Help a Sister Out

I've already discussed the painting contest I won, however, I don't think I went into too much detail about it (knowing me, that's probably not true). I need some outside help with this whole deal:

For the competition, if you win, you get to choose anything you want from the band within reason. Who knows what within reason means, right? They figured instead of having a set prize they'd let you pick your own. Anyway, in the contest rules they gave examples, like you could ask for a bunch of band merchandise, or backstage passes, or coffee with the band next time they're in town, etc. I entered four paintings and I wasn't initially sure which one had won when they notified me of the win. Turns out they want ALL of them! I'm more than happy to hand 'em over, but can't figure out what to ask for. They said I can pick more than one thing if I want, since more than one painting won. To be honest, I'm really just happy that they like them enough to want to put them in their studio, which I told them when I entered, but they asked what I wanted in return despite.

Any suggestions? PLEASE, oh please, throw some ideas at me, here. I've had a few ideas, but I'm really at a loss as to what to ask for!

Just in case. . .

I forgot to check on this, but has everyone figured out that if text in the body of my post is purple it means it's a link? Just making sure. Like in the post below about the treetop flyer there's a link to the video within the body of text where it says "either way, this video is awesome."

Thought I'd point that out just in case because the color difference is a bit subtle and the links I put in are really pivotal to what I'm talking about. In fact, I might change the color so that it's more noticeable and maybe underline it.

UPDATE: I changed it so that links are blue and visited links are red-orange

Treetop Flyer

This morning my car dealership called at 6am to tell me it might be time for an oil change. Grrrrr! I'll have to call them and figure a way for them to NOT call me, seeing as I won't be going to Woburn for servicing and I don't want them calling me when it's 'safe' on their time, because chances are it isn't a great time for me!

Anyway, I was looking something up this morning and I happened to see that there's an air show at Elmendorf at the end of June, which led me to look info about that up, which somehow led to watching Youtube videos of prev elmendorf air shows. While I was there I remembered this video I saw once that's pretty neat. It's this private pilot flying along a river below the tree line and the video is set to Treetop Flyer, a good song and also extremely fitting. I don't know the full history offhand, but treetop flyers are guys that flew really low in the vietnam war to stay off of radar. I'm hesitant to say so, but I think they may have found a use for their odd skills when back home and it may have had something to do with moving illegal cargo, as in drugs. I'm not sure if that's truth or if I'm just picking that up from the lyrics. I've read about the treetop flyers before but I'm not sure what's true and what's not in my head because I'm mushing it up with the lyrics. Either way, this video is awesome. This guy flying has quite a set of cojones.

B&B Guests/Being a Social Butterfly

Yesterday a family from Wisconsin came in. He's a Philosopher, mountain climber and bike rider. She's an artist. Their daughter is an 'adventurer' in Urdi language training who will be headed to India later in the year. The people that come to B&Bs are just so damned interesting. They come from all over the place, too. Later in the month the place is really overbooked because of the mayor's marathon they have here. We've had to turn down a lot of people, but then Jacques from France came along with his accent and Frenchy couldn't say no. Haha! There are more people headed here now from the airport. Can't wait to see what they're like. The chipper Seattle guy checked out today so I don't get to hear any more singing in the shower. quick note about that: this morning he didn't know I was home so while he was cooking some eggs he was belting out some songs again. Hysterical. The couple from Texas checked out this morning, too. I felt bad last night - their door knob broke in the morning so I replaced it with a new one in the evening when Frenchy bought a new one. It was a different kind of knob that had a metal plate I needed to chisel out a little place for in the wood of the door. The only problem was that Frenchy couldn't find her chisel, so I did it with a utility knife, which was. . . interesting. Luckily the door was made of a pretty lightweight/soft wood. By the time I finished that 'chiseling' they were back and had to wait for me to finish putting their knob on. whoops.

Frenchy is such a social butterfly, which is great with all the different types of people circulating around here. I'm actually learning a lot from her personality. For instance, last night at that auction she was bidding on a trip for two. This guy close to us was bidding on it as well, so she turned to him and said, "If you quit now I'll take you with me. . ." and she meant it, too! She didn't end up winning the trip, but after that another two person trip came up so she turned to him again and said, "deal's still on, I'll pay half if you win." It's like she's got no shame, but in a good way. You shouldn't have shame about meeting people! Another thing that happened is when we first got there we walked around the room and said hello to a few people at different tables, all people I thought Frenchy knew because of the way she was interacting with them. I realized later she didn't know any of them beforehand, she just walked up and said hello. It wasn't weird or anything because this is sort of a networking/marketing event so you're supposed to do that. The thing about it that really struck me was that after we'd met a few people and were looking for a place to sit and eat she said, "okay, where should we sit, " and she looked past several open spots and continued, "we can't sit with anyone we know already." She found a four person table with two strangers and sat right down and introduced herself. I tend toward familiarity while she pushes the limits.

I'm just not good at being personable at times. I'm very personable once I know you, but in most situations I hold back a lot if there are strangers around. I can't figure out to this day why in the hell I'm like that, but Frenchy is a good example of why and how not to be like that. Pretty much I just need to not give a damn what people think, which is a hard nut to crack.

My Car is Clean. . . for ONCE

I think everyone knows how I feel about washing cars. It's one thing if you've got an old classic or a show car or something, then I understand washing it all the time. If you've just got a run of the mill car like mine, I don't see the point. Well, I've started to see the point a bit. I was watering the front garden and yard the other day and I figured since I was so close to my car with a hose I may as well hose it off. Not a stitch of the dirt budged. They put something on the gravel roads on the Alcan to reduce dust that makes the gunk really stick to your car. It also snowed right before I got to Alaska, and they put stuff down there also that sticks to your car. So the combination made it so the mud on my car was practically cemented on.

While I was chatting with the neighborhood people last night, we were talking about my dirty car and they were telling me that the mud wasn't going anywhere unless I washed it. I still really didn't plan on washing it. Well, this afternoon our nextdoor neighbor showed up with his kids to wash my car! They brought the works, too. I went out and helped because I figured it'd be fun. First there was a solvent that took off all the gunk and bugs. Then there was the wash. Then he told me to pop the hood so he could clean under there. For me, that was new territory. Then they started waxing it! We even cleaned out my air filter. I knew I needed a new one - when I got my oil changed in Canada on the way here I asked them to change it, but they didn't have the part. I still need to put a new one in, but it's better than it was. We washed my car for hours, no joke. It was hysterical because it was a neighborhood effort.

My car now looks like it just came off the lot. I've never seen the outside so clean and shiny. I suppose now I should vacuum the inside. . . I'm going to have to wash my car whenever I come up to Anchorage now so the neighborhood kids don't think their effort was wasted.

After the car cleaning deal, Frenchy and I had to run downtown to make some flyers then we headed to an auction for the Kenai chamber. Free dinner, a silent auction and a live auction. I've never been to a real auction, so it was really fun. Some of the stuff was really great stuff. They actually had a South African safari and 6 night stay with all meals included on there. I think that one was worth over $4,000. Of course you still had to buy airfare there, but still a deal. I think it ended up going for $2,000ish. It was a good time. We sat at a table with a retired couple and it turned out that the husband was an electrical engineer but had studied physics in school, so we talked about M-Theory and Quantum Mechanics. He also told me all the places I should go when I'm down on the Kenai. I didn't want to go to this event at first because it started at 5, and I hadn't really done anything outside that day so I felt like it was too early to go do something like that. I'm really glad I went. I won three glacier tours in the silent auction. They should be worth almost $300 each, but I got them for under $100. It was a fruitful event. Plus they had some good wine there. It was at the Petroleum Club, which is pretty much like a country club without a golf course, although they have sister clubs with courses and things.

All in all it was a very good day. Tomorrow I might be going on a flightseeing tour for FREE. wooooooo! I've been dying to go on one and Frenchy got us in on a tour for free either tomorrow or Saturday. I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about that one.

Airport Park

I'm at Airport Park right now, which is where I took the sunset and air force pictures. I could sit here for hours. I actually do, too, reading and things. It's a great spot because of the scenery. There are multiple layers of mountains at varying distances and I can see downtown just across the water. It's also neat because of the Air Force planes doing their thing. There are also the airlines and private pilots to watch because the airport is right behind me. I'd hate to be an air traffic controller here with all the flying going on. Air force, commercial airlines, private pilots, flightseeing, helicopters. . . The airspace is somewhat separated, but still, what a clusterF*&$. They say on a clear day I'll be able to see Denali from here, but I have yet to see it. I think. There's also good people watching and oh dear lord two old people are making out in the car in front of me. Maybe I couldn't sit here for hours on second thought. I watched them pull in and park across the way then the guy got out and got in the back of the van and I was confused for a minute. I'm not confused anymore. Jeesh, if you're going to do that at least have tinted windows or curtains or something. Okay, now they're not just making out. I'll have to finish this post later. I just looked to my right and there's a chunky guy leaning over showing half his butt. So much for good scenery and people watching today. . . I'm going to go throw up now.

I'll tell you about Earthquake park later, which is where I was headed with this post until I was visually violated

I Bee a Fool

I made a fool of myself today in the name of a bee. What's new?

I was in my car at a park when I heard a buzz. I looked to my right and there was a big bumblebee. I instantly jumped out of my car and ran away like a fool. I stood outside of my car for a while trying to figure out if the bee was gone. I was carefully poking my head in trying to look around without actually being too far inside the car, poking things in the back seat to see if a bee would fly out. You know, normal stuff. After I was done examining my car I still wasn't sure if he was in there someplace so I was just lamely standing in the parking lot next to my car reading an article, glancing in the car on occasion. Suddenly, I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye. . . BEE! A different bee was hovering near me so I slowly backed away and walked around to the other side of the car. He followed me. After a few laps of trying to decide if a potential bumblebee in the car was worse than a bee following me outside of the car, I finally got in the car and drove away. Quickly. The entire ride home I was ready to pull over if I needed to run like hell from my bumblebee passenger. I've got such issues.

I don't think there was anybody around to see the whole thing unfold, but there were people for at least part of it. I'd love to hear the conversation of people trying to figure out what I was doing because of the way I was poking around my car and doing laps around it. I should really go to the doctor and discuss my potential bee allergy so I can just get an epi. Most of the fear for me is not knowing what will happen if I get stung - it could just be a usual sting reaction or I may be highly allergic, in which case I'd be outta luck. With an epi I might (I repeat, MIGHT) not run from every bee that comes within 10 feet of me.

I ate Rudolph this morning

Reindeer sausage is pretty good.

Last night a guy from Seattle came in and boy is he chipper - what a personality. He's a salesman, so it fits. He's a VERY good laugher. One of those laughs that's genuine and goes on a lot longer than you think it will. Last night he must have been watching a REALLY funny show because it was nonstop laughter from his room. I find I rarely genuinely laugh out loud at the TV. This morning he was singing in the shower. It seemed like he was trying not to, but just kept doing it out of habit. I couldn't place what he was singing, though.

This morning the house was overrun with Texans. The chipper guy I was just talking about is originally from Dallas, though he lives in Seattle now. The other couple staying here is from Austin - I don't think I've mentioned them before. They originally came from Texas, lived in Alaska for 20+ years then moved down to Austin because the seasonal depressive disorder got the best of 'em. They're here visiting because their son had twin boys and they were baptized this week. The twins are 9 months and supposedly giant for their age. I keep meaning to ask Erica for Lilly's stats because Erica's children usually blow other babies out of the water in terms of size. As if that isn't enough Texans in one household, there is a woman, Denise, who helps Frenchy out with making breakfasts. She's a nice woman, originally from a town near Paris, TX that I can't remember the name of right now. She has lived up here for 3 years, I think.

We had a lovely conversation this morning about scoliosis. It was an interesting set of people to have the conversation. The chipper guy is a salesman for back braces, I've had horrible scoliosis and worn a brace for it, and Denise's daughter was recently diagnosed and is in the physical therapy phase of the whole deal. For those that don't know, when I was in High School, I started to grow (finally) and they spotted a touch of scoliosis. They measured my legs and one of them was actually longer than the other and they thought that might have something to do with the scoliosis. To help even out my growth they put a small lift in the shoe of the shorter leg and gave me some physical therapy to do, which is sort of the first defense in scoliosis. A short while later I went back for a checkup and the curvature of my spine was a degree or so away from surgery, which would mean they put metal in my back to straighten the curve. The other option was to get a brace and hope the curve didn't get worse and hopefully avoid surgery. I got the horribly uncomfortable piece of junk brace which I hated. It was like a girdle, except made out of a hard PVC plastic - oh, and it had these hard foam inserts they would adjust to try to correct the curvature of my spine which dug in as far as they could go in the soft tissue space between my ribs and hip bones. It was NOT fun. I didn't wear it nearly as much as I was supposed to. I once wore it on a plane, though, which was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. My back still has a bit of a curve to it, but it's not bad at all. I sometimes wonder if it was just something I had to grow out of.

As if I haven't jumped around enough with the timeline here - Last night we moved a shed from the neighbor's house over to the backyard here. All I have to say is that it's hysterical when several different men get together to do one task with no plan. It's such a power struggle the way they throw in their 2 cents in an almost haughty way. Maybe not haughty, but definitely in a superior way, and always backed up by a former learning experience or job or something manly. I wasn't really involved in that portion of the debacle, but afterwards the neighborhood men were standing around in our driveway chatting, which was also hysterical. I stood and chatted for a while. They were all marveling at how beautiful it was out (50 degrees and sunny) and were discussing how slowly the kings (salmon) were coming in this year. Two in the group had lived allover the place and had been to every state, but when they came to Alaska they knew it was the place to stay and have stayed for 30 years - it seems to be a common thing (I'm like a broken record with that one, I know). One was Frenchy and the other was her neighbor. He was in the Air Force for 20 years, which brought him allover the place within the country and overseas. He's now a longshoreman - he unloads and loads ships, a lot of the time it just means driving a new car off the boat. What a job, right?

It was an interesting night, possibly the most interesting part was when one of the neighborhood men tried to ride his kid's bike. It's a newfangled bike with shocks so if you hit the breaks really hard the thing lurches down and forward. Good for doing jumps, but not good for someone that hasn't ridden a bike in years. He was a bit too big for the bike so it was quite a sight to watch him try to balance and keep from revealing a plumbers butt all at the same time. Anyway, I really felt like part of the neighborhood. I have to run, but I might edit this later. . .

. . .and I just edited some stupid mistakes out. I forget what else I had to add to this, so I'll leave it as is.

Pickups as a status symbol

One of the stranger things I do is read Craigslist if I'm visiting a new area. Like, all of Craigslist. I think it gives an accurate description of a place. What people are selling and for how much, how people sell themselves, what kind of housing there is etc. Look, I know I'm weird, so you don't have to tell me. Because of this, I had an idea of the housing in the area before I got here. You know, what kinds of structures populate the area and how much of it is new cookie cutter construction. I became interested in housing when I spent some time in Florida. I was used to seeing all old victorians and just really beautiful houses in Boston, so florida was a shock. Concrete and more concrete and no cellars. Obviously they do this for a reason - termites and other house eating bugs is the main reason. There was one lone victorian (maybe, not sure what it's classified as) wood house with a big front porch that I'd always drive by because it was like nothing else there and it reminded me of home. Seeing another place for an extended time made me appreciate the housing history in Boston/New England and how beautiful it is.
Now when I go to new places, housing is something I make a point to pay attention to. I love architecture, which is another reason I pay attention to houses. It's neat to see structures adapted to an area. I go for drives just to see what's around. I also make sure I go to a grocery store while in a new place - that can tell you a lot about an area, too. That's a whole other story, though.

Another reason Craigslist is valuable is because you can get a good feel for the social qualities of an area by looking at personals. Alaskan women are looking for a man that likes kids and doesn't drink too much and Alaskan men are selling themselves based on the fact that they have a truck and love the outdoors. And, yes, the women are looking and the men are selling themselves, which is a whole other thing I could analyze. Trucks are a status symbol here. It's like iPods - everyone either has one or wants one. If a guy in a truck sees a pretty lady they all seem to instantly slam on their gas pedal to show off how noisy their truck is. I just don't see the accomplishment there, but what can you do? It reminds me of that Jerry Seinfeld comedy where he's talking about men who yell out the car window when they see an attractive woman. He wonders what they hope to accomplish - since their car is waaay down the street when she realizes it. He also notes it's the best that men have thought of so far.

The most telling part of my Craigslist journey was in the area where people are looking for friends. There are literally hundreds of people saying they're new to the area and are looking for people to hang out with. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the most active section of the Alaska Craigslist. It's a good perspective of the native vs. outsider population here. I mean native in the sense that they were born here, not the native people that have been here forever. I'm finding that it's common for people to come here to visit and then end up living here. I'm also finding that people seem to stay for 30 years and then cut out when they can't take the winter anymore. What a strange cycling of people this place must see.

One last thing is that I've never seen a section so dominated by RVs, ATVs and pickup trucks as the autos section here. Nary a car to be found. I'm glad I have 4WD here. I haven't needed it, but I thought I was going to today. I went to a nearby park to have a look around. There were a couple of roads off of the main park road so I decided to drive down and check them out. The last one I went down was like off roading. It's not even fair to call this monstrosity a road. There were several spots that had giant muddy dips and you could see deep muddy tracks on the side of the road - you know, the telltale marks indicating someone got stuck there. Did I mention I'll be living on a dirt road on the Kenai? Aww yeah.

Dogs and Bikes

I think this is the best place in the world to have a dog. There's so much room for them and the people tend to be more outdoorsy and bring their pets with them on their adventures. I've seen so many bouncy labs recently that it makes me want one. They're so energetic and fun - a guy just rode by me on a bike with a black lab running circles around him. They have infectious enthusiasm.

Speaking of men on bikes. There are a lot of serious bikers around here, which I expected. I also keep seeing grown men toodling around on bikes. A grown man on a bike isn't weird, but for these ones it just doesn't look right. They look like they could be construction workers because of their clothes - they look like work clothes, they don't look like lets-go-biking-to-enjoy-the-weather clothes. The reason I assume they aren't headed to work or something is because they don't seem destination oriented, they're just lazily cruising around. Who knew a couple of guys in carharts on bikes could be so funny? I think you just have to see it.

I wanted to bring a bike up here or get a cheap one off of craigslist so I could crusie around. I'm glad to say that there is already a bike at the cabins I can use. Now that I've seen the cabin location, I'm thinking those biking trips will be extra interesting because of the dirt roads. I'll have to figure out what roads are good to ride around there.

The Twilight Zone of Science

I found this site about quantum mechanics that explains it in a really clear cut way. It's actually really easy to understand because it goes really slow - maybe too slow. Still, it's a good base of knowledge that explains why quantum mechanics is like the twilight zone. It's good because every other thing I've read jumps around like crazy and now they're all starting to make sense now that I've read this.

I don't know what I'm talking about, but it's fascinating

As most of you know, I'm fascinated by Physics, M-Theory (string theory) in particular. I've recently been introduced into the world of Quantum Mechanics. I really don't understand most of it yet, but it's really interesting. It's like the philosophical side of physics.

Einstein's Relativity theories and Quantum Mechanics are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Relativity dealing with the large and quantum dealing with the very small subatomic. Something I learned recently is that both theories, Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, have been tested and they both seem to be correct, but because of what each says, they couldn't both be right at the same time because they're conflicted. This is where String Theory comes in. String theory aims to unite the two theories into one big theory of everything. The interesting thing with String Theory is that those two prior conflicting theories are both necessary for it to exist. So it requires these two conflicting theories. What a trip, right?

Most people are generally familiar with Relativity, as I am, while Quantum Mechanics is a mystery. After learning about how it ties into String Theory, I decided to read into it a bit. I really don't understand most of it yet, but it's mind blowing. It's almost like the philosophical side of Physics. There's a lot to explain that I won't even attempt because I don't understand it myself, but the strangest part of it all is the uncertainty principal, which says that we can't measure two values, momentum and position, at the same time, so any measurements at the quantum level are actually just based on probability and can never be accurate because. This is because the behavior of things at the quantum (very small) level doesn't match up with the behavior of things at the larger levels, like the level we're in tune with. So because we aren't on that level, it seems like we can't hope to understand it completely (so far) with the devices and mathematics we have. It would be like living in 2D and having a 3D thing enter your world - you would never see it in it's entirety because all you're capable of seeing is one plane, so you wouldn't be able to understand what you were looking at fully with your knowledge. Pretty much, the human body is a poor measuring device for things at the subatomic level so we can't fully wrap our minds around things at that level.

It's crazy stuff. The philosophy side of things comes in when you try to figure out why particles at the subatomic level behave completely differently than things at our level and why we don't know it. Why wouldn't it be the same and how could it not be the same? This is where you have to start thinking about the information we recieve vs the reality we create based on that information - If we're poor measuring devices at the subatomic level and reality is based on the information we receive from the surrounding world, could our reality be wrong or flawed because it doesn't see the whole picture? Back before Einstein, scientists thought of space and time as two completely different things that weren't connected. Einstein came up with relativity and made time and space dependent on each other. Now what they want is to do something very similar, except instead of time and space, they're looking to connect information and reality. One major institution that's studying quantum mechanics is actually looking to collaborate with a philosopher!

My brain hurts.

I'm officially an artist

There's this Swedish band I like that pretty much nobody I know has heard of, but I like 'em. They're building a studio, I think in Stockholm, and they had a contest to find a painting, or paintings to put up in their studio. They asked for a painting of the band, but you could do whatever you wanted. I took pictures of a few of my paintings, not of the band, and sent them in. I had most of them painted already, except for one. The contest ended at the end of March and I didn't see anything about the winner before I came up here. This morning I got an email saying that I won!! I couldn't believe it!

I'm still not sure which painting won because I entered the contest twice, with two paintings each time. One of the cool parts of the contest is that you get to name your price for the painting and get creative with it. It's isn't a price in terms of money, it can be whatever else you want. Like tickets to their next show in your hometown, or coffee with the band, or a big ol' bag of their merchandise etc. It just has to be reasonable, and they'll decide if it is or not. I can't figure out what to set the 'price' as. It seems they tour the US about every other year in the summer and spend the rest of their time touring the rest of the world. Who knows when they'll be back in Boston, so don't know if I should go with the ticket option. In the original email I told them I'd be happy just to have the painting there, which is true, but they asked me anyways what I want. Oye, decisions, decisions.

Two of the four are in the right margin.

Bahhhhtlett Salute

Wasn't meaning to offend anyone with the whole Bartlett Salute thing. . . I just thought it was funny because we used to joke the middle finger was the Bartlett salute. I also figured it would be easy for people that aren't so computer friendly (DARA!) to have something already made if they feel like letting us know what they're up to.

Everyone here is so much cooler than I am. . .

People are just so freakin' cool here. There are so many athletic people. I'm constantly seeing people in full athletic gear for various sports all over the city. I'm in a coffee shop and some guy just came in all decked out and I don't even know for what sport. he was wearing pretty regular athletic pants and a fleece, but his boots looked like spaceman boots. I've seen climbers, bikers, runners, surfers cross-country skiers (there's still some snow on some of the trails), and people like that guy I just saw, where I don't have a clue what he's geared up for. This isn't even counting the people backpacking through the area - who knows what they've been up to. Most people in this city are either coming from or going to places cooler than I've probably ever been in my life. It's like a big giant playground for adults.

Worst Bumper Sticker EVER

I've seen a lot of bad bumper stickers. We all have. I just saw one that takes the cake as the worst one I've ever seen. it said "carry your baby, not the car seat."

Are you kidding me? okay, so when you go grocery shopping, who's gonna push the carriage and get the food? Even if you can manage to pull it off, your arm will not thank you for it. When you do any errands a mother has to do on her own with a baby in tow are you supposed to have a nanny with you or something? Really, lady, what kind of crack are you on? I sat behind this lady at a drive through and she must have ordered the entire lineup of starbucks drinks because it took forever, so I had to stare at her stupid bumper sticker for a looong time, getting more and more mad. She's probably one of those nutjobs that breastfeeds until her kids are 8 years old, too. Yes, some people do that, as evidenced by this disturbing video I came across when I was watching funny videos of babies laughing. Really, bumper sticker lady, keep your dumb values to yourself.

C'mon BoA, Alaska's been a state since '59!

This was a draft that I forgot to post way back when. Meh, may as well post it now.

Bank of America can just change their name right now. They can call themselves Bank of Contiguous States from now on. They don't exist up here. I'm told by my mother and the internet that there is a lone ATM in the mall downtown, but I have yet to find it. What the hell? This is America, Bank of America. Because I'll be getting checks from Frenchy I just opened up a bank account today with an Alaskan Bank. It's just a savings account so I can deposit checks. Fun stuff. I even got a free pen for signing up with them! Yeah!
The really stupid thing is that you can get an Alaska Airlines miles credit card through Bank of America. I think there used to be a Bank of America presence up here, which would explain that, but no more. STUPID.

I'm still a little surprised they don't exist up here because of how prevalent they are at home and virtually everywhere else in the country. Devil monopoly bank that I stay with for convenience. I'm what's wrong with this country, huh?

I have more drafts to go through. . . lookout.

Sunset Pictures

I just posted those 8 billion sunset pictures from the other night. Lots of duplicate pictures because I was trying some things with my camera. Some of the pictures came out really well. . . others not so much. The sunset was amazing that night. Should be a good one tonight I think because there are just a few clouds in the sky. Mostly sunny, I guess you'd call it. I think partly cloudy would overstate the clouds. Right.

The pictures are in the usual spot. Links at the top right of the page.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

I can't believe I almost forgot to write about this.

I went to an Anchorage Chamber Visitors Bureau event, which was held at the HQ of Alaska Wild Berry Products (They make chocolates and jams and things). They built a park like thing that has a theatre they show a movie about Alaska in. There's also a place to eat, get ice cream etc. My favorite was the reindeers, though. I was the only one over there looking at them and talking to the reindeer keeper people. I learned that reindeer were actually just bred from caribou. They're really docile so they let people into the pen to feed them and such. These reindeer were brand new to the place so they were a little people shy. I opted not to go into the pen to give them some room because they were scared. They hadn't yet learned that people in the pen means they get fed by those people, which I'm sure would quiet their fear a bit.

The event was just a social event for all of the members, which Frenchy is. Free food and people did 60 second presentations about their businesses. I got in touch with a lot of tour operators, which is good for free tours. I figured the 60 second talks would just be people up there talking for a minute about their services - oh no, they had some fun with it. One person did a monty python type skit, another sang and others brought in animals. A bird rescue group brought a white owl and a mushing place brought a litter of puppies that were 2 weeks old. The momma dog was NOT happy about the puppies being passed around.

The presentation I found most interesting was a guy from Portland who works for a packaging company that has an operation here. They've just unveiled completely biodegradable plastic bags, which degrade in about a year in a landfill. They can make them any shape or size and with any kind of polymer, they just add their additive and voila, biodegradable plastic. Obviously this can't extend too far beyond packaging as of now because for the most part, things that are plastic, we want to last. You know, I wouldn't want the plumbing in my house to disappear after a year. I was impressed by his presentation, even though it was just him standing up there with a plastic bag. Sometimes the content outweighs the format.

And for the big finish. We got a performance from the man, the myth, the legend: Hobo Jim. He's best described as uniquely Alaskan Country music. It isn't like that stupid modern pop-country, though, it's older style, which I do like. It's just him and a guitar. He's a good performer, but what really makes him likeable is his Alaskan storytelling. He so completely embodies Alaska just by being him so it's neat that he can translate that into a medium like music. He's into audience participation, as well, which is always nice. There was one song that required howling. That was a bit out of the ordinary for me. I enjoyed his show, though, and really hope he plays at the Solstice.

Afterwards I was at the desk talking to the Chamber people when I found out Hobo Jim albums were for sale there. Of course I had to get one, right? What better souvenir could I find? Plus it would be nice to be more familiar with his music if he is playing at the Solstice - I mean, I have to know when to howl and everything, right? So I asked the guy there which Hobo Jim CD would be best for a newbie, to which he replied, "Why don't you ask him?" Hobo (that seems to be what people call him) was standing right next to me when I asked. HA! I introduced myself, explaining I was a misguided yankee and could he recommend an album. He told me young Hobo was best and pointed to a CD, but quickly changed his mind in favor of a compilation. He wandered off in search of one and meanwhile they found one at the counter. When I paid for it, much to my surprise, they opened the CD and hurried off with it. It came back Signed by Hobo.

I'd say that was a good first encounter with Hobo Jim. I considered telling some of the stories he told in his performance in this blog because they were really good. I decided against it because you'll just have to come to Alaska to see him live to hear his stories. They're his, not mine.

Diversity and the Natives

Somehow I was expecting to find a bunch of white men with beards and pickup trucks up here and nothing else. Boy, was I wrong. I've found more than my share of men in pickup trucks, but this has turned out to be the most diverse area I've ever seen. If I gave it some thought beforehand I probably should have figured it would be a melting pot mainly because of the native populations and the area involvement in wars. So, I probably should have known, but somehow my instinct just told me it'd be a bunch of cowboys in shacks, as if the land was empty before we got here. We all know that's never, ever the case unless we're talking about the Antarctic.

Because of my misconception I thought I was going to come here and miss ethnic foods. In and around Boston you can eat any kind food you can think up. If not ethnic food in Alaska, I really don't know what I was expecting to eat here. Isn't all food ethnic food when it comes down to it? (I should clarify that. All food made by a person that didn't come out of a box, bag or frozen tray - although those foods are probably as modern American as you can get.) I've had some great food since I've been here, most notably Vietnamese (The owner at the Vietnamese place told me she'd give me a discount next time I come in because I went there two days in a row because it was so good.). I think the different types of food offered in an area can really be a sign of the overall diversity. I was expecting McDonald's and I was given anything and everything I can think of. I'll have to find out if any of the native tribes have any food specialties.

I find native culture really interesting because it's neat that so many different groups of people all over the world found ways to live efficiently off of the land. There are so many different types of areas to live on this planet and natives adapted to all of them. Their nomadic lifestyles made so much sense and unfortunately today we've gotten as far away from that as we possibly could, with no hope of ever returning. White man has paraded through most of the land so far and brought in a "better" way of life. ha! This is the only place I've ever been that I can really feel the influence of the native people, probably because it's so big and wide open and is probably a bit closer to what it used to be than any other place I've been. Sure, Anchorage has Walmart and any other giant store you can think of, but drive 5 minutes outside of the city and you're in the wilderness. Being in Alaska and having gone through the Yukon makes me wonder what the Northwest territories and Nunavut province are like. The best part of that whole deal of the Nunavut province splitting from the Northwest Territories, through some Canadian act that must have had something to do with the natives, is that the name Nunavut means 'our land' in the Inuit language. That's just great. It's like they're saying "leave us alone, Canada."

Speaking of living off the land, I was at a performance recently (which I'll go into in another post because it's funny how things turn out sometimes) where the performer asked who in the audience has ever lived off of a wood burning stove or barrel stove (I may have gotten that name wrong) as their sole source of heat. 1/3 of the audience raised their hands! He was talking about living in the middle of nowhere with no plumbing, heating or electricity, which is horrifying to most people I know (except for you, Marty). In all these little towns I'm encountering it isn't at all weird to live off the grid for whatever reason. And I'm all worried about a toilet. Jeesh.

The Loo, or lack thereof in my case.

There are many things to call a toilet, but there are very few variations on the toilet. . . or so I thought.
Frenchy said she'd heard about some European something or other possibly chemical toilet and told me to research it a bit because she wasn't sure what exactly they were. We're trying to figure out what to do about the cabin not having a toilet. I did the research and it's fascinating, actually. Chemical toilets are used on RVs, planes, boats, etc., and all they do is release a chemical of some sort with each flush that disinfects the waste and then the waste is dumped when possible. The waste has to be dumped in an approved area, which is the issue. There are still other freestanding toilets where you don't need plumbing and this is where it gets interesting.

First off is the composting toilet. It's exactly what it sounds like, too. The toilet is designed to promote the decomposition of the waste and when it's 'done' you can use it in your garden. There is no odor, either - I figured that would be the downfall. That sort of toilet can only be used if it's in an area that's kept above 64 degrees consistently if it's being used consistently. The second toilet is the incinerating toilet. Once again, exactly what it sounds like. Burn, baby, burn. It uses a small amount of electricity (same as a good sized light bulb) or fuel (like propane or diesel - a 5ga propane tank can last for 200 'flushes') and your waste, liquid and solid, is reduced to a heap of ash in an hour. Don't worry, the toilet can be used during an incineration cycle, so you don't have to wait an hour between uses. If 4 people are using the toilet regularly over the course of a year you may only have to empty the ash once or maybe twice a year even in the very smallest model.

I honestly can't understand why these toilets aren't more popular. No plumbing, which is a huge reduction in water consumption - consumption of water that is most likely of drinking quality. I think they actually make incinerators for grey water, too, which is an issue in developing countries and even developed countries, really. The toilets start at $1500, but I really think it would pay for itself in water savings and in new construction homes it would save on plumbing costs, too. Think about it, would we rather have to treat thousands of gallons of human waste or would we each just like to dump out and ash pan or fertilize our gardens a few times a year? Anybody freaked out by the fertilizer and just stop right now - once it is composted it's no longer human waste. What do you think commercial compost stuff is made of? Animal poo. What's the difference?

These things seem to be marketing to hippies that want to save the universe, but I think there's a larger market out there. With everyone jumping on the green bandwagon, maybe they'll get some notice.

Earthquake Park

Earthquake park is right next to Airport Park, where I took the Air Force and sunset pictures. The coastal trail, which runs from downtown along the coast toward the airport, goes through the park. It's called Earthquake Park because the area was a victim of a good-sized earthquake which took out a lot of land along the bluff area. there used to be houses there, but when the earthquake decimated the area the state took the land over and made a park. Alaska is such a hotbed of volcanic activity because it's right on the edge of a plate (check it out on a map, it's pretty cool and explains the Aleutians, which is the long chain of islands extending from southwest Alaska) so Earthquake Park isn't the only area with that history. There's a spot near, or possibly on, Turnagain Arm where the same thing happened. When you're driving through you can really tell it used to be inhabited land. When a large earthquake happened, I'll have to check the year, the land just dropped and it ended up below the waterline, rendering the area uninhabitable. There are lots dead trees partially immersed in water and the occasional wooden upturned shack. I think if I'm going to ever experience an earthquake, this would be the place. The Kenai gets a good amount because there are 4 large active volcanoes right across the Cook Inlet.

The coastal trail cracks me up because I'm constantly seeing people strolling along it in shorts and tshirts when it's 40 degrees out. You know how if you go down to Florida or something from Boston in the winter and it's 60 degrees you're psyched and taking off your jacket because you're hot and meanwhile the residents are all putting on their jackets because they're cold? It's the same idea, except backwards. On the water right now it's 47 degrees so I'm wearing jeans, a long sleeve shirt and a down vest and other people are all wearing tshirts. I actually saw a guy walking around without a shirt on in downtown Anchorage, where it's only slightly warmer.

Newfound Love for My Shack

I just had an odd moment. It's 2:20am right now. The doorbell rang then Frenchy's phone rang (it does a little half ring at the house then forwards to her cell phone) then the doorbell etc. Frenchy didn't wake up, but I was still awake so I got the door. It was an older gentleman that seemingly had a reservation. I asked him several times which room he reserved so that I could put him in the right place but I couldn't get a straight answer and/or he didn't seem to know. I finally just put him in a room that isn't technically one of the B&B rooms, but is made up like one. I didn't want to mess up any other possible reservations if he's staying more than one night.

He asked about the cabins on the Kenai because he's going fishing down there, which is a bonus. I introduced myself and started to tell him that I would be hostess down there, at which point he interrupted me and said he's slightly hard of hearing (which explains the earlier reservation miscommunication), he's going to bed and doesn't want breakfast in the morning, but wake him up if he isn't up by 9am. . . then he waved and scurried off to bed without another word. So, I have no idea if I just gave some guy a free nights stay or what. I left Frenchy a note about it that she'll find in the morning. He was already in bed and I didn't see any point in waking her. She leaves for work at 8:30, so if he isn't up by then I'll probably have to figure out the payment and reservation issues? I put in my note that I'm not sure what the deal is with his payment etc., so hopefully he'll be up before she leaves or she'll wake him up.

I was juuuuust about asleep when he rang. I let it go for a few minutes because I figured it was better if Frenchy greeted the guest because she'd know of reservations and rates, etc. Once I opened the door it all happened so fast that there wasn't a chance to wake her until after he was in his room with the door closed and in bed. Now I'm wide awake thinking I may have just let a wacko in that's on stop number 1 of his Great Alaskan B&B Axe Murdering Spree. I think maybe I could never run a B&B because I don't initially trust people enough to feel comfortable with them sleeping in my house while I'm sleeping defenseless. The doors all have locks, but still, what if this is stop number 1 on his Great Alaskan B&B Stealing Spree? I'm just really glad that it isn't B&B style down at the cabins. It is and it isn't. It is in the sense that we'll be doing breakfast. It isn't in the sense that I'm not staying in the same dwelling as the guests. I now officially love my little shack!

Mental Illness' Correlation with Genius

I read a good article today about the connection between genius and mental illness. (alright, so this has nothing to do with Alaska, get over it.) The article spent more time going over historical geniuses and their potential mental illness than it did with any fact or theory based on research than I would have liked, but it was still a good article. Psychiatrists have been studying manuscripts and other texts from noted geniuses in history to try to diagnose their possible mental illnesses. It's likely that most of them had Asperger's, bipolar disorder, depression or a personality disorder. One researcher actually thinks that a 'touch of Asperger's' is a necessary ingredient in genius and thinks there is a genetic link. Many geniuses have been noted as having narrow vision when it came to their purpose, spending all of their time on one interest and working at it tirelessly. I was bothered by the article where it pointed out the Asperger's link couldn't be true because there are so many with Aspberger's that aren't geniuses. Says who? The measure of a genius is too often mistakenly dependent on great achievement through some sort of leap in human understanding or contribution to human society. Anybody who knows anything about Asperger's, don't get mad at me for bringing this up, but consider Rain Man (I know the specific skills and things in that movie aren't the norm in those on the autism spectrum, but with the restricted interests and intense focus it's a good example of what those traits can produce). One of the main diagnosis criteria in Asperger's is that the individual demonstrate an intense and almost obsessive interest and in a particular topic or thing. They're highly focused on that one topic and it can really take over them. If you've got that sort of drive, you're going to become an expert in that topic like Rain Man was an expert with numbers. (I sometimes think that motivation and drive are a type of genius.) The problem is that if we don't find their expertise useful, we don't acknowledge their specific intelligence as genius. Of course that brings the whole notion of genius into question and I won't bother going into that. Another researcher says that deep depression as well as the swings from depression to mania in bipolar disorder account for most of the great literature of our time.

I, for one, think it makes perfect sense. Normalcy in society means you go with the grain. What else is normalcy other than being similar to the majority of people? If the majority of people were schizophrenic, it would be normal to hear voices in your head. Anytime you put something slightly off balance in the human brain, interesting things can happen. There are those who are just plain stark raving mad and contribute nothing through their imbalance. At least they don't contribute anything that we find useful in the world, which goes back to the whole thing about the notion of genius that I'm not going into. Then there are those who are slightly off kilter and the world actually benefits from it. If your brain is different than the norm (or unbalanced or mentally ill, as we refer to this), you're going to think differently. Free thinkers do what they do because they're crazy enough to go outside the box. They brain isn't 'normal, so it LIVES outside the box. If everyone was 'normal' I don't think there would ever be any groundbreaking ideas. Another reason I think it makes perfect sense is in the case of writers throughout history. The astonishing poets and playwrights are overwhelmingly bipolar, depressed or have an anxiety disorder. If you have a mental illness, you analyze the world in a different way. You also tend to over-analyze if you have depression or any sort of anxiety disorder. It's that over-analysis that can breed creativity because you're constantly looking at things from new angles and trying to make sense of it. This makes for incredibly poignant writing because they can point out little things you may not have noticed and then describe it like no other. They feel things, see things and analyze things in ways a 'normal' person never could, which makes for good reading from a 'normal' person perspective, I guess. Analytical skills are imperative in the free thinker.

It's unfortunate that with this incredible creativity comes the burden of mental illness. Mental illness is such a tax on the sufferer and their surroundings. It makes you wonder if it's really worth it. If Marie Curie didn't (potentially) have asperger's, would we be doing x-rays today? Would we be eliminating creativity if mental illness was somehow eliminated? I'd certainly choose to keep mental illness around and have an interesting world than to get rid of it and live in a normal one. I speak from experience here, too=). All of this is yet another reason Hitler was an idiot (with his obsession for ridding the world of people he didn't consider to be perfect), although he was also mentally ill, I'm sure. Down the bunny hole I go. I'd better stop before I start talking about Aldous Huxley, George Orwell and Ray Bradbury. Yikes. I'll try to keep my nerd article drivel to myself in the future.

Bore Tides and Glaciers

I'm considering heading down to Beluga Point, which is on Turnagain Arm, to see the bore tide there. I may also see a Beluga whale because it's the right season for it. They say you can watch the bore tide at Beluga Point then drive to the next turnout and watch it go by again. There is a state campground at Bird Creek, which is by one of the turnouts so I think I might camp out while I'm there. It isn't that far from Anchorage at all, but It'll be nice to get away a bit. I'm having a good time in Anchorage, but I'm ready to get down to the Kenai. The original plan was that I needed to be in Anchorage by June 1st, but if I wanted to explore a bit I could come anytime after May 8th. I, of course, chose to come as early as possible so I could do as much exploring as possible before I'm responsible for anything. I've been doing a lot around here. I'm glad to do it because I'm staying for free in Anchorage and I can take fam trips, which is free stuff. Fam trips are for familiarization - People that run businesses that are commonly referring tourists to activities get to take trips for free so that they have knowledge of what they're recommending. I have to look into them more because you can't schedule a specific time you want to go, they sort of fit you in where they have room. Once I'm down on the Kenai I'm going to try to finagle a few of those for my own enjoyment and also so I'm not a random girl from Boston trying to recommend activities in a place that's just as new to me as it is to my visitors. I'd feel like such a fraud.

So, back to the bore tide. How cool is that? I had no previous knowledge I could see it here so I'm psyched. It can only be seen in a few places in the world. For those unfamiliar, they're those tides that come in like a wall of water. Turnagain Arm has up to 35 foot tides because it gets so narrow so quickly after the Cook Inlet and the water gets really shallow over the mudflats at low tide so the conditions are right for the bore tide. It usually happens in smaller streams and other offshoots from a larger body of water, so this one is one of the largest in the world, being that it happens in an entire inlet. I'm interested to see if anyone is surfing it when I go, but I'm thinking they won't be because the really big ones happen based on the tide level, which in turn is based on the moon phase. I thought the full moon was around now, which is the time when I'd think the bore tides would be at their best, but I came across a flyer that said the best ones were during the first week or so this month and next month. I'll have to look into it more to figure it out. I have to look into it more anyways to figure out what time I need to be there. They don't just tell you when to show up, you have to figure it out. This is no amusement park. First you check the predicted low tides for Anchorage and Fire Island, then you add a certain amount of time based on where you plan on viewing it and still from there you have to adjust that time based on the wind speed in any given direction. I think the difference between height of the high and low tides also factors in somehow because that has an effect on the height of the bore, which has an effect on its speed. Basically you need a degree in higher mathematics to know what time to show up. That's so Alaska. No wonder it's the last frontier - nothing is predictable here. As we all know, people are creatures of habit and favor predictability. There's just no room for it here, spontaneity rules. It's somewhat European in that sense, where you don't live religiously by your wristwatch. There's actually a tunnel on the Kenai where you can't predict for sure when you'll be able to go through it. It used to be used only for trains but they finally, after much controversy, opened it up to vehicles. The catch is that they didn't modify it when it was opened to cars so for about 15 minutes northbound traffic gets to go through it, then for the next 15 minutes southbound traffic goes through, then the following 15 the trains go through. I'd hate to imagine what would happen if there was an accident in the tunnel. All hell would break loose - well, only for the tourists trying to get through so they can arrive for their scheduled cruise on time. The residents would probably have a nap or head back to their float plane and go that way.

I keep interrupting myself here. Back to the bore tides. The bore tides can be dangerous for the surfers, as one might imagine. Interestingly enough, the most dangerous thing about Turnagain Arm is the mudflats. When you're driving along the water it looks like there are beaches there at low tide. It's actually a whole bunch of mud, I'm assuming because of the runoff from the glaciers in the area. Rivers fed by glaciers can be milky looking due to suspended minerals and also are usually very muddy because, although it isn't easily witnessed, they're powering through the land and taking a lot of earth with them. It's cool to actually see a glacier because it's hard to understand when people explain that this big hunk of ice powers through the land upturning and flattening everything. I understand the mechanics of a glacier and how the ice is under enormous pressure so the solid actually flows in a manner similar to a liquid, but knowing that, I still wonder HOW could they be capable of what they do to the land!?!? When I saw how massive they are I quickly began to understand. Alright, enough with that tangent, back to the mudflats. This is how I think - all over the place. Every year people die on the mudflats because they stroll right out on them. Mudflats can be really loose and soft like quicksand so people get stuck out there and drown when the tide comes in, even if they're close to the road, because the tide is so high there. What a way to go, right?

So, after the longest post ever, I've pretty much told you that I'm going to see the bore tide. Hey, one more thing of note, you know how people wrongly call tsunamis tidal waves? Well, a bore tide is actually rightly called a tidal wave because the wall of water is a wave created by the tide coming in. You learn something new everyday.

Alaskan Parking Lot

The Key to My Allergy/Past and Future Concerns

I'm allergic to nickel. At least I think I am. I was handling a lot of keys yesterday and today my hands are all contact dermatitisey - itchy, itchy, itchy. I think most keys are plated in nickel so that's what I'm assuming it is. Could be a brass allergy, but I doubt it. Also, I think nickel is a somewhat common allergy, but it's usually really mild (Oh, Billy, soon-to-be-doctor friend of mine, ya wanna help me out with this one?). This same thing used to happen to me all the time while I was working at MMR and I couldn't figure out what it was. I knew it happened after I handled the cassettes when I was processing, but I figured maybe I was having a reaction to the ethyl alcohol or something. I wasn't always in contact with the alcohol, but it was always around so I just chalked it up to that, but I always doubted it a bit. I considered the actual cassettes, but I always thought they were aluminum. They must have some nickel in them. Who knows, who cares, I won't be working for that company in the near future. . .

Speaking of them, I'm just so glad to be gone. They were like psychological warfare gone haywire. If things had worked out the way I thought they would I would have been happy with them, I think, but nepotism gets involved and things go down the drain. I didn't realize how very unhappy I was in general for the past year until I got away from it all. Being here is a huge wake up call. It's so easy to stay in bad situations because it's your routine, but once you finally figure out how to walk away it's like the weight of the world is off your shoulders. Things like that make this whole thing that much sweeter for me. If I had stuck it out with MMR I wouldn't be where I am now, which would be a shame. Who knew there was a whole world outside of MMR? Ha! I've spent so long worrying about where the future will take me that I've been standing still. I need to start moving ahead and doing things that I think suit me instead of worrying that I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do, which is what this whole trip is about for me.

I already miss some of the great people I worked with there, but I'll never miss the way the business was run. Still, I can safely say I'm happy where I am now, and that's all that counts! Now if I only knew where life would take me after this. . . ah, who cares.

Men In Trees - Hope, AK

Yesterday on the way back from Sterling we went to Hope, AK. There is one road down to Sterling from Anchorage and it's a lot longer than it has to be because it goes around the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet (named that because Captian Cook went all the way down the inlet thinking he had found a passage and at the end he found. . . the end, and had to turn around and go back). once you reach the end of the inlet when you're driving you sort of loop around and start heading down away from it at a 45 degree angle, but there is a right turn you can take there to continue following along the water and it takes you to Hope. Hope is 16 miles off of the main road and the road abruptly ends at about 17.5 miles. This road is there solely for that little town. There is no other way unless by sea or air. I found it funny that there was a gas station a few tenths of a mile from the end of the road. No heading to the gas station on the way to your next destination there, you have to specifically drive down a dead end headed away from civilization to get to it. At the end of the road there was a state park with trails and some good camping so I think I'll head back there at some point when I want to hike because the views across the inlet are stunning.

There were a lot of old buildings there and it smelled like fish. It reminded me of the fish house in Swampscott. Like any small town, there is a church, bar, cafe, gift shop and about 12 houses. Don't blink when you're driving by this town. Once again I saw more old junky vehicles. I'm seeing it a lot here. It would probably be a violation in most parts of the country to have a yard that looks like a junk yard, but here it's the norm. One house had two really old cars - they looked like they were from the 30s and they looked like they'd been in the same spot since then, too, with weeds growing up and around a few feet above the cars. Another house had 6 vehicles, as far as I could see. There was one truck I took pictures of because there was something I liked about it and then over to the right of it there were three cars that were hard to catch on camera because of the growth around them, but one was upside down. There was also a thing I couldn't identify, which I'll include a picture of. It looks like part of an old backhoe type thing from a long, long time ago. You'd think it would be an eyesore, but in a town like this it was just a little bit of character added to the yard.

Hope is an old mining town dating back to the late 1800s. The bar/cafe there was built in 1896 and it's obvious that some of the other unused buildings in the immediate area are from around the same time. Because the town was a mining area there were a lot of men there back then, as per usual in Alaska. They were a little restless without any women around to nag them so they started an Alaska men magazine to find mail order brides. That was back in 1896, so who cares, right? Wrong. A little over 20 years ago a woman started up the Alaska Men magazine. I'm not sure if she was doing it as a throwback to the earlier magazine or if she was just trying to ease the male/female ratio in Alaska, but she did it. It's exactly what it sounds like, too. An entire magazine filled with Alaskan bachelors. It's surprising how much of that sort of thing is around. I was looking into a town called Talkeetna, which is on the way up to Denali, and one of their huge annual events is to auction off their bachelors. The profiles were a riot, but they're not up on the site anymore so I can't share them. Lots of beards and lots of funny interests. ABC's show Men in Trees is aptly titled.

Just a side note about the Talkeetna bachelors auction. It's preceded by the Wilderness Woman Contest, whose events are based on the Alaskan man's wants and needs in a woman. You know, stuff like how fast she can make a sandwich, open a beer and bring it to him or how fast she can bring water from the river and still other things like how well she can shoot a rubber bird or catch a fake fish. It's very tongue in cheek and sounds like it would be pretty funny. It's in the winter so I won't be able to witness the glory of the whole contest/auction event. What a shame, I was really hoping for the chance to bid on someone with a father time beard.

Because of the title of this post I'm sure you're wondering if it's true that there are men everywhere here. Eh, sort of. In Anchorage it seems to be pretty even, but when you venture out into smaller towns it definitely leans to a higher male to female ratio. It seems the further away from civilization you get the higher the ratio is. I suppose women just appreciate plumbing a little bit more. As they say here, the odds are good, but the goods are odd.

Hobo Jim is THE MAN in Alaska

The people at the Kenai B&B Association meeting were really gung ho about getting him to play so of course I had to look him up. I can see why now. This guy seems legendary around here. He was a logger, commercial fisherman, and cowboy before he started writing songs. Basically this guy is all that is and ever will be Alaska. I'm really hoping he agrees to play for the Summer Solstice because I'm volunteering so I'd be able to see him. I'd rather see him in that setting than a bar setting because festivals are just more fun.

Everyone send emails to him telling him to play at the KDLL Summer Solstice Festival.

Spurrview House

I spelled Spurrview wrong before when I was talking about the house they had the B&B meeting in with all the cookbooks. It's the Spurrview House in Soldotna, AK. I figured I should get it right since it was so awesome. The owners are such nice, sociable people. Here's the website

I Have 349560429756349 Roommates.

I finally went down to the Kenai today (yesterday, really, I won't post this until tomorrow evening when we get back and I have internet). The cabins have names, Moose and Bear; mine should be named Spider. Cobweb CITY. I'm not a fan of anything that can bite me because I get bad reactions to any kind of bite, so I wasn't thrilled about the spiders. The cabin hasn't been lived in for a bit, so that explains it a bit. We went through and vacuumed the place and it's looking pretty spider-free at the moment. It's small, about the size of a studio apartment, but it's a cabin, so it could be described as a free standing studio. it's an interesting building, long and narrow. It looks so silly from the outside. I was a little freaked out at first, but I've decided it's cute now. At least I'm going with that. . . .

Frenchy asked me what size TV I wanted and I told her 0 inches by 0 inches. What do I need a TV for if I plan on going on adventures all the time? I'm hoping to spend a lot of time outdoors hiking and such so I don't need this place to be a palace. I've decided it's very livable under those circumstances. Also, she's given me free reign to do anything I want with it, like paint or anything else I want. She's very laid back about things, which is nice.

There's plenty of room for me and all my junk and it has everything I need. Well, except one thing. A toilet. That's right, no toilet. I was under the impression the place had a 'bathroom.' Call me crazy, but I usually lump bathroom and toilet together. I was NOT happy about that. There's an outhouse nearby, but it was filled in recently so I have nowhere to do my duty. The cabins aren't booked up so I can always go over to one of them when I need to go. We're looking into several options for the matter and I've decided at this point that I'm not worried about it. We're most likely going to add on to this cabin to create a formal bathroom, but there are other options to be considered, too. Jealous? HELLO Honeybucket. This is funny to me because when I was looking into a getting a bartending job here I spoke to this girl and she warned me about Alaskan housing and told me to make sure it's got everything I need. She said she once went to see an apartment that had all the utilities included in the rent. When she got there it was a group of old broken busses and trailers and the "included utilities" was a water pump at the end of the dirt road.

We're actually only here overnight. We came down (I always want to say up, but it's down now that I've been in anchorage) to go to a Soldotna B&B association meeting. Too funny. There was only one seriously overbearing personality there, which I was surprised by. I see B&B owners as creatures of habit that know how they want things done and don't take no for an answer. One guy there was a loud mouth. Thought he owned the meeting and had fabulous ideas. One of those guys that's constantly patting himself on the back. He was extremely important. Other than him, everyone was pretty good. Well, except one artist lady that was a bitch. She just wasn't pleasant in the least. I bet her B&B has a lot of return visitors. . .

One of the agendas was to plan the Solstice. The summer solstice is a huge deal here. At home we're not that impressed it's the longest day of the year. If someone tells me it's the longest day I think, 'great, I can do 30 seconds more work in daylight." Here, as you can probably imagine now, it's light all night. They have a big festival or fair or something of that nature for it. It runs for two days and the B&B association gets the door profits for the second day so we're in charge of bringing people in and booking bands etc. They also need volunteers so I might just be walking around that fair selling raffle tickets. I think it would be a fun way to talk to locals.

One woman was in charge of booking bands and as she was reading the names of the bands that were willing to play people seemed horrified and were moved to ask (in disgust) if they were heavy metal bands. I was laughing in my head, especially when they all got excited about a polka band and some guy named Hobo Jim. In addition to recruiting bands, they needed people to recruit businesses to donate prizes for a raffle. They had all sorts of great prizes already, like a flight to anchorage from the Kenai, a weekend trip, a fishing charter, oh, and 5 yards of gravel. Yes, somebody donated gravel. I laughed a little to myself but soon everyone was claiming faux rights to the gravel. This was no joke, either. Everyone was envious of the gravel. They all wanted it. I'm talking about rocks, here. They wanted rocks over a weekend vacation. I suppose they don't need vacations, but they need rocks, which I guess is a good thing when you think about it. If all you lust after in life is a truckload of rocks, you're doing pretty well in life.

I almost forgot, it was a pot luck, so we ate there. I'd say roughly half of everything had some kind of fish in it. Anything mysterious was fish. That white stuff with a crumbled chex topping? fish. That white cracker spread? fish. After the meeting I got a tour of the place and it was amazing. These people had my dream kitchen. They were obviously cooks. Also, they had the largest collection of cookbooks I've ever seen in my life. I commented on them and he told me they actually got rid of 31 CASES of them a few years ago. I saw 4 large bookcases of them. The place was perched on several acres of land with a great view of Mt. Spur. They made a shooting range and a track in the backyard which were out of site in the woods. They're a member of AAA and are rated as 3 diamonds, but were told by AAA that if they would just pave their driveway (it's gravel), they'd be 4 diamond. The owner says he won't pave it because the road leading up to the house isn't paved and it doesn't make sense to him. The place is called Spurview. I also found through talking with him about the kitchen and cookbooks that he loves to cook and they actually do 5 course dinners for their guests in all sorts of different cuisines, but with a focus on french and I think Thai sometimes. They charge $50 for it on top of whatever you're paying to stay there, but that's cheap for a good 5 course meal.

One great thing I walked away with from that was the name of a local fishing guide. The son of the owners of Spurview is a fishing guide. I think I get to go out on a free guided fishing tour with him and then if I like the tour I can refer people to him and get a percent of the price of the tour for the referral. Sounds good to me. Maybe I can take a test drive of one of their 5 course meals. . .

It's funny I saw this amazing house before I was introduced to my shack. I like my little shack. I moved some things and it's looking like it'll really work out well for me. Once we figure the toilet out it'll be just fine. I don't have any good pictures of my shack (I'll be calling it that from now on instead of cabin) but I do have these:

If this (above) was inhabited I would have forgotten the whole trip and driven back to Massachusetts. Bees can go to hell. It's too bad they're such ruthless killing machines because the hives they build are really neat.

This (right) is a tree that's right by my front door. It's about 3 feet from the actual door. There is some sort of animal fur on it, so I'm thinking I'll have visitors. Sorry the picture depth of field is off, I couldn't see what I was focusing on because the sun was in my eyes.

So, that's the story of my cabin. I'll take more pictures once I have it set up and I have more to tell about it later. I'm thinking I'll paint the inside, so please suggest some good color schemes. It's exposed studs inside so I can paint the wall one color and the studs another color or maybe stain one and paint the other? I don't know, give me some good ideas.

Oops, I forgot to save this the other night so I'm posting a few days late

We've been working our butts off this week to get the B&B going and it's finally ready. Today I was really tired but I willed myself to continue because I'm young and should be able to keep up with Frenchy. I'm not sure how old she is, but old enough to have been in Alaska for 30 years sometime after college. She ran out of steam toward the end of the day and I dropped like a fly soon after.
She headed over to a friends house for poker night and I stayed behind to do a few things. I thought I was headed to bed early until I walked outside and happened to see a bit of the sunset. I couldn't pass it up, I had to go see the whole sunset at the park on the water nearby (I think it's called Airport Park). WOW. What a great sunset. There were a lot of people there, even at 10:45pm. I took lots of pictures and had a hard time deciding which to post here, but don't worry, the others are in an album. I had to post lots of them here anyways. I'll just dedicate an album to sunsets because there will probably be a lot of pictures of them. . .







At the park I was walking around trying to get a good view where I could see the reflection off of the water, too. It isn't easy because there were others out taking pictures and the park is right on a bluff so you can't stand too close to the edge because it's unstable. They have these square posts in the ground to mark how far you can pull your car up without driving off the bluff and I ended up standing on top of one of those to get a good picture (don't worry, they're a good 6-10ft away from the bluff edge). I was hesitant to do it at first because I wasn't sure I could get up there in the first place and then balance on it afterwards. It was do or die because there were people around, so once one foot was on it I had no choice anymore. I had to be able to do it or I'd be that idiot. I did it surprisingly easily. Sometimes I surprise myself. I found a place a little bit down the bike path sans people that opened up to the view and had those same posts so I did the same thing to get a good view. It starts to get woodsy over there, though, so I was sure I'd turn around at some point and be face to face with a moose! At which point, of course, I'd jump a mile and inadvertently roll down the bluff. Or fall I guess. Bluffs don't have slopes, do they?

Tomorrow I go down to the cabins for the first time, but I'm not staying there yet because nobody books until june. That's when the fish come. We're going to a B&B meeting or a chamber of commerce meeting or something like that. Some sort of get to know your neighborhood sort of thingy. It'll be something to see who is at that sort of meeting. I have a feeling I'm going to meet a lot of overbearing personalities. It'll be nice to be able to see the cabins anyway.

It IS a Small World

Today I saw a little moose (as if any of them are little) by the road. He wasn't a baby, but he definitely wasn't full grown. Just a kid. I didn't stop to take a picture because there were other people stopped and I didn't want to have to talk to them. Sometimes I'm really social like that. I'm told I'll see moose a lot more when I'm down at the cabins. At the rate I'm going that's going to be a lot of moose.

Last night, or early this morning (I woke up to them here, so I'm not sure), two guys came to stay. They were stuck in the airport with no place to go and happened to see a pamphlet for the B&B so they called and Frenchy picked them up. I woke up to banging and just figured it was someone that came to do some work. Nope, it was the guests. They were tearing down something in the basement Frenchy has been meaning to get rid of. Turns out the pamphlet they saw in the airport was dated for the winter and had winter rates on it, which is why they called. Frenchy knew a good opportunity when she saw one so she gave them the winter rate anyways and put them to work. Too funny. She left me a note saying I could put them to work with anything I needed help with, but I figured I'd let them be, they'd done enough. Plus they were probably tired.

I asked the boys where they're from and I thought they both replied they were from Austin. They said it again and I realized one said Austin and the other said Boston! He's from Billerica, too. I used to be in Billerica a lot for work so we talked about this good food place there. What a small world.

Anchorage at Midnight

Okay, so this picture was actually taken at 10 of, but still, you get the idea.

The Hairiest State in the Union Since 1959

I almost forgot to write about the hairy Alaskans!

It's very common to see people around here that are dirty and hairy and at first sight seem like winos, but they're wearing North Face jackets and other pricey gear. They're always dirty allover, too. At first I just figured the homeless guy saw just happened to have some good gear for one reason or another, but then I kept seeing the same sort of thing over and over. Unless Anchorage outfits their bums for winter, there's no way they're homeless. I'm thinking they must have just emerged from the bush or something. Either that or they don't give a damn about presentation. Really, it could be either.

There's also a whole heck of a lot of long male hair and beards with a good sprinkling of mullets for good measure. Is the hairiness runoff from the cold winter? Could it actually be the fashion here? Do they just not care? I've seen far too much hair to not question it. I bet the women would grow beards if they could.

After marveling at the sheer amount of hair here (lots of hippies here, too, which I don't even have to explain) I happened to notice this awesome poster that said Bearded Beer Train in big letters. On closer examination I found that the Beard and Mustache World Championship will be held in Anchorage in 2009! I'm here in the wrong year, damnit! I don't know what the Beer Train part is about, though, the website wasn't very informative. It's possible they're doing something with the Alaska Railroad. I think it's a German dominated event, so that could account for the beer. Can you imagine cruising on the Alaska railroad with lots of beer and a bunch of funny bearded men? Sounds like a party to me.
This guys is awesome. In the description where they say the word drill, I was hoping they would say scissors or x-wife with scissors or something.
This is a clip of the most recent champion winning. He's only 23. Check out the Zeus beard complete with full costume. Amazing.

Seasonal Depressive Disorder?

Alaska is like a cure for depression, if only in the Summer. It's seems almost impossible to be down here. The long daylight hours just brighten your whole day. I haven't seen darkness for a bit now and it's wonderful. I don't even think that the consequential lack of sleep could make me grumpy at this point.

They should just start shipping people with Major Depressive Disorders up here. That doesn't solve any problems in the winter, but we could always ship them down to the Antarctic circle somewhere for the winter so they can have as much daylight as possible there. Seeing as there isn't anyplace for humans to live down there, I suppose the Falkland islands will have to do. I'm pretty sure the only human civilization in the Antarctic is research related. Maybe they should start researching depression down there. . .

okay, I'm done with that line of reasoning. I've actually wanted to go to the Falklands for some time now. It's one of the most active Aurora Australis areas. I've wanted to see it for as long as I can remember, but it isn't the type of thing that you can plan a vacation around. It happens when it happens, so I figure I should go to the place that's accessible and where I'd have the most chance of seeing it, which seemed to be the Falkland Islands. The Falklands also have some other awesome things I'd like to see. I've researched that sort of travel and you can take cruises down there, but they're expensive. I used to be bummed that I couldn't afford to go to Alaska and see it the way I wanted to see it, and look where I am now! Who knows, maybe I'll meet a crazy scientist who needs a Me to go down there and be Me while they do research or something. I'm thinking I might never make it to the Falklands, but I also thought I'd never make it to Alaska on my terms, either.

I also want to stay at the Ice Hotel in Sweden partly because of Aurora Borealis. Even without Aurora I'd probably still want to go there. It sounds awesome. Look into it if you've never heard of an Ice Hotel. just google ice hotel sweden and make sure you click on the little winter link on their site. The swift waters of the nearby river make the ice freeze crystal clear, so once enough has frozen in the fall/winter, they start cutting away blocks and they build a hotel out of them. They've gotten really creative with it, too, shipping in different artists to design a guest room each. Every year it's different. There are lights and there's even a bar in the hotel serving drinks in glasses made of ice. . . because they can. They say the only reason they have a refrigerator is to keep the mixers from freezing solid. When you arrive at the hotel they give you standard issue hats, mittens, winter boots and a snowsuits with the price of your room. In the morning they wake you up with a cup of hot lingonberry juice. . . whatever that is.

To the cold blooded it sounds pretty horrible, I'm sure. I'd stand a little cold for an experience like that - in a heartbeat. They have cabins onsite, too, so you can wimp out if you want to just see the hotel. There's lost more they do, too, like sled rides into the woods where you stay overnight with some natives and eat a traditional dinner with them, which I'm sure is some sort of reindeer something or other. Which reminds me, they don't have a sausage guy in downtown Anchorage, they have a reindeer dog guy. I'll have to try one today and get back to you on that one.

So many places to see, so little time. Maybe it isn't just Alaska that's the cure for depression, maybe it's just travel in itself. If I was gung ho about religion I could see the world as a missionary. I think that's how Frenchy has seen a lot of the world. I'm so all set with that, though. I wouldn't be a very good religion salesman. To say the least.