Everett, WA

So I've arrived in Everett. I flew in on Wednesday, and Thursday was my first day of work. Just to provide some background for those I haven't talked to, I'm working at the Stilly-Snohomish Fisheries Enhancement Task Force, which is a small non-profit organization. The name comes from the fact that we work in the Stillaguamish and Snohomish watersheds. The position is through Americorps (and more specifically, Washington Service Corps), and is pretty varied. Over the course of the next 10 1/2 months I'll be doing a lot of habitat restoration (including invasive plant control, riparian plantings, and nutrient enhancement, aka carcass distribution), education (working with volunteers and/or school groups to accomplish the above restoration goals, as well as some classroom lessons I guess), and project planning/office work type stuff. So far I've mostly done office work. I did get to do some mapping, but the Task Force has a really old version of ArcGIS (technically it's ArcView v. 3.2, and if anyone from my mapping class is reading this they'll understand hopefully). Obviously the older program can't do as much, but that lowered the learning curve for me a bit, as I'm used to wading through a bazillion more options. Of course, it was no fun looking for stuff that ArcMap v. 9.whatever Denison has can do, but the older version simply doesn't have...but whatevs.

So enough about the position itself. I'll probably have more to post about as I delve deeper into the work. Living in Everett, to put it bluntly, pretty much sucks. I really do hate cities quite a lot. You would think that having more options in the general vicinity would make things easier, but honestly I feel just as constrained as I did in the Smokies. In some ways, I feel more constrained. I don't care if I have 5 different Teriyaki places within walking distance. I have ZERO natural areas within walking distance. Yep, that's right, ZERO. No access to Puget Sound really, no access to mountains, no access to forests. There's an arboretum at the north end of the city, but it's quite pathetic. As someone who would rather run around in the woods, climbing trees and looking for birds and salamanders, yes, I feel incredibly constrained in Everett. Field work will alleviate that somewhat, but it's not totally the same. In the Smokies I could wake up early to go birding on weekends, or just decide to go on a long hike up a mountain and GO. Here, I can walk to the grocery store, or walk around neighborhoods, but that just doesn't appeal to me that much.

And then we come to the house. It's not terrible I guess. It's certainly not a dump (in fact, it's kind of nice I guess). It's just that there's not really a useable common room. There's a "living room" (which is really just a hallway basically), but it doesn't have a TV, chairs, a couch, or anything else except a few lamps and our wireless router. That said, the internet connection here is DAMN good. But then we move to the kitchen. It's nice enough, stocked with dishes, and cooking stuff, etc, but it is missing something that I just assumed all kitchens had: a kitchen table. There's a small metal patio table type thing with one metal chair, but honestly, that's just not the same. So needless to say everyone pretty much just stays in their individual rooms (there are 5 rooms being rented out on the main floor, and the landlords live downstairs). And aside from Claire, the other Americorps IP (Individual Placement) that works at the Task Force, there's nobody else my age in the house. Makes me miss park housing in the Smokies.

But perhaps I just need to give things more time. I probably won't ever get to the point that I actually LIKE living in Everett. But I'm sure even that will be valuable: I doubt I'd ever move to a big city again unless I had a VERY good reason, and it would have to be temporary.

I DID get a new computer though. Which is why I'm able to provide this lovely update. It's one of the new Macbooks, with an aluminum casing and more energy efficient screen (sorry Kim, I know you advised me not to go with a Mac, but I've used Vista and hate it, and the new Macbook is a very environmentally conscious computer, which to me is WELL worth the extra cost).

So yeah. That's enough of that. Sorry if this post was a bit too negative. Maybe I just need to settle in a bit more. But for now it's almost bed time (yay for field work tomorrow!).

Goodbye Ohio...

Wow, for some reason when I typed in the "Goodbye" in the subject line "Goodbye Ida" popped up as something that I'd posted before. Well, seeing as Ida departed Curtis forever after FRESHMEN year, and I just made my gmail blog last year, I don't see how that's possible. Computers are creepy.

Anyways, in one week I will depart the state of Ohio. I was offered the fisheries position in Washington (state), and I accepted it today. I also secured a pretty much guaranteed source of housing 5 min. from work, though I'm still going to check out one other source to compare prices. Now the task that is before me is whether to take the train (more environmentally friendly and slightly cheaper) or fly (MUCH faster). Either way, I'm going to force myself to purchase a ticket by tomorrow, because I don't want to get screwed. This is already last minute. Today would probably be better, but we'll see.

And so begins my next exciting adventure. At this point I'm really most excited about being in Washington. I'm not sure what they'll have me start out doing for work (though I suspect that the first couple of days will be training of some sort). I won't have a car, obviously, but that won't be an issue in terms of day to day life (or so I've been told). The major drawback will be not being able to drive somewhere to go camping/hiking. If I have time off I'll probably rent a car or something. Take a little backpacking trip, or perhaps visit Erin (who, despite being only one state away, will still be about 5 hours away). Another unfortunate side effect of doing an Americorps position is the pay, but my loans will be deferred and I'll get another education award (of larger sum). So money will be tight for the next 10 1/2 months, but not as bad as it was this summer.

Since I'll be flying or taking the Hogwarts Express, I won't be able to bring my computer :( I'm sure there will be a library somewhere nearby, but that was kind of annoying over the summer and so we'll see how this all works out. I am considering getting a Macbook (while I'm in WA), since I don't have plans to get a car in the next year or so. Might as well take a chunk out of my savings with something, right? Hehehe, bad logic, I know, but I think having a laptop will be worth it. I don't need anything fancy, either. I just feel bad because my desktop is only 2 years old, and I don't want to be one of those nerds with multiple computers (cue comment from Josh here).

Anyways, I guess that's all for now. I'll actually be doing something with my life again, and who knows, maybe I'll even have reason to post on this blog more often...