Life in DC

Well, I’ve been in Washington, D.C. for a few weeks now, and except
for a series of flat tires on my bike, it’s all been going well.  I
had about a month at home in Oregon, after finishing up in Mesa Verde,
Colorado in December and spending the winter in Japan, then I drove
3000 miles across the country, with a few stops along the way to play
scrabble with relatives.   I’m working for the National Park Service
now at Rock Creek Park: it’s a small urban park, but it’s got a lot
going on.  I’m working as a biological technician doing vegetation and
boundary mapping, but since their natural resources intern is leaving
next week, I’ll also be doing her duties, tracking turtles using radio
telemetry, setting up vegetation plots, and assisting with any other
water quality, vegetation, or wildlife projects going on in the park.
Plus, since the park doesn’t have anyone else doing mapping, I’ll
probably be handling a variety of miscellaneous GPS/GIS tasks for
other divisions.  So, I should have the opportunity to work on lots of
different things – and, of course, since, it’s in D.C., I’ll have the
chance to see plenty of other cool stuff.

I’ve already gone to the main monuments, the White House, the National
Zoo, and a couple of the Smithsonians (which are now filled with
little placards everywhere proclaiming “The T-Rex: as seen on Night at
the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”).  D.C. isn’t a particularly
bike-friendly city, but I’ve been biking a bunch anyway.  Besides
riding to work every day, and to the monuments and museums on the
weekends, I also biked along the C&O Canal to the Maryland side of
Great Falls, and I’m looking forward to exploring the area more over
the course of the summer.

I’m living in a very nice house, an easy 4-5 mile ride from the park,
with another smaller park starting in the backyard, and a library and
grocery store nearby.  It has plenty of space (there are four people
here now, but room for eight more), and came fully equipped, with a
huge number of leftover dishes, a big screen TV, and lots of blenders.
 There aren’t as many seasonals here as at other parks I’ve worked at,
but the ones I’ve met all seem nice.  My boss seems like a good guy,
although he was out for most of my first couple of weeks here with
pink eye, strep throat, and a fever (he'll probably come down with the
Black Death tomorrow).  The office next to mine has holes in the
ceiling where it was chewed through by a racoon.

Here's a link to the park website, and more information:

http://www.nps.gov/rocr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Creek_Park

I hope you're all doing well.