Official Employee!

Thursday, September 3: I am now an official Virginia Department of Health employee! I have a badge and a giant cell phone that doubles as a walkie-talkie. And a Prince William lanyard. My job is great so far. I am right in the thick of things. On Thursday I went to a school nurse training for H1N1 and even got to jump in a few times with ideas--the nurses were jazzed about hand washing songs! I think this is the right job for me.

Another benefit of this job is the office, even if I spend lots of the time in other people's spaces, listening to conference calls. At NIH I shared the basement lab below with my direct supervisor. In this photo you are looking at pretty much the whole lab, plus a little counter space towards the camera. It's as narrow as it looks. My desk was pretty much the computer, and the space taken up by my purse in this picture.
And look at my desk now!! So much space! And look--there's a window!
And this is the view out the window. I'm told that brown strip is a pond when there is more rain. Apparently there are frogs, turtles and snakes who live there. I'm excited for some safari action.