Reinhardt, The late Joseph Campbell always told his students to "Follow your bliss." Living ( I hate the phrase work) outdoors for a living means most of us have to give something to society in return; extractive industries that often devour what we love, tourism which hopefully only extract greater love and value for it or the sciences. I more or less stumbled into my avocations. Service during Vietnam was unpopular and I faced a family tradition of naval service. I somehow managed to enlist in the Coast Guard( to my family's tearing of hair and clothing-mine) and had a rich experience. Military service truly does offer opportunities and training with a little forethought. My university time was well served by it. When your paying for a english lit class with 6 years of benefits no 'doctorate' is going to read class struggle into the seating arrangement of Stephen's short story THE OPEN BOAT. Not without a former lifeboat coxswain in the front row <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />. I was in a introductory field course in archaeology one summer. The grad students were making jokes about 'blowtorch archaeology' in Alaska. I said something to the effect I loved Alaska in the winter, and had my own snowshoes and bear rifle. Quietly smoking his pipe was my future mentor who was a seasonal associate at the Fairbanks campus of the state university. Quess who got an actual job in the field ( the rifle and snowshoes helped?) Once there I found myself discussing conservation issues with several people from many backgrounds. Next season I found myself as a paid intern for a major conservation group. The fact I knew how to ride a horse and wasn't a vegetarian ( this was the start of the Yellowstone Park Bison controversy) helped make a few key friendships with the locals. Is there a pattern here? Not according to my family <img src="images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />, but if you want a career OUTDOORS, you have to GO OUTDOORS. There are countless opportunities. You just have to be there when inspiration and lots of friendships come together. That, and a bear rifle and snowshoes in Los Angeles excavating a section of the notorious Alleyway of prostitute cribs, opium parlours and saloons under a freeway cloverleaf <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />