Bag of Randomnness
Friday, February 13, 2026

The drive to Austin wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be regarding stopping and charging. All the super-chargers at all the Buc-ee’s on I-35 made it pretty easy. There’s a little range anxiety driving there because you know you have to drive back. However, driving back was a cinch. Because the parking garage where I interviewed had car chargers, I was able to leave Austin with a full charge. So I only had to stop once to charge, which I would have done anyway for a restroom break and to stretch my legs. That charge was less than 25-minutes and cost under five bucks. It turns out that not renting a car was a good thing, and I might drive to places like Austin more often.

Traffic stunk on the way there, but was great on the way back; though I was surprised by the number of law enforcement I passed trying to catch speeders. I counted at least seven on the way home.

It’s always unsettling seeing the Confederate flag flying high off I-35 while driving through Waco.

It was fun having the dogs along for the ride and to keep me company. They really enjoyed the attention they received when we took a stroll on the University of Texas campus.

I typically don’t like talking about how my interview went. It’s a silly superstition that I might jinx myself. But I guess I feel comfortable saying it was solid. I guess there was a certain relief about having an in-person interview, even if I had to drive four hours, as opposed to yet another AI-interviewing tool or video conference.

I appreciated the interview’s format. After I was escorted into a conference room, I was given a project schedule and outline to study for five-minutes. Then a small panel of folks walked in for introductions. I was then given four pages of questions. I was told they would read each one aloud. I could take some time to think about a response, without having to answer immediately. Having a visual and being able to reference something was helpful, and I wrote notes as each was read. Most were scenario-based, and only one was the typical “give me an example when” variety. In all, the interview lasted about 70 minutes, and I felt I had a good rapport or chemistry with the team.

Even if I don’t get this job, unlike most interviews I’ve had during this drought, I felt there were lessons I could take away. That I had something to build on. It was also the first time I felt like I wasn’t being tested but being treated as a consultant. I guess I felt like I was on offense this time and not on defense. That is, when each item was read to me, my concern wasn’t how they would grade my answer. Instead, I felt like I was identifying the need, want, or problem, and then telling them the best way to accomplish it.

Speaking of lessons learned, yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of when the person I was married to decided to break apart our family.

I was surprised to learn that Abilene ISD’s (former) superintendent last worked as Mineral Well’s superintendent. He recently stepped down wrinting the following:

On December 30, 2025, I suffered a serious heart attack – a “widowmaker,” with 100% blockage of my left anterior descending (LAD) artery and 80% blockage of my circumflex. Thankfully, I was at home at the time; my wife and children called 911 and acted quickly to treat me with aspirin.

Regarding the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping, I predict a future news article about the increase in sales of Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpacks.

New York Times

I didn’t think the gondola rides at Las Colinas were still operating, let alone popular.

Often privy to multiple marriage proposals a day, the gondola king of Irving has learned a thing or two about the affairs of the heart. 🚣💕 https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/irving-las-colinas-gondoliers-love-advice/

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— Texas Monthly (@texasmonthly.bsky.social) February 11, 2026 at 4:00 PM

🥇🥇🥇

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— George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 (@gtconway.bsky.social) February 10, 2026 at 7:06 AM

My next interview will be with the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Thankfully, I already have my Public Trust security clearance, which is valid through April 2029. The description, if you are interested, is after the jump.

Senior Business Analyst supporting the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at National Institutes of Health (NIH).

As a Senior Business Analyst you will help ensure today is safe and tomorrow is smarter. Our work depends on Senior Business Analyst joining our team to support development of new MSPP applications, as well as modernizing existing applications for our customers, which will support their administrative and research activities including those related to planning, funding, and conducting research that promotes the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases.

How a Senior Business Analyst will Make an Impact:
  • Collaborates and engages with business experts to gain full understanding of business needs and requirements
  • Work with developers to ensure that the requirements are implemented and tested, using Agile practices; collaborates with the team on agile activities, including estimation, iterative planning and retrospectives
  • Coordinates with enterprise architecture, infrastructure, configuration management, security, and other technical groups to ensure all needs are met and fully implemented
  • Responsibilities include:
    • Provide requirements analysis and related support of new systems and processes being developed in Microsoft Power Platform and other technologies
    • Capture and define requirement with a variety of techniques, including BDD-style specifications, API specifications, user stories, use cases, and mockups
    • Analyze existing systems interfaces and documents
    • Conduct interviews with product owners, users, and other stakeholders to identify candidate requirements
    • Describe and execute test cases
    • Manage requirements in Jira using a backlog, and collaborates with product owners to prioritize the backlog
    • Manage the flow of development from idea to release
    • Troubleshoot and investigate issues reported by business users and provides ongoing communication about status
    • Create end user documentation including user and quick reference guides
  • Skills will be used to provide requirements analysis and shepherd the MSPP product from conception to implementation.
What You’ll Need to Succeed:
Education:
  • Bachelor’s degree
Required Experience:
  • Five years of experience as business analyst or related IT experience
Required Technical Skills:
  • Experience using Jira (or similar tool) to manage requirements
  • Business Requirements Analysis, Client Communication, JIRA Tool, Software Testing
  • Experience developing wireframes and mockups
Security Clearance Level:
  • Must be able to obtain a level 5 Public Trust, which requires residency in the U.S. for 3 of the last 5 years.
Required Skills and Abilities:
  • Ability to effectively communicate and the ability to convey complex concepts, including but not limited to: requirement gathering, requirement and process documentation, meeting minutes, user guides and customer demos
  • Excellent problem-solving skills
Preferred Skills:
  • Knowledge of Microsoft Power Platform
  • Experience with application testing
  • Experience with Agile
Location:
  • Remote
Citizenship Required:
  • US Person
Frequently Asked Vendor Questions:
  • What is the mission of the program/contract? The mission is to support the IT needs of the NIH/NHLBI by creating new MSPP applications and modernizing existing applications by converting them to MSPP, in order to support the administrative and research activities including those related to planning, funding, and conducting research that promotes the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, and blood diseases.
  • What will a typical workday look like for the Contractor? Is this a team setting? The team is composed of a couple of MSPP developers and an analyst, working directly under a government manager.
  • What are the top three skillsets the candidate should have? Requirements Analysis, Effective communication, problem solving abilities
  • What is the interview process? How many interviews until decision is made? Audio only or audio/video or in-person? Audio/video. One interview with a possibility of a follow up to meet the government client.
  • What government agency/customer does the contract support? NIH/NHLBI
  • What is the length of the contract? What Option Year is it currently in? When is re-compete? This is the last option year with a contract end date of May 17, 2026. Re-compete is currently occurring. If re-compete is won, the contract will be for three years.
  • What is the Public Trust process? Public Trust is required to start. It takes about 4 to 5 weeks to complete.
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