Fedbizopps

The amazing part wasn't that I heard from my lady friend at Social Security (I knew she would eventually get to me with the proposal for the position). It was that she called me at 4:45 on Friday afternoon. I've often had the misfortune of driving on I-695 which passes by the on ramp from Social Security Headquarters on Fridays at 3:00 pm. The exodus of vehicles leaving is impressive. I asked her what in the world she was doing there at that hour. It turns out she's on flextime and comes in late in the mornings. I was impressed. The oxymoronic concept of an honest government worker (?cheerfully) serving her time and not gaming the system gave me pause for thought. Anyway, she told me it (whatever it is) was "finally out." and she gave me some code number with which I would be able to go to fedbiz.opps "on the web" and find some questions I needed to answer "..but they made a mistake and it's listed under mental health rather than cardiology." Perfect. I suspected that the mental health listing was a bad omen though I quickly suppressed that thought. Of course when I got home and tried putting fedbiz.opps in my browser, I was taken to a Google search page that listed sites offering contracts for producing boots for the Navy or for fabricating modular homes in St. Louis. Plugging in the number she gave me did not reveal any listing for my position. SSA is closed on Monday for MLK Day so I won't be able to even try to call her 'till Tuesday. I'll keep looking.

Well, I still couldn't find it, but my bride did-sort of like 9 years ago when I'd written a speech to give at my daughter's wedding reception. I passworded the document and promptly forgot the secret word. I tried everything I could think of and even had my Aussie cyberpal Baudwalker send me a cracker program that worked on it by brute force for about 8 days. While it was still chugging along, I confessed to my wife that I couldn't get to my speech. She sat down at the keyboard and within 5 minutes came up with the password, proving once again that she knows more about what goes on in my mind than I do.

So, we found the paperwork online and it's a 63 page document written in governmentese with all kinds of clauses and subclauses, regulations, rules, policies, etc. that I'll get my attorney to go through. Maybe I should just take that Walmart greeter job.

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