Bonny Portland

I started my new job with the Census Bureau yesterday. I've worked for the government before, but they are quite serious. I'm looking forward to a few months of trailblazing. We will be the first people to ever use handheld GPS computers in the Census.

I'll be address canvasing, the most important part of the Census. The rest of the phases are predicated on us getting accurate data. Everyone that works on this after us will be using our data. Its cool to be doing something important. The Census data is used not only for history and statistics, but for assigning congressional districts, electoral votes and appropriation money.

Yesterday I spent the day taking the oath of office, (Yep, I have to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, too.) getting fingerprinted, and learning the basics of preserving confidential information. Its a big deal there, since the Census is so important and needs the trust of the American People to succeed.

PS. That pic is my new official Census 2010 messenger bag. Its VERY heavy. I should be getting back into better shape lugging that around the neighborhoods.

Next week, training...