| Busy week but a lot got done. Big proposal went in, fingers crossed. And the team delivered the oral presentation they were working on. They told me they feel really good about how it went. They should. It’s a really solid team. It’s so hard to know for sure, though, there’s so much intangible. It’s hard to tell for sure if you’re saying the things people are hoping to hear. But it’s a great team so I have to have a lot of confidence that they knocked it out of the park. And last but certainly not least we've luanched our new website! Way to go to all you who worked on it!! Thanks....
Also, Leslie went to the White House yesterday for a briefing by the CIO of OMB, Vivek Kundra. Mr. Kundra had lot’s to talk about for sure and I think I’ll leave it up to Leslie to cover most of that. One thing of interest that she reported to me is that he talked about the fact that, despite some appearances, the Administration’s goal is not to eliminate a lot of initiatives but to focus on improving the efficiency of delivering those products and services. Like everyone, I applaud that goal. One thing that has always frustrated/angered me is that when IT projects get completely out of control or run on and on with no willingness to deploy, those projects end up wasting huge sums of money that could go to furthering other IT efforts that help our Federal customer deliver more service to the nation, more efficiently. I like to think this administration is on the right track on this topic.
I gather Mr. Kundra also addressed the topic of a shut down. He talked about how the Administration is working to plan for such an eventual possibility. I must add that the possibility of a shutdown is truly upsetting. It seems that there are too many people in leadership roles right now who are more attached to an ideological agenda than to the true needs of the nation and the associated realities and responsibilities of leadership. I know that people reading this will have differing views about just which “leaders” may bear the most responsibility. But as I said before, we definitely need cooler heads to prevail. While forcing a government shutdown may give some an opportunity to show their power and vent their spleen, it will in fact cause considerable disruption and harm and in the end provide little to no benefit. Yes, we do need to find some cooler heads....
And on a sad note, I learned today that Angela's grandfather has passed away. We're so very sorry, Angela.
Tonight Leslie and I are off to the French Embassy to see the Mezcal Jazz Unit. Apparently they’ve been a sensation all over Europe for a couple of decades. I think this is supposed to be their first performance in the U.S. Exciting! |