A glimpse of my day

Here are two of the animals I work with at the zoo.

This is Freeday. He is an Indian Runner Duck.

This is Cody. He is a North American Porcupine. I train him on a few different behaviors.

Aren't they cute?

New hair cut

I got a new hair cut today and the lady thought that I was still in high school. This was even after we had discussed how I work at the zoo. So, in one blow she knocked down me and my career. I guess I should be happy that she thinks I'm still in high school and one day I will probably miss getting comments like that. Right now though, it is like "No! I graduated from college about two years ago now thank you very much." Then, after I told her that I indeed had a college degree she goes "So what are you doing now?" Um HELLO!! We just discussed that I work at the zoo. I said "Well, the zoo IS my full time career". She just didn't get it.

Also, when I go and get my hair cut, people always comment on how healthy my hair is. The shampoo lady commented on it and then so did the stylist. Then, in the next breath they both try to sell me all of these crazy products that I "should" be using. I always want to say, "Didn't you just tell me how healthy my hair is? Did you ever consider that could be because I DON'T use millions of products on it?"

6 Months in..

My new job is going quite well. I have now been there a little over six months. I have been trained in most of the areas and have to wait to get a rabies shot to be trained in the rest. I have just finished learning to make all of the diets for everything in our section. I quite enjoy this part actually.

My favorite parts of my job is getting to do animal training. I have three animals that I am currently training. A two year old nigerian dwarf goat named Domino, a four year old miniature zebu steer named Zamir, and an adult North American Porcupine named Kendall. It is what makes my job worth while every day.

I now live in Houston with a roommate that I have known since middle school. Everything kinda worked out and she got a job about the same time that I was looking for a place. We live in a good location and with traffic I am about 20 minutes from the zoo. Much better than the previous 45 I was driving.

The only thing I still desire from this job is a little bit more mental stimulation. I would like to be able to perform research projects or write papers about the animals or something of that nature. I need to find a way to incorporate that into my job. All in all, a career as a zoo keeper is very fulfilling for me!

New job!

So I DID finally get a job!! One that I really, really wanted and am very excited about. I know that it will be a lot of hard work and I may wish I could move up quicker than I will actually get to, but I am very excited.

I had to go through two phone interviews as well as a "working interview" which was very scary. If I can do that, I can do anything! I had to go work with the other keepers for almost an entire day. I really liked all of them though and enjoyed the work. So now, it is looking for somewhere to live. I have had an offer to stay with some...friends of friends in a very nice house on a lake so I think I may take them up on that for at least a month while I try to discover where it will be safe to live in Houston. I can't wait to have my own place though and cook my own food. Someday.

I finally will have income of my own at least!

I am going out tonight and then headed to CStat for the Aggie football game tomorrow! This will be the last one I will go to for a while since I will begin working weekends when I start in about a week. On sunday I am going to drive around Houston and check out places to live. Life is still stressful but something finally went right!

Opportunities

I had a second interview with a zoo and now am going to work/meet the team. I'm not sure exactly what this entails but hopefully it all goes well. It is kinda nerve racking not really knowing what to expect that day. I am driving and staying with a family friend the night before so that I don't have to deal with a super long drive and horrible traffic the morning of. I'm excited to actually have an opportunity!

My weekend trip was very fun and very worth it. I'm glad that we went. We got to see several pieces of history, such as the grassy knoll where JFK was shot. It creates a lot of food for thought and I have been trying to learn more about those important events in our nation's history.

Baby steps

Well, I have a second interview next week with a zoo. I am not holding my breath though because they interviewed a million applicants. They interviewed someone every thirty minutes for three whole days. So....I wonder how many others got the second interview as well. It's probably all a waste of time anyway because of the economy I'm sure some zookeeper that has been doing this for 10 years applied as well. Oh well, it would be nice.

I also am going to start volunteering at the local zoo here on Monday. It is not AZA accredited but it will still be some sort of animal care experience. Other than that, I have applied to a million others but not heard anything.

I am headed to Dallas for the rest of the weekend. I get to lounge by a pool and go see a play. Not too shabby. I also have some excellent books that in my currently unemployed status I may actually have time to read. One is 20 Something 20 Everything. by Christine Hassler. It is supposed to help with a woman's "quarter-life crises" which I guess means when you get into the real world and realize that nothing ever goes the way you planned.

The other one was written by a woman in my sorority and is called "Designed by Success" to help women in the work place. Eventually I will get to them.

I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!

I need a job. You would think that with all of the thousands of jobs that I have applied for, that something would work out. I wonder how many I have actually applied for. I should have kept count. Looks like I am going to be living in down town Austin soon in a box shared with Leslie, the resident homeless man, so that we can split rent. :(