New Site

For anyone who ever looks here anymore, I have a new site: www.laparisienneinny.blogspot.com.

If I Can Make it There...

...I'll make it anywhere... New York.
This week, Zach and I went up to NYC for a couple days (living on the wild side, I know!), and despite the generally wet weather, had a lovely time. I visited a couple of business schools, and he met with attorneys at the firm where he'll be working next summer. Incidentally, he also accepted his job offer, so now he officially has a job for next summer. Hooray for an amazing job where they actually pay you It's hard to believe that 2 1/2 months ago, we were in NY for the first round of all his interviews. Pretty amazing when you can look backwards and finally see the whole picture of where the Lord was leading all along! Now to finish this semester... It will ALL happen in good time
In other news, I will be taking the GMAT next Sunday. We'll see where that leads too!

What Bureaucracy?

To those who would try and say that the federal govenrment is not "efficient" or that systems for "reducing the paper burden" are actually effective, I have one thing to say: go check out the FARA Registration Unit.

By way of background, FARA is a U.S. law--not a civil law, a criminal law. That means that if you violate it, you can be locked up in jail... I think. But, don't worry, it's simple to follow... That is, if you can manage to navigate yoru way through the guidelines, which are, by the way, just the text of the code. If you've ever read a U.S. code before, you know it's hardly what one would call easy-to-follow guidelines. Then there is all the complexity about when to file which of 6 forms and how to file in triplicate and how much money to bring along and... well, you get it, it's just a complex process. Basically, FARA requires you to file paperwork and pay the government if you want to enjoy the privilege of taking anyone who is not from the U.S. to visit a U.S. representative and ask them for anything. The government must think this filing process is as good a celebrating your birthday, only better, because instead of just once a year, you get to do it twice a year! And then, if anything significant happens during that six-month period (I guess this is like getting your drivers' license or graduating from college?), you get to file more papers to supplement everything. Just to make you feel better, they are kind enough to tell you exactly how much time it should take (on average) to complete the process. Only, I'm not sure who the test was--their hour and a half didn't look very much like my 15 hours of labor...

Anyway, it all hit me again on Friday as I was working to file my set of extra papers. At least my office is pretty close to the FARA buildings! As if the accounting burden alone weren't great enough, you have to have the intelligence of a special ops officer to actually get to the right location... The door for the main office is hidden in a row of building fronts. You go in, hope that you're talking to the right guard, and tell him you just want to comply with the law and deliver your paperwork. No problem, he says, as he scrutinzes your ID and fills out a nametag. (by the way, these nametags are cool--within a 24-hour period, the word "expired" appears in red ink behind your name... then you can't get back in the building, I guess) But the office isn't in this building, he says as he hands you the nametag. Go out that other door, to the left, and three doors down. When you get to the third door down, it says "Use other entrance..." Good grief. thankfully, this time, I know that the "Use other entrance" only applies if you haven't gotten your name tag yet. But the door is locked. Always. I push the doorbell button, and wait to hear the sound of the latch unclicking. Don't worry, though, once you get inside, you've only just made it into a little boxed in entry. There's yet another door to go through. But on the other side are people--usually old people--who look at you like, "why are you here?" "I have paperwork to file...." DUH--there's no other reason I'd be here, because I certainly woulnd't have stumbled on this place! Yes, I have brought three copies of every form. Yes, I do have a check. What? Do I have an extra copy that you can date stamp? NO... that wasn't written in the instructions. No worries, we'll make a copy and stamp it for you. Good grief. Is that everything? Yeah... At this point, I always find myself crossing my fingers and hoping no one shows up at the office with a federal badge and arrest warrant in a few days. I TRIED!!!!! Back in the sunshine, nothing to do but shake my head and laugh to think that we think we're anything close to efficient.

P.S., I won't even begin to talk about the fact that we're living in the 21st century and still can't file this stuff over the Internet. I can file my taxes online. I can pay my bills online... But, sorry, if you want to work with a foreigner, you'll have to navigate the bureaucracy. Isn't politics fun?