“It’s the working, the working, just the working life.”

Well, it’s obvious I haven’t been blogging over the past two weeks. What I have been doing is working. In addition to editing full-time at a client’s site, I’ve spent my early mornings and late evenings working on other projects. What kept me sane was the variety of subjects:

• treating childhood diarrhea in Nepal with zinc tablets
• getaway weekends in Easton, MD
• private-sector health projects
• training material for the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management’s Human Resources Products and Services division
• data warehousing and consulting
• research and development for contraceptive products
• training material for the U.S. Department of Defense’s National Security Personnel System

The hardest part of juggling all of those jobs was having to switch between styles. During that two-week stretch, I probably used every style manual I own. And, of course, each client had a different in-house style as well.

NSPS brochures released

The National Security Personal System (NSPS) just released two brochures I edited while working on a contract with SI International:

• Focus on Performance: Manager/Supervisor
• Focus on Performance: Employee

NSPS is performance-based employee evaluation system the Department of Defense (DoD) is implementing. I edited a plethora of training manuals and presentations that will be given to human-resource personnel, mangers and supervisors, and employees educating them about NSPS.

While it would put the DoD’s evaluation system in line with standard business practices, it is controversial as many government employees are concerned that it will eliminate “important civil service protections.”