taxes

Ugh, my taxes are likely to be some sort of unmitigated disaster. I think I'll be starting my cover letter to the IRS now. In 2010, I lived in three different countries and could claim about nine different addresses if I count all three bases as business addresses and then the six different places I have slept during this time. Of course, I don't have a proper address for any of those domiciles except the one I had in Hungary. Everything here and in Congo seemingly has no name or street or number. They are just places, you know, behind that other thing, down the street from there, 3 turns past that one place.

Actually, it should be reasonably straightforward from here on out since others (read: Deloitte) are responsible for my non-US taxes assuming they understand the form I spent 4 hours filling out on Saturday. Assuming I get all my 1099s (or I'll just login to my accounts and add up interest myself), even my US taxes should be ok. Of course, there is the whole gray zone of non-cash compensation. How much was that place in Congo costing? Meh. This will be fun.

libya thing, very serious

It is rather alarming how quickly the situation in Libya regressed. Our own situation with no running operations should not be surprising given the lawlessness that has broken out in much of the country, not just the protests in Tripoli. And of course efforts are being made to evacuate expatriate employees.

People are getting out of the country, but it is an ongoing process. There has been a very candid thread available internally on the company website about the situation that is very interesting to say the least. As usual, no details, but the comments reveal a lot about how people respond to adversity. With hindsight, things are very easy to claim now, but plans don't get that luxury. (I want to discuss this more in a couple days, the concept of hindsight and compare Libya to another event from last year.)

In a crisis, I feel like noting two things:
1. Mental well-being is almost as important as physical well-being during a crisis. This is not about false delusions of hope or things like that, but staying positive is very important as a source of strength. It can provide the resolve to keep moving through an otherwise desperate or seemingly hopeless situation and that can mean the difference between life and death for some.
2. I have seen many well wishes and prayers sent out in the comments section to this internal company post, and I realize this can help with point 1 about mental well-being, but it does seem rather awkward. I'm stuck in a sort of a catch-22 about this, since I know hopes and prayers don't actually do anything in a direct tangible way, but they are important for bolstering point 1. Myself, if I was in that situation, I'd rather not get hopes and prayers, but some assurance that a plan was being worked on.

winds of change, part deux

Well, perhaps I spoke too soon earlier when I said that the winds of change would not move me. As with all things, nothing is final until it actually happens, but it seems I will soon be moving again. Business needs and all.

this north africa thing, pretty serious

Mubarak stepped down right as we were getting out of our last day of class last Friday. I had a couple Libyan classmates who were very excited about this because of what it might mean for Libya and Gaddafi. Right now, that struggle isn't going so well in Libya, but it's a start. Algeria, same thing. Maybe there will be no popular revolution now, but this is a big deal for the region and the people.

idea of america

A couple weeks ago, I had a long conversation with a fellow employee and once again found someone who strongly dislikes American foreign policy but is seemingly in love with the idea of America. As some of you know, I was in Paris, or more accurately, La Defense, for a training course last week. One of my 110,000 co-workers was also going there before flying off to his final destination in Algiers. (No, it was not my now-former boss). Anyway, the vagaries of the flight schedule necessitate a several hour wait in Libreville after coming up from Port Gentil so we talked shop and politics and what had happened in Tunisia and what was still going on in Egypt at that time. I did ask him about Algeria and he indicated it could never happen there, but of course we're here now and there are protests in Algiers now.

We got to talking about America's role in these protests and he generally had a very negative view of American foreign policy and the meddling about in other countries. Perhaps everything should be taken with a grain of salt as he also thought Wikileaks was a CIA and Mossad conspiracy to make Obama look bad. I suppose that could be true, though it's likelihood seems rather low. He was just so down on U.S. politics and policy-meddling about the rest of the world and that's an understandable view to me. As you would expect, I have met plenty of non-Americans in the last two years while living overseas. By and large, they dislike U.S. foreign policy which is generally seen as meddlesome and supportive of causes that lack popular support where they occur. However, this person I spoke with was so passionate about the idea of America. For him, it was a place where hard work meant success. Where people had opportunities. It contained freedoms not found in most of the rest of the world. A nation of immigrants but united by ethic and freedom.

This is perhaps a bit maudlin, but I think you can only get an appreciation for this, especially if you are yourself an immigrant or have traveled enough outside the U.S. to meet people from less opportunity-laden nations. And this is what I find so frustrating about our foreign policy. It sometimes feels like we have done nothing but try to sabotage our reputation abroad with questionable wars and support of dubious governments. And yet, people still think this is a great place of opportunity.

boss gone/replaced

Well, that was sudden. Upon my return form Paris, my boss has been transferred and his replacement has arrived. While I knew this was a highly likely way for it to occur, the actualization of it all was still surprising. This has somewhat significant implications for myself which will be discussed in a few days. For now, I am the calm center of the ever-revolving universe that is the rapidity of how quickly everything occurred. (Does that sentence not make sense? Too bad because I like it so it stays.) Perhaps some things will be a little off-the-cuff while we organize neat little piles of paperwork, but it's all good.

just haven't felt like writing much

That should be a rather unsatisfying explanation for why I haven't been blogging for the last two weeks. Or replying to e-mails, though that is more standard. Indeed, as prerviously mentioned, I have been in Paris for the last week for some in-house work training. It was a good class as they usually are. I have done little in the way of sight-seeing and I don't care for it either.

It's not that I don't like Paris or that I don't want to see what it has to offer. I simply do not care to see it right now. I'm not good at the whole vacation thing and unless I'm actually on vacation, it's hard for me to make the time to tour about. In my mind, this is still a work week and there's much to be done back at the ranch that is on my mind. Plus, touring about by oneself is rather boring and lonely. Surrounded by people, none of whom are your friends.