Cleaning Out My Corporate Desk

A few minutes ago, birding posters from Texas and California were covering these now blaring white office walls. My giant spider plant now sits lonely on top of my corporate issued bookshelf, its spider babies hanging down to the third shelve. A philodendron grows happily from a purple bottle that I placed a small leaf in over two years ago, it's roots grow in swirl patterns inside and the lush foliage cascades down my desk.

An email from my boss "Call me." In response if she had any work for me to do for the week. I called. My boss's boss wanted me to leave Friday instead of next month with some severance pay.

So I'm leaving this job in just two day, I am terrified and excited. I cleaned out my desk instead of attending the conference call for my business unit, which put a big smile on my face to not being the one asking questions about where our billable work was coming from in the next few months. I found old receipts for car rentals, hotels, even food I ate all the way back to two years ago. They were from places like Nogales, AZ, all border towns from the shores of California to the Gulf of Texas that I have spent years working in as a biologist.

Several years ago, after an attempt to drive to Vermont led to me selling pottery and living in my parent's mountain side cabin, I got a call where a good job landed in my lap, an old friend recommended me. A look at my depleted bank account, a quick plane ride a few days later, and over two years of corporate servitude in saying it is alright to bulldoze places without endangered species living on them...well here I am today. The private corporate sector of biology work is looked down on by those who have federal and non profit jobs protecting land and animals, but it is needed as the human race expands and builds more and more. Over two years of being working here though has left me very unfulfilled.

I will be camping this summer in Wyoming, and will be counting birds everyday. This is a dream job for someone like me, this is where I want my career to go back to again. The best job I ever had was camping and counting birds for the Bureau of Land Management in southern California several years ago.

This blog will be about my new adventure to Wyoming, that might start as soon as next week. Please check back often. I will be camping for up to ten days at a time, and will have to post to the blog when I have access to civilization again. My job starts in May, I will be exploring Wyoming on my own until then.