(no subject)

My coworker in geography only (works for the same Agency, sits beside me in cube-hell, but in a function that is completely unrelated to my work), just shared this call with me. She works for "The Small Plant Help Desk," for a regulatory agency with authority over slaughter of animals for meat:

"Can you tell me if I put an herb in oil, and then freeze it, if it will make it last longer?"
Well, that's not really my area. This is the small plant help desk for (Agency), and we mostly deal with the processing and food safety of meat products.
"Well, you're the small plant help desk, right? An herb is a small plant..."

You know what? We all agreed - she was 100% right! We still didn't know the answer, but I gotta chalk that one up to a fun google search. Maybe we could branch out...

Branch out...ah, I slay me...

(no subject)

I walked in the rain to the 2 DC government buildings, passing through security where they made a badge with my picture from my ID, and walked me and my luggage through a metal detector.

I went to the homeowner center, and ran into a guy who owns a converted church on H Street. He noted it was a grocery store before it was a church, yes he popped it up but it’s cheaper than doing down, and he tried to keep the original elements like the glass façade and even replacing the doors with store doors the way they had always been. I wish I asked who is contractor was.

The homeowner center guy was nice but not much help for me. He simply verified that the house permit is my property, but all the licensed trade permits are the contractor’s - so anyone taking over will have to re-apply for permits. I have taken pictures of the permits and inspector initials just in case.
WHAT TERRIFIES ME
Is he pulled my home up on his computer, and told me the underpinning/structural permit WAS PULLED JANUARY 2016. He had no other information. So I went to the records center and they pulled up the record...and there was no such record of that action. I ran into the homeowner center guy in the hall and he noted the records center would be more accurate than his records. Still, now I have this nagging doubt and concern that there is something else going on that only showed in some records.

If I don’t hear from my contractor with something solid by Monday I probably have to break out a lawyer. I also have to bid out completing the job, but then depending on the bids I may need the money from the legal action - or know it simply isn’t there or feasible, figure out what is next. I’d far prefer to finish the job with this guy, but as he isn’t responding...I’d be foolish not to plan for other contingencies.

EDIT - forgot to mention, both my hipster church friend and the DC employee noted these types of issues are 100% normal for construction contractors. In fact, the DC employee had to be nice...saying he literally heard stories like this all day every day. Good to know, really.

TAXES
I got a walk-in number, and found the tax office wasn’t like I pictured - but was very similar to the DMV. I’m glad I went at opening, as the place filled up fast. I got called to one of the standing desks by the robot and led board, and the employee took my ss# and looked at a screen for a while. She then asked me to sit and she’d call me back up. About 20 minutes later she called, but just wanted me to know she was still working on it. She did this twice more, but at about an hour (after also helping another 2 men who waited longer than I, who were waiting for a supervisor who was in a meeting prior) she called me back up to tell me the “other office” had released the check, and it would be issued within 15 working days, via mail, to my VA address. I thanked her, kept my date-time-stamped call #, and made a note of her name and what she told me.

Perhaps I’ll get my check, but if not, my next step is to the councilperson to report yet another broken promise, delay, and waste of my time.