Work, it's such a funny thing. Most people when they think of work, think of rows of cubicles and little people sitting in cubes typing away at a computer doing who knows what. You clock in in the morning, clock out at night and call it a day. Let me describe my day of "work" today. I got up at 6am, went for a run, went to the office, sat in front of a computer and made up some invasive plant ID sheets, hopped into a van, drove for an hour through the mountains, put on a dry suit, and rafted down a river. Ahhh...another rough day in the office. That's right, today I was paid (very well) to go rafting.
This is obviously not a normal day occurrence but this is one of the many cool things about the company I'm working for this summer/fall in Alaska. They treat their employees very well. For the two weeks I'm in (paid) training, they've put myself and another coworker in a kick ass hotel room and are paying for all of our meals. Oh and they paid for the equivalent of a one-way plane ticket plus eight hours of my time to get up here. We do work long days (this week I put in nearly 55 hours) but I'm being paid overtime and the people I work with are AWESOME. I've worked with some pretty cool people in the past but I don't think I've ever worked for a company where everyone is as open and friendly as the group I'm working with now. They are already becoming like family and it's only a week into my employment with the company.
My roommate (and coworker) cracks me up. She's the youngest person in the company (23 years old) and comes across as being raised as a wholesome good natured child who would never wrong her parents. She is always on her best behavior, doesn't drink, doesn't tell crude/nasty jokes like the rest of the group, and has the most enthusiasm I have ever seen (I also think she reads the Bible at night, but haven't been able to confirm it yet). We were in soil training for the first three days and it was pretty frickin' cool to dig a pit and look at soil all day, but my level of enthusiasm was no where near hers. "Oh my GOSH!" She'd say. "This soil is SO COOL! Look at all the colors!" I can only imagine when the day comes when we've worked for 10 days straight in the rain and are being eaten alive by the state bird (noted by the locals as the mosquito), that she'd be the only one to exclaim, "Oh my GOSH! These mosquitoes are SO cool! Look at how much blood they can suck out of my arm! LOOK! It's like the rain is trying to drown them but they keep coming back. I LOVE MOSQUITOES! Oh I wish it would rain again tomorrow!!" I can't help but laugh just thinking about it.
So needless to say, work has been awesome. This week we have helicopter safety training (did I mention that I'm going to get paid to fly around in helicopters every day?), bear training (did I mention that they hired a bear guard to sit and protect us while we work in the field?), gun safety (yep, get to carry a firearm too!), CPR training (get to update my first aid/CPR card for free!) and a good old fashioned BBQ. I could get use to this.
This is obviously not a normal day occurrence but this is one of the many cool things about the company I'm working for this summer/fall in Alaska. They treat their employees very well. For the two weeks I'm in (paid) training, they've put myself and another coworker in a kick ass hotel room and are paying for all of our meals. Oh and they paid for the equivalent of a one-way plane ticket plus eight hours of my time to get up here. We do work long days (this week I put in nearly 55 hours) but I'm being paid overtime and the people I work with are AWESOME. I've worked with some pretty cool people in the past but I don't think I've ever worked for a company where everyone is as open and friendly as the group I'm working with now. They are already becoming like family and it's only a week into my employment with the company.
My roommate (and coworker) cracks me up. She's the youngest person in the company (23 years old) and comes across as being raised as a wholesome good natured child who would never wrong her parents. She is always on her best behavior, doesn't drink, doesn't tell crude/nasty jokes like the rest of the group, and has the most enthusiasm I have ever seen (I also think she reads the Bible at night, but haven't been able to confirm it yet). We were in soil training for the first three days and it was pretty frickin' cool to dig a pit and look at soil all day, but my level of enthusiasm was no where near hers. "Oh my GOSH!" She'd say. "This soil is SO COOL! Look at all the colors!" I can only imagine when the day comes when we've worked for 10 days straight in the rain and are being eaten alive by the state bird (noted by the locals as the mosquito), that she'd be the only one to exclaim, "Oh my GOSH! These mosquitoes are SO cool! Look at how much blood they can suck out of my arm! LOOK! It's like the rain is trying to drown them but they keep coming back. I LOVE MOSQUITOES! Oh I wish it would rain again tomorrow!!" I can't help but laugh just thinking about it.
So needless to say, work has been awesome. This week we have helicopter safety training (did I mention that I'm going to get paid to fly around in helicopters every day?), bear training (did I mention that they hired a bear guard to sit and protect us while we work in the field?), gun safety (yep, get to carry a firearm too!), CPR training (get to update my first aid/CPR card for free!) and a good old fashioned BBQ. I could get use to this.
Training in a wetland
This is what a typical soil pit will look like. We dig a hole 24" deep and describe the layers of soil to help us determine if it's a wetland or not.
A view from the highway on our way to go rafting. Another rough day at the office.
Dude. We miss you down here (especially on Monday nights) but your job sounds awesome and I'm really glad you went up there. Margaret needed a good doctor (things wouldn't be good if she wasn't happy). And someone has to teach Alaskans about bike lanes. And someone has to raft those rivers (tis a tough job, indeed) and stay protected from those bears. I'm glad you rose to the call of duty because someone had to! ;)
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