24/7 Volunteer in Service to America - for a Year

I've been pretty busy lately. Last week I went to Albuquerque to train for my Americorps Vista position with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The problem when you haven't posted anything in awhile is that you have too much to write, and in my case, no energy to write it. So I'll summarize it in poorly organized bullet points.

• Albuquerque was hot, but we were in the Hilton. I did not have to share my room so I felt very spoiled. People who liked onions probably thought the food was very good. I am not one of those people.
• Training was pretty interesting - mostly interactive discussion. Not nearly as painful as when I trained for the Census.
• Corin (the white cat) has been throwing up for months now and he has lost 4 pounds in the past 2 years. He had to have surgery my last day in Albuquerque. Apparently he consumed 13 hair ties and a very large necklace (probably the equivalent of 4 more hair ties). Now hopefully he will gain weight. Apparently he has been hiding his addiction for a long time. Gas Monkey says he only gets this one chance. So next time (and there better not be a next time) I'm going to take my friend's advice, give him a whole bowl of hair ties and tell him to enjoy his last meal.
• I started my job at the Colorado Division of Wildlife. I have a very friendly supervisor and work in a friendly office. The only drawback is the CDOW is a government agency - i.e. they don't even provide the water cooler's in the office. And you always have to watch out for other people's toes, because it is a very political agency. Yay for bureaucracy!
• My official title is "Wildlife Outreach Coordinator". My purpose is to develop and strengthen programs to encourage participation from impoverished or alienated groups (in particular Spanish-speakers and impoverished children).
  
• I am in charge of a few projects. First, to oversee the translation of the CDOW website into Spanish. Second, to strengthen volunteer recruitment programs to increase public participation. Third, to evaluate "Growing up WILD," a curriculum used to education young children about the environment and wildlife. Currently I am going through various curriculum focusing on wildlife issues and critical thinking, going through each activity and then deciding whether they satisfy any of the new requirements for Colorado public school systems. But mostly I'm spending the next week reading.
  
• I rode my bike to and from work once so far. A total of 10 miles round-trip. Very doable but I hate coming back home - it's all uphill.

That's it. It is pretty boring really.