Exhausted. Fell asleep at 1 am, and woke up at 2 then 5 then finally at 6 for work. Traffic on 66 was a mess. They shut the whole interstate down and made the cars take the exit ramps around until the construction was over. Then on top of that, there was an accident, though the girl in the car looked pretty terrified. I would've too; it was pretty dark last night.
There's a severe thunderstorm warning today until 6 pm. I got to work today only to discover I'd left my laptop at home, so had to go with traffic back up to Arlington to pick it up. Made me an hour late for work; I'll be here til 5 today. It hasn't been a bad day, just full of things that aren't exactly pleasant. Traffic, sleepiness. Horrible news about the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Made even worse by the fact that the media is concerned about covering the president drinking Guiness in Ireland to celebrate his heritage. I don't know why that infuriated me so much today, but it really did. Saw red. Need to get a grip. Also need to stop typing in sentence fragments; my sentences need subjects and predicates. I blame technology for making my use of words become lazy & gramatically incorrect.
I have a lot of reading to catch up on. I need to finish reading "Drive," as well as some case studies about motivation. No one's in the office today; a lot of people are going to be on vacation in the coming weeks, and the big meetings are mainly out of the way for the time being. I feel like I can breath a little and just spend time doing solid research. Yes, that gets me excited about my job.
So this market analysis I'm working on is pretty basic with the STEP model (Social, Technological, Economical, and Political factors), but its real life and it dissects Obama's budget proposals (I'll also go through what Congress actually passed to fund the remainder of FY11) and looks at the departments/agencies that continued to recieve funding and why. The "why" is a big deal because that's where we (SNVC) come in, so if FEMA received increased funding (which you can be sure it did, and will continue to be well funding considering the natural disasters that don't seem to let up) you can bet they'll be in need of the best GIS capabilities, as well as better ways to share information more efficiently. SharePoint, etc.
The last solid budget analysis was done by SNVC before Obama was elected in 2007; the housing market was still in tact (as far as we knew) and the main thought would be that immigration and the war on terror would take precedent. We've seen a dramatic decrease in funding to the DoD for the immediate war effort, (not necessarily including defense discretionary that went in last year, but the decrease in troops leads to the conclusion that if more discretionary money is spent in the DoD direction, it will not be as large a sum as Gates received in 2010) but likely an increase towards peacekeeping operations (so in other words, the Army and the Marines may not get as much, but the Navy with their carriers and other battleships that send the message of "quiet intimidation" will likely receive funding) so jump into Naval technologies. Air Force - maybe. I honestly don't know much about the Air Force operations, as we mainly deal with Army.
But the economy bottomed out and the man or woman who wins the White House in 2012 will be the one who can successfully convince America that their plan to create jobs in the PRIVATE SECTOR will work. We saw the government try to create jobs within the federal arena and though it was successful in a way that bureaucracy is successful in giving people confidence, federal workers still need to be paid by taxpayer dollars. And the real genius that spurs the economic growth engine of America is found in its small businesses. So the President will reach out the private sector. Candidates will reach out to the private sector to try to get them interested in tax breaks for businesses, as well as policies for reducing government oversight and redtape to make it seem like starting a business in America is a breeze (which, by the way, its not).
So long story short, I get to do the lions share of the research to figure out where the government is reaching out and how our company can best fit into this puzzle. B/c a government contractor is still only as successful as its government clients, and in the end, its the same tax dollars paying us, too.
Long-winded entry, but still, all different angles that I find interesting. Also found out that one of the internship programs I thought would work out is not going to be successful for a few reasons. Kind of disappointing.
I'm not having a bad day; I wouldn't even call it an "off" day. Everythign still feels very salvagable. I cancelled plans tonight so I can make up these hours, and its so dark outside anyway, I'm kind of in the mood to just curl up and read. With coffee. OOOOH and carrot cake. And orange flowers somewhere on the table, I'm sure :)
I really just want to laugh right now. I want to get into a conversation full of that sarcastic, ridiculous humor that you never see coming and you can't help but crack a smile. I want to see old friends I haven't seen in a long time and just get to know them and love them all over again.
Away from Washington. That would be really nice today.
