Pack-out Pregame

Oh wait, that's a PACKERS Pregame...

You know, I've always been excited at the prospect of getting 'moved' by my work; more specifically I was excited to experience having someone else pack up and move all my junk. So when the time came, what did I do? I decided to pack up all my stuff before the official movers come on pack-out day. Sigh. As silly as that sounds, it makes way more sense for me to attempt to sell my house sooner, rather than later, and selling the house will be much easier if it isn't cluttered. If it sells quickly, I can pick up a short term apartment near the Foreign Service Institute and kiss commuting goodbye! Short term leases aren't cheap, but they're cheaper than a(t least my) mortgage.

Despite frequently being asked, I have no desire to attempt to rent my house out. Between vacant periods, manager fees, low rental rates and repairs... it just doesn't make short term financial sense. If I had any desire to move back to the DC-Baltimore corridor in the future, I might have considered going down that road. However, I hope to be done with this area for good, so it doesn't make sense to attempt to own a mediocre rental property... especially from a distance. That being said, maybe I'll be nostalgic for this place in the future, but for now, I can't wait to be done with it. Here's hoping that the real estate market throws me a bone!

The $12,000 Question

Do you live in this circle?

This is a well documented and heated debate, so I'll be brief, but I thought I should weigh in on the local hire per diem disparity. The GSA (General Services Association) outlines the requirements to receive per diem for temporary assignments (such as Foreign Service orientation and training). Those rules state that if you're traveling more than 50 miles, you will be paid per diem for the duration of the trip to cover meals, housing, and travel incidentals. The idea is, any shorter distance and you'll commute from home. This relates to people like me, as we are considered local to the Foreign Service Institute (actually, I believe the distance is measured from the Washington Monument), and therefore do not receive government provided housing and per diem during training. The rates, at time of writing, end up being about $12,000 over my estimated orientation and training period (give or take).

This system generally makes sense. I mean, my wife gets to keep her job (at least in the short term), my son doesn't need a new daycare provider, I get to see my friends and such (on weekends, since I'll have around 3 hours of commuting per day). However, with Foreign Service training, this system breaks down. Since I can't guarantee the speed at which my house will sell, I have to choose between selling early and then renting in Arlington on my own dime, or waiting until training is complete, and hoping the house sells quickly while I'm overseas. Of course this isn't that much different than out of area hires who presumably have to hurry up to sell their houses also. The big difference is, if I do sell my house, I also have to pack my own stuff, put it in storage, and then get it re-packed-out on pack-out day by the official people. Bummer. In the grand scheme of things it's not really a big deal. I'm probably just bitter to be facing a 90 minute each way commute... and having to pay for my own food! (Oh the injustice!) On the plus side, all that time on the trains and buses will give me lots of time to practice a foreign language, if only I knew which one to work on.

What's the take away? Apparently I should have moved last week! Oh, and even if it IS probably fair, nobody likes to miss out on the per diem gravy train! I guess this means no daily crab feast lunches for me.

Invitation Only

Best news! I received my offer letter yesterday. Oddly, they apparently don't want me to tell them that I plan to accept the position for another two days, but who cares! This time next month, I'll be in orientation... This time...Next.....Month... Oh man is there a ton to do. After months of waiting, who would have thought I'd feel so pressed for time now.

Anyway, my immediate next move is to update my resume and send it with some assorted other information to the Registrar. She'll then work on fitting me into their metric for years of related experience to determine my starting pay. (Herein lies the major bummer to being a Foreign Service Specialist, compared to a Generalist - Pay Matching. My position guarantees me an FS Grade 5, but being a specialist means I'll come in at step 5, 6, or 7, instead of step 14. To be fair, I knew that going in, and I'm honestly ok with it. I'm more interested in quality of life, than quantity of money.) Once the Registrar has worked her magic, they will overnight my offer letter to me, and it'll be (completely) official. That being said, there is no more "competition" at this point, I'm in for the Feb 10th class, as long as I want it. More to come!

Good News, Better News

This morning I performed the sacred rite of all Foreign Service applicants added to the register; I called the Registrar to ask what rank I was. Remember when I said my Oral Assessment score was meaningless to me, since I had no frame of reference? Well, it mostly still is, BUT I now know that it was good enough to land me the number one spot on the IMS register as of 10am on January 8th, 2013! Huzzah! But wait, the good news fairy (Registrar) didn't stop there. She told me that invitations to the February 10th orientation are going out, and... as first on the list, I should be receiving one later today!

Unfortunately as it's now well past work hours, it appears she may have been mistaken as to when I'd receive the offer, but I'm used to being at the end of people's alphabetically organized lists, so hopefully I'll have the 'best' news some time tomorrow. All in all this is a little sooner than I was expecting (I'd been hoping for a March or April start date at the earliest), but there's no time like the present to get this show on the road!

Happy News Year!

As I left work on January 2nd, I was pleasantly surprised to have an email in my inbox from the Foreign Service. I have to admit, I hadn't been expecting to hear anything from them so soon, but there it was, a letter informing me that I'd been added to the IMS register! I am aware, and the register letter clearly reminded me, that being on the register is no guarantee of getting the job... BUT not being on the register is a guarantee of not getting the job. So needless to say, I'll take all the good news I can get.

I have read on other blogs that, once on the register, you can request your 'ranking' and whether there is a start date currently planned for the next cohort. So I promptly emailed my point of contact asking for the details. Unfortunately (though not really surprisingly) I didn't get a response of the Friday after New Years. Here's hoping for a reply next week. Despite the uncertainty, the excitement at my house is boiling over. We obviously don't know the future, but we're already daydreaming about the possibility of being at my first post by August or September of this year. That sounds like such a long time, but I imagine things will move quite quickly once they (hopefully!) start.

Side note, I guess it's time to stop procrastinating and get my son's medical exam turned in... and... you know... apply for his passport.