From the Western Plains

The list of ways in which my new job is an improvement over my old job
is substantial:

1. Don't have to work with a jackass (at least, none have revealed
themselves yet).
2. Get to go out in the field and look for snakes, fish, learn to
identify trees, etc.
3. My workplace doesn't smell like noxious chemicals (in Texoma the
air quality within the research building was awful).
4. I'm getting to learn about Gray Bats. Really? Gray bats?
5. Although my office doesn't have a window, it does have a really
comfortable chair, two huge computer monitors, my own phone-line, and
all the storage space I could possibly use.
6. Free hats! Free waders! Free wading shoes! Free cell phone!
Free books! I got a "Mussels of Kansas" book the other day!
7. I'm getting to learn something totally new.
8. I get to make decisions about how people can build things, what
they need to do to prevent environmental damage, and how to best
protect the environment.
9. The Army COE, the EPA, the FWS...all these guys are listening to
me when they make decisions about how to regulate streams and
wetlands. Not just me, but definitely me.
10. Did I mention I get paid better, with better benefits, and they
will pay for me to go to meetings, and they have a per-diem?

So yeah, this new job is working out ok.