Unfortunately, in this era of smaller government, people still expect the same services,
but do not expect to have to pay for them from government. With expectations
the same and budgets squeezed, many government agencies rely on unpaid
volunteers (often retired ex-employees looking for some way to spend their
time) to actually do the work - that is where I am. Not a lot different from community
service, and I do have access to computer and data; plus it gives me a chance
to stay active in a field where real work for real pay is awfully hard to come by -
just ask Roger Hunter and hundreds of ex-USGS employees who moved on with
the downsizing of that agency.