"I think M left you something to do," R says, "he had me add these cross-sections to a UNET model he worked on." 

"Oh joy," I think...just what I need after coming back from my trip.  I can't wait to see what is waiting for me back at the office.  I lapse back into a semi-catatonic state while R launches into some other topic...

[A short while later..]

I walk into my half of an office (at least I get the half with the window now), bags in hand, and give the courteous "hi, how are you doing" to my newly hired officemate.  And sure enough, the voicemail button on my phone is sitting there mocking me...blink...blink...blink...I can hardly wait to see what my supervisor has left me to do.  Damn, and I was hoping to get to go home early today...

I put my bags down wherever I can find some space that is Out-Of-The-Way, settle into my very non-ergonomic office chair, and launch my email program to catch up on emails I missed while I was out of the office.  Finally, after putting off the dreaded voicemail as long as I could, I pick up the phone and hit the voicemail button.  Ha, at least I get the satisfaction of listening to it when I'm Good and Ready.

The voicemail turns out to be *two* messages long, as my supervisor has a habit of turning the most basic inane topic into the Gettysburg Address.  But as I know almost nothing about this project, it's not unexpected that his message turned out so long.  I end up listening to *both* messages several times, jotting down notes all the while, and when I'm finally through, I think I have a vague idea of what he needs me to do.  And better yet, it is one of those projects that had to be done two hours ago, half a day ago, yesterday, a week ago - you get the idea.  Actually, it had to be done by that afternoon if at all possible, the next day at the very latest. 

I spin around in my chair to face my computer monitor and settle into the routine I've come to know so well.  My official job title is, "Hydrologist", but I can also be considered a Water Resources Engineer or Hydraulic Engineer.  However, no where in my job description or job title do I notice the term, "Hydrologic Detective."  But with the accumulation of project experience, I've come to discover that a hydrologic detective is what I actually am.  Why?  Because with the majority of the projects I have worked on, I am required to take a computer model of a river system that was developed by someone else, figure out what is going on and/or what is wrong, and then run the model after fixing the changes/adding our own changes. 

As I settled into another afternoon of editing an unfamiliar model, I think, "Yep...just call me C. Li, H.P.I. [Hydrologic Private Investigator]"...

Braden's phrase of the week:  "woo ha"  [usually preceded by him leaping to or from some piece of furniture].  Hehe.

My RealAge is 27.2 yrs old as compared to my ActualAge of 30.6 yrs old.  [credit given to smattering.org]

Jen gave Ariel (who is almost 9 yrs old - birthday is in another 2 1/2 weeks) "The Talk" tonight as well.  How quickly they do grow up....:)  I guess she had tons of questions, as well as "what ifs..." - but the overall response was "ewwwww...that's gross!"  Hehe.  We still plan on taking her out on a special "date" with just mom & dad to celebrate this "rite of passage".