Atlanta, DC travel this week

I'm a bit bummed-out because I'm going to miss going back to the Dickens' Fair this year -- I won't land at SFO until 1;30pm Sunday, which is too late to go home and change. Nowhere to wear the swallow coat and top hat I bought last spring specifically for this... maybe next year.

I'm headed east tomorrow:
Wed am - Friday am: Washington, DC area (via Minneapolis ;)
Friday noon - Sunday morning: Atlanta area

I'm planning to spend some time with geekchick and others Thursday evening, and see my parents and siblings on Saturday. Depending on what scarlet1 has planned after work on Friday, I may have early Friday evening or Saturday lunch available if anyone out there is interested.

job buzz...

Oh, and our NASA Administrator has resigned... the leading candidate for replacement is the retired general that used to run the modern-day SDI missile defense-equivalent, earlier in Bush II. Sigh. IMO, not so good for a civilian space agency.

Otherwise... all of the civil service staff, myself included, at NASA-Ames last week received packets to the effect that our positions had been identified as likely to be affected by realignment, and thence we were being offered $25K severance if we voluntarily quit or took early retirement. That may flush out the folks who were planning to leave soon anyway, but I'm not interested. Ames used to have a permanent staff of 3000 in the Apollo days, 1900 when I arrived in the late 1980s, currently 1300 with a goal of reducing further to 800-900. This is in addition to about 2000 onsite contractors and students... some of the former used to be permanent staff positions in support roles (maintenance, sysadmins, clerical, machine shop, library, etc) that were outsourced over the past ten years.

Given the Navy's departure eight years ago and NASA's subsequent role as landlord of Moffett Field, I wonder if/when the Center will grow too small and lose critical mass and fall apart under the overhead burdens... I've thought about applying for positions at other NASA locations in Maryland and Florida, but would hate to lose my community and friends here.