Everything Needs a Title

Not much to report this week. I spent Monday in Asheville at the SO working on more trail strategy stuff. Had a meeting with 2 of my bosses to work out schedules because I can't handle many more 100-hour pay periods. Once we got all that taken care of, I worked in my cubicle for the rest of the day, which wasn't that long since I now only work 6 hours in the office because of my 2 hour drive. Monday night I had sushi for dinner, because it's the off season they have buy-one-get-one free rolls. It is truly fantastic.

On Tuesday, I was in Asheville again trying to get a Google group’s page working, creating a doodle calendar, and more deciphering. Not a very exciting day in the office. But when I got back to the Pisgah Ranger District, I found I had a present!!! A NEW CAMERA to replace the one that broke in Washington DC when I was there on training a few weeks back. I am so excited to try it out, I might make a mid-week blog of just photos!!!

Wednesday was Fun Day; basically the ranger district has a safety meeting once a month, this one, before the season starts. They take time to appreciate the staff with a potluck and games and awards. I got to sit through the safety part but then had to leave before the fun began. Then had to go back to Asheville for a lunch meeting at a place call Home Grown. It is amazing. I have been there twice and each time I get the smoked trout wrap with apples, pears, sprouts, and cream cheese, it's wonderful! After the lunch meeting I worked some more on maps and deciphering people's hand writing. Which to my surprise is a lot harder than I first anticipated.

By Thursday I was so tired of traveling to Asheville to work 6 hours then driving home not feeling like I was accomplishing much on the dinosaur I call a computer, that I decided I would work from the Pisgah Ranger District (PRD), which is only a 15 mile drive down the mountain. I spread out on the floor working on giant 3 by 4 maps trying to put trail numbers with trail names, which would be pretty easy if people didn't draw on one trail, write a different number, then call it a different name all together. So that took a while and in the end I didn't get close to being finished. 

Friday I put the finishing touches on the doodle calendar meeting, finished the NC Trails Strategy group, and had a conference call with the regional office. All before lunch. Pretty productive, and then I sat on the phone for 3 hours trying to get on the Oracle Drive and get my VPN, and after 3 hours then decided the "O-drive" would work but I would have to be transferred to another person for the VPN. I need the VPN because come the winter (or anytime I want to work up at the cradle) I can't. I have to drive down the mountain, which right now is fine because its summer but come winter when the snow is 3 feet deep at 4000 feet, I’m not going to want to make that journey everyday. So after I was transferred to someone else and sat on the phone for another hour they told me my supervisor would have submit the request. Then it was time to go home for the day! So all-in-all not very productive when you add the morning to the afternoon. Worst part about those calls is they remote into your computer so you can’t even get work done while you’re on the phone. Terrible.

Saturday I did a whole lot of nothing. I woke up early because we had a group photo, then individual photos. Then I went into town and did some shopping looking for some gifts. Went back up the mountain and hung out at the cradle, was going to take pictures of visitors but there wasn’t many, so I just talked to the volunteers. After the shift was over, we had a Cinco de Mayo party at the community building. Oh, but first we had to watch the Kentucky derby because it’s history and a long-standing tradition. And we talked about the Super Moon, which is when the full moon is closest to the earth. It is 15 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter. And it was happening at 11:35, so I stayed up. Only we forgot to factor in that we are in a mountain bowl: every point around us is higher then we are. So I set my alarm for 30 minute intervals. At 2:30 in the morning the moon was high enough so I could see it, but by that time it had gotten cloudy. I did manage to get a couple of good shots that I will post on here as soon as I figure out how to get the photos off my camera.

Look who showed up. It's the Schwan's man.

My pictures in the paper, too bad no photo credit.