Category Archives: Career

There ARE some good things about my job…

Posted in Animals, Career, Me Me Me!, Non-cats by

It’s good that I can get outside every once in a while. You know, away from my desk, my computer, my office without a window…

Today I got to hike around Lake Calavera in reviewing the City’s trails program. It was such a nice day out – sunny, not too hot, a nice breeze. There were about ten of us on the hike and about eight of us walked over this poor little guy without realizing that he was even there (and to tell you the truth, there were so many dog and coyote turds all over the trail, my eye probably dismissed this baby rattler as a dog dump. But don’t tell him that!).

Hhhiiiisssssssssssssssss!!! (Translation: don’t tread on me!)

There’s no fish in the desert…

Posted in Animals, Career, Day Trips, Me Me Me!, Non-cats by

It’s true. There are no fish in the desert, especially here in Southern California. I know this because I’ve looked. Well, there are desert pupfish, but not in the area that I was in.

I have a lot to catch up on! I’ve been very busy, with training in Sacramento and Denver and moving and field work, but back to the desert. In late May, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend three days out in the desert near Palm Springs searching for the endangered Coachella Fringe-Toed Lizard. I didn’t see any of those, but I did see a ton of zebra-tailed lizards, desert iguana, desert horned lizards, and even a long-nosed leopard lizard (which was absolutely gorgeous, by the way). We were surveying in a few areas, including the valley that has hundreds of windmills. There’s a reason why they chose that area for windmills, too. You know why? Because it’s frickin’ windy! I think I saw a few lizards fly by, but I mostly just found abandoned shoes and rubber hoses in those plots. And it was global safety day – I was busted by some workers for not having a hard-hat and safety goggles, who warned me that propellers fall off the windmills all the time (my response: “gee – if one of those huge blades fall off and hit me on the head, do you really think a hard-hat will help me out?”).

I sure do miss the desert – it wasn’t as beautiful as Utah or Arizona, but it was still good being out there in the dry air and hot hot temperatures. Good times! Here are a few pictures I took – there’s the horned lizard and desert iguana, in case you were wondering (alas, the leopard lizard ran away before I could get my camera out – boo hoo!).

Job update: it’s all about…Acting!

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

Remember Jon Lovitz on Saturday Night Live? He did a sketch about Acting, and it was so true. The first couple of weeks of my new job were pretty crazy because I was (and still am) intimidated by all these smart biologist types. And even though I’m supposed to be one of them, I’m still scared of making a complete ass of myself. So, I’ve told myself it’s all about Acting. Oddly enough, I’ve been having some success with this little mind trick: pretend you’re a smart biologist – how would a smart biologist react in this situation? What would a smart biologist do in this situation? And it’s great because I can become another person, one with a little more confidence and moxie. So far so good.

The job has been getting a little better. I realize that the learning curve there is pretty darn steep, and I’ve absorbed a lot in the past 2 1/2 weeks. Stuff I’d never thought I’d know before. I can see where this job would be very cool once you kind of figure things out, but for now, I’m still baffled and apparently I will be for a while (at least that’s what everyone says). However, I still believe that it is an important job, a necessary job, and one that I can learn to do. Don’t know how long I’ll want to do it, but for now, I’m happy with…Acting!

Wow – I even have my own cave…er, I mean, office!

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

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…

Another chapter ends…and I’ve listened to my last recorded phone call!

Posted in Career, Friends and Family, Me Me Me! by

Friday was my last day as a temp at CLC. Which was sad, because I grew to really like everyone that I worked with. But it is also good, because I have a new job to start, and new adventures on my horizon. It was a nice send-off though; they decorated my cube for my birthday, got a “Happy Birthday and Good Luck” cake, and even bought me some essential letterboxing supplies. Out of all the temp jobs I’ve ever worked, this one was definitely the most fun – not because of the work but because the people were so awesome. I will miss them, and hopefully I’ll be able to keep in touch with at least a couple of the friends I made there.

Here’s a picture of everyone, each with their own personalized rubber ducky. From left-to-right, we have Alyssa, Matt, Tricia, Tom, Peter, and Russ in the back row; and Erica, Joan, Marci, and Raquel in the front row. Sadly, Marnie was out sick on Friday but that’s her pink duck I’m holding.


Click here to get down and funky with a farewell dance for Marci!

Happy Birthday to me!

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

Yes, today is my birthday, but I’ll tell you that the last few days have all been good. This post will concern the events of Thursday, which was the day…

…insert drumroll here, please…

…that will be marked as…

…the day when…

…are you ready yet?…

…the U.S. government decided I was worthy of being put on their payroll!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!

Yes, I have finally been offered my first real job, as a Fish and Wildlife Biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based right here in Carlsbad, CA. I interviewed with them about a week ago and they called me Thursday to offer me the position, and you can bet I snatched that right up. I’m happy to report that I will have a comfortable salary, complete with the satisfaction of knowing that I’m doing something that will utilize my education AND allow me to contribute to a good cause. In a nutshell, my position will be mostly regulatory – I’ll be reviewing development proposals and making sure that they are in compliance with the Endangered Species Act. I start my job on March 20, which gives me some free time to do a small consulting project and then kick back for a couple of weeks (and serve jury duty, but that will be another blog entry). I’m going to probably start apartment hunting during that time, and maybe even go to Mexico (or at least somewhere) for a little fun. Sound good? I’m pretty excited about the whole thing!

Anyway, I have some pictures to post but that will have to happen tomorrow (at the earliest). I’m off to play with my Sims, who have been neglected for the past few months. Cheers!

Fine. I didn’t want that job anyway!

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

Like, whatever! I didn’t get the Educator Guide position at the Wild Animal Park, but I was going to turn it down anyway. I think the main issue I had was that first, the hours were REALLY variable – between 4 and 20 per week, with no set scheduling, which would make it hard to plan other work. Additionally, the job announcement wasn’t really accurate – I wouldn’t be handling animals, giving animal presentations, or VIP tours. The main duty was helping out with programs for REALLY little kids – as young as 2 – and I’m sorry, but I’m not a babysitter. So there. I think I probably didn’t get the position because I don’t have experience working with such little kids, nor do I want to have that experience. So it’s for the best.

In other exciting events, all of you out there should TOTALLY CALL MY CELL PHONE!!! I’ve got custom rings programmed for all you guys, so when you call, instead of boring ringing you (yes, YOU, not me) will hear other fun things. So you should call me and find out what ring I set up for you! Hee hee hee!

Seriously though, I want a job.

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

So today I had an interview with the US Fish and Wildlife Service for a biologist position I applied to about four months ago. It was nice though – only 20 minutes away in Carlsbad, and I didn’t even have to take a freeway to get there. I think the interview went really well – no real stumpers, and the people interviewing me seemed nice enough. The position is more regulatory in nature, dealing with development proposals and evaluating what the impacts might be on endangered species.

Did you know that San Diego county has the most endangered and threatened species out of all the other counties in the United States?

So the job is definitely conservation-oriented, and based on what people told me, it’s a real opportunity to actually affect things and help protect endangered species. Pretty cool, I think. They said it would be a few weeks until I hear anything, and not to get discouraged. I’ll call in a couple of weeks for some (hopefully) good news!

Tomorrow is my interview at the Wild Animal Park for the Educator Guide position – part time, but very fun. I guess I’ll have to choose between whatever opportunities are presented to me – hopefully there will be a few options!

Make that a torrential downpour…

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

P.S. – The Wild Animal Park called today for an interview for the Educator Guide position. And, I’ve also applied for the Education Specialist opening they have at the park / CRES facility. I think that job will be my preference, but we’ll see what happens. Woo hoo!!!

When it rains, it pours…

Posted in Career, Me Me Me! by

You’re probably all wondering, with baited breath, what’s going on with the job situation. Well, first off, I’m probably going to tell the wildlife museum to bite me, because I don’t think the salary will be anywhere near what I’d need to pack up and move to the Bay Area; and after talking with them, it seems like the position would really be mostly administrative, managing about a hundred volunteers.

BUT…

Today I received a call from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who would like to interview me for a Fish and Wildlife Biologist position in San Diego. So the interview is next week. I’m not terribly excited by this prospect, but who knows – it might be interesting. I’ll keep an open mind about that one.

AND…

My friend Mark contacted me about doing some consulting work for him – he’ll give me projects as they come up, which is great because it pays really well and I would definitely be using my education. So my first project will be compiling and synthesizing water temperature standards for western states (or something like that).

And my application is still out there for an Educator Guide position at the Wild Animal Park, which I would LOVE to do. It would be great experience for the direction I want go, and combined with the consulting work, I could make some decent money.

But we’ll see. Are your fingers STILL crossed? Good! 🙂