That's how I feel today. Still 11 days before my prego-vac ends, and only two easy-to-accomplish tasks remain before this baby is full brought into the bureaucracy. (1) His visa. (2) Reinstate my medical clearance. Visa application will be dropped off tomorrow morning. My medical review can't take place until after my six week post-partum exam (ie, next Wednesday).
Today I overcame a major hurdle: with ammended travel orders, I booked Ian's ticket on the same return flight as me. Later tonight (when wait times are less), I'll call Delta to hopefully book a bulkhead seat with a bassinet. We'll see if I can be that lucky!!
Ironically, the part that took the longest today was finding a computer at the Employee Service Center with the printer installed. I cannot tell you how many times I have said that IT is a hindrance to productivity at the State Department, and today proved no different. Finally, on my fourth computer,* the printer was connected. Being the knolwedgeable bureaucrat I am, I printed off three copies of my orders since these things can't be sent be email or some work process flow -- and I was pretty sure both the travel office and the visa office would need a paper copy. I was right. *phew*
(*State employees will understand why this ended up taking 25 minutes -- since my domain is EAP, and it was my first time logging on to the computer, each log on took 5 - 7 minutes! Non-State employees cannot fathom this, because I don't think it takes 5 -7 minutes to log on to a normal work computer in any other organization that I know of.)
Thankfully, the travel office - once the agent had my paper copy of my travel orders and my reservation - efficiently booked Ian's ticket in under 15 minutes. Amazing! Then I walked down to get the visa application notarized (required by the Philippine embassy), only to discover I missed the bank by 7 minutes. UGH. If I hadn't had to log on to four computers, I would have made it.
I asked through the grill if the bank employees knew of any other place to get something notarized. They didn't. :( Luckily, at that point, Ian started fussing because he was hungry. A very sympathetic bank employee emerged from the back, asked if I was trying to get back to post with a newborn, and said she'd notarize the form even though it was after hours. Hallelujah!
Now all I have to do is drop off his visa application tomorrow morning and we're practically set. This nightmare of bureaucratic steps will soon come to an end, and baby and I can rejoin the rest of the family soon :)
Today I overcame a major hurdle: with ammended travel orders, I booked Ian's ticket on the same return flight as me. Later tonight (when wait times are less), I'll call Delta to hopefully book a bulkhead seat with a bassinet. We'll see if I can be that lucky!!
Ironically, the part that took the longest today was finding a computer at the Employee Service Center with the printer installed. I cannot tell you how many times I have said that IT is a hindrance to productivity at the State Department, and today proved no different. Finally, on my fourth computer,* the printer was connected. Being the knolwedgeable bureaucrat I am, I printed off three copies of my orders since these things can't be sent be email or some work process flow -- and I was pretty sure both the travel office and the visa office would need a paper copy. I was right. *phew*
(*State employees will understand why this ended up taking 25 minutes -- since my domain is EAP, and it was my first time logging on to the computer, each log on took 5 - 7 minutes! Non-State employees cannot fathom this, because I don't think it takes 5 -7 minutes to log on to a normal work computer in any other organization that I know of.)
Thankfully, the travel office - once the agent had my paper copy of my travel orders and my reservation - efficiently booked Ian's ticket in under 15 minutes. Amazing! Then I walked down to get the visa application notarized (required by the Philippine embassy), only to discover I missed the bank by 7 minutes. UGH. If I hadn't had to log on to four computers, I would have made it.
I asked through the grill if the bank employees knew of any other place to get something notarized. They didn't. :( Luckily, at that point, Ian started fussing because he was hungry. A very sympathetic bank employee emerged from the back, asked if I was trying to get back to post with a newborn, and said she'd notarize the form even though it was after hours. Hallelujah!
Now all I have to do is drop off his visa application tomorrow morning and we're practically set. This nightmare of bureaucratic steps will soon come to an end, and baby and I can rejoin the rest of the family soon :)
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