Thursday, September 23, 2010

All Work and Some Play

I love this.


I also love this: ranger posters in the hotel rooms.


Whoa! That's the biggest arrowhead I have ever seen!

I left on Monday morning with a crew from the battlefield to head to Mammoth Cave National Park for some Operational Leadership training. I can't complain; I love Mammoth Cave and the training proved fairly interesting.

A thought that intrigued me the most during the training concerned the high incident rates amongst National Park Service personnel. Additionally, in an OPM survey, the NPS ranked something like 249th out of 251 government agencies in work/life ratio. A huge percentage of National Park Service employees are dedicated to their mission. Many are so dedicated that it blinds them to their own safety (hence the high incident rates) and even their home life and families. Some are so dedicated, they've tattooed the arrowhead on their arm. Just kidding, Dad...

It is a blessing and a curse to work with so many talented, passionate, and dedicated employees. I love my job. I love the people I work with. I love to visit other parks and meet other rangers who also devote so much to their job. But I think I have to take care that I don't fall into the my-job-is-the-center-of-my-world mentality. That could prove problematic in my future (imma thinkin).

In other news, I met with my thesis advisor last week and the meeting went well. I actually feel motivated enough to pull out my research again. Maybe I can finish this thing so I can move on with my life. And by "move on with my life" I really mean "be a park ranger somewhere." It will happen.

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