Shutdown Watch: Fakeout

Well, after weeks of republican infighting in the House and only hours to spare before what seemed like a certainty, cooler heads prevailed and both chambers and the President signed off on a 45 day continuing resolution, kicking the can to mid-November and avoiding a government shutdown. Whenever the government shuts down because congress cannot

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WHOOPS…Flag Day 2.1

Well, I have a little bit of egg on my face. Nearly 2 months after I was assigned to Peshawar, Pakistan, my career development officer called and gave me an option to serve in a different Special Incentive Post, and I am happy to announce I will now be moving to Rangoon, Burma (Yangon, Myanmar)

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London..errr Nottingham Calling

Earlier this month, I got to embark on a pilgrimage that was 5 years in the making. As some might recall, I am a giant nerd that plays a tabletop wargame called Warhammer, which is published by the British company, Games Workshop. This company is headquartered in Nottingham, England, with a huge facility called “Warhammer

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AMA: What is a SIP Post?

With my recent announcement that I will be doing a one year unaccompanied tour, I have been getting quite a few questions on the nature of the assignment, and why exactly someone would choose to do this. A Special Incentive Post or SIP for short, is any post around the world that due to extraordinary

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Summer R&R Part 2

Following 10 days of Iberian fun, both in Barcelona and on our cruise ship, we ultimately got off the boat in Southampton, England. From here, I decided it would be worthwhile to spend some time in the U.K., and take my family to one of my favorite cities in the world, Edinburgh, Scotland. I have

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Summer R&R Part 1

There is nothing like a nearly month long vacation to celebrate the 1 year mark of being in Mauritania. All the overtime, comp time, and work trips has afforded me quite a bit of time off to enjoy this summer, and with the embassy population at an all-time low during PCS season (it will be

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AMA: Finances

Some of the most common questions I seem to get from prospective hires, is in regards to salary, financial prep before joining, and what true take home pay actually looks like. After I was hired, but before I started, I did a little dive into the way salary is calculated in the Foreign Service (FS),

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All About Peshawar

Since I will be moving to Peshawar next summer, I thought it would be nice to highlight the assignment a bit, and give a brief history on the city and our role there. Peshawar is a city of 2.3 million people and the capital city of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is found in

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Over the hump

Wow, what a month for anniversaries. Our nation’s birthday, this blog’s birthday, and this month my family celebrated one year of living in Nouakchott. How has it already been a year? After seemingly just arriving, my family finds ourselves as one of the more established families at post. We have crested past the halfway point

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