Jan 25 to Jan 31

Hours worked:
Sunday-
Monday- 3.5
Tuesday-
Wednesday- 4
Thursday- 6.5
Friday- 6
Saturday-

Total: 20

Accomplishments:
This was a lighter week of random catching up and prep work for the upcoming month. I chose not to work on any Junior Ranger booklets (okay, with the exception of the certificate design, see below) and it felt good to take a break. I even resisted the urge to open up people’s edits and comments. I’m waiting until I hear back from everyone this weekend and then opening the files up all together… like Christmas morning.

1. Designed a possible Junior Ranger completion Certificate. It’s on the blog. At some point, probably at our meeting, we should discuss printing options. Realistically, it’ll be cheaper in black and white, but I would be willing to write a grant to get these printed in full-color. At the very least, we can make the booklets available online so people can print them out in color on their own.




(as you can see, I recycle designs and ideas)

2. Started compiling a “set” of NOCA digital images on Flickr. This is where I’d direct NOCA staff to see how Flickr works, how one can search for our images, see where an image was taken on a map, etc. I’m starting to take notes on what instructions/procedures we’d need to follow.

Thought: While I ideally want to get all divisions on board, I’m realizing that working ½ time, away from the park, makes it difficult to coordinate with everyone else. I would feel much more comfortable if we aimed to have all our Interp staff on board for this summer season, demonstrate a “best practice” and then bring the other divisions on board. That just seems like a more realistic, do-able course of action… but if you think otherwise, let me know.

More discussion/presentation on this at our Interp Meeting.

3. The usual 15% of my time spent: corresponding to e-mail, writing Travel Authorizations, uploading images to the blog, this update etc.

4. YouTube. Okay, I’m not counting this as NOCA hours, but I’ve started a video blog over the past few weeks and am honing my video editing skills. While working with video is certainly time-consuming, it’s also a fun process and something that will really make our park stand out, at some point in the future. In any case, I’m getting a better feel for the YouTube culture and thinking about how those social networking opportunities can work with NOCA projects.

I’m in uniform in one of the videos, talking about my experience working for the National Park Service… it’s not in any official capacity… and while it’s all glowing remarks about the NPS, it might push the envelope a bit about uniform usage. I personally think it’s good exposure to people that might normally not think about visiting/working for their national parks, but if you want me to edit let me know. Just testing the digital waters… being “edgy” ☺
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6oP1srJ4e0


5. Prepping and starting the projects for February
Okay, here’s a run down of events over the next 5 weeks. Because of all the workshops/conferences, I do have to miss 4-5 classes, but don’t worry, it’s cleared with my professors. Seriously, it’s okay. To a degree, it’s a lighter quarter than last—though the workload will pick up towards the end.

Feb 1-7
-At HQ on Thursday and Friday

Feb 8-14
-RLN Workshop the 9th-11th. Including travel, about 20 hrs (Travel is paid for by the RLN account)

Feb 15-21
-JR meeting on the 20th, 8 hrs (probably less??)

Feb 22-28
-23rd-24th NOCA Climate Change Workshop – 16 hrs
-25th- Interp Division meeting- 8 hrs
-26th- Green Passport conference call, 1.5 hrs
Total- 25.5 hrs +.

March 1-7
-1st-6th George Wright Society Conference. Including travel, 43 hrs

March 8-14
-Final illustrations due for class.


PHEW. Okay, looking at this schedule, let’s consider our projects and figure out how to best fit them in.

-Junior Ranger Booklets- 15-20 hrs
-Have to go through the next round of edits and make changes for our meeting on the 20th.

-Path for Youth- 1 hr
If it’s just a matter of changing content and a few graphics/reformatting before we send it off to our partners for review, this shouldn’t take long.

-Job Announcement Handout- 4-5 hrs
Content will certainly make this project go faster. If I create a design that works as a template, essentially I only have to do this once and then plug in information/images anytime afterwards.

-America’s Best Idea- 2009 Going-ons- 2-3 hrs
I don’t think I’m going to start designing the handout just yet… rather identifying and setting aside the components- last year’s activities, events from the promo material you just sent me, etc.

-Presentation Folder- 2 hrs
If it’s just a matter of adding the right photos, this shouldn’t be too difficult. (in my time estimates, I’m trying to include the time it takes to save to different formats like .pdfs and jpegs, printing time, e-mailing time, etc. Still, being an eternal optimist, I tend to underestimate my time requirements).

-Youth Newspaper- 3-4 hrs

-Flickr Digital Image Library- Interp Proposal- 3 hrs

Here are some numbers to consider:
Time required to complete these projects: 38+ hrs
Non-project time, ie travel, workshops, meetings: 90+

Total: 124+ hrs
Hours available, working 20 hrs a week, from Feb 1- March 8: 100

Hmm, seems we have a surplus of 28 hrs, or one-ish payperiod
Options include:
-I work faster
-I stop working right now for the day and save 4 hrs.
-I get your okay to put in those extra hours
-Something gets cut… but I can’t think of anything. Maybe I can overlap, like skip out on some George Wright Society concurrent sessions and work in a coffee shop instead?
-We do number and timesheet magic and maybe I work the extra 20 hrs in February but then don’t work one week in March (ahem, coinciding with my possible trip to California?).

I’m flexible to whatever best suits your schedule/budget.


For next week, Feb 1 to Feb 8
1. Go through the JR Bookle Edits
2. Work at HQ on Thursday and Friday—taking advantage of face-to-face Charles time and working on projects like the Youth Newspaper.

In general, I’d say that I should focus on as much JR and misc projects as I can during the first two weeks of February because from the Feb 20th- March 7th, my time and energy is really going to be occupied by workshops, meetings and conferences.


This was a good exercise for me and I hope it isn’t too stream-of-consciousness.

Jan 18 to Jan 24

Hours worked:
Sunday-
Monday- 4
Tuesday- 1
Wednesday- 2
Thursday- 7
Friday- 6
Saturday-

Total: 20

Accomplishments:
1. Finished draft one of the Junior Ranger Booklets
I took two days off last week (Saturday and Sunday) and I definitely felt refreshed and creatively ready to jump back in. The last couple of days were especially productive, partially because I could see the end in sight (well, one of them at least).

I really appreciate this opportunity to grow as a designer, particularly this “creativity on demand” skills set. Part of me tells myself I should be open to working whenever inspiration hits (like 11pm on a Sunday night) but another part of me thinks it’s a healthier working situation if I can designate specific times to do NOCA projects. Otherwise, I’ll just think about NOCA and work all the time. I imagine this is an interesting experience for you as a supervisor, figuring out how to manage a position that relies heavily on new ideas, creativity, and production time. You’ve done a good job in being understanding and allowing me flexibility with my schedule. So thank you!

In any case, as I’ve mentioned in various e-mails, I’m really proud of how the booklets have turned out thus far.

-I also went to the office on Thursday. The only person to check in from Interp was Joyce, but it was still good to spend a full day working at HQ and seeing everyone. Plus, I was able to access historic images from our external hard drive and print off proofs of the booklets.

-Took care of various travel logistics for the RLN meeting in February as well as the George Wright Society.

-I had a lunch meeting on Friday with Shane Farnor from NPCA—I wanted to pick his brain about our green passport initiative, in conjunction with their Do Your Part Parks campaign. While he’s not directly working with that project, I did get two good contacts to follow up with. As always, I believe it’s good for me to start building relationships with our park partners.


For next week, Jan 18 to Jan 24
1. Design Junior Ranger certificate
2. Return to the Digital Image Library proposal?
3. Prep work on the green passport idea- immediate goal, create a handout to use at our Climate Change workshop next month, to generate support from other NOCA staff.
4. Misc logistics like making minor edits to the EBLA bird checklist, registering for GWS, etc etc.

Jan 11 to Jan 17

Hours worked:
Sunday- 3
Monday- 4
Tuesday- 6.5
Wednesday- 3
Thursday- 4
Friday- 4
Saturday-

Total: 24.5

Accomplishments:
1. Participated in our Green Passport planning conference call.
This is a project that was generated from my workgroup at the AKR-PWR Centennial Workshop in November. As a refresher, we made it a goal to offer ways for visitors to have green visits to their national parks, ie offset the carbon from their travels from home to the parks. If it’s an NPS goal to be carbon-neutral by 2016, why couldn’t we extend that challenge to our visitors?

-In a nutshell, we’d like to create a green passport booklet, where each park offers a collectable sticker. The purchase of a sticker for, say, $2 would offset 150 miles of travel. The sticker features a natural or cultural resource that is affected by climate change. Within the booklet, more information explains how this resource is threatened and what that park is doing to be climate-friendly.


-Initially, I was a bit hesitant with this project- it seems like such a grand project but when faced with the day-to-day tasks of our respective parks, how could we ever pull it off?

-But after this phone call, I think that this is both achievable and worth my/our time. Why?:
-I believe in the essence of the project, helping visitors go carbon neutral… not just educating them about climate change but also engaging them and being proactive
-It’s a good learning opportunity to see how projects are carried from inception to completion, at a more regional, long-term level.
-I get to work with staff from other national parks—and you know how I love collaboration and meeting new people. At the very least, there are 3 NPS people—David Grimes from Crater Lake, Tracie Pendergrast from Gates of the Arctic, and Jenny Matsumoto from Sequoia Kings—that I’ve been impressed by and would value a strong working relationship.

-Also, we’re all very conscious of our time and energy and are aiming for simple, achievable goals right now. David found a company in Portland that has worked with green tags for tours in Alaska—it’s a non-profit foundation devoted to carbon offsetting and they are will to do the design and production and distribution of these stickers. Essentially, all we’d have to do is help develop content, get permission to sell these in our stores, and help spread the word.

-We’d like to try this in some of our parks by summer 2010.
-We have another conference call at the end of February and I’m planning on visiting the
Bonneville Environmental Foundation during the George Wright Foundation week in Portland, and meeting up with David Grimes at CRLA when I road trip to CA in March.

Okay, I’m rambling, onto the other big project.

2. Made significant progress on the Junior Ranger Booklets
Sigh. Realistically, I’m 85% finished designing these booklets (first draft anyway). I feel like I’ve been working non-stop for the last two weeks on these pages, but can’t produce the designs fast enough to meet our deadline of today. According to our timeline, the designs were to be finished so everyone can provide edits by the end of the month so I can then go back and make those changes in time for our JR meeting on Feb 25. So I’m going to have to send out whatever I have by the end of today and then keep plugging away.

This project is a good learning experience for me. I know we never anticipated this project taking so much time and energy, but we’re going to end up with a product we’re all proud of. Also, this has been a good learning experience for me—picking up skills like long-term planning, finding ways to create more efficient designs and fine-tuning my gauge on how long a layout/illustration really takes. When I think about it, I’m actually pretty proud of my self-discipline in working from “home”. Thank you for your understanding and patience!!

And you know me, I’m a bit of a perfectionist and don’t like to reveal projects until they’ve met my high standard. But for the sake of working as a group and getting edits in, I’ve got to relinquish that expectation.










3. Guess what- flood damage was lower than expected (yay!) and we didn’t have to put out a newsletter (extra yay!!).

For next week, Jan 18 to Jan 24
1. Finish, seriously, the designs of the Junior Ranger booklets.
2. Meet for a lunch meeting with Shane Farnor from NPCA, to learn more about their Do Your Part Parks project and get his feedback on our green passport idea.
3. I’m assuming you don’t want me working on JR booklets between now and our Feb 25 meeting. Should I revisit projects like the Digital Image Library proposal? What are priorities for you in the next 4 weeks?
4. Even though you’ll be out of town, I’m still planning on visiting HQ on Thursday the 22. Followed by a Husky basketball game with Dave!

Jan 4 to Jan 10

Hours worked:
Sunday-
Monday- 4
Tuesday- 8.5
Wednesday- 3
Thursday- 6.5
Friday- 3
Saturday-

Total: 25

Accomplishments:
This week would certainly exemplify the phrase “hitting the ground running.” In my mind, there were two main accomplishments:

1. Finished “Pathways for Youth” handout. This was a really fun project and I felt that I produced it very quickly—thank you for providing all the text! I’m proud of how the chart/graph turned out, where youth can identify their age and determine which programs they are eligible for. I’d love to see this idea expanded to other programs we offer, not just for youth.

I also realized that while I personally like the fast pace of a looming deadline and the exhilaration of working quickly as a team with edits and proofing, I also have to be conscious of everyone else’s schedule too. I’m sure everyone wished we had an extra day or two before printing the final run. Though, since we all returned from the holidays on Monday, that probably wouldn’t have been possible.

Bottom line—even though I know I can work at warp speed the day before something’s due, I need to build in more time at the end of the design process for other’s people schedule too.

2. I have health care! ie I’m officially on staff! This is very exciting to have all this paperwork complete and even though not too much has changed in my day-to-day projects, I do have a different perspective. Like realizing imagining what life will be like a year from now, living in B-ham and working everyday at HQ. I guess there’s a new level of commitment that I have knowing I’ll be part of this park for awhile.

3. I’m also throwing myself back into the graphics for the junior ranger booklets. I’m not going to lie—there are a lot of them and I’m doing my best to have them all finished by the end of next week, so that everyone else has time to fully edit the booklets by Jan 31st.

For next week, Jan 11 to Jan 17

1. Finish the Junior Ranger Booklet graphics.
2. Participate in our AKR-PWR Centennial Workshop group conference call regarding our idea to create Green Passport books, allowing visitors to offset their carbon emissions. I’m hoping to align this project with our upcoming NOCA Climate Change workshop.

Dec 21 to Jan 3

Hours worked:
Sunday-
Monday- 8 (Annual Leave)
Tuesday- 8 (Annual Leave)
Wednesday- 4 (Annual Leave)
Thursday-
Friday-
Saturday-

Sunday-
Monday-
Tuesday- 4
Wednesday- 6
Thursday-
Friday- 6.5
Saturday- 3.5

Total: 40


Accomplishments:
1. Relaxed, ate a lot of Christmas cookies, caught up on movies, got refreshed for the new year.

2. Finished the Pathway for Youth handout, well, draft one in any case. I’m actually pleasantly surprised how quickly this project took to complete. It might have been the extra energy after a week at home, but mostly, it’s because I had all the elements of the design at my disposal—the final text, photographs, and some pre-made graphic illustrations that I re-used from the JR ranger booklets. I like working fast. And I think that handout is going to be really well received by that KCTS folks next week and the public, should we print more.






3. Finished the last draft, the final touches on Bob Kuntz’s Bird Checklist. I’m happy how it turned out but I’m even more happy to have that off my desk.

4. Continued NOCA folder designs- I’ll have 3 to show you on Tuesday when I’m at HQ

5. Started adding graphic elements to the NOCA Jr Booklets

For next week, 1.04 – 1.11
-I’ll be in the office on Tuesday and Thursday or Friday.
-Tuesday’s big project is to get the Pathways for Youth Handout finalized and printed
-and to meet with Merry to pick out my FEHB plan. Yay!
-Other than that, I’m diving back into my NOCA Jr Booklets.