Five Years!

December 4th, 2007 was officially my five year anniversary at the company I work for, A.G. Wassenaar, Inc.! I can't believe it's been that long. So much has changed for me there since I started. I was just a kid, fresh out of college and Alaska. I didn't know a thing about being a preofessional. I actually used to write out exactly what I was going to say for every phone conversation with a client because I'd get so flustered I couldn't even remember my own name.

As I reflect back on my five years, I thought it would be as good a time as any to summarize what I do, since many of you friends and family may not really know. I've come a long way in five years, thanks to my great boss. He has allowed me to take on as many challeneges as I want to. I'm now working as a project manager for the environmental group within the company. My duties include the organization of project teams; planning, scheduling and coordination of geologic and hydrogeologic investigations; drilling, sampling, and testing programs to identify soil and ground water contamination; underground fuel storage tank removal assessments; operation and maintenance of active remediation systems; risk assessment modeling; negotiating with government agencies; preparation of Stormwater Management Plans; and asbestos building inspections.

On most days I love my job. I recognize that I work for a great company who has treated me very well. I think I get to have more fun than many people do in their jobs. The best part is that I'm never doing the same exact thing two days in a row. My time is split pretty evenly between field and office work, which suits me very well.

Sometimes I'm out in places like this...

Or this...

Or doing things like this....

Or pulling big tanks like this out of the ground....

Or sometimes I'm investigating and/or cleaning up sites that look like this....

I've also started doing some marketing for the company, most notably through a national organization called CREW, which stands for Commercial Real Estate Women. They have a very successful local chapter which I just became a member of. Commercial real estate professionals (real estate agents, brokers, lawyers, and developers) are our main clients, so this is a great place for me to market our services.

In appreciation for my five years with the company, I was presented with a really nice jacket with the company name. It has a gortex shell and fleece liner...three jackets in one. Nice, eh?