{"id":20410,"date":"2012-11-12T12:54:03","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T19:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=20410"},"modified":"2012-11-12T12:54:03","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T19:54:03","slug":"t-minus-1-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=20410","title":{"rendered":"T minus 1 week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-20410 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=20420'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/panoramic-Beartooth-alpine-glow-first-BLM-day1-300x300.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-20420\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-20420'>\n\t\t\t\tMy first work day, alpine glow on the Beartooth Mountains\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=20421'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/sagebrush-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-20421\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-20421'>\n\t\t\t\tThe ubiquitous sagebrush\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon portrait'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=20422'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/alicia-and-fish-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-20422\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-20422'>\n\t\t\t\tVacation to the Bighorn Mountains; my range technician coworker showing off her brook trout \n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=20423'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/D-and-L-Beartooths-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-20423\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t<dd class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-20423'>\n\t\t\t\tVacation in the Beartooths: my mentor and &#8220;alternate intern keeper&#8221; chillin&#8217; at our lunch site\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>\n\t\t\t<br style='clear: both' \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve always had a fear of getting stuck in a permanent job, especially one I didn&#8217;t like.\u00a0But\u00a0since I&#8217;ve been\u00a0working in Cody for just over a year and a half,\u00a0I feel like I have been working a &#8220;real&#8221; job, not just an internship.\u00a0I know the field office, I know the projects, the people, the wildlife, the plants, the tools, how to keep myself busy and prioritize tasks&#8230; In short, I know the job. I suppose this is what\u00a0a &#8220;real&#8221; job feels like, and it&#8217;s not that scary. Granted,\u00a0my internship has been extended in 5-month chunks, based on funding, which probably eased my phobia of permanency. Nevertheless, if I can approach a new grown-up job with the same confidence that I have when I sit down to my computer in the morning here, turn the key in the ignition of a government-owned vehicle, drive miles out to a remote work site, and accomplish the task I prioritized for myself for the day, I will have no problem taking on a &#8220;real&#8221; job. New jobs never start out that way, but I know I will get there. I know this because I&#8217;ve done it, piece by piece. I have acquired more skills and absorbed more knowledge than I probably even realize, and by putting it all into practice day by day at a job like this, knowing the work is valuable, I have finally acquired the confidence to go with it. I work hard. I am responsible. I can learn new things. I get stuff done. I am employable. These facts will not guarantee me a job, but knowing them does dispel the feelings of inadequacy that usually accompany the thought of getting one.<\/p>\n<p>So now I am facing the last week left of my favorite job, in the coolest place I&#8217;ve lived, partaking in some of my favorite activities. It&#8217;s sad, but I feel accomplished all the same. It&#8217;s going to injure my pride a little if I cry when I leave, but I would bet my breakfast I&#8217;m going to do it anyway.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the\u00a0projects to be wrapped up in order to finish out my internship are: writing up the wildlife section of the Cody Field Office website, gluing and labeling herbarium vouchers,\u00a0explaining all the GPS points I&#8217;ve been collecting and how they go together, and helping my mentor refine the first draft of a paper involving statistical analyses of sage-grouse lek attendance related to vegetation treatments. Guess this next week will be a busy one. I hope that will keep my mind off leaving.<\/p>\n<p>I still remember my first real work day (the one after the introductory meet-the-office day), on May 13, 2011. We left the office sometime during the 4 o&#8217;clock hour in the morning to head out to Chapman Bench and count sage-grouse, right at the end of the lekking season. I had never used a spotting scope,\u00a0seen sage-grouse or smelled sagebrush, and I couldn&#8217;t figure out why everything smelled minty when I rolled down the window until I asked my mentor about it. The alpine glow on the Beartooth Mountains was lovely, and I kept taking pictures. Then my mentor drove us up this rather steep, bumpy little two-track onto Polecat Bench, talking casually all the while as I glanced (with mild anxiety) out the back window of the truck. At the GROUND. I am from Nebraska, and had never been in any vehicle traversing\u00a0this sort of topography. I believed he knew what he was doing, but Phew. This was new.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes when I encounter situations or environmental conditions that seem a little iffy I think to myself, &#8220;what would my mentor do?&#8221; Sometimes it&#8217;s not worth it to proceed. Sometimes it isn&#8217;t as bad as it looked initially, after some cautious evaluation. I appreciate my mentor, he&#8217;s a great boss and Wildlife Biologist. Good bosses always make jobs better, and I certainly can&#8217;t complain. I also appreciate my &#8220;alternate intern keeper,&#8221; one of the resident Geologists. And the other friends I&#8217;ve made&#8230; I will miss them, but I will be back. I couldn&#8217;t stay away now. But alas,\u00a0just for now,\u00a0it is time to do a little more life stretching. So here goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve always had a fear of getting stuck in a permanent job, especially one I didn&#8217;t like.\u00a0But\u00a0since I&#8217;ve been\u00a0working in Cody for just over a year and a half,\u00a0I feel like I have been working a &#8220;real&#8221; job, not just &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=20410\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20410"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20410"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20492,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20410\/revisions\/20492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}