watch what you wish for
the cubicle i was supposed to be put in (i hate cubicles) didnt have a computer, so boss put me in someone’s old office. i have an office, and my boss has a cubicle. whaaat? and i mean i have an actual office. window, door, 2 desks, chairs- shoot i even have a coat rack for all my invisible coats.  actually the office is kind of barren because government employees are starved for supplies and resort to scavenger-ism; it is guaranteed that if an office is left for a couple days, all the cool things will be stripped from it. i do have a map of the us that’s taller than i am, though; i like it, and i kinda want to bring it home. but i don’t think im allowed. i would love to put tiny X’s on all the places i want to drive to.
i’m doing this “project” (code for: “crap, what do we do with this intern”) where i’m skimming through this heavy heavy document about a proposed power plant (if i said anymore i’d have to kill you….jk, bush jr. has been talking about it for a while) and jotting down all the aspects that might relate to the farm service agency. so im pretty much re-writing the 800 page document by hand. background for:
me: “so is there like, a timeline i should consider for finishing this project? let’s see, i’m about 1/4 ways through the first vol.”
boss: “well, you can be flexible with it. i mean, if you want to take a break and work on something else, feel free. if you want
to like, read a newspaper online for a while, that’s cool too. i mean, this is the federal government.”
me: “oh. (chipper) ok!”
have you heard my “chipper” voice?  it’s my phone voice for people i don’t know. it’s also my office “yes boss” voice. i also use it to introduce newcomers to things like meetings/gatherings that they might feel uncomfortable in.  it’s a very…instructional/educational movie…type voice. in other words, it’s really annoying. i need it to end. i guess it’s been useful these past couple days in the office, but if i keep it up any longer my voice will probably crack.
we did have an interesting (for at least the first of 2 hours) meeting today though- basically introductions for the interns to what the heck the FSA does. which, since im a nerd, i totally took 3 pages worth of notes on. since i also attract the attention of people passionate in this field, i also had one of the heads pretty much talking directly to me during his entire presentation, which was kinda odd because it was obvious he didnt care about what the other 2 interns thought. who btw i kinda feel bad for- one is geography and the other is cultural anthropology. i mean sure, they overlap with agriculture….in the sense that they eat food and stuff. ignore what i just said though, because i know one of them does GIS work, which is ridiculously useful and sought after, so i shouldnt even be talking. what can *i* do for fsa? my genuine answer is: learn.