Yesterday I started my job as a Fish and Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Woo hoo! At this point, I’m a little overwhelmed by everything – there will be a lot to learn, and I’m not just talking about the names of the 53,000 people I met yesterday. The lingo, the acronyms, the inside jokes, the important serious regulatory stuff…

But, everyone seems very nice, and I even have my own office. Ok, so it doesn’t have any windows, which makes it more like a cave, but it is my own space. Yesterday I spent some time moving furniture around in an effort to not have my office configured “totally evil” according to Feng Shui standards. I’m slowly but surely bringing in odd little fun objects (e.g., my leopard-spotted devil ducky from my CLC job), but am trying to go about this process in a way that won’t scare my co-workers. And I’m scouring the internet for free wildlife posters to put up on my white white white walls (with some success – the EPA is a great source!). When I get a check from my consulting job I’ll be going to Target to pick out some spiffy office supply things and maybe a plant or something three-dimensional to break up the cube-like feeling of my cave (I mean office).

Today they had me accompany another biologist on a trip to a local site that currently contains an endangered plant species. The site had been mowed and disced which had damaged a lot of the plants, so everyone is trying to figure out what to do in terms of righting the situation (I can’t really say anything more about this). Anyway, it feels really great knowing that I’ll be contributing to preserving endangered species – I have a feeling that this will be a really rewarding, fulfilling job! It will also be challenging – I have A LOT to learn, and I’ll admit I’m kind of intimidated by all the smart biologists working in the department. Perhaps eventually I’ll be one of them though! Something to shoot for, I guess…