Sheesh, who knew my work with Big Blue would ever pick up again? Seriously, in the last year since I’ve been back, I’ve done maybe 2-3 hours of recording every 2-3 months. Nothing major. But now? Hell, the client LOVES my voice, or so my project manager proclaims. This past week alone, I’ve logged in nearly 10 hours of recording. I’m recording so much my FTP site is maxed out and my voice is sore. But the best news is, with the latest currency conversion, I’m making super schweet dough. Hehe, more massages for me!

So that explains my recent silence. That plus activities with work. Last week, as part of my new employee orientation, I went on an all-day ranger ride-along. Yup, Tina (my coworker and new buddy) and I rode all day in a big truck with Jen, a female ranger. We got our butts up at 5:30 in the morning, but we had a grand time. Hit a bunch of preserves that day, and Jen even took us off-roading. I totally underestimated the power of a Ford 4×4. She got that thing up a massive incline. I swore it was like 60 degrees, though my engineering buddies don’t believe it. They insist 45 is max. Whatever, the slope was crazy steep. We fishtailed and everything!

But the ride-along itself was awesome. And the weather was gorgeous. We climbed to the top deck of an observation tower (one of our properties is a former Air Force base) and looked out on the sprawling city of San Jose and all the mountains surrounding. We even lucked out and caught two golden eagles on top of the mountain. I’ll try to get some pictures from Tina’s cam.

So since our agency owns 55,000+ acres, all newbies actually have to attend two ranger ride-alongs. Tomorrow is my second one. And we’ll spend all day hitting the preserves on the northern part of the peninsula. We’ve gotten a good bit of rain the last week, so I just hope we stay warm and dry.

In other news, I rode an ex-Western show horse last week at lesson. Hobbs was fuckin’ kickass gorgeous. A huge, handsome chestnut horse. But my god, he was a total bitch to ride. Stubborn as hell, and boy did he make me kick. I kicked so much I thought my legs were going to fall off. Every time he finally got up to speed, the instructor had me slow him to a walk again and then he’d take for frickin’ ever to get back up to a jog. The entire lesson was like hot/cold/hot/cold. And shit, once he got running, he gave me a goddamn beatdown. My boots fell out of the stirrups, and I was flailing around out of control. It took all the energy in the world for me to clamp my legs around his big barrel of a body so I wouldn’t fall right out of the damn saddle. The whole time I kept hearing my father exclaiming, “Christopher Reeves, Christopher Reeves.” Shit. And I thought I was ready for group lessons. Hobbs put me in my place. Looks like I have another four or so more lessons (the instructor diplomatically explained that it’s just a matter of getting in my “saddle time”) before I can join the group. Bummer. I want so badly to ride like a cowgirl!! Full speed ahead with my lasso! Ah well, there’s always next year for New Year’s resolutions.