Government in flux

When people used to think of government, they often envisioned the slow bureaucratic beast lumbering along, unchanging and unwaivering. What a romantic vision, all that predictability. For those paying attention, the writing is clearly on the wall, the only unchanging certainty (as JFK pointed out) is that everything changes and nothing is certain. I'm sure nearly any conversation anyone has been involved in for the last few years has eventually narrowed down to a political, social or economic diatribe from one end of the spectrum or the other about the rapid changes we tend to face on a daily basis. Can I get an amen from the lunch crew. The Executive Branch of government, for which I work, is no different when it comes to change, the advent of computers has helped create efficiency but has also created reliance. Sometimes change seems to be just for change's sake. Much of what happens in the Armed Services these days, gets funnelled through a computer. Unfortunately for me, this fact does not help me achieve my immediate goal of employee autonomy and general personal comfort. I am at the whims of the silicon chip and the person entering the information, GIGO, garbage in, garbage out. Perfect example, I cannot access my computer in my office. 'Why?', you say. Because the software update taking place (more change) makes it impossible for them to type in my name and hit enter which would unlock my world to computer freedom. Another example: Unaccompanied Goods, this is a shipment of stuff up to 300 lbs total that I sent out to arrive faster than the rest of my furniture, etc. It still hasn't shown up, so I called the appropriate person in transportation. He said he'd look in computer and let me know what he could find. Using my name and social, the hallmarks of identity, he found- NOTHING. My stuff didn't exist. I eventually found it by calling the van line directly that packed my box.I gave them the contract number, they gave me the UPS tracking number and I located my 'fast' shipment sitting in Anchorage for  a week. Hell, I could have shipped the crap UPS faster myself. Why was I not in the system again? System updates (more change), please bear with us. It seems like some change or update is happening on a nearly daily basis at work. By the time you learn a process, it's time for it to change again, apparantly even this remote corner of Alaska is not immune to the whims and will of good old change. C'est la vie.