopeful, I'm not holding my breath.

See you for Day 2.  Night-night.

Shutdown Diary, January 2018: Day 1 - What does it mean for the government to shut down?

Disclaimer:  The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

First, a lot of people have been asking me about the effect of the shutdown is on basic services that they enjoy from the Federal government.  Here's a link to a good article in the Washington Post, a Q&A covering the basics.

Now, what did I do the first day of the government shutdown?  Mostly, it was a typical Saturday.  Walked the dog (several times).  The Boy had a piano lesson followed by his girl-BFF's birthday party.  We gave the dog a bath.  The boy did some homework.  And in the evening, The Boy went to a lock-in and hubby and I had a date night.

But in between all of that, we watched the news to see what Congress was up to.  As of the publication of this entry, the headlines are as follows:

Neither Party's Leaders Give an Inch on First Day of Shutdown
                                                                      -- Washington Post

So . . . a productive day, then.  😐

Lawmakers Play Shut Down Blame Game
                                          -- The New York Times

Always important to establish whose fault a problem is before you solve the problem.  😑

Pink-Clad Multitude Gathers Downtown for 2nd Annual Dallas Women's March                                                   
                                        -- The Dallas Morning News

"Shutdown?  What shutdown?  There's a shutdown?  Of what?  God, I hope they haven't closed down Southfork.  I haven't been there yet, even though I've lived here almost 20 years."  (But, you know, well done, ladies, on trumping the national news.)


Thousands Flock Downtown For Women's March: 'We Have to Keep Standing Up'
                                        -- Chicago Sun Times

The Central Time Zone is feminist.


Head of Popular Girl Band Leads N. Korean Team to S. Korea
                                                             -- The Houston Chronicle
Never mind.  🏂


Why Does Congress Still Get Paychecks During a Shutdown?  It's in the Constitution.
                                                          -- The Washington Times

Sigh.


Photo Shows 'Ivy League Killer' Pretending to Crush Friend's Skull
                                                                 -- New York Post

On a lighter note . . . .  😬

So, there you have it.  Nothing happened in Congress today.  They want to point fingers at each other, but sincerely, they should circle up because, from my perspective, all side deserve a helping of recrimination pie.  Their central job is to fund the government.  If they can't figure out how to work together to do that, then, well . . . that's not good for our country.  Not just bad for the Republicans or bad for the Democrats.  Bad for Americans.  Because a Congress that cannot even work together to accomplish its central function is a sick body.  And this is the body that governs us.  Fingers crossed that tomorrow will be filled with something other than a multibillion dollar game of "I know you are, but what am I?"  Ladies and gentlemen of the United States Congress, I'm not interested in whose fault it is.  I am interested in how you fix it.  So do that thing.

Nighty-night.

Shutdown Diary, January 2018 -- Preface

Disclaimer:  The thoughts and feelings expressed in this post are solely the author's and do not represent the official position of any government agency.

Well, it's a little early yet to start this, I suppose.

It's only 11:20 p.m. Eastern time.  The Senate has forty minutes to decide whether we're shut or open for business.

C-SPAN shows 50 "yes" and 48 "no."  Five Democrats have voted "yes," among them the new Senator from Alabama, Doug Jones.  (The other Democrats are Joe Donnelly, Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, and Claire McCaskill.)

But four Republicans have voted "no."  They are Jeff Flake, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Rand Paul.  John McCain is not present (out of town recovering from cancer treatments, presumably).  And the Speaker of the House, Mitch McConnell, has also not voted.  He is likely not going to vote this round because if they are unsuccessful, he can bring it back to a vote on a procedural rule of some sort.  So he's probably not going to vote in order to preserve that option for himself.

They need 60 votes in favor of the continuing resolution (the "CR") to limit debate.  This is known as "cloture."  It's the filibuster killer.  If they don't get the 60 (3/5 of the Senate), they can't close debate on the CR.  And, thus, no actual vote on the bill.

Or, more precisely, in the words of the U.S. Senate Glossary (yes, that's an actual thing):  Cloture is "[t]he only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill or other matter, and thereby overcome a filibuster. Under the cloture rule (Rule XXII), the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, but only by vote of three-fifths of the full Senate, normally 60 votes."

They're not getting cloture before Midnight Eastern.  Or, at least, I don't think that they will.

So tomorrow's Saturday.  I wouldn't go to work anyway and I rarely work on the weekends anyway.  (I established something called "boundaries" when I left the law firm and have attempted to maintain clear lines of demarcation between "work time" and "home time."  Weekends, unless absolutely necessary, are always home time.)

But the difference this weekend is that it's not merely that I wouldn't choose to work, but, if it were one of those absolutely necessary weekend (which it is, thankfully, not), I would not be permitted to work.  I have not been deemed essential -- that is, excepted from the furlough -- which means that as of midnight Eastern, if there is no funding via the CR or otherwise, I am not allowed to work, even if I wanted to.

So there.

Time now, 11:36 p.m. Eastern.  Twenty-four minutes to go.

C-SPAN shows no movement.

So here we are.  It's been roughly four years and three months since the last shutdown.  Do you remember why we shut down last time?  It was the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare.  This time, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA.  I make no observations of comments about the legitimacy of the government shutdown in either case.

But I can tell you this:  It's not a vacation for me and those like me.  It's day upon day of uncertainty, wondering whether we will be paid when we are brought back to work.  Because Congress doesn't have to pay us. They have to vote to give us our back pay.  In 2013, they did.  But they don't have to, and so this year, just like in 2013, we'll wait and get a little more anxious every day.

11:54 p.m. Eastern.  The Washington Post says that Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell will be speaking from the Senate floor.

I see nothing yet.

Well, I think I'll sign off and walk the dog before I go to bed.

See you on the flip side for Day 1, unless, of course, they get something done in the next five minutes (11:55 p.m. Eastern).