New job, and TWO trips to the Splash Park!

I've been at the Pentagon for almost a week now, and- I never thought I'd say this- I don't hate it. So far. Knock on wood, and all that.

 It may be a triumph of low expectations, as I've spent years hearing horror stories about the awful quality of life for those with the misfortune to work in the "puzzle palace." Turns out that- as Mark Twain would say- those have been greatly exaggerated. The walk from the parking lot takes maybe ten minutes and is nowhere near the "bring a tent" expedition I'd heard described. It is not at all hard to find your way around once you figure out the naming convention, in contravention of the universally-held notion of months spent wandering around the long corridors lost. I've so far been able to find time to squeeze in a workout every day, even though everyone seems outraged by having to pay for gym access and the wait for a locker is a year long. Most of the people here are not that miserable, or that entitled, and are almost never rude.

It IS an exercise in packing efficiency, since the locker situation is abysmal and it's impossible to leave the building during the day, forcing everyone to truck all their wordly belongings around like homeless vagrants.

Everything (including collecting all the required badges and accesses) takes forever. And my new work digs are located in the middle of cubicle city, where windows and office supplies are in very short supply, and putting in work orders for computer issues are a daily exercise.

Not to mention that the work is mind-numbingly boring. My portfolio- which sounds way more important than it is, as everybody has one- includes such amorphous topics as "command authority," "concept plans," and "force management," and we all spend a chunk of our days reviewing general officer TDY and conference requests.

 Still, it’s a small price to pay for the fact that the move cut my commute time by 1.5-2 hours a DAY. On Friday it took me 40 minutes to get home from work. In traffic. Most mornings it's 25 door to door. There aren't words to describe how huge a quality of life difference that makes.

Besides that, I find that the Pentagon has its good points. I like the efficiency and the bustle- everybody is always busy racing off somewhere and working on something. It makes you feel like you're at the center of it all. I like that there are no fat Soldiers, or wrinkled uniforms, or people who look quickly away to avoid saluting. I like that every single day I run into somebody I've worked or deployed with and haven't seen in years. I like the neatly landscaped center courtyard, and the fact that generals and master sergeants sit next to each other in the rows of Adirondack chairs to get a little sunlight and check their phones in the only place that gets reception. I like seeing people at the far end of long, successful careers still doing laps around the indoor track and doing pushups at the gym before early morning reporting times.

I'm glad I'm only here for a year (which probably makes it easier to see the silver linings), but I don't hate it.

So a week in, I'm settling in, figuring out my new schedule, and don't have any complaints so far. Life could definitely be worse.

There are no pictures allowed anywhere near the Pentagon, so this week's photos are all of Finley's summer fun.  

Seth got home late Tuesday night, and he and Finley were thrilled to be reunited.

It was a crazy week of scrambling to get things done as I changed jobs and Seth played catch-up. I couldn't have survived my last day of work at USALSA without Dad, who took over Finley duty on his own because Mom was sick. We had a funny day tag-teaming Finley care, and I took the terrific picture at top when he came to pick her up after she had spent an hour and a half terrorizing my office. I haven't been that thrilled to see anyone in a long, long time.

We were in desperate need of a weekend at home, and we had a great one. Seth threw at a Potomac Valley Track Club meet on Saturday morning, and Finley was a trooper of a spectator- even though she made me walk to McDonald's in a downpour to get hot water for her bottle and then fell asleep before drinking it and slept through most of Seth's throws.

We finally made it to the Splash Park, which I had been meaning to recon before Finley's cousins get here, and she loved it. Much to her delight, Seth forgot his water leg there on Saturday, so we got to go back Sunday to get it.

And of course Seth grilled. It was a summer weekend, after all. Princess Finley actually got surf and turf for dinner (above).

The photo of the week, though, has to be Finley in her Air Jordans. According to Seth, she picked them out online when she was home sick with him, and they made her feel better. So of course she also had to have the matching outfit. ("They were on sale!" was his defense.) They're way too big, but she looks really proud of them.