I reported for work with the USGS at the USGS Henderson Office on April 3, 2006. The office is located on the far side of the Las Vegas Valley from where we live, so the commute is about 35-45 minutes, much longer than my old commute.

My group has offices on the second floor in this corner of the building. The bosses get offices with nice windows, but the rest of us are in a big windowless room (although we can look out through the boss's windows when they leave their office doors open. We can eat lunch on that tables in the foreground.

Part of the week, I got to work in the greenhouse, which is located at the south end of Red Rocks. I spent one entire day at the greenhouse, so the commute through Red Rocks was great. There was fresh snow in the mountains that morning.

In the greenhouse, we take soil samples collected in the desert and see what grows. They also have some sprouting studies to see what it takes to get certain species to sprout.

They spend a lot of time watering. Someone has to water every day, 7 days per week. Fortunately, I don't have to water on the weekends.

This job certainly is more relaxing than my old job at Yucca Mountain!