And also yes

Yes

I mean in all fairness the majority of non-black people on earth would probably not prefer their daughter marry a black man.

I think a lot of white people in America today have trouble admitting that to themselves. To include people who voted for Obama.

You know when people ask me if East Asians are racist towards black people, I usually have to preface it with there is a sliding scale of racism toward African Americans.

1. Highest level of racism: enslaving an entire race of people creating a multinational industry to capture, transport them from africa and sell them in the Americas. From the 16th to the 19th century.

2. Murdering people and using threats or violence to perpetuate a system of race based authority and rule. Jim Crowe south from the end of the civil war until the 1970s.

3. Systemically denying a race of people civil rights and implementing second class citizenship supported by the government. Same as #2, but arguably a significant issue up until the early 1990s and lingering to this day.

4. Individual cases of racist violence not supported by the govt. 2009 Charleston mass shooting.

5. Being mean or something less than perfectly fair to someone because of their race. Not wanting someone to marry your daughter because he's black.

There might be some of 5) going on amongst East Asians, but not 1-4.

You need to provide more detail. Most likely this is a GS schedule position.

Most likely you can negotiate steps within the range but not a whole grade. E.g. you can negotiate to get bumped up from.a GS 10 step 2 offered to a step 4 but not to a GS 11 step 1. The reason is the position is usually set at a Grade, but not a specific step.

Its no skin off the hiring managers back to bump you up steps Human resource financing and budgeting is handled by positions not really by what step or by absolute cost. In other words having too many maxed out step 10s doesn't hurt the organization really.

Also you absolutely must negotiate for PTO now. You will never get another chance to do so. You should get credit for prior experience outside of govt. So if you have 5 years of general experience you should get 20 days per year. This also doesn't cost your hiring manager anything.

Less than 3 years of service - 13 workdays per year 3 but less than 15 years of service - 20 workdays per year 15 years of service and over - 26 workdays per year

HR is often at odds with the actual people hiring you. The people hiring you do not care about paying you more or giving you more pto, as long as it's justifiable. HR will try to lower your comp because that's their job. You have very strong negotiating power as if you have an offer they have already gone down a very long road to get there. If you walk they have to start all over.

Also if you need it, ask about relocation which is also often very generous in govt.

I don't disagree, general intl cuisine has excellent coverage. Like I said I am pleased with the traditional French options which is uncommonly good. I actively dislike the new high end dining scene in DC, as I think you can get away with quite a lot of high concept low quality with these customers here.

That said with japanese in particular I am deeply frustrated by the continual failure to maintain any standards or quality with places like dakaiya completely falling apart (change to frozen gyoza and dishwater for broth). This i believe is due to both a lack of genuine pride in their craft by ownership and the vast majority of diners having no standards. The constant stream new Asian fusion garbage and simulated Japanese cuisine is truly remarkable.

I need to try menya hosaki. Thanks for the tip.

White girls tend to flock.

If you think Rockville / silver Spring Chinese or any of the Japanese food period in this city is anything other than average relative to Philly, NYC, SF, LA.

Then I don't know what to tell you foodie.

I spend a lot of time in Honolulu I suggest you go there if you want to know what good Japanese food is like in America.

Flushing NYC for Chinese. LA for Korean.

Our Vietnamese is not bad. I'll give DC that. I've lived here over 20 years with a car I've been to basically to every Japanese and Chinese place in the area worth going to.

Well compared to H St, Noma I'd say it's less.

I am fully aware. Id be more concerned of a little white girl not having other little white girls to be next to.

I am assuming the worst case scenario for street sense.

Haha I probably spend more money on restaurants than 99% of the residents here. My own money too, not expense account. I dined at Paul Bocuse last year. My favorite overall restaurant in DC is Marcels for food alone.

The restaurants here are ok. Largely overpriced and concept over substance. A good example of how DCs restaurants are not as good as comparing a place like Le Bernadin in NYC to well any restaurant in the city for price ambiance and food.

You can say well there Little Inn. That place is a nearly an hour away from city. It's literally the same distance as Baltimore and you want to tell me that's a DC restaurant?

Well congratulations you can go to your grave defending the honor of this city, symbol of gentrification and nouveau riche mediocrity.

The city can drink. I would be proud of its highest in the nation alcohol consumption, it's impressive.

The city is actually composed of suburban edge cities (Rockville, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria) surrounding the core city along and within the beltway.

If you wanted to you probably can live in one of those and spend your time driving around from strip mall to strip mall just like any other suburban American town.

Since you are new to a big city, and possibly unaccustomed to homelessness and possible crime, I'd probably stick to NW DC if I were you and trying to live in the city proper, which is what I would do since I hate the suburbs and I like walking to things.

I don't know what you look like, but it's highly likely you at some point that you are going to encounter some a-hole homeless person who is going to say or do some annoying such as follow you around, harass you or make a racist or off color remark to mess with you. Don't take it personally it happens to everyone, and it's more likely they chose to mess with you because they know they'd get away with it / get a rise out of you.

Or I can shit all over it. Which is also fun.

I like the cheap symphony tickets, hockey and baseball teams.

I like the decent selection of traditional French restaurants, and the Asian food is minimally acceptable with the exception of Vietnamese which is good.

I like the 3 intl airports within an hour.

The rest of it is average, overpriced, and most of all the people who think it's great simply can't tell the fucking difference.

I hear the kayaking is good but that's not my sport. The skiing minimally acceptable, and the general outdoors is just ok, but is also infested with Lyme disease.

Yeah, also Snowshoe WV and Seven Springs, PA. All I can say is that those people and those resorts deserve each other.

If you do ski around DC again I recommend Wisp, MD or Timberline WV

I can't disagree with you there.

I would say however Atlanta is much more of a leading city for White Southern and African American culture and society, art and music relative to DC.

People are going to come on here and say some shit about Howard, Wale, and Duke Ellington, lol ok.

I'm a skier, and I agree with you. I'd take a number of other cities if skiing and mountaineering were my thing over Denver. SLC or the Northwest mostly for cultural reasons, and the skiing is simply much closer. I also hate Vail Resorts as a business and refuse to ski at their resorts if I can help it.

You may have a different opinion but I personally would not be satisfied with the skiing in New England. I also am not a fan of ticks and Lyme disease.

That might be true, at least Denver you have world class skiing and rock climbing nearby.

I guess if you really like museums, and find the Blue Ridge mtns to be better than the Rockies maybe DC gets the nod. Edit: you have shit for taste if you think any mtns this side of the Mississippi are better than anything out west.

Denver ain't my style. I could not live in CO, way too many hicks for my taste. Frankly even VA has too many hicks for my taste so there you have it.

Why yes I certainly prefer the culinary mastery of Zatinya and the beautiful vistas of the Beltway.

... Or the rich cultural history of Bethesda and the hip young vibe of Arlington. Who doesn't love the vibrant urban scene of H and 14th street all built in the last 15 years.

DC, and noted by the stats, has it worse than most places.

The city has a long tradition of being a temporary career way point and people come with the intention of leaving after a stint.

I don't think DC has the staying power of larger cities as it has neither the culinary and cultural appeal of ATL, Austin, NYC, Philly, nor the nearby outdoorsy benefits and general prettiness of say Denver, SF, Seattle, or Portland.

It has a tough combination of very high standard of living without a lot of the baked in benefits of other American cities. Unless you work in a specialized industry based here (NGO, Government) it's hard to keep people around.

It also has good, but not great wages like you see in tech centers like the Bay Area. (Lawyers excluded).

Everything is close, 20 minutes in an Uber. You can go to lunch in Georgetown, a baseball game, and a ballet in the same day and you won't spend more than an hour getting between venues.

Sichuan Pavilion on 14th

Correction K st.

If you are being serious, without knowing your background there are a million ways to get a clearance.

You could just a get one of hundreds of thousands of jobs as a contractor for companies like Booz Allen, Accenture, or thousands of small businesses. They need people to do any number of jobs.

For example, while food service is unlikely to be cleared at a Secret or Top Secret level, facilities maint. can be.

You can also consider joining the army, navy, air force, reserves.

Lol.

It's unclassified in the general building. They've tightened things up, but the Pentagon wasn't much different than any military installation. Any person with a valid reason could get a visitors pass and wander the hallways.

Only certain rooms are classified spaces.

I've been to many a Popeyes, McDonalds, Krystal's in places where there are drunk people, crack heads, and drug dealers and I have found those restaurants inevitably become not places you'd like to Dine In.

I have never been to a Chick Fil A which is anything but country wholesome... complete with developmentally disabled staff and beaming young people fresh from bible school.

Will it survive DC Chinatown?

Or will I be able to buy a sandwich and have the clerk also sell me a loosey?