Today I reported to work for my first day on the job as area geologist for a certain agency in northern California. All of a sudden, the landslides, floods, erosion, streamflows, earthquakes and other natural processes that are known to besiege this country from time to time are now my problem. Well, not a ‘problem’ per se, but fall under my watch – so to speak. It will be an immensely new challenge for me, and I am very excited and grateful to have been given the opportunity to develop many of my own programs across the landscape. And what’s best about it all – is that it’s not all mine – but “ours” – I felt that.
After ten years at my previous job, today wasn’t easy for me. There is the old building where I used to work at, and when I walked in the door at the beginning of a day, I was intimately familiar with the environment I entered. Today, I walked through a completely new door, into a building I had only been in a handful of times, to an entirely new set of faces. Some folks I already knew and that was helpful. Of course, I walked into a place where everyone else knew the environment they were in – were intimately familiar with it. What I found was a generally happy group of folks that were willing to help out, engage in small talk and welcome me aboard. Some spoke to me personally – telling me how well everyone worked together and pitched in for the common goals – something that was perhaps straining at times at my old place of employment – or perhaps I had been there too long and had somehow become removed from it all. I was impressed about how everyone seemed determined to do their jobs in a professional yet casual manner – not needing to be told what to do and doing it all with a seeming relaxed ease – At least that’s the day one impression.
Shaken Rain 