Scattered like dry leaves

Could it be back pain from carrying around hundreds of pages of secret rules? Burnout from the processing blitz? Frustration that a rash of applications seem to be bouncing back to Initial Review? The uncertainty of processing applications using procedures that have not yet been approved by the FCC? For whatever reason, it feels like there has been more turnover in PIA reviewers than I've seen for many years.

OK, so even as an E-Rate consultant, the number of PIA reviewers I deal with is probably not a statistically valid sample. And it may be that I am driving them to leave, so it's a localized phenomenon. And it's not like it's a mass exodus; I think I've seen 3 reviewers leave since January. It's just that it seems like more than past years, and given that it only takes a few days to move an app out of Initial Review, it seems like a lot.

The pace of processing does seem faster this year, so I think burnout is the likely cause. Or maybe it's nothing.

And really, it doesn't make any difference. I don't care if the processing of my clients' apps is delayed, since nothing's going to actually get approved until the FCC approves the secret set of procedures for handling applications. For last year, the approval came on May 13th. For 2009, it came on April 2nd. For 2008, it was April 10th.

So I'm just hoping I don't see any more turnover once the FCC makes up its mind on the processing standards.