My last day at NASA./Ames *sniffle*

My boss suggested we go to lunch with just the IT group. He mentioned he'd never met Eric so I chose our favorite restaurant and invited Eric to join us.

Then we rushed back to Moffett Field because my window to turn in my keys was about to close. I made it. I'd been given permission to spend the day saying goodbye so I headed out to the building by the runway with my new Kodak camera that arrived on Thursday. I finally got good snapshots of the burrowing owl and a young ground squirrel. They're not as tiny as they were and most of them were hiding. I managed to get one that popped out for a few moments before it hid again.

Then I went around to all the people there saying thanks and goodbye, handing them a little business card I printed up with my contact info and a mini-resume of qualifications. If they hear of anything I might fit, they've all promised to let me know. Networking works!

Next I stopped at the building the civil servants are moving into this week, doing the same thing. When I spoke to the head of the entire code, she offered to be a reference!!! WOOOT! I asked if she'd mind writing me a reference letter and she beamed. She will once her office is set up. She says my friendliness is a big positive for an IT person. She knows I'll do well. :)

I've already got a reference letter coming from her underling who oversees IT. I'm not sure his letter will be all that great so this is COOL!

The "new" old building they're moving into has a really cool wind tunnel model in the lobby. I had to get a few pictures of that. While I was going from office to office I came to one I'd left incomplete because he was missing a printer. The printer had arrived so I took the time to get it online and functional. I don't like leaving installations incomplete. That was my last official IT task performed.

The health unit was my next stop. They're still going through photos looking for my "victim" photo from the earthquake drill. Now they have my email to send it to when they do find it. :)

My last building was the one with my cubicle. I walked in to find out they'd purchased a camera just like mine and it was missing. I assured them I'd just gotten it yesterday and had all the shipping boxes at home to prove it. They know I'm not a thief. At least, I hope they do!

My cube is messy but heck, it's my cube. I took pictures of the walls before I took everything down and packed it. Several people were sad to see Eric's fractals leave the conference cube. One of them asked for prints. I got the files last week and printed him 8x10 prints on plain paper. I'll upload them into cafepress.com to make posters.

I gave the kitty poster to my cube neighbor, Sally. I have more. She's the department secretary and makes everything come together.

People helped me carry the heavy things out to my car.

Then I drove to the badging office and turned in my badge. :(

It's over. How in the world did two years go by so fast?

I couldn't have chosen a better group of people to work with. The skills I've gained are invaluable to launching my new career. To learn them in such a positive atmosphere in such a cool place with a community of people who consider everyone to be family was beyond my wildest dreams. It's so relaxed there yet people work hard to get things done and play hard together, too. I will be watching the ads on Craig's list for the contractor positions and usajobs.gov for civil servant positions as I work toward that BSIT so I'll qualify for them even better.

I want to go back as a full-time employee.

	Last day lunch at Thai City Eric joined us because he'd never met my boss or mentor. Left to right: me, Eric, Joe the other intern, Dave (my mentor), Craig (my boss) and Chander (2nd in command boss).
	Burrowing owl with sign For perspective, the sign is printed on a standard roadside marker. These owls are tiny.
	Burrowing owl closeup
	Burrowing Owl sign
	Baby ground squirrel
	landscape where owl and squirrel live
	E-7 Supersonic STOVL wind tunnel model Cool things like these are found in all the buildings at Ames.
	E-7 Supersonic STOVL wind tunnel model
	E-7 Supersonic STOVL wind tunnel model - top view
	My cube - wall 1
	my cube - wall 2
	my cube - wall 3
	my cube - wall 4
	Eric's large framed fractals in the conference cube

I just can't do it

Kitty girl is so happy living in our back yard that I just can't send to to a certain death with animal control. I can't do it. She seems to have settled into her niche. The other cats respect her and there isn't any fighting.

She's healthy. Yes, she's unsteady and I can only touch her head but her fur is soft and shiny and she is SO happy when I take her food out. She does the big kitty stretch and tears up a bit of lawn. Once I'm working I'll get some long leather gloves and get her to a vet for a full checkup.

We'll set up our old feeder and waterer in the yard for her so the opossum won't eat all her food between finickynarcane's visits.

Yes, I finally saw the wild critter Thursday night when I was going to bed. Kitty girl's food dish is right outside our window and I heard crunching. I looked and thought it was a kitty in the gloom. I whispered, "Hi kitty!" It looked up at me. That was no kitty! That was a half-grown opossum! "You're not a kitty. You're a 'possum. That's not 'possum food." It didn't care. It went back to eating. There was only about four feet from my face poking out the torn screen and the critter. It must be used to people.

I'd just put the charged battery into my new camera so I hurried off to grab it to snap the opossum's photo but I was too late. It was gone.

The last time I moved the dish, it took a while for the wild critter to find it again. Maybe I'll move the feeders under the patio this time to confuse it and preserve the cleanliness of Kitty Girl's water.