Parks so far

So far so good. The parks job lets me roam about outside all day. Not too bad coming from an office job.

I've been placed with two other rangers - Calvin and Andrew. Calvin is a transplanted Miami man who followed his girlfriend. A quick keyword finds him to have coined sayings like "sack of good luck pudding." He's the classic beat reporter with Ivy League wit.

Andrew was a disenchanted office worker and not unlike myself, found his way to the anticubicle. Before his stint in office worker hell, he was a peace corps volunteer down in the Domincan Republic. I still haven't figured out what he did down there, but know that he and Anne would hit it off well.

The two of them are pretty much Fric and Frac and I tag along.

Today we fished for an hour or so before the lure popped off from Calvin's 'fisherman's' knot. We then rescued a baby raccoon, which found itself in a garbage can. Shortly thereafter we hailed an ambulance for a kid who fell off the monkey bars. After lunch we went on patrol, which largely comprised of shooting the shit while scaling rocks and telling each other our stories, tree and bird identification.

More later.

Hair and such

I woke up around 7:10 this morning ready for my 2nd day working for the parks. I knew, however, that I had a job to do before heading out: buzz the rest of my head. I had charged my trimmer overnight and went at it. It ran out of juice around 3/4 of the way through a rough job. What to do . . .

A quick check online for the hours of the local Duane Reade had it opening around 7a.m. I needed a new shaver and I knew one quickly. So I headed down and after a little bit of haggling, which I didn't know was possible, purchased a new clipper set for $16, down from $26. The reduction had something to do with signing up for a new membership card. So maybe it wasn't haggling, but the selling of my e-mail address.

Bought it and headed back up. Quickly I might add. Very quickly.

The new clippers were ridiculously efficient. In no time at all I had my ugly mug with only a buzz cut to frame it. I made it with no time to spare.

Having roughly cleaned up the mess I'd created, I had to run out the door to make it to work on time. I made it. Breathless. I made it running. God I haven't run in ages.

Not quite . . .

Not quite a haircut. I started giving myself a haircut just a few minutes ago - but my clippers ran out of batteries after only getting to the front half left side of my head. Yup, I look pretty ridiculous.

Charging the dang thing now - hopefully it'll right itself before I have to show up at work tomorrow morning. Eeek.

Wish me luck!

1st day at the parks

I started training today for the parks job - received my smokey the bear hat and had full uniform. It took a little while to get over the dorkiness of it all. Actually, I'm not sure I'll fully get over it before the summer is through.

The training group was relatively eclectic - several people just out of college and from all over the U.S.

The training consisted of basic procedure/protocol, the parks organizational chart, radio usage etc. Quite boring - but it was all classroom stuff.

Tomorrow we'll be learning about the programs we'll be putting on for the public - I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow will be in Inwood Hill park. I love that park.

We were asked to put our top three boroughs for placement down on an index card with no guarantees. Someone will be heading down to Staten Island. Luckily, I may be too far from there to be a serious consideration. My top choices: 1) Manhattan; 2) Bronx and; 3) Brooklyn. Looks like Brooklyn is out of the question as so many have requested it.

At first I was against working in Central Park. But after walking around today - so much deep 'woods' and lots of quite spots, it grew on me and I switched to to #1 choice. I wouldn't be disappointed in the least if placed in the Bronx. Van Cortlandt park is supposedly a great place to work, with tons of trails and all.

Wherever I'm placed, there will apparently be no shortage of canoeing . Haven't canoed since 1999 - lake Washington abutting University of Washington's campus.