BREAKING NEWS

[dcwash]

I GOT A JOB!!!!

Um, I think.  They called a minute ago to make sure I was still interested, and I said yes, so they're writing up a tentative offer, dependent on my passing the standard background check, which I can't imagine not doing.

And here I was feeling guilty for skipping ringing practice tonight. If I hadn't, I would have missed the phone

Comments

[lalumena]

YAYYYYYY!

[roh_wyn]

Yay! Congrats and good luck!

[dcwash]

Believe it or not, I'm going to be...a park ranger. Here: http://www.nps.gov/nace
I'm not positive which park it will be with, but, from a conversation late last week with the director of the Frederick Douglass house, it sounds like Kenilworth water gardens and Anacostia, which have the same director. Which I find truly surprising, given my background, but she said the director of those parks (whom I still haven't had any contact with) wants somebody to help her with writing projects.

[roh_wyn]

Oh! So jealous...I always wanted to be a park ranger!

So will you let us know which park so we can come fangirl you? You'll be bigger than the actual park attraction, I'm sure! :D

[dcwash]

Here's the thing: I wanted to be a park ranger when I was a wee child, but changed my mind for a variety of reasons, not the least being that I find cities much more interesting places to live than the backcountry. But probably half the land in DC is owned by the National Park Service, which is one of the reasons it's a much greener city than many others. With this job, I get the best of both worlds. I get to work on the riverside doing ecological programs or at an old mill doing historic interpretation...then hop on the subway to go clubbing. (Well, in as much as I club these days.) DC being DC, we don't, technically, have any city parks or city or state historic districts or sites, and very few private ones--it's all federal, and run by the NPS.

[omteddy2006]

That is awesome! I wanted to be a park ranger; one of the jobs I contemplated when I was doing the museum studies degree. I even took wildlife management and ecology courses, just in case. One question: you don't have to wear the uniform, do you? Those pants make everyone's butt look big. I could live with the hat, but the pants are a little off.

[dcwash]

I think so. At least, I applied for one NPS job that mentioned a uniform requirement in the ad, and I think it was this one. And I hope I do get a uniform, because I HATE clothes shopping and deciding what to wear every day. A uniform would take care of those problems.

When I worked at a living history museum, they said the NPS pretty much set the standard for what historical interpretation should be. So if you're interested in that kind of thing, you really should look into it, especially since they manage so many non-nature-related properties. For instance, my first favorable impression of the uniform came from the ranger doing a NPS walking tour of the French Quarter in New Orleans: here it was a sweltering Memorial Day weekend, and his hat cast a perfect cone of shade for him, every step he took.

[omteddy2006]

I've taken that same tour in New Orleans. It was a good one.

The NPS Museum Handbook was one of my textbooks in grad school. It is like the bible of museums studies. I have it near my desk at work. (It's too large to be ON my desk at work.) There isn't any NPS property near me, and hubby is up for tenure next year. I think my park ranger dream is just that, unless I decide to do summer volunteer work later in life.

Before you put on the uniform, you should read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey if you haven't already. One of my favorite books. He was a seasonal park ranger at Arches for ten years. Plus, he's a darn entertaining read.

[starbuck_a_dale]

Awesome! I've never had a good enough job that they had to write up an offter