Today My Life Changed Forever... Again

Earlier today I received an email that began like this:

The Registrar's Office is pleased to extend an appointment offer for the September 13, 2010 - Junior Officer Class.

This is the notification that I have been waiting for, longing for, and working towards in a process that has extended to 4+ years. I have finally been offered a real, honest-to-goodness position as a plebian diplomat in an upcoming orientation class starting this fall! Yeah! Whoop-whoop! Yee-haw! And other assorted sounds of delight and pleasure.

Given today's stellar news, I have also embarked on the adventure of starting this blog. I have been wanting to do this for some time, but have not until now because some of Gammy's (my fabulous wife of 25+ years) superstitious ways had rubbed off on me. I did not want to jinx this effort. Nor was I crazy about putting myself out there in public through all of the obsessing, and calculating, and worrying, and speculating, and doubting, and second-guessing, and what-all-else that some of us - or at least I - have been going through during this crazy, harrowing process.

So now I have made it to "The Call" as it is generally known (though really it is an email - how non-romantic). So yet another turning point in my life that has been up until now, well, pretty darned good. This will simply be the start of the next great chapter. Over the course of this blog, I will try to provide some context of who I am, and to also provide some info on how this next stage unfolds. If I am lucky, it will be informative and useful for others. If I am really lucky, it might even be entertaining on occasion... we shall see.