This is the first time I have used a computer since I left home, about two weeks ago. In comparision to the tiny, buttonless keys of my phone, the keyboard feels huge under my hands. I've been scrolling through my blog, and please excuse the untidiness, I'll be cleaning it up as I go. I just finished my first week of work, so I felt I should go ahead and type something up before I leave the office for the weekend!
Today I was all by my lonesome, more or less. Fred was out of the office today, and he left me a list of things to do.
So let's see. I went to the northeastern edge of the refuge to take some staff gage readings with the biology intern, who had nothing to do. It was fine company, I will be the first to admit that I am a little intimidated by the amount of time I spent one-on-one with my supervisor. Do you know how hard it is to keep conversation going for 8 hours? It's no easy task, let me tell you. Anyway, we got up there and took one reading, but as we continued down Portsmouth road, there was a tree blocking the way.
I know, that really happens. This is the second or third time a tree has blocked my way on the refuge. Each time it reminds me of Pokemon. Apparently, I don't have the right equipment to make it to the next gage reading, so I'll go back and train at the intern gyms until I'm ready.
But anyway, I spent all morning driving all over this little state, because I am absolutely awful with these windy country roads. They throw my sense of direction right out the Silverado's windows.
So I got lost. I was out of the office for a solid three hours, and the time it took to read the gage was only a few minutes. I can already tell this job will be a lesson in humility.
Anyway, when I get back to the refuge I realize that the passenger back tire is low on air. Really, really low. It was also audibly hissing at me. Looks like I ran over a nail on my morning out. This was stressful. Yesterday's series of small mistakes has worn me down, and when I crouched down to find the source of the hiss, my shoulder tightened up into the tiny, painful ball of stress it gets when I'm freaking out. This was also embarassing, but like I said. Humility.
After I putt-putted around and touched base with Fred, I asked the tree guy for help. He's not a tree, but that's his thing. Fred is the water guy, and Bryan is the tree guy. Anyway, he filled the tire with air and gave me really unhelpful directions- the tire place was about 7 miles away, not too bad, right?
I got lost. Breathe in, breathe out.
With my tail between my legs, I returned to the refuge, at this point, it was about 1 pm. I was wasting the whole day, and I could feel the stress building up in that sweet spot. I walked in, made jokes, and picked up one of the office interns so she could drive me. We were there in 10 minutes. Oops.
Anyway, I spent the entire day, driving around, getting lost. It was 2:30 by the time I got back to HQ, and I had done NOTHING on my list of things to do, so when Bryan told me I could cut out early, I stayed. And you know what? I finished EVERYTHING. I am a MASTER HYDROLOGIST. Data collector extraordinaire.
Really, all I did was use excell and put numbers into spreadsheets, but there were a lot of tabs to sort through. I also downloaded the flow data from the flowtracker and the depth stuff from the river surveyor. I think I'm going to take this weekend to recover.
Today I was all by my lonesome, more or less. Fred was out of the office today, and he left me a list of things to do.
 |
| My morning commute. |
I know, that really happens. This is the second or third time a tree has blocked my way on the refuge. Each time it reminds me of Pokemon. Apparently, I don't have the right equipment to make it to the next gage reading, so I'll go back and train at the intern gyms until I'm ready.
But anyway, I spent all morning driving all over this little state, because I am absolutely awful with these windy country roads. They throw my sense of direction right out the Silverado's windows.
So I got lost. I was out of the office for a solid three hours, and the time it took to read the gage was only a few minutes. I can already tell this job will be a lesson in humility.
Anyway, when I get back to the refuge I realize that the passenger back tire is low on air. Really, really low. It was also audibly hissing at me. Looks like I ran over a nail on my morning out. This was stressful. Yesterday's series of small mistakes has worn me down, and when I crouched down to find the source of the hiss, my shoulder tightened up into the tiny, painful ball of stress it gets when I'm freaking out. This was also embarassing, but like I said. Humility.
 |
| A turtle that we passed on our way to the control structures. |
I got lost. Breathe in, breathe out.
With my tail between my legs, I returned to the refuge, at this point, it was about 1 pm. I was wasting the whole day, and I could feel the stress building up in that sweet spot. I walked in, made jokes, and picked up one of the office interns so she could drive me. We were there in 10 minutes. Oops.
Anyway, I spent the entire day, driving around, getting lost. It was 2:30 by the time I got back to HQ, and I had done NOTHING on my list of things to do, so when Bryan told me I could cut out early, I stayed. And you know what? I finished EVERYTHING. I am a MASTER HYDROLOGIST. Data collector extraordinaire.
Really, all I did was use excell and put numbers into spreadsheets, but there were a lot of tabs to sort through. I also downloaded the flow data from the flowtracker and the depth stuff from the river surveyor. I think I'm going to take this weekend to recover.
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