PutinPoops

I never lied during the course of the application process. When I said I believed in a Higher Power, I told the truth.

My Higher Power isn’t an image of a being with human features. It can’t be drawn, or painted, or even imagined.

During the ceremony, I affirmed that my Higher Power, when named, is “the Breath”. And then at the astonishment of my inductors “Awareness.”

I believe this description to be the same God whom Saint Theresa described praying to, when she said that God simply listens when she prays, and that when she prays she only listens. They listen to each other and no words are spoken.

This is the Eternal field of conscious awareness, the ocean from which we emerge as a d

I have been in the process now for months. Attorney filed a formal complaint for me which the agency accepted. My supervisor has been under investigation numerous times (I'm not the only one). Not just EEO. IG, No Fear, OSC.

Even knowing this, the agency seems to be doubling down and deciding to die on the hill he stands on.

Here's his play now: he gives me an impossible work task, using confusing or murky directions. I do my best to comply. In spite of my best efforts, he finds some issue with it, accuses me of being responsible for the team failing, and accusing me of failing to follow instructions.

I'm MORE excluded now from professional development and work opportunities than

You made it. You are undeniably, and unequivocally the epitome of your species.

While it isn’t, strictly speaking, “your lane” to quash suicide, maybe you have some insight as to why so many service members, especially those who served in combat zones, decide to end their lives prematurely?

The military has lost far more service members to suicide than enemy fire.

What’s the secret sauce to actual resilience, since MRT and these other programs seem to have failed completely?

If you could change one thing, what would it be?

We just replaced this stoop and when they cut out the previous concrete stoop the rim joist and basically half the house had termite and water damage. We ended up adding new joists underneath our living room, all starting from a landscaping project. 😭

The landscaper just built the stoop up to the new rim joists after I told them to flash it, and my door contractor is telling me that the landscaper violated code and that the new rim joist will rot from direct contact with the new stoop. Of course the landscaper has already been paid and is going to drag their feet after telling us “we’ll send someone out to look at it.”

During the summer in Maryland the humidity in our house is constantly around 65-70 even if we run the AC around the clock. The AC runs off a heat pump and I believe is sized appropriately. The ductwork runs through the attic with 1 central return and registers in every room on the main floor. It does not run to the basement. There is no ductwork or anything in the basement which is partially finished and the same sq ft as the main (it’s a ranch house). The basement is always more humid and we run a dehumidifier down there constantly, which doesn’t seem to affect the humidity on the main floor.

I’ve had several HVAC contractors look at our issue and no one seems to know what to do. We even

You represent the Federal government. It’s your responsibility to always do the right thing, even if it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient.

Switching jobs or asking for a transfer or going back into contracting because your boss is a lazy entitled corrupt POS is the wrong answer.

You are protected under federal law when pointing out and filing for harassment, fraud waste and abuse. Use the tools at your disposal and stop kicking the can to some younger less experienced new hire who fills your vacancy.

Obviously late to the party but I just listened to this group for the very first time yesterday. I have not had a response to music like this since I was a teenager listening to Nirvana for the first time.

People connect with music differently. For me it’s mental and emotional backdrop for my own societal experience.

Samaritan evoked some powerful emotions for me when I heard it for the first time today.

Dancer was last night, and it took some time for me to figure out why it struck so deep. Right or wrong, I think the song is about isolation and grief more than about actual dancing. Perhaps dancing as a way to punch through trauma. But I’m still listening to it and enjoying it every ti

My YouTube feed fed me this video of foreign volunteers fighting in Ukraine, in what appears to be a fairly intense firefight. I’ve been in firefights in Afghanistan but nothing like what the video shows, with coordinated waves of drones, booby traps all over the AO, mortars, artillery, actual fortified bunkers and what one trooper claims is indirect MG fire.

Watching the video and seeing how many casualties they were taking, I found myself actually wondering - and then feeling guilty about wondering - about the possibility that this could be some sort of social media tic toc stunt. But then…*they seem so professional, trained, like they actually know what they’re doing! *

….*And yes, that

When it comes to my wife, I married my traumas from childhood, as many do.

I didn’t begin to truly explore these until 7 years into the marriage after significant therapy, meditation, and starting to follow the Path.

What continues to surprise me even after 9 years of marriage and several years of deep exploration of ourselves and our relationship dynamics, is the degree of anhedonia that my wife still experiences.

It shows up as a lack of wonder for the beauty in the world. She does not, and cannot, experience wonder. This makes me sad, because I want to experience joy and excitement with her, but can’t. There is a block to dreaming about the future. She has a hard time expressing e