Prior to joining the Dept. of State this past July, I was working for a few months for the Dept. of Navy in Charleston SC. It was only 5-6 months, but I did accrue a little bit of vacation/sick leave (that originally I planned to use for our 5 year anniversary trip in July to Hawaii, but DoS came a'callin...) as well as a little bit in my retirement account. Plus, I had my health insurance (including dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending account). I was told that everything would automatically transfer over. Come to find out, not everything transfers over (at least without some help).
When you start with the Dept., you are told it can take a few weeks for your first paycheck to show up. That's fine, as that usually is the case with most new jobs (you have to be put in to the payroll system, etc). When I got my first paycheck, I saw that my portion of my health care had been deducted from my check, but nothing showing my dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending account. I emailed State HR to find out what was up, and also called Benefeds (they are the party that manages dental and vision) as well as FSAFeds. Come to find out, I had to call them to let them know I changed agencies. Kind of opposite from the "everything transfers"I was told....
It took me a few weeks to get that straightened out, but finally my dental, vision, dependent care/flexible spending is now being deducted as I signed up for.
Next up, vacation and sick leave. I'm sure at some point it would have transferred over, but some classmates of mine found the quick way (if you are just starting, don't do this first thing. Wait a few pay periods and if nothing has transferred yet go this route). First, make sure you have your FINAL Leave and Earnings (L&E) statement from your previous agency. I didn't have access to my old payroll system so I had to jump through a few hoops but I finally got it. Next send a copy of the L&E statement to "Pay Help" letting them know you you transferred from another agency and you would like them to transfer your sick and vacation balances. Presto, they will transfer it over and you will see it on your State L&E statement within 1-2 pay periods.
Other than the dental/vision and FSA portion, I'm sure the vacation and sick leave would have eventually transferred over. The rest, well it doesn't automatically "transfer over"....
Friday, October 18, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Pin Cushion
Part of the joy of being in the Foreign Service is you get to get vaccinated for oh...everything before you go to post (and sometimes in between posts). I stopped by the medical center today during our lunch break to drop off Deb and the kids vaccination records. I cannot find mine, and my doctor does not have them in my files.
When I dropped Deb and the kids records off, the nurse asked if I had mine. I told her I didn't and my doctor couldn't find them. She then got an evil look on her face and started laughing. Looks like I'm getting everything (at a minimum I estimate 5 shots on my first round)!
When I dropped Deb and the kids records off, the nurse asked if I had mine. I told her I didn't and my doctor couldn't find them. She then got an evil look on her face and started laughing. Looks like I'm getting everything (at a minimum I estimate 5 shots on my first round)!
Monday, September 23, 2013
Half Way....
So we when driving up to DC back in mid-July, we had no idea how long we would be here. It made it tricky for deciding what clothes to bring (well not too tricky, winter isn't very cold in SC....we don't really have any winter clothes). By the end of July though, we knew where we were going and our approximate departure date. So the other day, Richard and I realized that we are about 2.5 months into a 5 month stay.....while it seems we've been here a while (as well as just got there)...it's almost time for us to move on as well....eek!
We have done a good bit while here in DC: 2 trips to the National Zoo, 2 trips to Wheaton Park (Clarissa is in love with train and carousel rides), innumerable trips to Smithsonian museums, Lincoln's cottage (who knew Lincoln was the first commuting president!), tons and tons of walks to the close by playground (as well as scope out new playgrounds), hang out with my brother and his family and my parents. The kids have started swim lessons, dance, gymnastics, and scouts (anybody want some popcorn?!?)......so to summarize....normal, crazy busy (and I used to fit work into that).
Oh....btw the way, I have been working on those last two blog posts for a while....bits and pieces here and there. I have no clue whatsoever how people with multiple school age kids can homeschool them all at once. I am just working with Mason (and its an online school, I don't have to plan anything just go through the assignments with him). Since we need to finish the semester before our departure date, I'm going to have to do a little double time to finish a few of the courses.....eek! Hopefully (especially once I'm done with consumables/HHE pack out), I will have more time to blog.
We have done a good bit while here in DC: 2 trips to the National Zoo, 2 trips to Wheaton Park (Clarissa is in love with train and carousel rides), innumerable trips to Smithsonian museums, Lincoln's cottage (who knew Lincoln was the first commuting president!), tons and tons of walks to the close by playground (as well as scope out new playgrounds), hang out with my brother and his family and my parents. The kids have started swim lessons, dance, gymnastics, and scouts (anybody want some popcorn?!?)......so to summarize....normal, crazy busy (and I used to fit work into that).
Oh....btw the way, I have been working on those last two blog posts for a while....bits and pieces here and there. I have no clue whatsoever how people with multiple school age kids can homeschool them all at once. I am just working with Mason (and its an online school, I don't have to plan anything just go through the assignments with him). Since we need to finish the semester before our departure date, I'm going to have to do a little double time to finish a few of the courses.....eek! Hopefully (especially once I'm done with consumables/HHE pack out), I will have more time to blog.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Doing Science....
I'm a science dork...no big surprise to anyone who knows me. I take pride in being a fountain of useless knowledge of science factoids (how many people really know that spanish moss and pineapples are in the same plant family...didn't think so). I even subscribe to an online magazine just to get cool science research fixes......
I've had my fair share of fun field (and lab) work since college....working on fishing boats in Alaska (well technically in international waters, since I think I only was on land maybe 4 days the whole 2 months I was up there), circumnavigating Catalina Island for dolphin research on 3 day trips, pipetting like a pro at the genetics company...to name just a few, but you get the picture. I think my favorite field work has been helping with the HERA dolphin captures.....in situ field work at its best.
Cliffnotes version.....dolphins are sentinels for humans. Given we can't (easily) get permits to draw blood, remove blubber (I would gladly donate some though!), and poke and prod to check the health of humans based on contaminant loads, dolphins are the next best thing. Given dolphins live the water we play in and eat a lot of the same fish and shrimp we do, by checking out them it gives us a way to guesstimate/correlate to human health. If dolphins in an area are healthy then the sea food is probably okay for humans to consume frequently.
Anywho, back to the story. I was able to help when I was a graduate student with the dolphin captures back in 2003 and 2005 (I was preggo in 2004.....since dolphins can carry toxoplasmosis (ie reason you don't have kitty litter duty while pregnant) I couldn't go out due to the safety of Mason growing in my tummy). Teaching high school chemistry, put a bit of a damper on my field work opportunities (and field trips would make me miss it so much). So, when asked if I could volunteer and help with photo-ID, I jumped at the opportunity.
Being on the photo-ID team, meant riding in style on the catch boat. This particular boat had wet areas to stand and wetter areas to stand....staying dry while on the boat pretty much wasn't an option. While showering when under way, we watched for dolphins. As part of the photo-ID team our jobs were to make sure the dolphins hadn't been previously capture this week (we'd put pink and blue tags on them which can be seen from a distance), as well as make sure the dolphins were old enough to be captured. Any calf under 2 was avoided and Moms with older calves were avoid as well because they were likely pregnant! Both of these were avoided so we wouldn't put them under too much stress and cause health issues. All females were ultrasounded in the water (how cool is that) and the majority were pregnant (which is good in terms of population health!), so they would be released right away.
Once captured, photo-ID's job was to photo document the dolphins body. We would take pictures of healed shark bites (tons of those....in fact one afternoon we caught 3 sharks ourselves! After untangling from the net we would throw them back....Sharknado Charleston....hee hee). We also took pictures of other body scars (stranded feeders tend to have a lot on the side they strand on), their teeth (old dolphins have lots of worn down teeth), photos of the tagging and branding of the fin, and any health ailments (infections/diseases/etc). Pretty much....we were dolphin paparazzi....up close and personal style!
There was a huge team of veterinarians and other scientist who were: conducting exams, monitoring the animals vitals, processing samples, etc., while we were sneaking in for pictures (and don't worry this was all done with a Federal permit allowing the harassment of marine mammals.....hence the lack of photos of our grey aquatic mammalian friends). Upon completion of the exam, the dolphins were released and monitored for an initial surfacing. Samples are sent back for distribution to different scientist/labs we were collaborating with. I feel the most interesting part will be to compare samples caught this year with samples from 10 years ago.....and we did have a number of recaptures from prior years.
For safety reasons, since the Charleston waterways vary from hard, sandy bottom to soft, pluff mud full of oysters shells, we have to wear rubber soled shoes while on the boat so we were ready to jump in the water with a moments notice.....so at the end of a week....I was rocking an awesome ankle tan line (even with sunscreen reapplication bordering OCD)!
I've had my fair share of fun field (and lab) work since college....working on fishing boats in Alaska (well technically in international waters, since I think I only was on land maybe 4 days the whole 2 months I was up there), circumnavigating Catalina Island for dolphin research on 3 day trips, pipetting like a pro at the genetics company...to name just a few, but you get the picture. I think my favorite field work has been helping with the HERA dolphin captures.....in situ field work at its best.
Cliffnotes version.....dolphins are sentinels for humans. Given we can't (easily) get permits to draw blood, remove blubber (I would gladly donate some though!), and poke and prod to check the health of humans based on contaminant loads, dolphins are the next best thing. Given dolphins live the water we play in and eat a lot of the same fish and shrimp we do, by checking out them it gives us a way to guesstimate/correlate to human health. If dolphins in an area are healthy then the sea food is probably okay for humans to consume frequently.
Anywho, back to the story. I was able to help when I was a graduate student with the dolphin captures back in 2003 and 2005 (I was preggo in 2004.....since dolphins can carry toxoplasmosis (ie reason you don't have kitty litter duty while pregnant) I couldn't go out due to the safety of Mason growing in my tummy). Teaching high school chemistry, put a bit of a damper on my field work opportunities (and field trips would make me miss it so much). So, when asked if I could volunteer and help with photo-ID, I jumped at the opportunity.
Being on the photo-ID team, meant riding in style on the catch boat. This particular boat had wet areas to stand and wetter areas to stand....staying dry while on the boat pretty much wasn't an option. While showering when under way, we watched for dolphins. As part of the photo-ID team our jobs were to make sure the dolphins hadn't been previously capture this week (we'd put pink and blue tags on them which can be seen from a distance), as well as make sure the dolphins were old enough to be captured. Any calf under 2 was avoided and Moms with older calves were avoid as well because they were likely pregnant! Both of these were avoided so we wouldn't put them under too much stress and cause health issues. All females were ultrasounded in the water (how cool is that) and the majority were pregnant (which is good in terms of population health!), so they would be released right away.
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| Looking for Dolphins |
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| Waiting to do some science :) The white board allowed for good pictures of the dorsal fin with a measurement scale along the side and bottom as well removal of background objects that could distort the fin profile. |
There was a huge team of veterinarians and other scientist who were: conducting exams, monitoring the animals vitals, processing samples, etc., while we were sneaking in for pictures (and don't worry this was all done with a Federal permit allowing the harassment of marine mammals.....hence the lack of photos of our grey aquatic mammalian friends). Upon completion of the exam, the dolphins were released and monitored for an initial surfacing. Samples are sent back for distribution to different scientist/labs we were collaborating with. I feel the most interesting part will be to compare samples caught this year with samples from 10 years ago.....and we did have a number of recaptures from prior years.
For safety reasons, since the Charleston waterways vary from hard, sandy bottom to soft, pluff mud full of oysters shells, we have to wear rubber soled shoes while on the boat so we were ready to jump in the water with a moments notice.....so at the end of a week....I was rocking an awesome ankle tan line (even with sunscreen reapplication bordering OCD)!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Meet me in St. Louie.....
Having grown up in St. Louis, Misery Missouri (nothing personal, just no ocean...lol). I typically go back and visit once a year or so. I drag show the kids all the cool places there are there....which I typically don't hit them all in one visit. I still need to take the kids up in the Arch (Richard is the only one who has that pleasure so far). So kids and I (first of likely many solo flights to come) flew to St. Louis for a whirlwind trip at the beginning of August.
When we got there.....Pasta House time...yum yum yum....order the usual...Pasta Con Broccoli with nofungus mushrooms......yum yum yum...my tummy is starting to be happy again. Then we headed to the Bestie's house for the night.
Next day....St. Louis Zoo.....threw me for a loop when I grew up and moved away and had to, gasp, PAY to go to the zoo....the Zoo is free.....met my cousins Sheri and Sara and Sara's little girls.
Then we watched a Rhino get his morning PT done....seriously, he kept running laps in this corner of his enclosure....
When we got there.....Pasta House time...yum yum yum....order the usual...Pasta Con Broccoli with no
Next day....St. Louis Zoo.....threw me for a loop when I grew up and moved away and had to, gasp, PAY to go to the zoo....the Zoo is free.....met my cousins Sheri and Sara and Sara's little girls.
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| Cousins on a Rhinoceros Beetle |
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| Butterfly House Pretty Cool...... |
The 'new' sea lion exhibit was super cool with underwater tunnel walk through portion (I say new because it wasn't there the last time I was...but its 2 years or so old).
There wasn't much interest in seeing the giraffes.....until we SAW the giraffes....(I can't wait to be posted in Africa.....lol), but then they didn't want to leave the giraffes!
Of course, after a long morning at the zoo....time for IMO'S!!!!!!!!!!!
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| Big Kids.... Hard to believe they are in 1st and 3rd grades! |
Then the kids and I headed over to the Science Center....had hopes of Clarissa falling asleep in the stroller dancing in my head....but she didn't....until we were driving home after meltdown 52.....
So part of the purpose of my trip was to attend the Laska Family Picnic....I hadn't attended since the summer before I left for college in Florida.....a whole 19 years ago! Its crazy how all the 'little kids' when I left are now all grown up (I haven't been to an annual Christmas party since I came back from Alaska in 1997.....it had been a while). Before the picnic I met up with my big brother and his family.....
Then off to the family picnic so Mason could meet the tons of cousins he never knew he had!
Here is a photo of everyone at the picnic....it was maybe a third or so all the cousins. Pretty much my grandpa Joe and his two sisters....had kids and their kids had kids and their kid's kids had kids.....you get the idea.
Next day was Sunday Funday with my Bestie and her family (since we were staying with them).
First stop was Missouri Botanical Gardens.....Carrie's favorite place is the rose garden (note her in the back of the pic.....)
I'm rather impressed with the close up feature of my iPhone....I didn't bring a camera with me on the trip.....but I couldn't resist photographing the pretty flowers....
So we went into the climatron building....made my heart pitter patter at hopes of a future post with rain forests!
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| My and My Bestie's Kiddos The two in the middle were born 6 weeks apart! |
Next stop, treated Carrie to her birthday dinner....at Pasta House (is it bad I take her to my favorite place for her birthday?). After that, since I was jealous of some of her pub glasses (and what better way to show my pride overseas than some Anheuser-Busch Pubware?).....had Brian chauffeur me to the brewery (I don't think he minded the free beer tasting at the end). Clarissa last about 10 minutes of the tour (Clydesdale barn portion)....so we hung out and shopped while Mason and the rest went on the tour. The little lady and I totally scored though and got to PET a Clydesdale! They are really huge when you are up close!
Next day.....flew back to DC.....then needed a vacation to recover from vacation......not sure when I'll be back to visit again though. Hopefully next summer......
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
And the First Stop is.......
Tbilisi, Georgia (country not the state).
It is such a relief that after months and months of being asked where we are moving to (and saying I don't know) or getting the eyebrow raise when I said I moving overseas and don't know where.....yeah.
To help you orient yourself, I found this map online:
Now its time to plan......figure out kids clothes (how quickly will they grow and how much can I find on clearance based on the climate, which looks surprisingly similar to Charleston....except there are mountains full of snow close by to go play in during the winter!), food and toiletries we can't live without and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for (we are actually allotted 2500 lbs of said food and toiletries...called consumables, because they are so hard to find/expensive!).
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| Image from: http://highlander.ge/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/georgian-flag.jpg |
It is such a relief that after months and months of being asked where we are moving to (and saying I don't know) or getting the eyebrow raise when I said I moving overseas and don't know where.....yeah.
To help you orient yourself, I found this map online:
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| Image from: http://williamellisdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/georgia-map.jpg?w=500&h=311 |
Flag Day
So when she stood up, I hit record.....I apologize for the focus being on the head of couple in front of me...but I was filming with one hand and taking photos on my iPhone with the other....
Here is a shot of all the IMS people in Richard's class (less one guy who jetted early) with a statue of Ben Franklin on the FSI campus (looks a lot like a college campus).
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