AlaskanBoomdeay

Right Place, Wrong Time.

2008-12-10T17:38:00.005-05:00

I promise I'll finish writing about my trip to Austria/Italy at some point in the near future. I have most of it written, actually, I just have to clean it up and post it (the most annoying part to me. details, details. . .)

I thought of something that's absolute crap today. When I was in Austria, Innsbruck to be exact, I got an email from Mando Diao saying that their next tour would kick off from none other than Innsbruck. Cruel world. I haven't had the chance to see them live because they're not in the US often, so it was a kick in the butt to find I was in the right place at the wrong time. I'm always in the wrong place at the right time, but I've never been in the right place at the wrong time.

A little background for those wondering who Mando Diao is:
Swedish band I stumbled upon a few years ago and it was love at first listen. Then, as most of you know, I entered a painting contest they held in order to populate the walls of the new studio they were building. I actually ended up being one of the winners, which was pretty awesome. I'm still somewhat amazed they liked the crap I was peddling - I assume my art to be something only a mother could love. It's hard to get outside of your head and try to see it from another perspective, so the assumption on my part is always that it's like the ugly baby that everyone smiles at while throwing up into their mouth a little bit because nobody has the heart to tell the mother her kid was seriously bludgeoned by the ugly stick. Anything creative falls in that category for me - I never think people will like it. I wonder if songwriters are faced with that?

You know, I thought I was off track there, but that actually brings me to my next point. Because I never think that people will like the things that I like, I'm weary of introducing people to music, too. I had liked Mando Diao for a good while and it was unfortunate that none of my friends were on the same page. I finally realized they'd never be on the same page unless I made it happen because it wasn't like they were going to hear them on the radio! (They don't make the pop music cut here, which is actually a blessing if you ask me.) So, I took a chance and mailed a CD to a friend for her birthday when I was in Alaska. Because I'm insecure about my likes going over well to others, I also included descriptions of songs and why I like them, etc. Yes, I'm really cool. It actually went over well - she Really liked it. With my newfound confidence in my taste, I sent it to two more people, who were both impressed.

Now that I have a sense of validation working for me, I feel comfortable saying: Three out of three agree, listen to Mando Diao! If you don't see the humor in that last line, look harder. If you still don't see it, re-read the last two paragraphs.

Alright now I'll get to the why. Why do I think they're awesome? First off, versatility. They've got so many different kinds of songs so there's something for almost everyone to love. I happen to like most kinds of music, so I love it all. Their library has the ability to cover most musical moods, making it a good choice for a desert island predicament.

Another reason I love them, which is a facet of versatility, is that there are two singers. There's Bjorn, who has the more versatile voice of the two. He has this Steve Marriott thing going where he can sing nicely or scream like a madman and sound great both ways. (sidenote: Speaking of Steve Marriott, the song Itchycoo Park makes me exceptionally happy - it's all too beautiful.) Then there's Gustaf, who doesn't quite have the range Bjorn has, but I'll be damned if I've ever heard anyone use their voice for all it's worth like he does. His style is somewhere between yelling and speaking for the harder songs, it's not very sing-songy. He does, however, do a few slower songs, which are surprising. Slowed down, his voice is heartbreaking - he sounds like he's about to fall apart, and it does wonders for the songs.

Here's the kicker about the singers, though: they know how to play off of eachother! No small feat. They sing songs separately, at the same time, alternating verses, lines, etc. There's a level of competition buried in there somewhere, but it isn't enough to dominate the feel of their interactions. They have a chemistry which isn't often found. Hmm, two lead singer/songwriters with great chemistry. . . I'm reminded of something.

I shy away from Beatles comparisons because it's sort of like hallowed ground, but let's pretend it isn't sacreligious for a moment so I can get down to business here. Their dynamic is somewhat Beatlesish. When asked to describe their music, I once said a variation of this: If the Beatles members were cloned just before they formed as a band and the duplicates were frozen, then later revived in 1999, something like Mando Diao would be the output. Weird description? Yes. But, the point is that if we had Beatle potential/chemistry and then implanted that in a time when musicians had the benefit of post-Beatles influences, like Pearl Jam and Nirvana and all that 90s grunge, I think we'd be looking at Mando Diao. Alright, I'm just going to leave that thought to stew where it is, because I'll kill it if I try to describe it any further. Before I abandon this line of reasoning, though, I'll leave you with this: Beatles influenced by Beatles = Mando Diao? Maybe. Or, maybe some things just defy explanations, logic, and categorization.

In short, I like them lots and I think they deserve a larger following and more recognition here in the US, but not so much that they get influenced by the demented world of pop and fame we have going here (that would be a tragedy)

By the way, if you don't see the humor in the fact that I had to describe why I like them, look harder!

Workin' it in the mountains

2008-10-25T09:02:00.002-04:00

October 9th 2008

Hiking kicked my butt today. I went to work with Christian, which was out in the field. We hiked allover the place and tested water in the mountains. In the summer he does it every 2 weeks. I had some shin splints going on, which I was worried would bother me. . . and they did. There were two hikes which were a good length and elevation.
The first was about 1.5 hours each way and I'm not sure what elevation we reached, but it was a steep hike at times. Our elevation gain was 800 meters. The last sign I saw said 2000 meters (6500ft) and I hiked a good distance after that. Getting to the trailhead was half the fun, though. We must have gone through 25 hairpin turns on the way, and one of the roads, along with a hairpin turn, only had room for one car to pass. I don't know what happens if a car is coming from the opposite direction, and I don't want to know. Anyways, back to the hike. I found psylocybin mushrooms. No, I didn't eat any. I was wandering while he was taking measurements and I came across another hiker and we exchanged a few words. He was wearing all black and I found out later it's because he was going up to the hut at the top to clean the chimney, and it's tradition to wear all black. ooooookay. I'm told it's like that everywhere, even the US. Comparing countries is endless fun, by the way.

The second hike was about 1 hour roundtrip and reached 2142m (7000ft). I'm not sure what elevation we started at, though. I went ahead and hiked to the top myself while he was doing readings elsewhere and he met me afterwards for more readings, so I got to spend some time up there. It was gorgeous, too - stunning views. There was also a nice stream running through and a cute little hut there. Everything was wonderful there until a bumblebee chased me around for a while. He was trying to check me out, but I kept moving away from him, so he kept moving towards me. Lucky for me, he gave up first. Probably lucky for him, too.

I don't have a clue how far any of these hikes are because they measure hikes here by time instead of distance. There's no way to be sure how far they are, because the time is adjusted based on steepness, I'm sure.

I'll probably be sore tomorrow, which is double trouble, because tomorrow we start the 3 day hike through the Alps where we'll be hiking 4-5 hours each day! yeeha! We'll see how it goes. . . and if I survive.

By the way, Europeans drive like maniacs.

Planes, trains and automobiles

2008-10-25T08:58:00.002-04:00

Disclaimer: posting these after the fact. I tried to write as I went, but I couldn't actually post anything until I got home.

October 7th, 8th. Days 1 and 2 (1 was a travel day, 2 was my first full day)
after 24 hours of travel, I've arrived!

My flights were fine, nothing much there to talk about. There wasn't a passenger in the seat next to me, which I was very happy about. Otherwise I end up with a giant pile of stuff on my lap. One thing I found strange about my journey was that every time I landed they didn't have a terminal, I had to walk or get bussed across the runway. I was surprised they did this for the international flight, because it was a big plane.
I flew to Frankfurt and had a quick connection to Germany, which was uneventful. I was through customs within a minute, including time waited in line. Then came the real treat. . . that airport is like a MAZE. I swear I must have walked a mile at the very least to get to my terminal. The flight from Frankfurt to Munich was easy. My only complaint was that I don't speak German. A little girl sat next to me and apparently I buckled myself up using her latch, so she was trying to tell me and I just didn't have a clue what she was saying. I finally got it, but I felt like a terd. I bet the expression on my face when people talk to me in another language is priceless, probably like a deer in headlights.

The train ride from Munich to Innsbruck was more of me being confused by people speaking German to me, which was extra fun. I never know what to do when I go to a counter to buy something - should I just ask for it in English right off the bat, or should I first ask them if they speak English in German? Really it makes no difference in the exchange, because if I ask if they speak English and they can't, it's not like it'll make communication any easier. I suppose that way we're on the same page, though. . . and I don't look like an ignorant American who expects the world to bend to my needs. I've found my best plan of action is to say "hi" right off the bat, and if they speak English, they'll immediately start speaking it. Wow, I'm so lame. It's funny, because I do know small bits of German which could get me through some of these situations, but I'm afraid to speak it because I'm sure I sound ridiculous.

Speaking of sounding funny speaking another language. Today Christian said 'California' and I nearly died of laughter. Poor guy had no idea what was so funny - I was laughing because he said it exactly like the Governator. I really wanted to ask him to say "It's not a tumor!" and "get OUT!" but I decided against it. English is his 3rd language, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say, so I think I'll keep the accent critique to a minimum! I wish my video camera worked - I'd make a whole montage of Austrian people saying Governator phrases.

Other than a bit of jetlag, everything is great. I'm about to go walk around Innsbruck for a while - it's beautiful today, warm and clear. The mountains here are just beautiful. More on that later.

Bore tide video. . . finally

2008-09-27T18:34:00.002-04:00

Last week I finally edited the bore tide video. I realized when I looked at the picture I put up with the original bore tide post that people probably wouldn't notice the guy in the picture. So, go back and take a look - it adds some good scale to the picture. You now have the video for that, too

A little video explanation -
The tide was changing from low to high, so logic would say the current should be moving from open ocean (right) to the shore where the turnagain arm ends (left). BUT, this is a bore tide area, my friends, so things don't make sense. The tide was flowing left to right, except for an area straight across the way that was bordered by mudflats and was relatively still. All in all an odd scene.
at 0:55 listen to the ridiculous noise that comes out of my mouth as the camera goes unsteady. I hate hearing myself on video. I always watch the videos later and wish I just hadn't spoken. . . but that would have been awkward at the time, no? This noise makes me laugh, though, especially because of why I make it.

Don't judge a book by its cover.

2008-09-17T16:14:00.006-04:00

I never did write about Valdez. . .

Another day. It deserves a day when I'm in writing mode because it was an interesting place.

So, I've been home now for a few weeks and it's the same as it ever was. My niece and nephew are huge and my kitten is now a cat, but, other than that, things are the same. I was thinking about sameness today because I saw this site where a guy has been taking pictures of himself every day since 1998. It's cool to see what a little aging and hair can do to a person's overall appearance. He should have kept a diary along with the pictures to somehow track the outside world's response to him; though, I'm not sure how he'd go about it because he'd need to track it based on something he consistently does every day. Maybe one of those mood trackers or something so he could superimpose a graph on the video? okay, getting off track here. . . It's neat to think of it in terms of approachability, because he definitely goes through phases where he seems more and less approachable. Lesson learned: don't judge people by their hair.

{{{{{{{{{{wait, I'm adding this part after the fact because the mind wheels started turning. Should we continue judging people by their hair on some level? I mean, it's what they're presenting to the world, right? We choose how we'll present ourselves to the world on a daily basis, whether we like it or not. Our outfits and hair and makeup etc, or lack thereof, all speak to the world on some level. Ever notice while people watching that friends and couples tend to dress alike? I wonder if they dress alike before becoming friends and that's partially what attracted them to eachother, or if they met eachother and then melded their styles into one? I try not to be judgmental or intimidated by people that dress differently than me. I fail at times, but it's usually in the name of being judgmental and it's usually directed at people I feel are dressed like overpriced skanks (you know, those people who are obsessed with things that they think look good just because they cost a lot of money? Newsflash ladies; dress based on the goods on your body, not the goods in your wallet.) I'll try harder to accept my skanky sisters. . . oh, wait, no I won't. This calls for one of my all time favorite quotes:
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

Oscar Wilde}}}}}}}}}}

It's amazing how our minds have the ability to glaze over major change because it's happening over too long a period of time for us to perceive. It's like watching your gas guage - you can't see it, but you just know that needle is moving. Small children, kittens and other beings that are still growing are the exception, of course (not gonna go into the plant world, here). It's interesting that we need to see a picture of ourselves from years ago to realize there's been a change. Imagine the horror if you kept a person away from a mirror and other reflective surfaces for 5 years. It's like we expect time to stand still because we can't see it moving.

All of that said, I look forward to aging. I've left some great phases and awkward phases in my looks behind and I'm interested to see where my looks will go in the future. I'm also interested to know if I'm currently in an awkward or good phase. Unfortunately, I won't know for a few years. Pity.

GIRLY DAY

2008-09-09T15:07:00.006-04:00

Toward the end of Lindsey and Courtney's visit, we decided we needed a girl day together. We also decided the day should probably involve large quantities of alcohol. (it was a rough week.) Unfortunately, everything is far away, which involves driving, so we needed a chauffeur. Enter Tyler. All I have to say is that we owe him a GIANT favor. We terrorize Tyler every chance we get, so I'm sure you can imagine how much worse it would be when he's stuck in a car with three of us for long periods of time.

We had a great day, though. First we went on a short glacier cruise, which was really cool. The blue ice is so neat. The best part of the day was probably the bore tide, though. We waited for a while, but it was definitely worth it. When we arrived the water was flowing backwards at a pretty good rate, which was quite strange. Tyler and I spent the time trying to figure out the processes involved in the backwards flow and ultimately bore tide. We still don't know for sure what the cause is, but I don't think anyone does so I don't feel all that bad. It was still a good conversation topic, though. When we finally spotted the bore tide we were definitely ready for it because we had waited quite a while.
We talked with a local woman who educated us a bit. She was obviously intelligent, so it was interesting to talk to her. I found one thing she said to be notable - and exchange I'll remember for some reason. We were talking about the moon phase and how it ties in with the tides and Tyler chimed in that he hadn't heard of the influence the moon has on the tides and was genuinely interested in what we were saying. The woman (whose name I never got, because I'm a jerk like that) instantly asked what he studied in school and when he said engineering, she said, "that explains it!" She then proceeded to say something to the effect that engineers are too busy looking at the ground to notice the sky. I suppose engineers are always looking down and while physicists busy looking up (or even at things they can't see and that don't exist. Ha! but that's another topic altogether). Anyways, she informed us that this bore tide was a pretty good one. It was, too!

Watching the tide come in all at once is definitely an experience. It roars through, right over the current, which is running against it (which I'm sure has something to do with the creation of the tide). I took some video, which I'll edit down and post. I started filming too early, so it's far too long and boring. The best part of the video is the guy that's standing on a rock that ends up covered once the tide comes through. He was very close to getting smashed by the wave, but managed to jump out of the way at the last second. Quite a sight.

All in all we got our girl day and had a great time. When we got back my dad and Brad had dinner cooked for us, which was a welcome treat. Here's a picture of us proudly drinking in public on girl day:

I'm not sure why I'm sending a Captain Morgan style cheers to the mountains, but so be it. I love Courtney's expression in this picture, and how can you not love that there are squirrels on Lindsey's hat? That was a great cheap find at the Fred Meyer in Soldotna.

Fishing

2008-09-03T22:10:00.003-04:00

Alright, I've been slacking for a Really long time now. I'll try to touch on some of the more notable events, talk about my ride home and possibly talk about life after Alaska in the coming days. I was going to go chronologically, but I've decided to go categorically. Today's category is fishing.

During my last week in Alaska, I FINALLY went fishing. Yikes, took me long enough. There I am in an area that's world famous for fishing and it took me months to get around to going. When friends visited two of them wanted to go fishing. I figured it would be as good a time as any, so I went along. I'm so glad I went because it was a lot of fun and very educational. I've never been much of a fishing expert. Apparently when it comes to fishing, I'm very lucky. I'm sitting on a boat full of men and I'm reminded of the difference even further when Alan, the guide, points out to the men where they can pee and then tells me to let him know if I have to go and he'll head to shore. Screw that, I skipped the morning coffee and drank minimal water. HA!

For a little background: On the Kenai the limit on Silvers (a type of Salmon) you can catch in a day is 2 per person. The salmon come through in runs, meaning they all head up the river at once, so if you want to catch a certain type of salmon, you have to go during a specific few weeks. There are two runs of each type of salmon every year, except the pinks. The pinks are the dreaded pests on the river. They only run every other year and I'm pretty sure it's one run, not two. When I first read about the types of salmon before I went to Alaska I thought I was lucky to be going there on an even year when the pinks run. I should have kept reading. They aren't as big so they have a smaller meat yield. The meat texture isn't as desirable. They also show up at the same time as other more sought after fish and Unfortunately they're a lot more aggressive than the better fish. All this means that 9 times out of 10 when a fish bites, it isn't the kind you want!

I caught my limit by noon and none of the guys reached their limit by the end of the day! HAHA!! I was so sped, though. I just didn't know how to fish, so it was a shame I was the one getting all the bites! I enjoyed myself, though. At one point in the beginning I was still trying to figure out the best way to hold the rod while reeling and a fish jerked my rod and I was in an awkward position so the rod ended up between my legs and it was a big mess. I was so sped, let's just leave it at that.

Although I hit my limit, the guys caught some impressive fish that I'm almost certain would have dragged me into the river. It wasn't king season (another type of salmon - the really big ones. The season was over, meaning you can catch it, but it can't leave the water, so any catching of those out of season is purely for sport.) but we ended up catching two beautiful kings. One was 60lbs and the other was 50lbs. They were HUGE. The one Dervid caught was the biggest and it put up a hell of a fight. Every time he got the fish close it would freak out and practically empty the line off of his reel, meaning he had to fight it in over and over. It was quite a fish. He had bloody knuckles and everything from the fight. Talk about sport. . .

HALIBUT FISHING
I went halibut fishing on my last full day in Alaska. It was a great time. I asked the guide I used for salmon fishing if he knew of any guides and it turned out he was going fishing with a guide friend on the day we wanted to go anyways, so we jumped in on that trip. I went with Dervid (my dad, for anyone that hasn't caught on to that whole deal yet) and Ed. Ed got really seasick and was throwing up and fishing at the same time. It was awesome. I've never seen someone power through seasickness like that. What a champ. I actually came very close to getting seasick and that's very uncharacteristic of me. I'm not one for motion sickness. I was fine until I had to go to the bathroom, which was below deck, which meant I couldn't see the ocean, I could just feel it. That spelled trouble. I took a pill and was fine a half hour later.

I was lucky once again, getting bites constantly. Halibut fishing is a HUGE workout. HUGE. the ocean floor was 200ft down, which is where the halibut hang out. This means we had at least 200 feet of line we needed to reel in each time we needed new bait or caught something. Did I mention there was a 3lb weight on the line, also? yeah. My arms were jelly the next day. I must have caught 100 sharks, too. Little jerks! They were sort of cool looking, though, because they had pastel green eyes. Both my dad and Ed caught HUGE skates. My dad caught the biggest one I think I'll ever see. The guide said it was easily a few hundred lbs. It was a monster. I'm sure you can imagine the disappointment when we realized it was a skate and not a halibut. ohhhhhh well.

Halibut is a great fish for eating, so it was well worth the work! It's incredibly light in flavor and the texture is very meaty. We brought about 50lbs home to Mass, but we probably had a good 30lbs more up in Alaska that we left behind. Fish anyone?

SLACKER

2008-08-22T10:10:00.003-04:00

I know, I know, I've been seriously slacking. It's been a busy week and I'm just entering yet another busy week. I have lots to write about, though, so soon enough there will be reading material. I'm sitting in the airport right now waiting for my connection from Anchorage to Valdez. The little plane we took from Kenai to Anchorage was fun. I love planes and flying, so the smaller the plane the better. This one was probably about a 20-seater. A Beechcraft something or other. It's a small prop plane where you can see right into the cockpit to watch the pilots while flying. Wow, if I'm this excited about the flight portion of my journey, maybe I should stop paying for vacations and just start flying around instead. Reminds me of Martin Sexton lyrics: It's in the journey, when am I gonna see there's no destination.

I'm freakishly tired - 1.5 hours of sleep last night and only 5 or 6 the night before. Ouch! I had to get up at 2:30am to catch this flight and of course I couldn't fall asleep until 1am. Typical. I'm slightly delerious, so, though I have the time now, I'm going to opt to write more later when I've got a shred of sanity. Dervid only got a few hours last night, too, so I'll be surprised if we don't bite eachothers heads off by the end of the day.

So, just a bit of what's to come. This week I:
-hiked to a glacier
-went on a glacier cruise
-had king crab legs for the first time
-saw a grizzly (in captivity)
-went fishing for the first time ever (and schooled the men on the boat)
-saw a bore tide
-came close to freaking out several times due to lack of sleep and abundance of stress
-had a great time

and much more that I can't remember right now, I'm sure!

One other notable thing. I dropped Lindsey, Courtney, Tyler and Brad off at the airport yesterday and before they got out of the car, Lindsey said, "your dad was everything you said and more. I am not disappointed," in a slightly excited, but mostly matter of fact tone. HA! I think people think I'm exaggerating when I describe my looney bin family. If they only knew the half of it!

I have visitors!

2008-08-16T04:20:00.004-04:00

Alright, so I've been seriously slacking the past few days. . . or more.

It's been a busy week around here. Frenchy headed to Thailand, so there was lots to get done before she left, which kept me busy. I also had lots to do before the arrival of my visitors so that I don't have to do much while they're here. Friends and Dad arrived the past few days, which I'm extremely happy about. I picked them up from the Airport the past few days, which actually worked out great. It was great to make the drive from here to Anchorage again because it's an amazing drive. So much has changed since I was last up that way - almost all of the snow is gone! I expected it, but things still look so incredibly different. I'm so glad I had the benefit of seeing it both snowy and not. Just beautiful both ways.

I drove up last night to get Dervid and we stayed at the B&B for the night and headed out in the morning. We ended up leaving much later than I planned because we helped Denise (who is manning the B&B while Frenchy is out of town) do breakfast for the guests and other tasks. It worked out well because some of the rain cleared up as the morning progressed, making the drive a bit nicer for sightseeing. I felt bad, though, because it meant my friends, who were already at the cabins, were stranded until I got back. They ended up heading out to the store a while after I got back to get some stuff. I was really stressed out because I didn't get any sleep (long story) and we had weirdness going on with guests and I didn't know what to do with everyone at that point. I was standing around with everyone my decisions impacted - all of them staring at me waiting for me to figure things out. As Kevin and Ed might say, my broom came out in full force. While they went to the store I took a shower, had a sandwich, and started watching a movie with Dervid and felt much better. I think the shower was extra helpful because I had a chance to mull things over on my own for a bit. Showers are thinking time for me.

Tyler and Brad have been doing a bunch of fishing already. They caught a bunch of fish their first day out. They got one big Silver and several Pinks, both types of salmon. Contrary to popular belief around here, the pinks made for some really great eating. Brad is really in his element here because he's really what you'd consider and outdoorsmen (hunting, fishing. . . ), so he's taught us a thing or two. The other night he taught fish fileting 101. Tyler tried his hand at it and got a few good filets out. Nothing is ever easy the first time. The fish were slippery, too, which didn't help things, so I think we'll get some rubber dipped gloves that I keep seeing the fishermen using. When it came to Courtney, Lindsey and me, Brad's filet lesson fell on deaf ears. We were far too busy watching them, half disgusted, half fascinated.

We have lots more planned in the coming days, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more to write about. It's off to bed for me now, though. More later - right now it's BED TIME!

More Weird weather

2008-08-10T00:58:00.003-04:00

More hail today. What the heck is going on?! There was actually a bit of thunder, too. I only heard it twice and didn't see any lightning. The hail today was bigger than yesterday and there was a lot more of it. This time I got some video. I took two videos. I'm posting a short one of the hail bouncing off of the garage roof.

The other video I need to edit a bit before I put it up. It shows the hail piled up allover the place, but while I was taking the video I was talking to Ed and you can't hear what he's saying on the tape, you can only hear me, so I'm going to edit most of that part out. It's unfortunate because he was telling me about a time in Florida when it rained shrimp and fish and he thinks it must have been because a funnel cloud picked them up. Then he was talking about how the lake in his backyard now has shrimp in it. It was an interesting conversation, but unfortunately he was the only interesting part of it and he's the only bit you can't hear of the conversation.

Weird weather

2008-08-08T22:12:00.002-04:00

Today was a very strange weather day. It was beautiful most of the day - blue skies with big poofy white clouds. I started hearing these weird noises from inside, sorta like rain, except that the drops sounded MASSIVE and there was almost too much time between drops for it to be rain. I went outside and it was hailing!! Whaaaa? It wasn't huge hail, slightly larger than a pea, but it was raining at the same time, BIG drops and it was wicked cold rain. The electrician was here at the time and he was just as baffled as we were, which tells me it's quite out of the ordinary because he's been living here for a looooong time.
The other weird thing about this rain was that it was blue skies and white puffy clouds all around. There was one small suspicious looking cloud, but other than that it was a sunny beautiful day.
Apparently it hailed in Anchorage yesterday, too, except that they got a thunderstorm along with it. I'm so jealous!! I love thunderstorms! It's VERY out of the ordinary to get a thunderstorm up here. Hopefully I'll get a few late season storms at home.

Shoe Mission: Impossible

2008-08-05T00:01:00.006-04:00

The other day I went searching for shoes to wear with my bridesmaid dress for Lindsey's wedding. Oye! I set off on the road with no idea where I'd even begin looking. I mean, if hip-length waders would match the dress, I'd be all set.

This is the dress I'm wearing:

And this is the color of the dress:

I found a "mall." in Soldotna. If anyone has ever been to the "mall" in Billerica, MA where the K-mart is, then you know what I mean when I put quotes around the word mall. It's like a defunct mall with room for about 6 stores (mostly small weird stores) and only half of it is occupied. It's like a ghost town mall. This one happened to have a Payless shoe store there. Unfortunately, they didn't have ANY shoes that would remotely work.

Next up was Gottschalks. It was my first time in - it's apparently where the entire Kenai Peninsula has to shop for department store items - you know, like clothes that aren't Realtree print and shoes that aren't made to be planted at the bottom of a river for hours as you cast over and over and over trying to land the big one. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's the only place aside from thrift shops that you can find this sort of shopping. The shoe selection was pitiful. It was all clunky leather sandals. There were about two pairs of shoes that might pass as dressy, but they were all wrong for the dress I needed to match. Wrong, meaning one pair was red and the other pair looked appropriate for a hooker. I asked the girl at the register if they have shoes on the Kenai Peninsula. She gave me a look that wasn't reassuring and told me I'd be better off going to Anchorage. She then said I might try a bridal shop, which happened to be right near where I live.

I go to the bridal shop. They had about 10 pairs to choose from:

There were the clear plastic ones with a dash of rhinestones to look like a little strap. Not only are they hideous, but the clear part isn't making it look like you're wearing a strappy shoe, it makes it look like you're too wimpy to suck it up and wear strappy shoes and it makes me think of how sweaty your feet must be under that oh so obvious plastic. Let's keep the PVC out of wearable items, please. The shoe below is almost exactly what I saw there:

There were also several pairs of white dyeable shoes. Have you ever looked at bridal shoes? they're all awkward and always seem like they're a couple of generations late fashion-wise. No thanks. Plus, I'm not about to go mixing up a batch of dye. I'm just not.

Even if I wanted any of these shoes, I couldn't have them. Their entire stock was on the floor, which amounted to a few sizes for each shoe type. So, what was left? Well, there were the flat sandals that belonged on a belly dancer. There was more junk hanging off of the many straps of those shoes. I couldn't even untangle them, nevermind fathom trying them on. Then there were the gold ones, which won't work with the dress. The dress requires a grey or possibly silver shoe.

This left just one pair (they happened to be on sale, which is nice, because despite being ugly as a rule, shoes in bridal shops are usually expensive). The shoes aren't hideous, but they definitely wouldn't have been my first choice. They've got one of those ankle straps that wrap around a few times and travel up your leg a bit. So not me. There's just one issue. . .I'm a size 9, sometimes a 9.5. They had an 8.5 and a 10. I ended up buying a shoe that's one size too big for me because it was the ONLY shoe on the Kenai Peninsula that remotely fit my needs. I will laugh every time I see those shoes. I'll also laugh when I fall while walking down the aisle at the wedding and profusely apologize to the people sitting near my landing site, saying, "I'm so sorry, I got these shoes in Alaska," as if they should understand why that explains my faulty shoes.

They just don't deal in dressy shoes on the Kenai Peninsula. Period.

Da Bears

2008-08-02T23:33:00.006-04:00

Yesterday evening I pulled up to the driveway and was greeted by just about every guest staying with us right now (12 people). I didn't think they were that excited for my return, so I rolled down the window to see what was going on. Turned out the sow with her two cubs walked by right before I pulled up. I missed it again!
I was up early this morning seeing off some guests and a bear came by! It wasn't the one with the cubs, though. I wish I had my camera handy, because it walked right across the stoop of my cabin. That would have been a neat picture to show people where I live. . .
I was a bit surprised by the size of the bear. It was a black bear, not a brown, so I knew it wouldn't be huge, but I'm still surprised by how small it was. It's really unfortunate they're dangerous, because they're really quite adorable. One other thing I noted is the way they walk.Most quadrupeds alternate feet when they walk, meaning the front right/back left legs and the front left/back right legs move together at the same time. Black bears move both legs on their right side together, then their left, then right, etc., so when they walk they have quite a little clumsy strut going on. Very cute. I know there's a name for that walking pattern, but I can't remember it right now.
And on to the good stuff. Pictures! These are from the first time the bears came by when I got out just in time to see their rumps going into the woods.

I love this picture because you can see the paw. . . and the tree kevin chopped down with his target practice. whoops.
not the clearest picture, but I love how you can see the tongue curling out of her mouth. I'm assuming it's got something to do with helping her smell because it's in a few other pictures, too.
awwwww, the babies!
This is my favorite picture in the set. I love how one cub is looking right at the camera - those ears, I love 'em! And the other cub is nudging him! so cute.
running to catch up with momma bear

Good profile picture - it also shows what I mean about their walking.

Before they disappeared off into the woods. Make sure you check out the next picture, which is a detail of this one

ahhh! scary teeth! Bad baby cub!
And some moose pictures for good measure. This guy was in our yard right around the same time as the bears, which is why Kevin had his camera ready. Actually, now that I think of it, this moose was a girl, not a guy. These are pretty good pictures, too. Kevin is actually a professional photographer. He doesn't do it anymore because, as he says, he got sick of crouching in bushes waiting for things to happen.

And, because this post just isn't long enough yet: When the bear was roaming around this morning the neighbors got REALLY mad. the bear wandered down a neighbor's driveway and I heard a guy say, "bear, you're gonna die!" oye. He then proceeded to chase it back through our yard and into the woods, toting a .44, of course. I understand that people want the area to be safe and they don't want dangerous animals hanging out in their yards, but when it comes down to it, we're in the bear's habitat! The guy that chased the bear away lives right on the river, so the bear was probably just hungry and trying to get to the river for a meal. If the bear was hanging out in your yard picking at your trash, I could see getting a bit worried because if the bear gets too accustomed to finding meals near people's houses then they'll always hang around them, which is asking for trouble. The bears just wander on by, though. They don't hang around! Luckily he didn't shoot the bear.

Crazy Alaskan neighbors. I have another crazy Alaskan neighbor story, but I'll save that for later to avoid making this post into a novel.

BEARS!!

2008-08-01T16:45:00.002-04:00

We have bears!!!

A mom and two cubs just walked through our yard! The cubs stayed by the edge of the woods while the mom came over and checked out the grill. I didn't get to see that part, but Kevin's sending me his pictures of it. I was inside my cabin and I heard Kevin calling my name. I got up and headed out just in time to see their little bums moseying into the woods. A lot of salmon has been cooked on that grill, so apparently she got a whiff of some remnants.

I'll be taking a look out my window before I walk out the door from now on, thank you very much. I just wish I had a peep-hole in my door so I could see in that direction - the windows are on either side of the cabin and the door is on the front, so I can't see in front of the door from the windows. I've actually been thinking I wish I had a peep-hole anyways because it's nice to know who you're opening up the door for!

I hope the bears come back so I can see them in their entirety.

Does it go vroom-vroom?

2008-08-01T00:44:00.005-04:00

The guys that just flew in yesterday are hysterical. I'm sorta glad the 'cruise director' gave me the cast of characters ahead of time because when I met them it was immediately evident who was who from the descriptions (thank goodness for the guy with the british accent, otherwise I would have had trouble with that distinction). I posted part of his email before. Here's the link to the post in case you haven't been able to keep up with the bagillion posts I've got on here.

I could tell who Pat was when he held up a big fancy professional camera and asked me how he would go about taking it on a fishing charter with him. My answer: you don't. I let him borrow my waterproof camera. I have faith he'll take good care of it. Anybody with that many gadgets has to be pretty good at looking after them, I'd say. He was thrilled to have it, so I'm glad it made him happy.

Geoff was easy to figure out because of said British accent.

Richard was the first one I talked to and definitely had the cruise director aire about him. The man in charge! (he's also the one that's taking me flying)

Vince, I figured out only by deduction.

The sons, Ted and Wes - I'm still not sure who is who. I'll figure it out.

They're a fun bunch, so I'll probably have a good time with them this week. They showed me a picture of the halibut they caught (they stopped somewhere on the way up here and stayed for a few days to do some fishing), which was practically as big as me. Actually, now that I think of it, it weighed about as much as I do. When I go halibut fishing I need to catch one of those badboys. If you catch one that weighs more than you then your charter is free. Pretty sweet deal. All the more reason to stay in shape, I guess. . .

These guys actually arrived a day early becaue they gave themselves a weather day and didn't end up needing it. When they got to the Soldotna airport they were looking for a car rental place and none of them had cars. I called around a bit for them, too, with no luck. Finally they called Rent-a-Wreck and were practically begging for a car. With six men they needed a van or something, too, which limited their options even further. Rent-a-Wreck said they miiiiiiiight have something, but. . . and Richard told them he didn't care what it was, as long as it goes vroom-vroom! He then heard the girl say to the other person working, "he just wants something that goes vroom-vroom." That's classic. And this is my favorite part - They ended up with a van that was hit by a moose! How hysterical is that?! The rental agency is aptly named. They keep saying the car was hit by the moose, but I'm thinking it was probably the other way around. Anyway, the windshield is pretty smashed and the hood is a bit dented, but it definitely goes vroom-vroom.

Lookout airways. . .

2008-07-31T12:56:00.002-04:00

I get to fly, I get to fly, I get to fly. . . .

That's me being extremely excited and jumping up and down inside. I was talking about flying with one of the guests that just arrived and I told him I had considered getting my pilot's license in the past but wasn't able to do it. He asked if I had ever been in a small plane and when I said no he said he'd be glad to take me up! woooohoooooooOO!!! He's part of the 6 man party that flew up in two small planes from California, so he's got a little plane here at the Soldotna airport.

Oh man, you have no idea how excited I am. I actually get to fly the plane while up there, too. Now we just need a nice day within the next week and I'll be all set.

Minnesota Mantown

2008-07-30T02:21:00.004-04:00

I finally figured out what the deal was with the Nestles booking. I was confused because it was booked for 4, but I kept seeing different people at different times. I was really wondering if I was starting to lose my mind or something. Turns out Nestles sent some guys on a fishing trip as a pat on the back and they had a big pow-wow here one night. After the pow-wow, the Nestles guys couldn't stay for the remainder of the trip because something came up. The boss, however, could stay, and he did. He also called his Father, Stepfather and Uncle and told them to come on up to do some fishing for a few days in Alaska because the cabin was paid for anyways, so why not? They were all from Oregon.

The uncle made me laugh because he was sort of incoherent. I was sitting at their table figuring out their bill and he was the only other one in there at the moment, sitting in a chair across the room. He said something I didn't hear, so I replied, "what was that?" and he looked confused that I was asking him what he said. We had one of those awkward exchanges where we What-ed eachother back and forth until I finally said, "I thought you were talking to me, but I didn't hear what you said, so I was just asking you to repeat. . ." His reply was, "I was talking just now?" He was genuinely surprised that he had just been talking. oooooookay then. He was a little odd, but all in all he meant well.

Right now the party animals from Minnesota are sitting by the fire. It's a family trip for the men of the family. The Grandfather, his three sons and two of their kids (The kids aren't little kids, though, they're probably 20 at the youngest). The Grandfather definitely has a favorite Grandkid, though! I see them rolling together often. The other day they knocked on my door just to chat, which was colorful. They're a bit crude, but I kinda like it. They actually remind me of a sector of my own family which I thoroughly enjoy. The grandfather definitely qualifies as a dirty old man, but nothing I can't handle. The other day one of his sons was over asking me about the grill and the grandfather saw from across the way that he was talking to me so he said, "hey! That's my girlfriend!" Yesterday he said, "I like the way those pants are fitting. . ." I gave him a dirty look and shot back, "You're a dirty old man." What a way to talk to a guest, right? His sons got a kick out of that one. They told me I'm absolutely correct and also gave me permission to smack him if I'm so inclined the next time he says something. He's all talk.
Don't worry, all you high anxiety parties out there that are worried about my safety - If he isn't all talk, I'll douse him with pepper spray in a heartbeat!

Bubba Gump. . . Salmon?

2008-07-29T14:40:00.003-04:00

You know that scene in Forrest Gump where Bubba is telling Forrest all the ways you can prepare shrimp? That's how I feel about Salmon here. These days I constantly feel like I'm in a movie of some sort. In the past week I've come into contact with (haven't eaten all of it, thank you very much) Salmon spread(eww), Salmon Dip(eww), Smoked salmon, salmon with butter and dill, salmon with spinach feta and sundried tomatoes, salmon with coconut batter crust, blackened salmon, salmon pasta salad (eww), and one other type I can't remember the preparation for. I mean, really, people?! I realize this is the salmon fishing capital of the world, but can we calm down a bit? With all the salmon I've seen I'm actually somewhat surprised there isn't a large group here that doesn't like salmon because they're just plain sick of it.

I do have to say, though, that the salmon with feta, sundried tomato and spinach was delicious. I was told it was blue cheese when it was given to me, but that was a lie. I was happy it was feta. Very delicious, which I was a little surprised by because I've been quite limited in my salmon experimentation in the past.

That said, I'm thinking of making some salmon using some ginger I have tonight. Deeeeeelicious. The super fresh salmon here is really just so good. Not a trace of fishy taste at all, it's more meaty. It's possible to get fresh salmon elsewhere, but it's usually frozen, etc. I think the key difference goes beyond freshness, actually. One of the fishermen here was talking about one particularly nice salmon he caught that he'll cook and then some others whose coloring wasn't as great so he would end up smoking those. The guys here catch so many fish that they just pick and choose which they want to keep based on quality, which makes for some damned good eatin'!

Kayak.com to the rescue!

2008-07-29T01:42:00.005-04:00

This is a little update in regards to my previous post about Cheaptickets.com

The airfare I found on Cheaptickets.com that turned out to be crap, I initially found on and was referred by Kayak.com. They have a little blurb on their website that says if you find a possible bait and switch situation, they'd like you to report it to them because they're working on making their site as accurate as possible and they can only be as accurate as the other sites they search. (For the unfamiliar, Kayak.com doesn't sell airfare, they just search most of the other travel sites at once then when you click on the fare you want it'll take you to the site that's selling it. They also have better search features than other travel sites). Pretty much you tell them and they get on the jerky sites' asses!

I clicked the button to report the problem to Kayak and then afterwards proceeded to contact Cheaptickets because I thought what they were doing was scummy and they should know it. I got a reply from Kayak today and it was actually from a real person who was genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of it. Her name was Karen. She also gave me the email address and phone number for Cheaptickets customer service in case I wanted to go that route. I replied that I had actually already contacted them and even sent all of my correspondence to her. I figured it couldn't hurt because in there they tell me they're looking into the issue, so that way when Kayak contacts them they can't act like it's news to them that there's been a problem. She said in her email to me that the Kayak engineers frequently get on the phone with airlines and travel sites to get to the bottom of these issues and that she'd pass the info I gave her on to them. She actually also asked a few more questions about the issue, and I could tell she had read my entire email by the things she was asking (wasn't fully expecting her to, I've gone back and forth with Cheaptickets more than a few times, which makes for a lot of reading).

It's refreshing to have human contact when dealing with a substantial company. I mean, they actually care. I've not recieved one scripted line or brush off from them, which is something else! I was really just informing them of something they had asked to be informed of and wasn't expecting to hear much more about it. I'm getting from Kayak what I was hoping to get from Cheaptickets.

Thank you, Karen from Kayak.com
(And, hello, BillO. I'm the nerdy girl from Massachusetts)

avoid Cheaptickets.com

2008-07-28T17:05:00.006-04:00

Cheaptickets.com is exceptionally stupid. I thought I finally found a reasonable flight to Austria so I clicked on it with the intention of buying. Once I clicked a screen came up telling me it was "confirming my fare and flight details." When it was done the flight had magically jumped hundreds of dollars! That's just not okay. It came along with a message telling me:

We're sorry. Due to changes in airline availability, the fare for your selected trip is no longer available. We have adjusted the fares for all affected flights. The fare for your selected trip is now $ 877 total. See below. (Message 1048)

I checked in their FAQs and it says this:

During the time between your flight search and purchase, the airline may have changed the fare or the fare may have sold out. Airfares change throughout the day, based on demand for the flight and the airlines' right to modify them at any time.
CheapTickets monitors these changes closely and makes every effort to keep our fare displays as current as possible. Sometimes the fare difference is the result of a technical issue. In that case, clicking "Select" will display the most up-to-date fare.

That's nice. Just the fact that it's in the FAQs means it probably happens more than it should! I don't know, I just find this ridiculous. The first excuse is null and void because I searched for the airfare several times, so it wasn't like it sold out or changed in the time it took me to press the Buy button after searching. If it happens more than once, it's an issue. The second excuse is dumb, too, because if they were monitoring closely, their system probably should have picked up on the fact that the price for this flight had changed and it should have corrected the information. This same flight has been doing the same thing for days now! C'mon, you can't be making every effort to keep the fares as current as possible if something is happening for this long.

It seems odd to me that the only time they can show me the up-to-date fare is when I click on the button to buy the ticket. So if I want any accurate prices I'm expected to click on all the fares? What a waste of time. This just makes me think they're doing a bait and switch! Think about a person researching airfares who is checking out all the sites they can before settling on a fare. They'll undoubtedly find that Cheaptickets.com has the cheapest fare (because the fares they show don't even exist!) so they'll come back to that ticket in the end and just assume they waited too long and now the price went up, when in reality Cheaptickets never had the cheapest price! Chances are they'll buy it there anyways because it's probably the same as all the other prices and they're there and all set to buy anyways. So wrong.

I emailed them to tell them about their little problem and how I feel about it. It's actually turned out to be quite a correspondence I've got going with them. In their last reply they told me that I should call the hotline instead of emailing because of the "intricate nature" of my question. I don't know, I think it's a pretty simple question. Why aren't the prices on your site correct, and why have the same exact ones been wrong for several days now? That's fair, right? I'm assuming they want me to call the hotline so that I'm not wasting their time replying to their emails about the same topic over and over. I hate having my time wasted with the same problem over and over, too, Cheaptickets.com! If they only knew who they're dealing with. They basically just invited me to email them all day every day and waste their time in return for wasting mine. I haven't sunk that low, yet, though. It really isn't that big of a deal, but it just seems sleazy to me what they're doing and getting away with.

I'm also a bit more mad than I would have been because the very first reply to my issue gave the usual scripted apology, which I expected, but then they tried to SELL ME their services in the next breath. That's horrible customer serivce, that is. Why would I want to register for one of your crappy services if you can't get the very essence of an airline search right? The price, dumbass! The reply I got spent just as much time explaining this newfangled service as it did addressing my issue. Wow, what nerve.

I made out like a bandit

2008-07-28T10:47:00.002-04:00

I let the Nestles guys leave their stuff here later than checkout time because they had a fly out fishing trip and there wasn't anyone checking in to that cabin yesterday or today. When they got back they were really funny. Those boys enjoy partying. It actually turns out that only one of them works for Nestles, so maybe it wasn't really a company trip. I still don't get it. It was the Nestles guy, his dad and two other older guys who I think were friends of the dad.

They left a TON of groceries and told me I could have them. It's mostly junk food, but I'm actually very excited because when I was moving their stuff I had my eye on these mini cakey donuts that had powdered sugar frosting on them. I really wanted one, but I wasn't about to eat their food. That's just wrong. Now I get my donuts!! I'm sure they may have considered bringing the food with them if they didn't have so much salmon to bring home. One of the guys actually left some of his clothes behind because salmon is apparently more important than them. haha!

Before they left I asked if he had any more coffeemate coupons because I got the shaft. He said ". . . aaaaactually. . . " and waved me over to the car where he gave me a GIANT stack of them. He's the boss so he gets all the coupons, apparently. I'm pretty much set for a few years with coffeemate. He also gave me some Nestles Quik coupons. I'm told, as well, that Jamba juice will be available in our grocery stores by next year. Alrighty then.

I'm still laughing that getting the salmon home is more important than clothes. I poked fun at him about it and he said he actually does it all the time on fishing trips. So funny. He actually left waders in there, too, which can be expensive, so that's kinda cool. Now I have my very own pair of waders down here. Frenchy isn't a fan about lending them out because if you get one hole in them they're toast, and they're also a bit expensive. Understandable.

So, I walked away with some salmon, waders, lots of coupons, delicious donuts I've had my eye on all week and some other junk food. Not bad.

Bathroom reading material

2008-07-27T18:44:00.002-04:00

Oh, wait, one more thing. My favorite part of moving their stuff from one cabin to the next was their bathroom reading material. Penthouse! Later on one of them apologized for the magazine and I told him not to worry about it at all, I actually read about how guys are supposed to try to meet me and pick me up. He laughed. . . then asked if the article had any good pointers. haha! I really only read the first paragraph, because I was busy, but I thought it might be a funny read. I only got through step 1, which said to go to a coffee house and immediately ask a girl if she's single. I disagree with that theory. If a guy asks me if I'm single before even saying hello, I'm immediately on my guard. That tells me he knows absolutely nothing about me except that he likes my ass (insert any body part. . . legs, chest, etc.) and would really like the chance to get to know it better. I mean, really, a few seconds of dialog could prevent the guard from going up instantly. Even just pleasant small talk reveals some personality and character almost instantly.

Bathroom reading material in general cracks me up. I don't read in the bathroom, so I don't fully get it. I mean, penthouse in the bathroom is a whole different ballgame, and we're not gonna go there. Reading in the loo while you're sitting on the commode is just funny to me. Maybe it's because I have ADD, but I can't fathom doing both at once. Eh, probably just me.

Nestle makes the very best. . . coupons

2008-07-27T17:28:00.004-04:00

I've been a big mess this weekend. The day after my wisdom tooth trouble began I had to changeover 2 cabins and get them ready for arrivals, which means a very full day. That was NOT fun at all. I was all woozey from the pain pills and the antibiotics were making me nauseous. The unfortunate part was that I had to move a whole bunch of stuff, too. There was a group of guys in Bear cabin that had to move to King Salmon cabin for their last night here because they wanted a bigger cabin, but there was a conflict on the last day of their stay so they agreed to move to the smaller cabin for that last night when they initially made the reservation. Frenchy told me to have them move an extra twin bed over there so they had enough beds. Uhhhh, I don't think so. I'm not going to make guests move a bed so that they have a place to sleep. These people are on VACATION, and should be treated as such!

The other issue was that there were people in King Salmon that would be checking out the day that the guys had to move in. Checkout is at 11am and the guys are usually off fishing really early in the morning and get back late. There were also guests arriving to the cabin they were vacating, and checkin time is at 3pm. There wasn't anything I could do but move all of their stuff over to the new cabin for them because they'd be gone in that window of opportunity between 11am and 3pm. To be honest, I probably would have done it even if there wasn't such a time crunch and they weren't off fishing through it. They're GUESTS. It sucks that they had to move to a new cabin partway through their stay, so I'd like to make it easier on them if at all possible! They had a LOT of stuff. Ed helped move the heavy stuff, which was a huge help. They had a lot of food and fishing gear with them, so it was just a lot of little stuff after that. Ed and Jeff (kid helping guys out with cabin) moved a rollaway bed into the cabin for me, too. It's nice to have helpful guys around. I'm glad this cabin is being built now! It would have taken me an awfully long time to move all of that luggage and that rollaway into the cabin on my own.

That group of guys was from Nestle and one was from Pierce Cartwright, Co. - I'm not 100% sure what the connection was. One is the agent or something. . . either way, it was a company trip. One of them saw coffeemate in one of the cabins and mentioned that they sell it. Of course Kevin asked if that means he has lots of free coffeemate to give us! He actually said he'd bring over a bunch of manufacturers coupons, too. I found out the next day that he did, in fact, bring over the coupons but Frenchy took all but two of them, which Kevin had to work to get from her. SHE DOESN'T EVEN DRINK COFFEE!! What the HELL!?!? I'm the one working my butt off, here, (Ed, too) moving all of their stuff and trying to make their stay pleasant and, meanwhile, I'm all doped up on narcotics that make me woozey and antibiotics that make me nauseous. JEESH! I am not feeling the love, here.

It may sound silly, but in the future if I'm looking to buy creamer I'll probably be getting coffeemate over international delight. These guys have been great here and when I come across good people and then find out they sell something, I'll be a lot more likely to buy it in the future. I pick up a flavored creamer on occasion and I've never had any preference between the big two brands - it was always about which flavor sounded the most interesting to me at the time.

Alright, I have to call it quits, I've complained enough. Also, if I sit for too long I start to doze off. I'm assuming it's the pills, but it's still ridiculous because I slept from 3am-noon last night (right through my 9am dose of pills, which means the pain is back). The antibiotics are finally taking care of the swelling, but it was looking pretty bad there for a few days. The doc said that the antibiotics might make it swell more before it gets better and that was certainly the case. My cheek was so swollen it gave me a black eye! It's just the beginning stages of the black eye, so I still have hope that it won't be too pronounced. Oye.

Okay, now I'm done complaining.

Chainsaw carving place

2008-07-25T09:21:00.004-04:00

I forgot to post this picture, I think. I just thought this table was so neat. As usual, much better if you click on the picture so you can see a larger size with detail. It was at the chainsaw carving place down the street. They had a chainsaw carving competition down there last week and the stuff the people came up with is amazing. I'll have to go down there and take some pictures.
Diamond willow and burl logs are really popular here. I'll also have to take pictures of that stuff.

Wisdom teeth?!?! Try HELL teeth!

2008-07-25T01:57:00.001-04:00

One of my wisdom teeth has decided to rear its ugly head. I had a bad headache yesterday and this morning at 3am I woke up to some serious pain. I took advil, but it didn't do a thing. I called an area dentist and they can't take me until monday morning. ahhh! The fun part is that my face is swelling because of it, so I look like a one-sided chipmunk. I was surprised that they wouldn't take me in my current condition. Isn't it usually dangeous if your face is swelling?? I mean, with the close proximity to so many important structures and everything, it just seems like a bad situation. I asked them if it's safe to wait until monday and they said to just take advil and I'd be fine. I don't believe them. The swelling got worse and worse as the day went on so I went to the doctor to get some antibiotics to get started before I go to the dentist because I'm told they won't treat you if you're too swollen - they'll prescribe antibiotics for a week and then treat you. I'm not willing to wait that long. Plus, once again, I don't trust that it would have been okay to wait until monday to start any sort of treatment. I don't always like my face and my eyes and my brain, but I think I'd like to keep them, thank you.

I just went to a place around the corner and the NP there was extremely helpful. I called ahead to see if she could prescribe me something and she told me yes and to head over. When I walked in the door she looked at my face and said, "you're the one that called. . ." When she went to take my vitals she was surprised to find that my blood pressure was 80/40. I was dizzy as hell, too, so I laid down for a while. It was staying at a constant for a while so she wasn't going to let me go without sending me to the hospital; a plan I wasn't a fan of. I didn't have a fever (probably care of advil) and my heart rate was okay so I wasn't going into shock or anything. We figured I was having trouble because I hadn't really eaten anything the whole day (I spent a good part of the day drugged, making up sleep missed during the night). She gave me hot cider and a peanut butter sandwich, which seemingly did the trick because my BP went back up to the usual 100/60, which is low to start with, really. Phew. She also gave me a shot in my butt. I don't remember the name, but it was pretty much liquid advil. I don't think I've ever had a shot in my butt before. What fun I've been missing. It feels like someone kicked me in the backside.

So, I'm pretty much a mess. I love dental bills! They're so awesomely expensive! All around good times here! I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to talk to guests with my giant chipmunk cheek. My favorite comment so far was when Kevin said to take a good look in the mirror, because the left side of my face is what I'll look like pregnant. This was before the swelling got really bad, but it was still pronounced. Who knew an impacted wisdom tooth had such great birth control potential?

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2008-07-24T11:32:00.001-04:00

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It's been raining for days here, and very steadily. Our dirt roads are a MESS because of it. You know how if you hum or talk while going over something bumpy it makes your voice do funny things? Like if someone pats your back while you're going 'ahhhhhhhhhh' (the 'open wide' ahhh, not the screaming ahhh). That's about the only perk of our road right now. I was in the truck with the kid that's working with the guys to help build the cabins and he now thinks I'm nuts because I showed him how fun the horrible roads are with my voice trick. Eh, at least I have fun.

One other horrible thing about this rain is that it's been screwing with our internet connection. Everyone has to reload a page 5-6 times to get it to load properly. I've reset the internet a bunch of times, which seems to help for a few minutes, but I can't keep doing that. The modem is actually in one of the guest cabins, which I'm not happy about. The reason it's stupid is because the main phone line goes to that cabin, which means there are three things I don't have access to:
1. The base phone. This is trouble, as one guest demonstrated when she unplugged the phone and plugged it into her computer thinking it would give her internet. Innocent enough mistake, but none of the other phones worked on the grounds because they're all portables that feed back to that one base phone and I couldn't fix it because it was an awkward time to be bothering a guest.
2. The internet. If it goes out, I run the risk of not being able to fix it so as not to bother a guest. There is also, once again, too much room for a guest to uplug something etc. This actually happened once, too. The power strip was unplugged to allow for something of theirs that needed to be plugged in, which meant both the phone and internet were out. This was great because I had ZERO contact with Frenchy that way. the landline and internet are our lifelines because I get no cell reception here.
3. The credit card machine. It has to be plugged into the phone jack. . . which is in a guest cabin. Stupid! I shouldn't have to bother a guest to use their cabin while I run other people's credit cards. That's just plain old ridiculous. The other day it kicked me in the butt a little bit, too, which I wasn't happy about.

I've asked that the line be run into my cabin so I have a jack, too. This wouldn't take much, either. I'm about 6 feet from the main cabin and where I'm closest to the cabin is actually where the phone line is in there! Outdoor wire seems to me to be the extent of the fix. We've also got an electrician here regularly for the wiring of the new cabin. So far I've been told No, it's not happening, because it's only an issue for a little over a month. I haven't presented my reasoning, as above, so hopefully I'll make some headway when I do. I'm a little frustrated by the executive decision-maker because I rarely get through when I do make my case. Okay, so now I'm just complaining, but I got really mad yesterday. She was down here and within 2 minutes I was already pissed because right away two things happened. 1. I was told not to refer to my shack as 'spider cabin' in front of guests. I wasn't told, but I was given the sly don't-do-that-again look when I said it with a guest present. Puhleeze, they can see it's practically a shed. Since when do sheds not have spiders? Since when does any dwelling not have a few spiders?! How do people know I'm not calling it Spider cabin because I have a spider fetish and keep them as pets and decided to name my own little cabin after them? The other cabins are Moose, Bear, and King Salmon. I'm following the theme of the woods, here! It's not like I'm saying the other cabins are full of spiders! Plus, We're in the woods. If you don't expect to see spiders in the woods, you've got issues. I mean, it's not okay to name my shack Spider cabin, but it's okay for me to expect guests to move to a new, smaller cabin for the last 2 nights of their stay and while I'm at it make THEM move an entire twin bed over there for themselves because there aren't enough beds over there for them, and all because of Scheduling issues (more on that later)?!?!?! Let's get our priorities straight, here! That Spider cabin thing was a minorly maddening event, because I can partially see why she might be paranoid of giving people the wrong idea, but that was just the start. The #2 reason I'm mad is because scheduling has been a big mess, which has caused several issues, but I'll just give one example here. Check-in time is 3pm, checkout is 11am. I don't think the guests are being told this when they make reservations, which makes my life hell, in addition to making even having check-in and checkout times utterly pointless. yesterday some guests arrived at 10am! That's TOO EARLY! It's not fun to have to tell someone they can't check in, and it's not good business, either! I told her how early they came and her response was that I "should always be ready for guests, no matter what." HOW CAN I POSSIBLY BE READY FOR THEM IF THE PREVIOUS GUESTS HAVEN'T CHECKED OUT?!?!?!?! Not gonna pin the blame on me for this one! Okay, I'm done ranting. I apologize, I'm witchy right now. I fell asleep at 12:30am and woke up at 3:30am with a horrible headache and that's all the sleep I got and I still have the headache (4 hours, 2 advil and 2 excedrine later. . .)

One final note. Because the internet is so stupid, navigating several pages to do a blog entry has become too much so I'm piloting emailed blog entries. It's possible to set it up to basically write an email to your blog and it'll automatically be published. This will be the first time and I probably won't be able to see if it publishes correctly because getting my email to function is work enough, nevermind getting to a blog page! If there are any problems, Sorry, and I'll fix it later!

Small town Trapper

2008-07-22T20:24:00.005-04:00

The small town aspects of this place are starting to show. . .
A son of a Spenard Builder's Supply (SBS) employee was hired to help out with the new cabin. He's been helping hang drywall and do other things around. He and I went to the dump (He can't drive yet) and on the way back we were talking about the music in the area. Turns out he has similar taste in music so we were talking about the selection of stations here. I told him I've only found ONE station that's tolerable. I told him which one and it turns out that someone he knows of is the morning DJ - someone by the name of Trapper. When I commented, he said that Trapper isn't actually the kid's name and when he said that it pinged something in me. Turns out it's the same Guy that works at The Crossing that Frenchy and I saw just standing out front, practically in the parking lot, with a podium.

I don't think I went into much detail about it. On the way into the restaurant we asked him what he was doing and he told us he was security, but in a joking tone. We never did find out exactly what his real purpose was. On the way out of the restaurant Frenchy went to get the car while I went to the bathroom. When I came out she was just getting to the car, which was all of 15 feet away. I asked her what she was up to and she told me she was talking to the 'security guard,' and was excited to tell me his name was Trapper and that he didn't know his real name because everyone has called him Trapper for so long. I asked her what his last name is because the last name can make or break the first name sometimes (Bruce Bustamante, Ray Chumley. . . both great names). She didn't know so she pulled up to him on the way out and made me ask. Normally I would just go about my merry way and not ask such a question, but not when Frenchy's involved! He told us his last name and it didn't really fit with Trapper as well as I was hoping it would, so I asked him his real name. He told me the same thing he told her so I just repeated, "so, what's your real name?" He leaned in and lowered his voice like he was revealing a state secret and said, "Leon J Important IV," or something like that. As you can see, I don't remember the full name, just that his first name was Leon and he had a roman numeral and it sounded like a very regal and distinguished name. He just goes by Trapper, though. So Alaska. Gotta love it.

Coming from a small town myself, it's interesting to start to see here that everyone does know everyone else just like at home. There are always people whose reputation preceeds them in small towns, and it seems like this Trapper character is one of those. Maybe, maybe not.

We're gonna need a bigger freezer. . .

2008-07-22T17:35:00.003-04:00

I got a call at the cabins last night at 11 from a private number. I figured it was a lost guest or wrong number, so I picked up. It was a guy on the other end saying, "Tara, are you awake?" I was confused for a second, not knowing who it was. Turned out it was a guest that was down here the other night - the one that just came up to Alaska on a whim. He checked out that morning and had been fishing since then. That's a loooong day of fishing! He had to drop off some fishing gear he borrowed and also offered his catches to me because he didn't really have a way to get them home or to cook them. He said he was going to give it away regardless, so of course I accepted it. He caught several throughout the day, but only kept two. I gave Frenchy one and kept one. We'll have to cook it up on the grill tonight.

I have a feeling the fish are going to be rolling in. Everyone here talks about how many they caught. The plumber, Lee, caught over 70 the other day! Residents can go dip-netting, which obviously ups the number caught by quite a bit. Every time someone's talking about the massive quantity they caught I always ask them why they didn't bring me any. I'm joking, really, but I definitely wouldn't turn it down. When I asked Lee if he was bringing me some fish the next time he comes he told me only if I'm nice. I just said, "so much for that."

The Bustamante group showed up last night after fishing with an entire cooler full of fish. It was all just filets, too, not entire fish, so they must have caught a LOT. I now understand why people are so obsessed with having freezer space up here.

And one more thing, I finally have hot water again in Spider Cabin! I didn't really mention it on here, but there were issues with the propane. Ron the plumber checked it out early in the season and lit the pilots etc and said I was all set. It always smelled like gas in the cabin so I knew something wasn't right, even though the plumber checked it out and gave the OK. I was always checking the pilots because of it. I kept thinking that if there isn't a gas leak then there must be a pilot out someplace. The pilots were always lit, which made me feel better and worse at the same time. Better because if the pilot is lit and it smells like gas, chances are there isn't enough gas for me to explode. ha. Worse because that made me think there had to be a leak someplace. One day I came into the cabin and checked the pilot on the hot water heater and it was out! I went outside and stupidly shut the gas off before checking the other pilots. I should have checked the others first because then I'd know if the hot water heater pilot went out for some reason or if I was just out of gas.

So, long story short, I filled the propane tank and Lee came over to check everything out. There was, in fact, a leak! So I'm not crazy afterall. The fun thing was that he found that the exhaust from the hot water heater was also pouring into my cabin because the vent wasn't correctly hooked up. How nice, huh? I was getting exhaust and gas fumes and people were trying to tell me the cabin was all set. Ha! I wasn't really sleeping in the cabin much when it was smelly in here and every time I did sleep in here I kept the windows open becuase the smell freaked me out. Good thing, huh? So that was a little surprising to us all.

In the words of Lee, "what's a little carbon monoxide among friends!" He's a hysterical guy. He could say anything and it'll be funny because he's so animated. The stories he tells are also funny because you're never sure if he's exaggerating or not. His wife also sounds like a character - we all want to meet her after all we've heard.

Tourism and cake

2008-07-21T18:21:00.004-04:00

I've become less of a tourist and more of a resident. I realized this when I scoffed at the car in front of me because the driver slammed on his brakes and swerved to the side of the road to look at a moose. You know you're a resident when the tourists are in your way. I thought there was an accident or something because of the to-do. There were 2 RVs and 5 cars stopped. I should have known right away what they were there for. A moose of course!

Speaking of being a tourist, I spent hours this morning looking for a box of chocolates from Alaska Wild Berry Products. I checked every gift shop I could find. I wanted to get Frenchy a box of those chocolates for her Birthday because of the box of chocolates that I ate a while back. I know I mentioned it in one of my posts before, but I'll reiterate. She won a gift basket that went along with a 'date night' gift certificate. The gift basket had wine in it and since she doesn't drink, she gave it to me. She left it in my car for me before she headed back up to Anchorage one day. When I went to get it, I was delighted to find that there were chocolates in there, too. A while later she asked me if I had the chocolates because she had left them in there by mistake. I told her she must not know me that well, they were looooong gone. Now we joke about it. She asks me where the chocolates are and I tell her they were gone minutes after she pulled away to head back to Anchorage. Because of this I thought it would be funny (and nice) to get her a box of their chocolates. And not a stinky 9 piece box like the one that was in the gift basket! I ended up just getting her some other kind of chocolate, but it'll do.

I got a red velvet cake because I figured it's something different. It was either that or carrot. I really wanted cheesecake, but I figured that isn't neutral enough. I love how when I get a cake for someone I pick out what I want. I don't really know what kind of cake she likes, so that's the way it's gonna be! I considered making a cake but I really just don't have time today. Guests arriving and leaving today so I've got to rush to get things done in the interim. Penuche frosting would have been delicious, though. I could eat that stuff by the spoonful. Oh, wait. . . I do.

In other news, I burned my foot with a piece of rice. I was toasting rice in a pan and when I flipped it one of the times a single grain went flying out and landed on my foot. It burned so I kicked my foot to get it off. A second later I was wondering why it still hurt so much and I realized it was because it landed underneath the strap of my sandal so it was pressed against my foot burning me. I always get trivial cuts and injuries in the weirdest ways. I'm a walking disaster.

The reds are in! And so are the guests.

2008-07-21T01:28:00.004-04:00

This place is crazy right now! The salmon come through here in runs, which is when they spawn, so it'll be dead on the river and suddenly there are thousands of fish coming through. The other day there were 2000 coming through every hour! Wow. There are 4 different types of salmon in the river, so there's fishing pretty much throughout the summer because each type has a few runs. The reds are the big ones, so people go crazy around here for them.

News travels fast about their arrival. The other day it was all I heard about. "the reds are in, the reds are in!" Every time I hear someone say that I always think, "the redcoats are coming, the redcoats are coming!" I'm definitely from Boston. Since then, the population has seriously swelled around here. There is nonstop traffic. Not real traffic, it's just that there are a lot more cars around - the main road is always buzzing. There's river access right on our road, so there have been a lot of trucks parked around here to go fishing. Soldotna ('town' to me) is crazy busy. I went to the grocery store today and boy was that a mistake. Wall to wall people. It's just amazing how this place suddenly gets a pulse when the fish are in.

I considered going fishing tonight, but decided against it because I'm extremely tired. Kevin and Ed moved out of their cabin because we had a group coming in that was slated to stay there, which means I spent half the day getting it ready for the group's arrival. Boys are messy. It was the 'Bruce Bustamante group' that was arriving. What a name! Bruce was in charge of the chamber of commerce, or something like that. He's now the director of Princess Cruises Tours. . . or something like that. Wow, I'm so detail oriented! I just can't remember the specifics, but Frenchy told me, "If you're gonna suck up to anyone, he's the one," because of the possible Princess Cruises perks. Yeah. . . no thanks. I'm going to treat him like I would any guest! He seems like a nice enough guy, but I didn't really get to talk with them much, so we'll see.

We also have another guest, Matt, that just arrived tonight. I like how he ended up here. He had a flight issue with a connection and he didn't want to wait so he told them to just give him a connection through Anchorage for a few days. . . because he had never been to Alaska. He came yesterday and stayed at the B&B for a night and when he mentioned he was thinking of going fishing, Frenchy told him to come on down here, so here he is. Frenchy kept telling me that he's cute and that she told him to tip me. . . then she said, "who knows, maybe he'll tip you by taking you out to dinner!" Ever the matchmaker she is. I need to break her of that habit. She knows I'm not looking, but she's the type that figures a date is good for dinner if nothing else. I'm just not that type. If I'm not interested, I'm not going to pretend that I am! Even if I were looking, this guy just isn't my type. Not in the least. He's good looking, but that alone just doesn't cut it for me. He's attractive, but I'm not attracted to him. Follow me? I just don't understand people that can go on looks alone. There has to be substance!

Frenchy will be down tomorrow. It's her birthday and she's ordered me to create a to-do. I told her I'd give her a s'more. She told me she needed a cake and presents and cards and, and, and. I told her that I don't really do birthdays. She repeated her requests. I told her she's not supposed to ask for a birthday celebration. She told me that she knew I'd take care of it without her asking, but she didn't want to be disappointed so she figured she'd doublecheck with me. So tomorrow I have to go buy a cake. . . and I'm thinking of making the guys wear cheesy party hats while they work. I hate pretending to act excited for people's birthdays. They just don't excite me for some reason. Some birthdays excite me I guess, but most don't. My own birthday doesn't even excite me. I woudn't be surprised if I forget my own birthday someday. Seriously. I just hate when people expect to be treated like royalty and given freebies on their birthday. "But, it's my birthday," is one of the worst lines ever uttered. I'm not a complete birthday grinch, I mean, I like a good birthday celebration and all because I like that it's an excuse for people to get together. I just don't like when it's an excuse to grovel at the feet of a person because it's the anniversary of their birth. Who says I want to celebrate that fateful day you were spawned?! Okay, maybe I am a grinch. Whatever.

Cleaning up shop 1

2008-07-20T02:28:00.004-04:00

going through looking at pictures and videos from the trip up, trying to delete some that are needless. Here's the only bear I've seen since my journey began. It was in Canada, too. If only I had known how many moose I'd end up seeing. . .

I think this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip up. I just set it as my desktop background. This was from when I first arrived in Alaska - I think I was someplace near the Tok Junction. I was still driving in the few hours it was dark that night and I decided to take a break and sleep for a few hours until it got light out. I was back out on the road really early in the morning and this was the scene greeting me first thing. Talk about a big 'ol Alaska-sized welcome! Make sure you click on it to see the larger size. Much more impressive that way.

New iPod?

2008-07-19T12:47:00.002-04:00

My iPod is kicking the bucket. It freezes every once in a while and I can't turn it off. The super thing about that is that if it runs down to no power then it acts extra special. I have to plug it into my computer and let it hang out there for a good long while before it realizes it's alive. For a while I thought it was corrupted for good because when I plugged it in it would flash warning signs and turn itself off. Then it was flashing the 'do not disconnect' symbol, but it was in black and white while it's usually in color. I just left it hooked to the computer for a while when I was off doing something else and it was magically fixed when I came back.
It's still acting stupid, but at least I know how to fix it at this point. The reset function has been used a LOT recently, which is never a good thing. I'm debating getting a new one, but they have so many stinkin' options now. I considered the nano, but it doesn't hold enough. I'd probably just stick with the classic one. The classic iPod has a ton of memory, even at the base model. We shall see.

Life is a whole different ballgame these days

2008-07-18T14:39:00.003-04:00

I've got grand plans in the works for the fall. I've been trying to figure out a trip to Austria sometime around October. I know a few people who have European destinations they'd like to visit, so I was trying to combine this solo trip with one of their destinations where I'd travel with them to their destination for a week or so and then head to Austria when they head home. I'm thinking it's not going to work out with another person, but either way I'm headed over there.
I'm actually going there to visit Christian, a former guest from here at the cabins. Today I was in one of the cabins and I happened to spot something out of the oridnary out the corner of my eye. We have a basket full of travel guides and pamphlets for local attractions and I noticed one sticking up that said Innsbruck (where he lives) across the top. It took me a second to realize it was out of place because I've been researching travel there for a bit now so Innsbruck is in the back of my mind constantly. It's been there since the Austrians left and I just now noticed it. Subliminal message? It's a publication for some sort of alpine association. I haven't read it because, well, it's in German. But. . .

Since I know I'm going to Austria, I figured I'd learn a little German. I already understand some German because: 1. the heavy anglo-saxon influences on English and 2. Dervid used to speak random bits of German to us when I was growing up. The funny thing here is that I actually started to sort of look into teaching myself German earlier in the year. I ended up losing track of it because I was busy here. Well, going to a German-Speaking country is some damned good motivation, so I've been teaching myself again. All I've been teaching myself is the grammar. I think if I can understand the grammar the rest will come easily. I already understand the syntax of simpler statements, which is awfully strange. Word order is more flexible at times than it is in English because you're less reliant on word order to denote meaning. German uses verb conjugation and noun gender instead of relying solely on word order. There are other times, though that word order is important, so I guess it's a trade off.
It's kind of interesting to apply old text to learning a new language. The way English has changed is interesting. English used to have masculine, feminine and neuter nouns way back when, but we've since left that behind. Verb use also used to be a bit different. German managed to hang onto these things over time. Knowing the little bit that I do about German now actually instantly makes old english make a lot more sense to me. Shakespeare would have made more sense to me back in the day if I knew this. They should teach grammar based on Shakespeare so that you actually understand the application and progression, as opposed to memorizing the outcome. I hated that about school - it was all memorization, there was no attempt to internalize and truly understand. If I don't know why something is done my brain dismisses it as unimportant. The best evidence I have of this is with calculus. I never understood it because it was just a set of rules I had to follow, which made no sense to me. There was no purpose. Finally, I randomly read something that talked about how Newton came up with calculus and what void he was filling with it and I instantly understood it. I just need to know why! I don't ever want to know the steps to get something done, I want to know why I'm doing it and what I'm hoping to accomplish. Similarly, I didn't ever remember the conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit. Finally, one day on a test I needed to make that conversion without having it in front of me. I knew the boiling and freezing points in both systems so I just used that knowledge to form my own equation (which, obviously, is exactly the same as the one they teach you) and I haven't forgotten it since because I understand how it's derived.

Okay, so back to the language learning bit. After seeing it from the grammatical perspective, I've become more interested in language. I've been half considering getting TEFL certified for some time. It just seems like a great way to travel and be immersed in a culture while doing it. My newfound interest in language has made me want to do it even more because I'd get to learn more about it and teach it, too. I've requested information about a school in Florence where you take a 4-6 week course to get certified and along the way they help you make a resumé and secure a job. The whole thing is a year-long commitment. You can start almost any time, but I think the best time to start would be the Fall. If I'm going to Austria anyways I'd be close to Florence and would be able to go straight down and do that. I just don't think I'm ready to jump right into it, though. I've already been a bit anxious to get home to meet and get to know my niece now that she's at a more interactive age (she'll be about 1 when I get back). Maybe this will be something I do in the Spring after working over the Winter and saving some money.

My life has changed quite a bit in the last year. I'm so thankful I finally got the push I needed to make some drastic changes. Even if I'm going noplace in whatever life situation I find myself in, I'm entirely capable of doing the same thing for a long period of time because I tend to get stuck in a rut. It was a series of unfortunate events and misunderstandings that made me make some big changes. In the midst I wasn't thrilled, but sometimes bad things happen for the best, I suppose. Life is funny.

Too fat for the roof

2008-07-16T05:08:00.004-04:00

Moose on the side of the road are common here, you know this by now. They're usually foraging along the road or hanging out in the swampy areas. Today I was driving down the road and I came across a. . . white horse?!!? I'm not sure why being white made it weirder, but it did. It was just grazing along the side of the road in an area where I usually see moose. There's a place that does horseback riding, but that's a few miles away, so I doubt a connection. It was a very white horse, against the very dark green background around here. I don't know, it was just odd.

Wow, I went off on a tangent right off the bat. Should have made that a separate post, but I'm too lazy right now. Nevermind the fact that it would be the worst post ever. Onward to the real title topic:

The guys have been joking with me trying to get me to go on the roof of the new cabin. First it was that something needed to be nailed on the corner of the roof over the eave, so I had to do it because I'm the lightest. I told them how much I weigh and they thought I was lying to get out of going on the roof. I told them, no, I actually weigh that much and, no, I'm not going on the roof. They were half joking. Ed, the guy that was doing it if I wasn't, probably would have been thrilled if I went up. Kevin, on the other hand, probably had some reservations. It's his company that's technically building the cabin, which means insurance, which means if I fell off the roof it could spell trouble for all involved. Since then the tasks have gotten more and more ridiculous. The latest one was that I'd have to go on the roof to move the roof panels into place (which are big and heavy and metal) because I'm not an old feeble man like Ed and Kevin. Riiiiiight. So, needless to say, I haven't been on the roof at all. I did, however, buy a cheapo scale today, which serves two purposes. 1. to prove my weight and 2. so we can monitor how fat we get from the amazingly good milkshakes here.
Don't worry, Lindsey, I'm not really going to get fat from milkshakes and ruin your wedding pictures. Bridesmaid dress bridesmaid dress bridesmaid dress. . . (that should be some sort of dieting mantra. I bet there's already some stupid wedding diet out there doing it. If not, mark my words, it'll happen. There's a diet for everything)

Alaska License?

2008-07-15T11:55:00.000-04:00

I was looking up Alaska licensing requirements because Kevin is considering getting one so that he can buy another gun here because they're apparently very cheap. In my search I just found out that if I'm driving in AK for more than 90 days I need to get a license here. whoops. I'm willing to take the written test to get one, but I don't know what effect that will have on my car insurance and other things. I mean, am I an Alaska resident if I have an Alaska license? Do I need to change my insurance and change all sorts of other things to reflect that? Anybody know anything about this stuff? Am I going to have to bother Peter Beatrice again with one of my stupid questions? That poor guy has his hands full with my strange questions. AFTER I had already left for trip and was in Chicago I found out that I needed some proof of insurance card to drive through Canada with, so of course I had to be annoying and ask him about that then finish by saying, "oh, and I'm crossing the border tomorrow. . . and I'm not in Massachusetts right now, I'm in Chicago. . ." What a pain in the rear I am!

Another thing that stinks is that I have to surrender my MA license to get an AK license. Nevermind the fact that when I cross into the Canadian border again and tell them I'm going home and I have an Alaska license they might look at me funny again. Another 3 hour border search isn't something I'm in the market for. If I don't want to surrender my license I have to take the road test. HAHA! That might actually be funny to do. I parallel park like a champ from driving in Boston.

I looked up info about the written test online. It's all stuff I know, I'd just have to study the section about fines and insurance coverage. In one of the sections there's a note at the bottom letting you know that if you kill big game animals with your car that it's the property of the state and you need to immediately call them to let them know. Chances are if you're in an accident with a big game animal, you're not going to be in any shape to hop on the phone and make a call. Guess I can't go hunting with my car. Damn.

One other interesting thing of note is that all Alaska residents get checks every year - their portion of the oil money. They're good-sized checks, too, considering the fact that they don't have to do a thing to get them - at least a few thousand. The requirement is that you're a resident for at least 2 years and that you reside here for at least 6 months in a calendar year. Then the checks roll in. Don't worry, not getting any ideas, here.

The Spaniards, and more guests to come

2008-07-15T02:34:00.004-04:00

A family came in tonight and they're already great. They live in Maryland, but are originally from Spain. It's a couple with their son and daughter. The kids are incredibly friendly and outgoing. Normally school-aged kids are a little shy around new people, but not these ones. They introduced themselves and shook my hand and when I was headed out the little girl ran out to the front porch and yelled to me, "If you see a moose say hi for me!" The mother asked if she could "borrow me the clothes dryer," which I liked.

They had just come straight from a glacier cruise which they raved about. The mother was telling me I HAVE to go. I told her I have tickets for one, but I just haven't gone yet. She repeated a few more times that I NEED TO GO on the glacier cruise. I'm sure they're amazing, so I'm looking forward to it even more, now.

Don't know much more about them at this point, but I just love the people I get to meet here. It's just so cool that all of these new interesting people all come to me. We're starting to get busy now, so I'll be meeting lots more. We just got a confirmation from a group that's coming up at the end of July. It's a group of 6 that's headed up in two small planes from San Francisco. The email he sent to confirm was hysterical. He laid out a sort of cast of characters for us. This is part of it:

In the Bonanza V35:
                      Richard (me)

                      Geoff (is coming all the way from England
                      for this)

                      Pat (has a computer & camera for every day
                      in the week, but promises to bring just
                      one of each)

In the Cessna T210:

                      Vince (dad, happy for the father/son bonding,
                      just wishes they'd pay)

                      Wes (son, very appreciative dad's footing
                      the bill)

                      Ted (son, very appreciative dad's footing
                      the bill)

I replied to his email and told him how much I liked it, but that I'm disappointed we didn't get a witty description of him, too. Cruise director, I suppose.

The chocolate and me: Voll-Nuss

2008-07-14T00:52:00.005-04:00

I've been a huge raging bitch the last few days and my diet has consisted of mainly chocolate. hmmmmmm, wonder why. I felt like junk today, but the good part is that I was able to take a nap. Yes, that's right, I took a nap. Me! I woke up at 4:30 this morning, too, so I really needed one. Trust me when I say that everyone benefited from my nap. I also had part of one of those chocolate bars from Austria. Dunkle Voll-Nuss. Otherwise known as Dark chocolate with whole nuts. Hazelnuts, to be exact. That got me un-angry at the world earlier in the day, which was needed. It was yummy.

Frenchy was down early this morning and she left us some salmon that a guest caught - it was reeeeally good. Freshest salmon I've ever had. We used some of the herbs that Lorrahn sent up and made it on the grill. I also made some mushroom risotto, which was also good. I've introduced the guys into the world of risotto. Man, I love risotto. I made them lemon risotto last week. Before giving it to them I asked if they had ever had risotto before - they both just looked at me funny because they hadn't. Only reason I asked is that if someone hasn't had it before they may look at it as weird rice or something. Because it's creamy and slightly al dente it may seem like I messed up cooking the rice. . . when, in actuality, I worked hard for that rice! Rice doesn't stir itself! Before bringing it over I gave them a quick description. I told them: "It's italian. a medium grain rice which you stir constantly to bring out the starch so it's rich and creamy. Then you finish with butter and parmesean for extra goo. . . "
I'm sure they really care. . . most people in the world just want to know if the food is good, they don't give a damn what it's called or how you cook it. I don't blame those people at all, either. I just happen to be on the complete opposite end of the scale, though. I LOVE good food and I want to know everything about it.

This evening I went out and got cake batter ice cream with walnuts mixed in from Coldstone. Delicious. For a day that started out horribly, it ended well. Good food, good ice cream. I'll take that. Good chocolate, too. I'll always take that.

the local anniversary couple

2008-07-13T01:27:00.002-04:00

We had a couple here for a few days from a few towns over, which means about an hour away in Alaska terms. It was their anniversary and they just wanted a few nights away from the kids and such. From the time they checked in to the time they left I think I saw them once. They did not emerge from that cabin. When they first arrived they asked if they could smoke in the cabin. They were disappointed when I told them they couldn't. I don't know what they were disappointed for. . . when I went in the cabin after they had left it smelled like they'd been smoking like chimneys in there with the windows shut. Jeesh! I'm amazed at how bad the cigarette smell was. Ever have to stay in a smoking room at a hotel? It was like that, and all in a matter of a few days. Stale ground in cigarette smell. You'd think they'd at least smoke with the windows open if they know they're breaking the rules. I febrezed like crazy in there today, so hopefully that will take care of it.
They also did something weird with towels. First off, they used a million of them. Secondly, they didn't use the guest towels. There is a closet right next to the bathroom that has a bunch of nice towels and facecloths in it, which is for guests. The washer and dryer are in that cabin in a closet off of the kitchen and there are some old seedy towels in a cabinet in there that I use for rags and things. Those are the towels they used. Weird. It's not like they couldn't find the other towels, either. They had obviously been through every closet in the house, as they found a fan to attempt to air out the ground in cigarette smell, they found a blanket I had tucked away somplace and they found the extra pillows which were in the same closet as the towels. People are strange.

Frenchy wanted to do something nice for them so we got them some chocolate and champagne. cheap stuff, but who cares, it's free and this is a cabin in the woods, not the ritz. A while back when Frenchy and I went to that auction in Anchorage she won some sort of date night package which was a gift certificate for something in addition to a basket that had wine, chocolates and two glasses. Frenchy doesn't drink so she gave me the wine. We were driving someplace, so she said she left it in my car for me. I was psyched to find that she left me the chocolates, too. Later on she asked me if I still had the chocolates because she didn't realize she'd left them with me. I told her she must not know me very well - they were got a half hour after she left. Since then she's been joking with me, asking for her chocolates. She also asked for the basket, which I was more than happy to give her because I think it's ugly. She kept forgetting to take it when she was here so I've just had it lying around. When I knew I had to make this gift for this couple I figured I'd just put it in the basket so it'd look nice. Luckily, the glasses that came in the basket originally were champagne flutes (the dufus that put the basket together originally put a bottle of red wine with champagne flutes) so I just stuck those in, too. Well, of course Frenchy came down that night and finally remembered to ask for the basket. . .
I assumed they wouldn't take the basket, so I thought it'd be okay. Boy was I wrong. They took the basket and glasses and stole a mug while they were at it. Maybe it's a good thing they didn't find the good towels, they might have stolen them, too!
I don't know why I assumed they wouldn't take the basket. The whole thing was a gift, but I wasn't thinking the basket was a gift, I was just thinking the gift would look nice in the basket. In my mind it was just a vessel. If I had put it on the table would they have stolen the tablecloth? I should have known. I probably would have taken it, too. Then again, no. I don't really like baskets.

Racism Lives

2008-07-11T13:04:00.003-04:00

I'm amazed by the amount of racism I've witnessed here. I've come across more than a few that hate black people, and for no good reason. One of them actually tried to justify it to me by using the example that when he was growing up, they stayed on their side of town and he stayed on his side and it just worked that way. What?!?! I've never met someone who honestly believed in segregation. I want to yell and scream and tell them how illogical they sound, but there's no sense even arguing with them. They're set in their ways, and the very fact that their feelings are illogical is what makes it a lost cause. How can you reason with illogical beliefs?
They seem to feel that all black people take advantage of gov't programs and take handouts. That's just ridiculous to generalize an entire race. If they opened their eyes they'd see that people of all races continually take hand outs from the gov't, and THOSE are the people we need to be mad at, regardless of the color of their skin.
I just can't understand it. It's been bred into them to hate. It makes me cringe to think that they're raising children of their own, probably with the same ideals.

I realize I'll probably take a lot of heat for this next train of thought, because for the same reason you shouldn't shun people based on skin color, you also shouldn't favor them. Anyways, it's people like this in the world that will (in part) make me vote for Barack Obama. I don't agree with everything he stands for, but I'd be hard pressed to find a single politician who I did agree with on all counts. Usually when I feel I'm being forced to choose the lesser of two evils, I don't and I just do a write in vote. Bush vs. Gore. . . I voted for Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy. I actually like Obama and don't feel I'm picking the lesser of two evils. If Hillary had won, I would be doing a write in vote this year again. People say this election shouldn't be about race, etc, but that aspect can't be denied. There's so much tension in this country from idiots like the ones I've met here that raise their kids to be intolerant and blind to the way the world works. I, for one, would LOVE to see a black president elected, even more so than a female one. That would be one wonderfully perfect giant FU to all of the racist idiots out there.

6 inches short of sensibility

2008-07-10T03:00:00.004-04:00

Just thought I'd let everyone know that the water line they dug up was 3.5 feet deep (remember, was supposed to be 4ft according to one and 8ft according to another and Frenchy thought it was actually 2 feet deep, which is why they dug it up. who knows?!?!), so they're not happy and called Ray Chumley (the septic guy that put it in). I still think it's misguided action. The main water line goes into the center cabin and then branches off from there to feed the cabins on either side. It's one of these 'branches,' which supplies the cabin with water that they dug up. Essentially it's just a water line between two of the cabins, which are probably about 10 ft apart. maybe more, maybe less. I'm never good at guessing those things. Either way, it's a hose, not a pipe, which enters the respective cabins under the cabins just on the inside of the foundation. If you're still following, kudos. I'm trying, here. So, because it's a hose connecting two structures that are 10 ft apart, and it starts on either side right AT the structure, not further underneath the house, naturally it's not going to be extremely deep right next to the houses, because that's where the slope starts, so, it'll only reach extreme depth in the space between the two houses. If they wanted the hose to be full depth (a number which is still debatable) the entire length they'd have to dig to the desired depth right next to the houses where the hose starts and ends, then in the center they'd have to dig EXTREMELY deep. Still following? The reason the center needs to be deeper is because last I checked it's not a good idea to run a hose at a 90degree angle! Draw a picture or something. You'll get what I mean. If it was an actual pipe it wouldn't be a problem because you can dig as deep as you want the line to be and put an elbow joint in so that it runs straight across to the other house at the desired depth. A hose needs to have a graduated slope to it. No harsh turns allowed! Hello, we've all played with garden hoses as kids, right?!

So, either they need to leave it alone because it's done correctly under the circumstances OR the poor septic guy has to dig the whole thing up and either dig really deep in between the two cabins, which may not even be possible if they demand an 8 ft depth the whole way, or he needs to dig underneath the house and extend the length that it runs so that they don't have to deal with such a harsh curve. Great, lets dig underneath the foundation repeatedly or dig a giant gaping hole between the foundations. This is all craziness to me. The best part is that the frost here goes into the ground 8-10ft in a harsh winter season, which makes this adjustment stupid. Things freeze here, especially if they aren't being used. get over it. One other fun fact is that when they did the project it was advised copper pipes be put in because in the event of a freeze they can use electricity to thaw it out. The hoses were put in nonetheless, I'm assuming because of the cost differential. Can't put electricity to one of those hoses, that's for sure!

Can you tell I had a bad day? Very stressed today because there was a whole lot of goings on where people thought they knew best when it came to a subject they have no knowledge of and when you try to explain it to them they won't hear it, either! Trust the experts, especially if they ALL say the same thing! I also didn't get much sleep last night, so I was grumpy by the end of the day, too.

I should really go back and clarify that whole hose between the houses deal, but I'm not going to because that's far too much effort for me right now. It's bed time! The people who care to get it will sort it out I'm sure. I'm assuming nobody really cares about the logistics, really.

After that whole mess I was supposed to go to Home Depot to pick up some things for the electrician and the guys and to try to return something that had a clearence sticker on it from 3 years ago and another thing that didn't have any Home Depot markings on it that's from 3 years ago also. Hmmm, what do you think the chances are that they'll take them back?! NADA. If it's on clearance, they're psyched to get it out of their hair, so they sure as hell aren't taking it back! Nevermind if it's 3 years old with no receipt. The sku (if there's even one on the box) probably doesn't even exist in their system anymore! So, when I angrily got in the truck to go. . . it didn't start. ahhhhhh!!!! The electrician went out to get a new battery for the truck and meanwhile I stewed until it was obvious I was cooked for the day and wasn't going to home depot to do foolish things.

Instead, I decided I wanted pizza for dinner and that would be my last task of the night. I asked the various people where to go and they told me of a place right around the corner. I also had to hit the post office anyways. When I got to the place to order the pizza. . . it was a bar. He asked me if I wanted a drink while I waited, and I said no, I had to go to the post office. When I got back the pizza still had 6-8 minutes to cook. . . BEER TIME. They actually had a beer from a local brewery that I didn't know existed - Kenai River Brewing comany - so I was happy I got to try it. It was actually really good. Plus I got to order a 'small' beer because of the time constraints. haha.

I'm an old lady

2008-07-09T10:15:00.003-04:00

My neck has been bothering me so I figured I was sleeping weird or something. I tried different sleeping positions, but that only goes so far, because when sleep comes who knows what happens. I'm sure I revert to my bad sleeping positions. The evidence of this came when I tried to sleep without a pillow and woke up sleeping on one. so much for that!

I couldn't lean my head all the way forward without pain, which is usually taken as a sign of meningitis. I'm assuming my brain isn't swelling and killing me because that's a fast onset emergency situation with severe headache, high fever, etc., none of which I have, plus this has been going for over a week. I'd be dead by now if meningitis was the culprit. Kevin felt the back of my neck while I had my head dropped forward and says that more than a few of my vertebra are out of place. My neck always bothered me in school on test days when I had to lean over a test for long periods of time, so this has probably been a long time coming. I was pushing on the out of place vertebra while moving my neck around and I felt a pop twice and now this morning my neck doesn't hurt as much and one of the obviously displaced vertebra doesn't feel as displaced anymore. Self-chiropractic?! Probably not, but whatever it was made me feel better, so I'm happy.

Today drywall arrives, which will be no fun. It's all hands on deck so we can get it moved into the respective rooms. Some high school football kids were supposed to help us, but we couldn't get in contact with the school secretary this week. I'll be sure to eat my Wheaties this morning. Frenchy came down late last night, too, with Reuben, her significant other. They came for a stupid reason, too. He thinks one of the pipes for the septic system is only 2 feet deep, while Ray Chumley, the septic guy, tells us nothing is less than 4 feet deep. So Reuben is here to dig up the pipe to prove that it isn't deep enough so he can call Ray to come over and take a look. Ray is a good guy, so I tend to believe him. I guess something froze this winter, which is what is causing this conflict. From what the plumber tells us, this past winter was a bad one for frost in the ground. He also told us about thawing out a septic system, which I'd rather not talk about. I will LAUGH if Reuben has to dig 4 feet to get to anything. Or, even better, I'll laugh if he damages something! Either way, have fun digging in that rocky soil for no reason! I dug a little hole in the soil recently to try to make a piece of wood that's covering something lay flush with the ground, and man, oh man, was it a pain in the butt with all the rocks in the ground! My hole was only a few inches deep, too! Well, on the bright side, while they're here they can help with drywall. haha!

Mail call/ Being away from Boston sports Fevah!

2008-07-07T14:40:00.005-04:00

WOOHOOOOOO!!!! I got my packages!!
I got one from Amazon.com, which had the stuff I ordered with the gift card Bank of America gave me for being suck jerks.
I got another from Erica, which had my phone charger, lots of sunflower seed butter, a baby Red Sox outfit (to put on one of the stuffed animals on smiley rock rd), and some Tyler Art. He traced his hand and did a lovely painting. Sometimes I think kids are more artistic than adults because they paint with reckless abandon. Adults spend too much time planning and trying to make things look 'right.' My favorite painting of my own is one that I didn't really think about when I did it. I just played around with shading and techniques and told myself not to worry about it because if it looked ugly I could always paint over it. When I was doing it I wasn't thinking that I was making a painting that would ever be a finished product. That's when I realized I should train myself not to overthink things. I'm sure that sort of 'training' would carry over well into other parts of my life, too. Another of my paintings, the tree, was sort of the same. I just kept adding to it bit by bit, thinking I'd make it a finished product another day when I had some time to sit down with it. I actually planned on adding to that one a little more, but that's not gonna happen now, seeing as it's in Sweden! Maybe the key to art is NOT finishing. It's like how they say you should get completely dressed before you go out then look in the mirror and take one accessory off, and only THEN are you ready. With painting and drawing you can't take things away, so I guess it's best to never finish to avoid overdoing it.

Enough about that. The final package I got was from Mother dearest. What she sent was perishable, so I've been wondering what it is all week. HERBS!!! woohooooo! I was excited to see them. I've been complaining on here about the price and quality of them here, so that was a nice surprise. I've been a horrible cook while here for some reason, and I just decided to use lack of quality ingredients as my scapegoat. I'm so full of crap! She also sent a Celtics championship shirt, which was good. It's weird to be away from the obsessive world of Boston sports when there are big things going on. Nobody here riots over sports. What's the deal with that?
And here's the best part of her package:
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!! Lorrahn!!

Alaskan tenderizer?

2008-07-07T00:54:00.001-04:00

Tonight I used a hammer as a meat tenderizer. Oh, and I typed this after handling raw meat. whoops.

FYAH!

2008-07-06T22:00:00.002-04:00

I built a big 'ol bonfire to get rid of some of the scrap wood from construction. I've been burning stuff for the past 2 days. I haven't been making big fires because I don't want to have to watch it, but tonight I built a huge one because it's supposed to rain. It's been looking like rain for a while, but we still haven't gotten any. . . hopefully soon! I don't want to burn the neighborhood down!
On the main road the fire department helicopter is parked on the lawn and nearby is the forest fire danger level. It's been elevated the entire time I've been here. It's like the terror alert threat, where they always have it up high, but every once in a while they lower it so that when they higher it again people will take notice. If something is always at high threat, people ignore it eventually. They should really start playing mind games with us like that with the forest fire alert so that people pay attention. Although, that doesn't help out with it comes to tourists, because they won't be here long enough to see the up/down. Oh well.

Gotta go tend my fire.

Kayak.com

2008-07-05T23:19:00.004-04:00

I've been searching airfares like a crazy person. I'm weighing my options for the way home, which requires a lot of research. I'm also considering a trip in the Fall to Germany and Austria (which, coincidentally, would take me to Munich during Oktoberfest. . .). Because the airport I fly into isn't cemented, there are so many flight options it's ridiculous. It's especially bad because I don't know which dates I want to go, so I've been searching many many many many combinations.

In my searches I ended up looking around at areas on the Kayak site that I've never looked at before. You know, company info and such. The Chief Tech Architect (or something like that) had a little blurb and at the end he put a little PS in there saying if people want to send him hate mail or the opposite, that if they're clever enough they could probably figure out his email address. Of course I emailed him. I got his address on the first try, too. Really, you didn't need to be clever for this one. He says about 10 people have emailed him the entire 3 years that blurb has been on the site. So there are 9 other nerds like me out there. The funny part is that he lives in MA in the metro west area. In my email I told him I was glad to hear MA gets a neat company - usually companies go to NYC or Cali to feel cool. He informed me that they just bought something in California, so they're a little cool, but as long as he's around they're staying in Mass. Good to hear. I also asked him to smack the airlines around a little for me because the prices are ridiculous.

I thought about replying to his reply, but decided against it beacause his email signature said he's vacationing in Maine. Ehhhhhh, I'll leave the poor guy alone.

Speaking of random email addresses, I'm planning on writing allover the inside of the walls of the cabin that's going up before the insulation goes in. I was thinking I'd put my email address. Years from now if I'm still using that email (or email at all, for that matter) and someone happens to find it, it'd be funny to recieve a random email. Actually, maybe I'll put the address to this blog on there. Who knows if it'll still be floating out in space on the internet when the times comes that anyone would happen to see it, but there's potential. Either that or I'll just write Kilroy was here. Or I'll just write it all. . .

Bees, the 4th, milkshakes.

2008-07-05T00:14:00.005-04:00

I know you don't want to hear me talk about bees anymore, but too bad. I've been staying in the loft area in the main cabin here, which has a big window that is above the roof of the kitchen. When I'm up in the loft there are bees outside of the window almost constantly. Either there's one checking things out by flying around the window for a while (until I spray him with bug killer, that is) or they'll just fly right into the window and thwap against it. A bee will hit the window about every 5 minutes, no exaggeration. What the heck is wrong with them!?! I feel like it's similar to Jurassic Park where the raptors were testing the fence for weakness. Yes, people, this is how I think.

Other than that, Happy 4th everyone! I was going to go to the rodeo today with Kevin, but he decided last minute not to go because it was drizzling out. He actually used to participate in rodeos when he was young and he said they won't do anything in the rain because mud hinders things and makes it more possible for the animals to get hurt. He says they won't risk hurting the animals because they're big money. I looked up the forecast to see if it's going to clear up - no such luck. Then I looked for a phone number for the Ninilchik fairgrounds, where it was supposed to be, so I could ask them if it's still on. In the process I found that the rodeo is actually tomorrow and the next day, not today! Good thing we didn't go! Maybe I'll head over there tomorrow if it clears up. It's supposed to be drizzly all weekend, though.

Instead, I went out for a ride with Kevin because we both had cabin fever. We stopped at a few places. A fair we happened to see, which was geared toward kids. There was a band playing and I'm certain it was the sleepiest band I've ever seen/heard. Lots of people had their dogs there. Alaskans have cool dogs. After that we headed to the Kenai cultural and visitors center, which has a museum, a small art gallery and some wildlife displays. Then we just went driving to the shore because the view from there is stunning. It wasn't as great today because it's overcast, but it was still good. On the way home we happened to see a farmer's market, which I was happy to see. I'm bought pretty much one of everything. I was going for mostly vegetables, then the woman working there was giving out pieces of nectarine and when I tried it I was instantly sold. The price of produce at the grocery store is outrageous, which is another reason I was so happy to see the market. The other day I wanted peppers so I could make some roasted veggies, but when I went to the grocery store I quickly changed my mind and menu. Regular old green bell peppers were 2/$5.00. Whaaaaaaat??? no thank you. At the farmer's market they were $2.00 each and they were all wrinkley. I didn't buy those either. Even if they looked like a masterpiece of a pepper, I'm still not paying $2.00 each. No way, no how.

I brought the guys milkshakes the other day on my way back from the post office because they make great ones at a gas station there. I know, it sounds funny to get a great milkshake from a gas station. It's a small time operation, family owned. They have coffee drinks, baked goods and ice cream on one side, and on the other side of the store there's a food place. It's setup like a sub shop, but I think they just sell lots of fried stuff. When I brought them to the cabins they climbed down from their respective perches and took a break. I took a picture of them drinking milkshakes because it looked funny. Once again, I'll get it on here later because I can't find my camera wire. grrrr. After one they're both hooked on them. Kevin and I stopped there on the way home and picked one up for Ed while we were at it. When we got home we found that Ed had ridden his bike there to get one while we were out! That's a 7 mile ride round trip!! They must be good.

okay, okay, I finally remembered to put the picture up:

Dichotomy

2008-07-03T17:06:00.003-04:00

I found another bees nest on the back side of the main cabin, which I stay in if there are no guests. I sprayed that sucker. I have this wasp killer that shoots foam 20ft, but I'm always ready to run nonetheless. I think there's another nest, too. Inside from the loft area I can see bees frequenting an area under one of the eaves, but I can't see a nest. Jerks. They've been flying around the window up there a lot. I think they're looking for a place to put another nest since I killed the other one. I happened to have bug killer in my hand when one was hovering around the window, so I sprayed him through the screen. HAHA! I'm brave when I have a screen. I saw a few ants so I've been spraying the perimeter of the house, which is why I was holding bug killer. Ed makes fun of me and tells me that there's not going to be anything alive by the time I leave here because of the amount of bug killing I've done.
Really, bugs usually don't bother me all that much. Bees I think should all die, but other than that I'm okay. I'm not a fan of spiders, but I can live with them. I know I can co-exist when them, I just don't want to see them all the time. Other than that, it's just a problem when ants are IN a cabin that's supposed to be a vacation rental. Don't think guests would appreciate that too much. There are these little bugs that hang out on the wood trim near the windows and I couldn't figure out what they were. I came up with something that seemed to fit the description, except it said the coloring is light brown, and these were dark. Other than the color, they looked like springtails. I found one crawling so I trapped it with my hands so it would have to crawl on my thumb. it avoided it like crazy, then finally had no choice and crawled on my thumbnail. Once there it stopped and sort of turned its body side to side, as if looking around. I was glad it wasn't running around so I could get a good look at it to identify it, then suddenly it boinged away and disappeared. One of the descriptions of springtails was that they jump away and seem to disappear because it happens so fast and they're really small, so I guess I have my identification.

It's amazing how much I've used a dichotomous key while up here. I used it the other day to identify one of the trees we have here. It's got light bark like a birch, but the bark texture just didn't seem right. When the Austrians were here, they were looking at the leaves with binoculars to try to figure out what they were - The leaves are really high up. They surmised that they weren't birch. They thought they may have an idea of what they were, but didn't know the English translation. Later on they went out for a hike and meanwhile I saw a branch had fallen onto the roof outside of the upstairs window. I popped the screen out and grabbed it for identification. Meanwhile, when they got back from their hike they came bearing a branch from a Birch so they could show me what the leaves were like, so I was able to whip out my branch and compare. Great minds think alike. For anybody that's wondering, Birch leaves are toothed, while our previously unidentified trees are not. We're pretty sure we've got some strain of Aspen here. Just in case you care. . .

Swampscott Fireworks

2008-07-03T15:30:00.004-04:00

Fireworks tonight at home in the Swamp. First time I've ever been away for them! For those unfamiliar, it's a huge deal in Swampscott. They shut down the road that runs along the beach and the entire town shows up for the fireworks, more often than not with drinks in hand. It's just a big 'ol party. I've been looking around to see if they have any festivities around here, but I can't find any fireworks. I mentioned it to Kevin and he brought it to my attention that I was forgetting that it's light out all the time here. . . duhhhh. Fireworks wouldn't be so great during the day. They're legal here, so maybe I'll buy myself some sparklers like the cool kid I am. Everything is legal in Alaska. I think there is stuff going on tomorrow in town, so I might go check that out.

The roof may be on the new cabin by tomorrow, so maybe we'll be able to have a topping off party for the 4th. I'll probably still go into town to see what's going on. I'm assuming it'll be party time. The way I understand it is that the people who live here work hard for 9 months so they can party for 3 in the summer. Sounds good to me!

Everyone take some fun pictures for me tonight and enjoy! Don't miss me tooooo much.

I forgot to mention this before - when I helped out with the Solstice Festival a few weeks ago this car pulled in that had an Obama sticker and someone commented, "ooooh, we have an Obama supporter." I was a bit confused at first, but upon questioning I found that politically Alaska is the complete opposite of Massachusetts. Democrats can't get no lovin' in Alaska. Her reaction to the Obama sticker was the exact reaction that someone from home would have to a George W sticker. A few days after that conversation I saw this sign on a tobacco shop and had to take a picture:
In case you can't read it: "Obama smokes reds we have an ally"

New Plans for the journey home?

2008-07-03T01:26:00.003-04:00

I'm slacking today. I've spent forever online looking at airfare. I believe I've come to the conclusion I should just drive home before Lindsey's wedding. I'll have to leave here a few days earlier than I planned, but if that's what has to happen, then that's what's happening! It would save LOTS of money for me to do it that way. I'm thinking putting off the road trip for now is a good idea, especially with gas prices the way they are right now. ick. It's up to $4.80 here now! That's just crazy talk. It was 2 whole dollars cheaper when I left home. It's a bit above $4 at home now, I think. That's quite an increase over a matter of a few months. oye.

I still haven't gotten my pictures off of my camera. Can't find the wire. I'll put them up tomorrow hopefully. I do have one picture of me, though. It's very much me. It's good becaue you can see a bit of the 'grounds' in the background. The red building is the cabin I'm in love with - the one that was existing when Frenchy bought the place. The green building to the left is the garage and the other green building to the right is my shack. I'll take some more pictures. Those buildings are sort of what I expected to find in Alaska. The new cabins are not what I expected to find in Alaska. They're just. . . new. . . and square. Pictures tomorrow.

The Crossing

2008-07-01T20:59:00.003-04:00

First off, the dinner I had last night. We (Frenchy and I) went to a place that's right on the river and has a beautiful view. It's the most upscale restaurant in the area, and the building is really nice, with big high exposed beams. Even though it's the upscale restaurant, there's still no dress code. That's so Alaska. Their dress code motto is, "From waders to tuxedos, come as you are!"

There was this guy standing outside of the place with a podium, but he didn't seem to be doing anything. We asked him what he was and he joked that he's security, to which I replied, "in that case, I'll be seeing you later." We stood and talked to him for a minute, and I still have no idea what he was doing out there. I'm just amazed at how friendly people are here. Everyone! Kevin and Ed have been pondering whether or not everyone is stoned, because they're deliriously happy. Even the flag holders at construction sites who've been standing there for 10 hours wave with big delirious grins on their faces like they're especially happy to see you. Their shifts are 16 hours with a half hour break because they have to rush to get the roads done before winter. I'm not sure I'd be grinning from ear to ear after standing in the sun or rain for that many hours.

The menu was really good, obviously highlighting local seafood. I got a warm spinach salad to start, and boy was it good. It was baby spinach leaves, feta (which was really good quality), and small pieces of bacon with a sweet warm dressing on the side, which I think was made with dates. Very good. Next time I go I might just get that salad as a meal. Then I had the salmon, of course. It was wasabi ginger salmon with a side of jasmine rice topped with toasted coconut. All very good. They also had Malbec by the glass, which I don't see often. I ended up getting Pinot Noir, though. I didn't want white wine with my fish, so I asked if the waitress had tried any of the wines they serve by the glass. She said, "yes, actually, I'm a Wino!" So I asked her which had the lightest/mildest flavor that the fish would have a fighting chance against and she recommended a specific Pinot, which was pretty good. I don't remember what it was. I asked about dessert, but none of them sounded great. I was also incredibly full, but I have been known to get a dessert to take home for later.

During dinner an older guy at the table next to us almost choked to death. Seriously. They tried the Heimlich maneuver for a while, but it didn't seem to be working. In my opinion, they started using it too early, because he was still coughing when they began. That's a no-no if I remember CPR training correctly. You're supposed to start if they can't cough. When it got serious people got up to help from one table, another woman was waving her arms screaming, "MEDIC!!" (what does she think she's on a battle field or something?). The Heimlich came through soon after. What a commotion! I hate situations like that because people in the restaurant have no tact, they just stare at the guy like he's a spectacle. Jeesh, leave him alone and let him recover. He probably feels awkward enough as it is, give him some space. It was pretty scary, though. Freaked me out a little.

Other than that whole thing, the dinner was a good one.

More delaying here. I went to a place that does chainsaw carving today and it was NEAT. I'll write about it and post pictures tomorrow.

One more little note: More stuff has been added to Smiley Rock Rd. Now in one of the clearings there's a flock of lawn flamingos. Ha!

You come here?

2008-07-01T02:35:00.003-04:00

Today I called erica to have her send me some sunflower seed butter because I can't get it here. Trader Joe's makes the best sunflower seed butter. I looooooove it. It's just like peanut butter, but made with sunflower seeds.
She put Tyler on the phone and he didn't even say hi, the very first thing he said was, "you come here?" Awwwwww. Poor little guy. I told him not yet, but soon. It's funny that he's at an age where he'd ask a question like that on his own. He obviously doesn't fully understand why I'm gone or where I am, but it's cute he'd tell me to come over. I should be home for his 3rd birthday in September, so that'll be good. He started to tell me about the firetrucks he saw at the 4th of July parade and then he hung up on me by accident. Got a little too excited about the trucks!

Oh, I went to eat at a good restaurant with Frenchy tonight. I'll write about that tomorrow, though, I'm tired.

A Restful Night of Sleep at last. . . Sorta

2008-06-30T17:12:00.004-04:00

Sleep has been hard to come by. I'm getting better at sleeping in daylight. . . because I have to. When it's always daylight, you gotta sleep sometime! I've had several nights where I can't fall asleep until really late and then I wake up early. Kevin had some Ambien (prescription sleeping pill) so he gave me one to try so I can get at least one good nights sleep. Whoa! is all I have to say. He gave it to me the other day, but I figured I'd take it when I really needed it. I took it just before midnight last night and I could feel it knocking me out. The weird thing about it, though, was that it knocked me out, but for a while I felt like I was awake and asleep at the same time. It's like when you're in a very light sleep where you're sort of in a dreaming state, but sort of awake. It was very strange because I was thinking, but I knew I was asleep. I just remember knowing I was out cold, but still feeling like I was there somewhere, which made me worried that my 'sleep' would be like that the whole night. So, basically, I was worrying in my sleep.

I did get some good sleep, which is all that counts. I don't know if that weird feeling was a fluke or not, but if it wasn't then I definitely won't be taking any more sleeping pills! Anybody out there ever take Ambien before that's had weird experiences like that?

Fresh Meat

2008-06-29T20:09:00.003-04:00

I feel like a piece of meat here!! I've never gotten this much attention in my life. I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is going on. I think it's because I'm from out of town. Yesterday some guys stopped by on an atv of some sort and were talking to Kevin and Ed. Later on I asked Ed what they wanted, or if they were just saying hi because they live in the neighborhood. Ed answered that they were saying hello, and Kevin yelled in from outside, "They came to meet you!" I laughed it off and he looked me dead in the eye and said "I'm as serious as a heart attack. Apparently the word's out that you're here." I still sorta didn't believe him, because, c'mon, am I really in an area that's so small-town that people are alerted when there's a new girl about?!

Today I got my answer. I was standing out front talking with Kevin and Ed when some guys went by on ATVs and one of them said, "there she is!" What the hell? Am I on display in a zoo or something, here? Look everyone, it's the fabled girl from Boston who's never been fishing. ooooh, ahhhhh!

I Schlagified the cabins.

2008-06-29T01:16:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I replaced some doorknobs/deadbolts because the old ones were starting to stick. It was so bad that I actually got locked in one of the cabins once and had to take the thing apart to get out. When I went to Home Depot to pick up the doorknobs, Kevin told me not to get Kwikset, which was the existing brand. He said that brand sticks even when it's new, because it's crap! When I got back with my new Schlage hardware and went to work taking the old knobs off I was amazed to find that they were made of plastic inside!! I've never seen a door knob whose innards are plastic. I don't know if it's a common thing, but it just doesn't seem like a good idea! These seemed like older knobs, so I suppose they've stood the test of time in a way, but still. Plastic?

Oh well, they're working beautifully now, so that's all that counts. Now I know for the future to pay a little extra for Schlage. The inside of the Schlage knob/deadbolt was designed differently, too. I didn't have time to really check it out, but, like the nerd I am, I'll probably take it apart again at some point so I can see how it works/why it's different. Wow. I am so cool. I'm in Alaska, where there's amazingness all around and I'm looking forward to a time when I can take apart my doorknob.

Missing Things

2008-06-28T22:49:00.004-04:00

For the first time in my life I understand what it's like to miss something. I really didn't understand before because I never really missed anything. I've always looked at it like it's no big deal because I know I'll see people again. What a horrible feeling this is.

Reading about how Sagan is meowing his head off while "looking for me," and about how Tyler says, "[tara's] in Laska, I can't find her," makes me miss home. I hate not being there for beings that don't understand why I'm gone, especially because it can't be explained to them. It's such a sad thought! It's also really sad to see fun guests go because I know I'll probably never see them again. I've learned what it feels like to miss something and be helpless and I hate it because it seems to have seeped into other parts of my life. I miss you people, damnit! Luckily it's not ruling my life yet. It would be in a sad way if I started counting down days until I can go home rather than savoring the number of awesome filled days I have left.

Smiley Rock Road

2008-06-28T20:08:00.007-04:00

The unpaved road that connects my street to the paved main road is called Huske Rd. If you call it by name around here, most people won't know

what you're talking about. If you call it Smiley Rock Rd, they'll instantly understand. That's because of this little guy on the side of the road:

As if that isn't enough character, someone has recently been having a lot of fun on the road. First we just had a sign telling us not to feed the bears, which I assumed was from someone getting angry about people leaving fish by the river or something. Upon closer examination I realized it was a joke because it's signed by "Park Ranger McGillicuddy." Then there was a stuffed panda down the road a bit. Then someone added a moose to the tree the sign is on. Now there are stuffed animals everywhere. There are even two of them playing see-saw in the woods on a downed tree.

On the back of the sign it says "ya all come back now!"

It's too bad I don't have some sort of Red Sox stuffed animal I could plant someplace along the way. Why not, right?

I just wonder if it's one set of people doing it or if others have started to join in on the fun.

Sheet, Mang!

2008-06-28T01:36:00.002-04:00

I've been folding and unfolding sheets for two days!! We've got a ton of them here and my project was to get them organized by size so that I don't have to fumble when I'm looking for a specific size. I think I finally have it all figured out, apart from a few queen or full size sheets that I may have misjudged. I'm really good at organizing, but not so good at keeping things organized. I'm working on it, though.

Today when I finally emerged from my cabin I helped the guys lift wall frames for the second floor of the new cabin. I spent the morning with my sheets project. I sort of like helping them out because I'm interested in the process. I'm not, however, looking forward to the framing that has to go up over the giant open space in the cabin. One of the walls is open from the first floor all the way up to the roof. That should be fun. I'm impressed with the amout they've done in just one week with only two guys working. They'll be putting the lam-beam up on Monday, which means the place will have a roof in no time. They definitely know what they're doing and I'm learning a lot from them.

They made fun of me because I was in my pajamas the whole day - baggy printed pajama pants and a giant hoodie. You know what, I don't think the sheets I'm sorting care what I look like! When I told them that they said, "the delivery guys do!" Huh?? Turns out I have a fan club here among the guys that have been delivering stuff for the new cabin. What's the deal here?!?! Do I have some special quality that attracts men from lumber yards? Alaska is a weird place. In Boston I attracted homeless people - here I attract men from lumber yards. There's something in the water here, I tell ya. I have to go to Home Depot tomorrow. . . wish me luck.

Bear vs. .44

2008-06-27T00:48:00.003-04:00

Guns are quite common here, and, to be honest, I considered getting one before I came. Big wildlife is a real threat around here. It's one thing to learn to behave around bears if you do see them, which I've read a lot about, and is always the first line of defense. Beyond that, a gun and/or bear spray is your only hope. I really think guns and bear spray have the potential to just piss the bear off even more, which is never good news. At least with a gun you've got a bit more than piss-off potential - there's incapacitate/kill potential.

I didn't end up doing the gun thing because getting one up here proved to be too much of a pain, especially because I wasn't licensed in MA and I would have had to wait a while to get licensed to carry. Well, I'm in Alaska now, biotch!! I can't legally buy a gun here, but I can legally carry one. It just so happens that Kevin, one of the guys that's building the new cabin, got a gun while up here for the same reason I was thinking of getting one. When he first came down, I was talking about how I want to do more hiking but I don't feel comfortable doing it alone. A few days later I was sitting at his desk fixing his computer when he asked me if I'm comfortable with guns. I told him they didn't bother me in the least, so he said, "top drawer on the left if you ever need it."

Because you need a pretty big gun to cross that line from pissing off a bear to effectively protecting yourself from one, it's .44 calibre or nothing around here. Anyone you ask will say the same thing; you need a .44. The recoil on a gun like that is pretty substantial, which really impedes your control, especially if you're not used to it. The last thing any of us want is to be armed with a weapon we're not comfortable with, especially if we ever need to shoot it. So, what's the solution there, you say? A homemade target and shooting range! Yes, in Alaska your neighbors don't care if you draw circles on a piece of particle board and go to town on it to improve your aim. The noise is a familiar one to them. Heck, they might even join in!

Chooooooooocolate!

2008-06-26T12:07:00.005-04:00

It was sad to see the Austrians go yesterday. I told him I love chocolate so Christian gave me some of his leftover chocolate from the climb because European chocolate is so much better. I can get the same brands in the US, but it's still not the same. They use different formulas for export because the US has weird laws regulating what percentages of things have to be in the chocolate to be able to label it a specific way. Ritter Sport dark and milk chocolate with hazelnuts and a Toblerone. He said they each had 2 kilos of chocolate with them for when they climbed the mountain. That's about 4.5lbs!! Yikes! He apologized for the shape the Toblerone is in - the packaging is beat to hell from being up on the mountain, as you can sort of see in the picture.
He also gave me a whole bunch of the leftover energy bars from the climb, which I haven't tried yet. I looked up one of the words on the packaging - it said 'fitness riegel,' which translates to 'fitness latch plate.' haha, I'm assuming it means 'fitness bar.'

I'm going to have Frenchy get me his address (they have to stop by there before the airport because she let them store the mountain climbing gear in her garage) so I can send him some marshmallows. They had never seen marshmallows before, nevermind roasted marshmallows, so they assumed they're not available at the stores at home.

This is random, but there was just a Total Gym commercial on and I happened to look up at it - Chuck Norris is rocking the 70s/80s 'Stache these days! Wowsa, that thing looks ridiculous, especially because his hair is short. If you're gonna go with the giant 'stache, go all the way, Chuck! You gotta balance it with the voluminous hair!

The American Way

2008-06-25T11:29:00.004-04:00

Last night I sat by the fire with the Austrians again. I have to clarify what I said before, though, Christian and Gerhard are mountain climbers and Barbara is here visiting them for the last leg of their journey, so I don't think she's a mountain climber. Christian is headed back to Austria at the end of the week while Gerhard and Barbara stay behind to travel a bit more. I feel bad for them because when they get back from their trip they all have to work the next day! There is a 10 hour time difference between here and Austria! Ouch! I told Barbara to take the day off because she's an anaesthesiologist. I'm sure they'll be okay.

I had a good time talking with them last night. They're very intelligent and interesting people. I learned about a new way of building tunnels pioneered by the Austrians, which is something these guys are involved in I think because I'm assuming the new tunnel they're working on is being built that way. Usually in tunnel construction they blast out tons of rock and then cement the hell out of the inside. This new way they blast out the rock and then they pay attention to it for some time to see how the rock behaves on its own and they tailor the inner tube of the tunnel based on the rock behavior so that it can move with the rock instead of being crumbled away when the rock shifts over time (or at least that's how I understood it). I told them they were more than welcome to come fix The Big Dig! Turns out they do have a few offices in the US, too. They're building something in San Francisco right now, but I'm not sure what.

I've been talking with them about my plans after here and I mentioned I'm considering where in Europe I'd want to visit, so they told me about some areas. They've all traveled all around the world because other countries know how to have a vacation, damnit! They get 2 months vacation EVERY YEAR! It isn't just their professions, either, that's somewhat normal! We Americans need to work on that. There are a lot of things we need to work on! At one point, Gerhard asked me, "how is it that you got to be so critical of the American way of life?" hahahaha!! At first I thought I wasn't and I thought he asked because I was making fun of fried fish, talking about how gross it is and how it ruins the delicate flavor of fish. Before that I think I was making fun of the people that go through the drive through, get the supersize meal and then order a diet coke to offset it and be 'healthy.' And before that I was making fun of how Americans live by the clock when they eat at a restaurant so it's not a leisurely thing, and how Americans live by the clock in everything else, for that matter. So, yeah, I suppose I am critical of the American way of life.

Bank of America Incompetence

2008-06-24T17:21:00.003-04:00

Victory! I got my Bank of America card yesterday! I'm still getting visits from the same Bank of America servers directly to the Bank of America posts. I had one visit that came from a Bank of America server from a google blog search for 'hate Bank of America.' I wonder if it was my buddy James.
I listened to part of the conversation I had with an associate and it's hysterical. She has no idea what to say to me other than her scripted lines, so she's silent the majority of the time. She was the 11th person I talked to about this issue in 3 days and here I'm trying to figure out why Bank of America customer service is stupid, why I had to go through so much grief and how I can better get to the information I need in the future, and she is either silent or just repeats that I'll get my card on Monday - Typical Bank of America customer service representative. Earlier in this conversation I told her I had a FedEX tracking number and asked her a question about the shipping and she put me on hold to find out if they still use FedEX! If I have a FedEX tracking number, it's pretty safe to say they used FedEX to ship it! It's also pretty safe to say she isn't the brightest one! Here's part of the conversation:

S'mores time with the Austrians

2008-06-24T12:57:00.004-04:00

I hung out by the fire last night with the Austrians. I brought out marshmallows before they ate dinner then before I came out to roast them I was talking to Christian while he was using my wine key and I told him I'd be out in a minute to roast marshmallows. He asked, "is this something all Americans do?" I, of course, asked if he had ever heard of s'mores or made them. He said no and I promptly went out there to show them the way. . . They all watched me roast a marshmallow before they tried their hand at it, which was an interesting moment. All eyes on me while I slowly roast a marshmallow. I'm not one of those people that lets it catch on fire, I take the time to roast it perfectly. After I showed them the trick to pull the marshmallow off of the stick using the graham, they were sold. S'mores are such a universal fire thing here, so it's funny to come across people that have never heard of them. It's also a little exciting because I got to introduce them to the wonderful world of roasted marshmallows and s'mores.

They were speaking in English mostly, but they'd occasionally exchange a few words here and there in German. It's amazing how much I understood without formally knowing the language. A lot of times it would be one of them asking the other to clarify an English term or metric conversion, and a lot of the time I'd just answer the question even though it was asked in German. A lot of German and English words are very similar, but it still surprised me how much I understood.

We spoke a lot about the similarities and differences of social tendencies in the US and Europe. Really interesting stuff to hear the European opinion and to hear how their world is treating them right now. I can't remember the exact place they live in Austria, but they're a half hour from Italy and Germany and 1.5 hours from Switzerland. What a great location, right? I think it's someplace near Innsbruck. With its great proximity, I may have found a good European location to stop in when I go cruising around Europe in the Spring.

Austrian Mountain Climbers

2008-06-23T23:09:00.004-04:00

3 Austrian mountain climbers just arrived at the cabins. They're currently building a fire out back to cook dinner. I haven't spoken to all of them for an extended period, but the only info I've gotten so far is that one of them is a geologist and they've been traveling for 7 weeks through Canada and Alaska, climbing mountains and skiing glaciers. They're pretty badass. Can't wait to talk to them more! There will certainly be an update about them!

Pictures backlog

2008-06-23T02:17:00.008-04:00

I have all of these pictures I take that I mean to put with blog entries but I never manage to download the pictures often enough. I'm going to add them to the correct posts, but I figured I'd put them here, too, so that you don't have to hunt for them.

Eagle in a nest in Anchor Point, AK
Ready to obliterate spiders

This sucker was in my car. I sprayed him with 409 then tried to take a picture to identify him but while I was trying to do that I noticed another of the same type of spider floating through the air toward me.

Bad picture, but this is the bunny that lives in my yard.
The Harley guys (Jim and Jimmy)
I think it's Mt. Iliamna, but I still don't have them straight so I could be wrong. It's one of the four active volcanoes across the Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula.
I don't even have to say much, here, do I? I do want you to know that it was 45 degrees out!
If you enlarge this one you'll be able to see the volcano in the background and there's an eagle flying over, too. This was a neat area that sloped down to the ocean. If someone showed me this picture and I had to guess where it was taken It'd be a long time before I guessed Alaska (at least before spending time here).
Looking across the Cook Inlet from just north of Homer, AK
EEEEEEVIL mailbox. They also had one of the those mobile homes that's shaped like a twinkie painted the same way. It was a little coffee hut. No Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks here, just coffee shacks. I sorta like it.
Anchorage. It's common to see signs with dents/holes from being shot at. It's also common to see paintball marks on signs. Guns, guns for everyone!
Purdy. Better enlarged. Click on it to do that.
Dumbest bumper sticker ever. I wanted to smack her.
Fire pit fun with the greeks.
Eagle. I saw a lot of them that day. A lot of them hang around Homer, which is where I went, but I actually took this on the way. I was probably in Kasilof or somewhere around there.

KDLL Summer Solstice Music Festival

2008-06-22T13:37:00.006-04:00

Last night I volunteered at the Summer Solstice Music Festival. The solstice is a big deal around here because it's actually noticeable that it's the longest day of the year with all of the daylight. It reminded me of 4th of July at home in a way. At home one area of town is mobbed for the festivities for a few days. It's similar to that except there isn't really an area that everyone gravitates toward because of the layout around here, instead, they have festivals everywhere. I could feel the presence of the celebrations even though I didn't know where all of the celebrations were. They had those big flashing construction signs up telling people not to drink and drive and the stores were busy with people getting BBQ supplies.

The festival I volunteered at was run by a radio station and the Kenai Peninsula B&B association. I wasn't sure when I'd be able to get there because I had to wait for my debit card to be delivered. The festival started at Noon, but I wasn't able to get there until after 7 because of the stupid Bank of America issue. It's too bad because I told them I'd help most of the day, and that I'd just head in right after I got the package. So much for that! I ended up stationed at the gate selling people tickets and I had a really good time. When I arrived there was a guy, Dwight, directing traffic by pointing toward the lot while pretending to dance and play the banjo. Quite amusing. I ended up hanging out with him and two ladies, Tina and Delora, from the B&B association for the rest of the night. What a hysterical and rowdy bunch. Delora and Tina were good laughers. We had to give the people tickets that they had to bring to the B&B association table inside to be eligible for door prizes, so we'd give them the ticket and tell them our spiel about where to go and what it gets them. If I had a nickel for every time some joker said, "but I don't need any doors!"
My eye color looks wildly different in different lighting and depending on what I'm wearing. Some times they're a less pronounced grey blue and other times they're brighter. The lighting must have been just right because people kept commenting that I had blue eyes. One guy with his two kids bought tickets from me then he just stood there for a second silently then he said matter of factly, "you have blue eyes." So, I said, "yes, I do." and he replied, "just thought I'd state the obvious," and walked away. What?!?!?! An old guy with a big beard was standing near me when I was inside the festival and he turned to me and said, "I'm sorry I keep staring at you, your eyes are really blue." I didn't even notice he was staring at me in the first place, but alright.
There really are a lot of men here in comparison to women and they're awfully eager. I guess what they say about Alaska is true. The more I get out around here, the more I notice it. When I was reading about the area beforehand, I came across something where this girl was saying that she was relatively average, but she felt like a supermodel the way people looked at her around here.
At the gate a group of Mexicans came in who spoke very little english, so that was fun trying to tell them where to bring their raffle tickets. One of the ladies ended up just walking them over there. About 10 minutes after they went in another group of Mexicans came up to the desk and asked if we had seen a group of Mexicans. I don't know why, but I thought that was funny. "have you seen any Mexicans?!" ha. They all spoke very little English and were definitely new to the area. One of the women there informed me that they're illegal immigrants. There's a canning company in the area that buys Mexicans one way tickets to Alaska to work and then after the summer is over the illegal immigrants call immigration on themselves (a la Cheech and Chong) and get shipped home for free. That canning company should be fined for those practices. Way to make sure dollars earned in the US stay in the US! Jerks.

Toward the end I got to go in and see some of the music. The singer of the last band had a really good voice. That is, until he tried to do Ants Marching by Dave Matthews. He did well at first, but he was following Dave Matthews' style of singing too closely, which is unique and as far as I'm concerned shouldn't be mimicked to the T in a cover because it will never sound right. Nonetheless, they were pretty good. The bands were all pretty good except one guy that sounded like bad karaoke. I swear he must have been drunk.

I headed home after the festival ended at midnight. On my way I thought there were people walking along the highway in the distance, but as I got closer I realized it was moose. It was a mom with two babies. I've never seen one with two kids, it's usually just one. She was trying to cross the road but was freaked out, probably by the headlights, so she kept starting to go then changing her mind and doubling back. It looked funny because they're awkward and look dumb when they try to make a quick maneuver and the babies were following her every move so they were just scurrying around her, not knowing what to do. Finally they made a run for it and they all bolted into the woods.

Bank of America still sucks. (kinda)

2008-06-21T20:44:00.005-04:00

I was assured that my card would be delivered by courier today. Is it any surprise that it didn't come? Another one for Bank of America!! At about 3:30 the day was close to ending so I figured I'd give them a call and see if I could get any information about the delivery. When I called lost/stolen card services I was told that the package would be arriving on Monday by FedEX, not today. The associate promptly blamed it on FedEX. I was pissed they don't ever do anything they say they will, so I asked him if I could speak to customer service and he informed me I was talking to customer service. I told him my entire plight and asked him why 12 different departments in Bank of America all seem to tell me 12 different things? He stupidly, like another representative I spoke to in the past, blamed it on the bank being a large company, and said that maybe one of the associates went above and beyond to fix the situation. I told him that being too big is no excuse and shouldn't every associate go above and beyond to help a customer, because Bank of America is supposed to have 'Higher Standards' per their Ads. Then I asked him if, perhaps, those 12 different departments had 12 different policy books, or if there's just one policy book for the entire company?
He kept telling me that he's sorry there is nothing he can do about FedEX not delivering it when they said they would, and could he help me with anything else? Each time he said that, I said, "yes, you can answer my question. Why do 12 different departments tell me 12 different things." Then he'd spiel for a minute, not knowing what to say and finally he'd ask if he could help me with anything else, at which point I'd ask him to answer my question. . . the same question I've been asking over and over, "WHY DO 12 DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS TELL ME 12 DIFFERENT THINGS?!?!?!"
Finally he told me that he could put a note in for this to be investigated by Executive Relations and that I'd receive a letter with the findings. I told him I want a phone call, not a letter. He told me it isn't possible. I told him I've heard of people being told the bank will get back to them in the future and the bank never contacts them again, so how can I be sure this gets done? He told me he'd give me the address and I could handle it directly, in which case he woudln't be putting in the investigation request because it doesn't make sense to do it twice. I said, "no, I'd rather we both do it, because I might get two different answers (if the past is any indication)!"

I was really mean to him because I'm really mad they haven't done one thing right and nobody takes responsibility or even suggests a solution, they just say their scripted apology instead of answering simple questions. After I hung up with him I called FedEX because I got the tracking number from the Bank of America guy. Turns out that with the type of delivery they picked they had to check the 'saturday delivery' box if they wanted it delivered saturday, which they didn't do. The Bank of America guy said they always use FedEX, so I'm assuming they would know this, right?? So, as I pondered this, the woman at FedEX said she'd look up one more thing for me. Turns out FedEX doesn't do Saturday delivery or overnight delivery to my Zip code AT ALL and it would have been impossible for them to overlook that fact when they were filling out the delivery request because it tells them this right out. So, they told me it would be here when there is no way it possibly could have made it here. I'm currently trying to call Bank of America back right now. I just called customer service and the phone system asked me to choose which type of customer serivce I wanted and in what language, then once I got through that it asked me to enter my account number so it could pass it on to the associate. Once I entered that it told me that customer service is closed!! TELL ME THAT IN THE BEGINNING!!!!

Got in touch with Bank of America by calling lost card services. I spoke to one person that told me the scripted apology over and over and said that they didn't know FedEX doesn't deliver to my Zip on Saturday. I told her sorry isn't good enough anymore and there was silence on the other end of the line. I went in circles with her for a bit and finally asked her if there's someone that can tell me why I've gone through so much crap in the past few days. She finally agreed to talk to a manager and put me on hold. The manager came on and was actually really good. Turns out that their computer system isn't directly linked to FedEX so it doesn't tell them that they can't deliver to certain Zip codes on Saturdays and that this is the first time they've run into this problem so they didn't know it existed. They're going to make a policy change (I'll believe it when I see it) in that regard. I told him while they're updating the policy book they should put in there that employees should never, never, never, NEVER, EVER use the bank being too large as an excuse for some lacking area. haha, I think I'm funny. He's looking into the other buffoons I spoke to through this whole ordeal and 'coaching' them on the policy book. That's right, bitches. Then to express Bank of America's remorse, they're sending me a $50 gift card, and they're even sending it to Alaska without any problems! It's really a shame you have to be a big jerk in this world to get through to large companies. Oh, one more thing, I recorded the last few times I've called Bank of America. I'll consider posting one of them at some point to show how stupid they are and what a giant jerk I am when I get the run around and get pissed. Stupid big companies.

Construction zone

2008-06-20T23:41:00.004-04:00

Yesterday I had to go to SBS (Spenard Builders Supply) to pick up an order for the new cabin. Kevin asked me to go, because, let's face it, I'm their GopherBitch, and said it was a bit of a rush because they were nearing a point that they wouldn't be able to continue without the stuff. I said I just had to change (I was wearing the same thing I wore the day before because, once again, I'm in the woods and who cares?) then I'd head out. He said "You're fine, you don't need to change. It's a lumber yard," so I just put some boots on and went. He's right, who cares if I'm a dirty bum at a lumber yard?
When I got there I had to pick out a sledgehammer, which is just funny, because I had no idea what they needed it for and there are a bunch to choose from. I picked the big one. Turns out it was for knocking things into place while framing and I picked the right one. Then I had to go around back to get the wood. The guy there looked at me with a half smile as if to say, "you must be lost." I gave him my slip and we got the wood/ladders. Just as I was about to leave he said, "I know this isn't very professional, but would you go out with me sometime?" Haha! It caught me off guard, especially in my gross, unshowered, 2nd-day-outfitted state. I suppose I was a less intimidating prospect in my grody state. It's just funny because of my earlier conversation with Kevin.

Kevin & Ed
Frenchy has two guys here building the third and final new cabin. Kevin is Frenchy's kayaking buddy from Florida, and Ed is Kevin's friend. They're characters. Kevin seems to have done quite a few different things in his life, but always goes back to construction. He's a professional wildlife photographer, was ski patrol in Colorado, a whitewater rafting guide, and a few other things. Ed was described to me as your run of the mill Kentucky hick. He's a laid back guy with an awkward sense of humor, but it works for him. They both have lots of contracting experience and seem to know what they're doing. I've been helping them with the framing because there's only two of them and they're 'feeble old men.' I've never really seen something built from the ground up so it'll be a learning experience. Those framed walls are heavy! I was really just a supplement while they took the brunt of the weight because my arms are the size of twigs. I could tell I was definitely helping, though, because of the amount of weight I could feel I was pushing. Other than the occasional help with the cabin I'm pretty much their errand girl. I don't really care as long as I'm not doing it the entire day. When I first came here I was told I would be working 3 hours a day at the very most, which hasn't turned out to be true because of the building of the cabin and it actually wasn't really true before the building of the cabin. If I take a trip into town it takes an hour roundtrip, and that's if I only have one stop at the edge of town. If I have to go to Home Depot it's 40min one way. As long as I'm not expected to be around here all the time and I can fit in some stuff I want to do for fun then it'll work out. I didn't come here to work 8hrs a day 7 days a week!
Speaking of work, I have to go get the cabins ready for an arrival then I have to go volunteer at the Solstice Festival, which I'll probably have a lot to say about later on.

The Plumber

2008-06-20T20:45:00.002-04:00

We've finally got our well issues figured out. Ray Chumley (The septic guy. I like saying his name.) came out with a plumber and they took care of it. This plumber, whose name I can't remember right now, was hysterical. He showed small traces of humor at first, but it was the kind of humor you use around people you don't know, very reserved. When he got a little more comfortable with all of us he let loose. When the water went on again and the toilet was filling up one of the guys said, "I hear the toilet filling up!" and he replied, "It sounds a little differently to me. . .all I hear is CHA CHING CHA CHING!" What cojones! There was more where that came from, too. It was hysterical.

When he was working on the kitchen sink he was telling us about how his 18 year old son just wrecked his truck for the third time. He hit a parked car in a parking lot and maintains that the car was 'parked funny.' But, c'mon, if it's parked it's not moving and you should be able to avoid it, right? No, he t-boned it. The priceless thing about it is that the car he hit belonged to his driving instructor!! Nice job teaching that one, lady! Now, that's irony. Can you imagine if the case was brought to a court how funny the fault arguments would be?

There will be more of him, yet, because he's doing the plumbing for the new cabin that's going up right now.

Hello, Bank of America, let me count the reasons why I hate you.

2008-06-20T16:59:00.004-04:00

After I posted about Bank of America yesterday, I got several visits from Bank of America servers in different spots in the country. They must crawl the web to see what people are saying about them. Well, Bank of America, if you're reading this, GO TO HELL! Oh, I have a few more things to say while I'm at it. (regular blog readers, you may as well just stop reading now because I'm now directing my attention to ranting about how horrible Bank of America is. Not good reading)
1. your phone systems are horrible. I know someone up there must have thought your fancy automated phone system that people can talk to instead of pressing buttons was a good idea, but it's junk. Pressing a button is 1000X easier than having to say "checking" over and over and over until it understands what I'm saying. I know what you're thinking - I already found the setting in there that makes it so I don't have to speak to it when I call for my balance, but that doesn't help me if I need to do ANYTHING else in your system.

2. Your phone systems are horrible for more reasons than #1. If I'm calling card services to talk to someone because I lost my debit card, the LAST thing your automated system should ever be doing is asking me for my 16 digit card number. I LOST THE CARD!! And if you don't have the number, you have to wait forever to get the system to let you talk to a real person because there is nothing you can press to skip that option. I had to go through that 4 times yesterday because the idiots at your company kept calling me without leaving messages and they didn't even know why! Which brings me to the outstanding customer service:

3. Would it kill you to have all departments on the same page? One person is telling me that I can't do something, another is telling me I can, a third is telling me the service doesn't exist, a fourth is connecting me to VISA without even listening to my problem and a fifth is telling me they're 'sorry, but the bank is too big so they'll just transfer me to the maintenance closet, because the janitor probably knows better than any of their associates.' One woman I spoke to when I called back after a missed call wouldn't even let me finish telling her what was going on, she kept interrupting me telling me she didn't need to hear what happened. Oh, you're right, ma'am, knowing my current situation with your stupid bank has no bearing on how you might best serve me right now! How silly of me to think that. The only people I've ever had any luck with at Bank of America actually act human and admit that the bank isn't perfect, but they're willing to figure out a way to help - all of the other idiots speak in a scripted voice tone and say "I'm sorry for your inconvenience, ma'am, but we value your business." If you really value my business you'll explain to me what the heck went wrong and tell me why it happened so that if I'm in the situation again when I speak to the first person I'll know what to ask for so that I can get to the correct department right away!

4. Stop micromanaging your employees with stupid scripts and lines they have to repeat over and over. Either that or hire actors to man the phones so they at least sound convincing. Even if you did hire actors, those scripts you use sound. . . scripty. People don't speak that way and people don't want to be spoken to that way. I want to talk to a human, not a robot.

5. Though my problem has been resolved I'm still considering pulling my account from your horrible bank and while I'm at it I should really consider starting a smear campaign on Youtube to drag you down to the pits of hell where you came from. The fact that I've had similar issues dealing with your telephone associates a few times in the past tells me that you don't give a crap about my business and you're also not about to change your practices in dealing with customers. And to think I almost signed up so that I could trade stocks directly through an account linked to the bank. It's easy to have all of my services in one place on the web, but NOTHING is worth the annoyance I had to go through yesterday for a simple problem with a simple solution.

Here, just to make sure Bank of America finds this:
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America

Grocery store woes

2008-06-20T04:22:00.003-04:00

The grocery store is so disappointing here. I can't find any of the weird food that I eat at home. I couldn't even find cream today! My selection was half & half or heavy whipping cream, with no in-between. Fresh herbs are a joke here, too. If a store has them, they're in small packages, really expensive, and they're wilted and browning. I'm trying to grow some dill and cilantro, but everyone knows how proficient I am at keeping plants alive. No fresh herbs for me this summer! Frenchy has a membership to costco, so I'll have to do some bulk buying to keep costs down. The only problem with that is that the majority of the food I like to eat is perishable. Everything would be bad before I had time to eat it all. At home the way I ate was to buy small amounts of fresh foods and just go to the grocery store on a regular basis. I'd usually buy one fresh herb and just use it all week. Here I don't have the luxury of just running down the street to the grocery store to grab a few things, I have to plan. Ha! Me? Planning? The nearest grocery store is about 10-12 miles away, but I think it's also the most expensive.

In a true spawn-of-lorrahn fashion, I did get some cracker barrel cheese to make baked mac'n'cheese with. They only had the orange kind for the extra sharp, though, which creeps me out. I just don't like orange cheese. I also pulled another lorrahn and got potatoes and lipton onion soup mix to make roasted potatoes with. Just blame all of my food buying habits on her.
I didn't buy any chocolate, though. Papa and Phyllis and Erica got me plenty of that before I left home! Amazingly I still have some left. Speaking of stuff people got me for the trip, I never got to mention anything to Leah about the WetOnes. I thought I wouldn't have much use for them in the beginning. I figured I'd use them once in a while. I used an entire container on the ride up. I was driving for such long periods that I just felt nasty so they came in handy.

DIE Bank of America!! (Update)

2008-06-19T14:56:00.004-04:00

Okay, so I lost my bank card. Big surprise, right? I lose them every couple of years without fail. I didn't want to go through the hassle of having it mailed home then having someone mail it to me here because it just takes too long, so I figured I'd ask the bank if there's any way to send it directly to where I am now. Big mistake.

I'm on the phone with person #1. She takes all of my information, blocks the card and tells me that they can, in fact, get the card directly to me if they transfer me to Emergency Card Services. Sounds good, so I say yes. She transfers me to them, a guy answers, asks how he can help me and I tell him that I lost my card, I'm not at home so they sent me to you so I can have it sent directly to me. He says, "hold on" and transfers me directly to Visa. The woman at visa asks me right off the bat if I'm eligible for emergency card services with Bank of America. I told her Bank of America had transferred me to her, so I sure hope so! She says, "great, that answers my question" then proceeds to ask me every question about every detail of my life for a half hour. Finally, she has to call Bank of America to get the okay and I'd be all set. She comes back and says, "sorry, ma'am, you're not eligible for emergency card services, so we can't send it to you."
I LOST IT. Why the HELL did I have to answer 8,000 questions if they weren't going to help me? I immediately told her to transfer me back to Bank of America and it turned out the BoA person was actually on the line already listening to me get pissed off. I always feel bad getting angry at these people on the phone because it isn't their fault, it's the person before them that screwed me over. I yelled, nonetheless. Seriously, why wouldn't they tell me in the first place whether or not I'm eligible for this service, or at the very least tell me that I'll have to answer some questions to determine eligibility? They wouldn't even tell me what the eligibility requirements were, and their excuse was that Bank of America is big and has a lot of departments so it's impossible for everyone to know the rules of every department. my response was, "Exactly, you're too damned big." I was really pissed and the woman, who was huffy and puffy at me asked me what I'd like her to do for me and I told her I wanted to speak to someone that knew what the hell was going on, so she transferred me to her supervisor. When the supervisor answered she said, "you requested a supervisor?" I said, "No, I requested someone that knows what the hell is going on in this bank!" She was stupid, too. She told me that her department is the only one that can determine eligibility for the emergency card service and the other departments don't know what it is, so they couldn't have possibly known, which is why that happened. I asked her why, then, didn't they send me to their department in the first place?!?! She didn't have an answer for that one. I should close out my account there. This is a big lesson for why I should stick to smaller banks.
The last person I spoke to (the supervisor) said they couldn't use Emergency card services, but they could express it to me where I am. I told her I'm in Alaska and she said they don't express to Alaska. Very nice. I ended up just telling them to send it to my house and I'd have family send it to me, like I would have done in the first place had I known it would be such an issue.

After I wrote the above portion I spoke to 3 more people at Bank of America because they called me twice for some reason. Both times I missed the call because of crap cell phone service out here and both times I called back only to get some idiot on the other end that didn't know why they called. Finally I called customer service to tell them to stop calling and the guy there actually solved the entire problem. He said that every single person I spoke to, even the supervisor, didn't know what they were talking about because they apparently don't read their updated policy books on a regular basis. He's sending my card up here and the silver lining is that I got to take a customer satisfaction survey after the call. I love it when you're pissed at a company and you're randomly selected for their phone survey! The guy I spoke to got great ratings, but there was also an option where you could speak for 30 seconds to describe how you felt about Bank of America! I'm sure they get a lot of colorful remarks on that one. Jerks.

Another update: I had ANOTHER missed call from the same number that was calling me before. I called back AGAIN because I can't understand why they're calling. Is there something more I need to do? When I called back the person said she didn't know why they called, but she could transfer me to customer service. I told her, so, your department called me and you have no idea what for? So when you call people and they call you back you guys just guess about what business they need to take care of? She said, "well, no. . . " then continued, "If you answer some questions I can pull up your account and find out." HELLO!! Isn't that what she should have done in the first place instead of telling me she didn't know anything? Of course you don't know anything if you don't even know which customer you're talking to, dumbass. I really hope I have service if they call me again. I've been such a witch to them the entire day. That's what happens when you have to speak to 9 different people to get a problem resolved. That's right, 9. I counted. Whenever I have to deal with them in the future I'm going to ask for their name and department right at the beginning of the conversation because I really wish I had that info right now. The helpful guy actually said he was looking up the people and was going to 'bust some heads.'
I've had an incredibly similar situation with them like this in the past, too. I was told I had to be transferred to a different department, where they wouldn't help me either and it turned out the woman I spoke with before screwed something up on my account by not doing something she told me she did. I asked the woman I was speaking with for the prior representatives name and she told me she didn't have access to that information,' so when I was again transferred and finally found someone that was helpful, I found out that they can ALL tell who I've been speaking with on the phone previously! ahhhhh!

What's extra fun about this update is that I went to the laundromat today and I found my bank card while sorting through the sheets in the back of my car. Fun!

Baby bird

2008-06-19T02:00:00.003-04:00

while walking across the way to one of the cabins I found a little bird that may or may not have been a finch just sitting there. It was odd because 1. he didn't move when I approached and 2. there were no structures above he could have come from except the roof of the cabin, which doesn't seem to have any good birds nest spots. He wasn't a tiny baby, but I could tell he was young, probably didn't do so well the first time out of the nest. I picked him up and put him up on the steps hoping that would give him enough height to fly, but it didn't work, he did more of a tumblefly down the steps. Poor little guy. Kevin (I know I keep mentioning him, I'll talk more about him next post. He's one of the guys that's building the new cabin) said I should just get a cage and raise him. I walked around with him for a bit half trying to find a good place to put him and half deciding if I wanted to try to keep him. I'm ill equipped to nurture anything so I ended up finding a nice branch for him that seemed high enough that he might attempt to fly and possibly succeed this time. Hopefully. I feel a little sad about it, but I'm trying not to worry. Mother Nature.

The Harley Guys

2008-06-18T21:54:00.005-04:00

The Harley guys rolled in last night and they were a laugh. Jim and Jim, or, Jim and Jimmy, to differentiate. They were decked out in all harley gear, probably right down to their skivvies by the looks of it. They were older guys, possibly old enough to be my grandparent. They were incredibly laid back guys, one of them almost to the point of being incoherent. They just liked to hang out, ride their bikes, drink canadian club whiskey and chat. Before they came, Kevin told me to make sure I had ice ready. When I showed the Harley guys around the cabin and we got to the kitchen, the first question was whether or not we had ice. They cooked some catfish for dinner and made me eat some even though I'd already had dinner. I glad I did try it because it was really good.

Later on one of them told me if I'd start a fire for them he'd sing kumbaya. Obviously I jumped at the chance, but when I went off to do some stuff while they finished eating he started a fire himself. Damn! He even started it boyscout style with no matches. It takes me a bit to start one with matches, so kudos to him. Sitting around the fire with them was fun because they had some good stories from their military days and more. They wouldn't tell me the years that anything happened, though, because they didn't want to date themselves. At one point one of them said, "'74 was a good year," and the other agreed that is was a "great year," to which I replied, "I wouldn't know!" It was also fun to sit around the fire with them because I brought stuff for s'mores. Seeing guys roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores while they're in full Harley gear (I'm talking leather chaps and all that good stuff) is just one of those things that somehow defies logic, which is why I brought out the s'mores stuff in the first place. It's funny how easy it is to judge tough looking guys on Harleys. They're generalized like crazy, which is silly. Maybe it's the leather, but, when you think about it, leather is the best thing you can wear if you're going to be out in the elements zipping down the road at 70mph. The leather isn't to assert toughness or to be intimidating looking, it's practical. They're marshmallows under all that gear.

One funny story they told me was about Frenchy. They stayed at the B&B in Anchorage for a night. While one was going to bed, the other said he was going to go out for a ride because he wasn't ready for bed yet. Frenchy jumped at the chance and asked if she could go and he welcomed her. A bit later he felt bad and decided to tell her where he was really going. A strip club! Actually, he corrected me every time I called it a strip club because it was a 'high class establishment, not a strip club.' I was surprised to hear that she didn't go because she isn't easily phased. Turns out she opted not to go because her cousins' last night in town so she didn't want to be out at a strip club all night. Reasonable.

Watching them interact was also pretty hysterical. They seem to have been friends for some time and knew each other well. Jim was making fun of Jimmy for getting ice cream at a place they stopped at down the road, commenting that he'd never seen him eat ice cream in his life. I didn't catch on to the significance of their banter until Jimmy finally said, "yeah, she was a looker," meaning the girl scooping the ice cream. He still wouldn't admit she was the only reason he got ice cream, though, and kept insisting that he likes ice cream and Jim must just never see him eat it, etc. So, of course, I asked him what flavor ice cream he got. He had NO CLUE. Haha! Men!

They rode up here through Canada from Illinois, except they took the other road in Canada. What a ride it must have been on motorcycles. It was their last night before heading back down, so hopefully it was a good one. They certainly entertained me. Oh yeah, and Jim fixed the washing machine this morning before he left. I came around the corner in the house to find him balancing the washer as he tipped it forward and tried to look around at the back, so I ended up holding it while he fixed it. Guests do the darndest things.

Manville at the cabins today

2008-06-17T09:29:00.004-04:00

Today I have lots going on here. It's going to be workermanville here.
First I have to receive a shipment from Home Depot for building the final cabin here. That means I get to figure out where the heck to put all of the construction materials. fun!
Then Kevin and Ed are coming down to start construction. Kevin is Frenchy's Kayaking buddy from Florida who came up to help her out and build the last cabin here because she already had the foundation poured and didn't want it to sit too long. He's got a guy, Ed, with him to help out, who was described as 'your run of the mill hick from kentucky.' I met them last week already.
Also, Ray Chumley, the septic guy, might be by today to clear out the main line because we've got rocks and sand in it. That also means a plumber would be here for hours cleaning all of the valves of sand.
Then, Finally, I've got two guests coming. Frenchy got the reservation yesterday and called me to let me know last night. The Canadians that were here a bit ago met these guests-to-be and recommended the place. The guests will probably be in late because they're headed down to homer for the day and then they're headed back up here afterwards. Frenchy told me they're two Harley riding guys and that, "maybe I could score a ride. . ." I thought that was pretty funny. Of course I had to joke back and say, "ooh, harley guys, maybe I'll just go down to Homer with them." When Frenchy replied, "want me to have them stop for you," I realized she wasn't kidding. I said no, so hopefully two hells angels don't show up here telling me to hop on.

Know what all of this means? Tonight I have to stay in Spider Cabin. The morning after I went bug crazy on the cabin I went to check it out and found a whole bunch of dead spiders dangling from threads all around the cabin. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I did one of those indoor bug foggers, too, so my cabin was poisoned for a few days. I have to go in there today and wash some surfaces so I don't poison myself. I should probably clean the spider carnage the fogging left behind, too. No more walking into spiderwebs, hopefully.

Denali: The people eater

2008-06-16T21:02:00.003-04:00

A little over a week ago a mountain climber was airlifted off of Mt. Mckinley with an ankle injury. He was taken to the hospital and walked out under his own power in a matter of minutes. People are saying they think he faked injury to get airlifted off of the mountain. What a scumbag. He should have to pay the costs for the airlift out of pocket for being an idiot. There are people around here who think that any time you are rescued from McKinley you should have to pay all costs for the rescue. Some people are actually mad that they're even letting people climb the mountain because 50% of the time rescue workers have to help climbers down after a failed attempt. That's right, 50% success rate. It's constant to hear about that mountain around here in the news. They're constantly searching for lost climbers and rescuing people who couldn't handle the route they chose. Is all of this paid by park entrance fees? Most likely.

I haven't decided how I feel about this issue. I think maybe the climber should be prepared to pay a portion of the rescue fees, because it isn't like they're doing an everyday task. They're taking on a huge challenge that they should be prepared for. At first I was thinking it might be bad to make them pay because they might unnecessarily push themselves on the mountain, which is extremely dangerous. When I thought about it more I realized that probably wouldn't be the case. They would probably be a little more cautious and smarter about their climb because, if they're a well-prepared climber, which I would hope they are, they should be smart enough to know that pushing themselves is exactly what will cause them to have to be rescued. I don't know, there's too much to consider, I can't decide.

Tigahhhh

2008-06-16T16:37:00.003-04:00

Will Tiger ever stop dominating? Recovering from his 3rd knee surgery and he still comes out on top. Jeesh.

Speaking of sports, how 'bout those Celts? I'm so isolated from the world of Boston sports. I gotta start reading articles online or something, because I've missed some major events, here.

Evil Looking

2008-06-15T21:25:00.002-04:00

I was thinking about spiders today and how they just look evil. I thought of it because I saw a caterpillar crawling on the window sill and just left it alone, while hours earlier I had killed several spiders that weren't doing anything to me. I thought about why I spared the caterpillar and not the spiders. I really think in some way it comes down to looks.

It's funny how shapes of things can decide if they look evil or not. I was reminded of something I saw a while back about the making of Disney's Aladdin where they were talking about how they came up with how the characters looked. They were noting how the bad guy has lots of points and harsh lines, while the good guys have softer, curved features. A while after I was thinking of this I was watching an old movie from 1963 called The Courtship of Eddie's Father. There was a scene where the kid, Eddie, was telling his dad that he likes a woman his dad is seeing and why he likes her. He said one of the reasons he likes her is because she doesn't have thin eyes, she has rounder ones, and she has a medium-sized bust, not a big one. The reason he said he knew based on these features that she must be a good person is because all of the villains in comic books have thin eyes and a big bust. It was odd I ended up seeing that since I was thinking about it earlier - denoted evil through appearance.

I wonder how this sort of thing came about. Do we inherently associate sharp harsh features and shapes with things that are bad? Do we think this way because nature actually works that way or have we been trained by culture to think this way? If every single movie and comic book uses the same signals to denote evil, is it because the ones before them did it and that's what people will understand, or is it something built into us? Does a shark look evil because we know it's dangerous, or does it actually look dangerous? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Ouch, My Neck!!

2008-06-15T13:35:00.002-04:00

I just pulled a muscle in my neck. OUCH. I went to stretch and I heard a gross pop in my neck and now it hurts like hell and I have limited range of motion. Last night I didn't sleep in my cabin because I wanted to give the spider evacuation/carnage the night to dissipate. I slept on the couch in one of the other cabins. I didn't see the point in sleeping in a bed because I'll just have to change the sheets after so it's ready for a guest. The couch sleeping may have aggravated my neck, who knows. Anyway, it's going to make it awfully difficult to do anything productive around here. I was hoping to sweep all of the hanging evacuees from the eaves of my cabin so I can get in there, but that will be difficult if I can't really tilt my head back. . . Bugs are ruling my life.

I don't fare well with bugs

2008-06-15T01:10:00.003-04:00

Whoa. I'm currently in freak out mode, here. I was on the verge of a panic attack not too long ago. I was using this leftover bug killer stuff I found to spray the perimeter and eaves of my cabin when I came across dun dun DUUUNN. . . a yellowjacket nest in the beginning stages in the eave above my front door. It was 10% interesting and 90% frightening. Interesting because it was kinda cool to see the start of a nest, but frightening because I'm me. I stood there for a minute looking at it, stunned. It looked like there was only one bee there tending, so I decided to go for a bold move and spray it with the insect killer I had in my hand. I sprayed once and sorta hit it, then I sprayed again and soaked it because it was a continuous stream thingy. All of a sudden the bee went flying off at me so of course I dropped what I was holding and ran to one of the other cabins for dear life. I'm not kidding when I tell you I was practically shaking when I got inside the cabin and slammed the door. The bee didn't make it in after me, thank God.

So, of course the next step was to go directly to the store and buy everything they sell that kills bees. Well, I didn't go right there, I waited in the house for a while because What if he was waiting outside for me?!?! I realize how crazy I sound when it comes to bees, don't worry. At the store I got a fogger that kills most bugs, a wasp killer to get rid of the nest and one of those indoor foggers. I got the indoor fogger because when I ran away I left my cabin door open, so who knows if he's inside. I'm not even going to talk how much willpower it took to go into my cabin before I left for the store - I had to get my car key, which meant walking directly under the nest. Twice.

When I got back home the first step was to take care of the bees nest. They say to spray the nest at dusk or dawn when bees are less active. Well, that isn't exactly an option here because of the constant sunlight. I bravely sprayed the hive without a hitch. It was foam so it engulfed the entire thing which made me feel better.

The second step was using the fogger around the eaves and perimeter of the cabin to get rid of the spiders. I was doing okay with spiders until I saw that GIANT one the other day. That put me over the edge because it looked like a black widow. Even though there aren't black widows up here, I'm still freaked because it was huge and scary. I sprayed one side of the house and went around to the back. When I went to the original side again to do another round of spraying, I witnessed a massive spider evacuation. everywhere there were spiders hanging from threads, getting the hell out of there. Guess that fogger stuff works. Unfortunately when I fogged the cabin, I hit a lot of the branches that hang right over the front door area, which also triggered a massive evacuation so there were a whole bunch of spiders dangling in front of my door. So much for the indoor fogger for tonight. That will have to wait until I can de-spider the front door.

So, as if all of this wasn't enough, I was sitting in my car with my computer typing this up while I waited for the massive amounts of poison in the air to dissipate when I saw a big spider crawling on the edge of my dash by my window. I had been seeing lonely strands of spiderweb in my car for a few days, but I didn't really worry about it much. When I saw the bastard, I worried. I picked up a bottle of 409 I had in the car and sprayed him enough to stun him and give me time to get by him and out of the car. When I got out I picked up the wasp killer and sprayed him. I grabbed my camera to take a picture so I could identify him and while I was doing that out of the corner of my eye, suddenly I saw another spider of the same kind floating through the air toward me. I stood up and slowly backed away. Much to my dismay the spider followed me and it seemed the strand he was floating on was attached to ME! What else would I do but run away and do the bug dance? You should know this about me by now. He was a big spider, so give me a break. I was already freaked out about the entire bug event of the day so seeing a big spider attached to me wasn't exactly what I needed. So after my bug dance, I picked up the fogger and fogged near the open door of my car in case he was still there or in case there were more. I pretty much poisoned my car, which is fabulous. I'm really hoping the two of them weren't getting it on in my car because that would mean more little baby spiders to come. GRRRR! The spiders looked the same and usually male/female spiders of the same species look different so I'm crossing my fingers here.

If I see another freakin' spider tonight I'm going to lose my mind. Oh, forgot to mention that while I was fogging outside of my cabin a yellowjacket flew at me so I ran away to the safety of my car (or at least I thought, until I saw the devil spiders that lived in there). I've done a lot of running today. Maybe I'll become an exterminator so I get some exercise. Next time I go running I'm going to pretend I'm being chased by a swarm of bees.

Cutting Boards

2008-06-14T00:56:00.004-04:00

I love a good knife, and I love a good cutting board. Thankfully I brought a good knife and cutting board with me because the ones here are crappy. This bit led me to a little research I'll share with you.

I once read a while back that although most people don't think so, wood cutting boards are safer than plastic ones. Most people assume that because the plastic isn't porous it won't hold on to bacteria vs. wood, which is porous and may be harder to clean. This was always sort of an assumption based on what seemed to be logical thinking. The 1993 study I read found that when bacteria was left on wooden and plastic cutting boards, the bacteria died off on the wooden one in a matter of minutes while the bacteria on the plastic cutting board multiplied and grew overnight. I read the study a while ago, and things change, so I decided to do a search today to find out what the latest is on that debate. Debate was what I found.

Before I get to the debate and what I found, let me just tell you that I hate plastic cutting boards. The thin ones warp, and the thick ones are all gross once you've been using it for some time. Also, I feel like I'm killing my knife when I use it on plastic - ick, the feel of cutting into a little plastic every time you make a pass with your knife if you're cutting something that requires pressure just makes me cringe.

That said, what I found was interesting. That original study I found came into question a while after because the experiment methods may not have made sense, which would make any outcome null and void. Since then they've found that the porous wooden surface may actually draw bacteria away from the surface, which makes it safer while cutting. Plastic, because it isn't porous, should clean up well. Here's the catch. Have you ever seen a plastic board that's been used a lot? Definite cut marks are visible throughout the board. This happens eventually with wood, but it's more like weathering in wood and not definite cuts. These cuts in the plastic surface actually in the end make it harder to clean and gives the bacteria more hiding places than in a wood board. Wood boards are also easier on your knife for sure.

Really, at the end of the day, if you clean your boards well you can use whatever you like. I, for one, will continue to use wood for the sake of my knives and the way it feels to cut on. Safety has nothing to do with my decision. I don't obsess over safety in the kitchen like they urge you to, but that's a whole other discussion for another time.

Almost Forgot about the Roasty Toasty!

2008-06-13T04:04:00.007-04:00

I went back to the Spit-Fire Grill after lunch and got the sandwich I wanted earlier to-go for dinner later. I also got a piece of Irish cream cheesecake, which was Delicious. My sandwich was good too. How could anything called a Roasty Toasty ever be bad? They had mesquite chocolate chip cookies there, too. I asked the guy behind the counter where the mesquite comes in because all I could think is that it's smoked chocolate or something. Turns out there are little mesquite pods that are sweet. I still wasn't getting it, so I asked him in what form it's used in the cookie. It was mesquite flour. How cool is that. Of course I had to ask him how he ever got into doing that, because he seemed to be the mastermind behind the shop. He had come across it at some point in a random article he read, so he went on a search for it. He said finding it was extremely difficult. Getting them to ship it to him without costing an arm and a leg was even more fun, I'm sure. Homer is a well-established town and it's right on the water and everything, but it's still not a priority shipping destination by any means.

Also, here's a picture of Homer Spit. The mountains in the background still have lots of snow on them now, so they're even more beautiful than in this picture. The Spit is that bit of land the extends out into the bay (Kachemak Bay)

Homer, AK (I will be going back there)

2008-06-13T03:20:00.003-04:00

Frenchy's cousins are in town and spent the night here in Sterling last night. They're from Texas and weren't enjoying the chilly air here. It's hot as hell in Texas, so I don't blame them. We had a fire out back and made food and s'mores, which is a perfect night for me. They didn't make it out there for too long, though, so it was just Frenchy and me for most of the time. It was chilly even for here, about 45, but it wasn't that bad, especially by the fire. Oh well, they caught up on TV watching while I got to eat delicious s'mores. Their loss.

Today we drove down to Homer, which was just a beautiful drive. The volcanoes across the cook Inlet are visible from parts of the road there and when you get to the outskirts of Homer the trees just open up to an amazing panoramic view of all of it. I'll upload pictures later. There were eagles galore, too. We saw a few perched on top of trees, one in a nest and several others flying around. A few actually flew along with us for a distance, which was cool. I tried to get a picture but I failed miserably. The way the feathers on the very tips of their wings curl up when they fly looks so neat. I love how people always get excited when they see an eagle. I think I get more excited now than ever before, even though I see them pretty regularly.

Homer is what I've been looking for in my journey. Every town I go to I keep thinking it'll be cutsey and have a nice little artsy downtown. Every town I'd been to before Homer was nothing but gas stations, grocery stores, fish processing and mechanics. Oh, and usually a taxidermist in there someplace, too. Which reminds me, I uttered a phrase I never thought would come out of my mouth. I said, "I'll just ask the local taxidermist, I'm sure there's one in town." First off, at home I'd never assume there's a taxidermist and second, I don't refer to anything as "in town." Here I have to drive to get to anything, so it's normal to say that. okay, back to my original train of thought. In Homer I finally found the cute little artsy town I was looking for. They have lots of cool little shops and really good food places.

Speaking of food, we went to lunch while we were there. We stopped into a place called the Spit-Fire Grill which had great sandwiches and good desserts. Unfortunately, I was the only one that wanted to go there. On we moved to a little cafe that was really neat, called Spit Sisters Cafe. Everything has Spit in the name because Homer is on a spit, which is a piece of land that extends out into water. Sort of like Nahant, but it's long and thin, with room for just one road down the middle with stuff on either side. Everyone vetoed that cafe, too, because there wasn't really enough sitting room. I was all for getting something and sitting on the benches to eat. It was a little cool because it's right on the water, but it would have been perfect in the sun. Oh well. We walked across the street and went to a sit down restaurant where everyone ordered fried food but me. I hate fried seafood. Seafood is usually such a delicate flavor that I think frying it just kills the whole experience. I got baked halibut with dill sauce and it was very good. Halibut is a white fish and it's extremely mild. I also got a beer that's made in Homer. Surprisingly, they make wine there, as well. It's berry wine, which I usually hate, but it's still neat. I also got a cup of chowder in lieu of cole slaw and french fries, which was also pretty good. After noting that the chowder was so thick I could stand my spoon up in it, her cousin tried to tell me that it's supposed to be that way. Puhhhhlease. I just simply told him I'm from Boston. I didn't think he'd need more explanation since I had already said it was the thickest I'd ever seen. C'mon, if I've never seen it like that, chances are it's not supposed to be like that. Chowdah, it's all we got.

I'm really critical of people's eating habits. I usually don't say anything out loud, though, that's just bad form. I'm pretty sure I picked that one up from the Bartlett side of the family. Especially because I'm even more critical if they're overweight. I really don't like that I do it, but I can't help it. It's especially stupid because I eat my fair share of bad foods, too. Balance is key, though. We stopped at a gas station that had fountain Dr Pepper, so of course I had to get some. Any time I see fountain Dr Pepper I'm allover it. It's the one soda I really like. Every size was 99cents, so I got the biggest one because A) it's funny to have a 44oz soda and b) who cares if I don't drink it all, it's the same price. I was laughing at the size when I got to the car and the response was, "oh, that's nothing, I drink the 64oz size." They were both on the larger side. I feel like such an evil person, but I just want to say, "yeah, no shit, I can tell," or, "no wonder!" Really, I feel like such a jerk when I think these things in my head, but I suppose it would be a lot worse if I actually said them. It's no excuse, but I'll just tell myself that for now to feel like less of a schmuck than I am.

The cousins didn't quite keep up with our speed, but we all still had a good time. We stopped at a bunch of places on the way, one of which was an art gallery this woman had in her house overlooking a stunning view of Mt. Iliamna (it could have been Mt. Spurr or Mt. Redoubt. not so sure on that one). She did beadwork and it was all really neat. She also had some small antiques. I picked up this little two compartment silver pill case and opened it up to find mysterious white powder residue. hmmmmm. Didn't explore that one any further. I used her bathroom. . . which was an outhouse. Another phrase I never thought I'd say: "Your outhouse is so cute." I seem to be saying a lot of phrases I never thought I'd utter ( I originally typed that as udder by mistake. haha!). The outhouse was cute, though. Peeing in a hole in the ground has never been so splendid.

Seems Kinda Trite

2008-06-10T17:42:00.001-04:00

I ruin the ending of the movie Mystery Alaska in this post, so if you care, don't bother reading.

There are random movies in all of the cabins and lots of them I haven't seen. Last night I watched Mystery Alaska. How fitting, right? I don't know why I even bother to watch sports movies. They're all basically the same. They said it best in Wet, Hot, American Summer in a scene where the coach is giving the team a pump up speech before the other team arrives:

"EVERYBODY KNOWS TODAY IS THE CULMINATING, CLIMACTIC GAME AGAINST EVIL CAMP TIGERCLAW. WE'VE PUT TOGETHER AN UNLIKELY TEAM OF MISFITS, AND WE'VE BEEN TRAINING LIKE CRAZY ALL SUMMER. YES, WE'VE PUT TOGETHER A MOTLEY CREW YOU'D NEVER THINK WOULD BE ABLE TO WIN A SINGLE GAME. WE HAD A KOOKY TRAINING PERIOD WHERE IT SEEMED LIKE, WELL IT SEEMED LIKE NOTHING WAS GOING TO GO RIGHT, BUT GUYS, SOMEHOW WE MADE IT TO THE FINALS. SO I SAY, WHEN THOSE ANONYMOUSLY EVIL CAMPERS FROM TIGERCLAW GET HERE, WE GIVE IT OUR BEST SHOT, THEN WE TRY TO COME FROM BEHIND AT THE LAST MINUTE WITH SOME WEIRD TRICK PLAY THAT WE'VE MADE UP, AND WE WIN THE GAME! WHAT DO YOU SAY, TEAM?"

After he gives the speech the campers are silent and ones says, "It sounds like pretty well worn territory," and another agrees it, "seems kinda trite." When the bus of camp tigerclaw arrives seconds later the coach runs out to them and because they're far away you can't hear what he's saying to the other coach when he gets to the bus, but you can distinctly hear one word: Trite. Camp tigerclaw's coach agrees so he gets back on the bus and they leave and the game is off. Wet, Hot, American Summer is such a funny movie.

That said, Mystery Alaska was slightly better than the usual. One thing that wasn't cliche about this movie was that the home team underdogs lost. I liked it in that respect because I'm sick of seeing the same exact story applied to different sports and characters. Other than that it was just like all of the other comeback sports movies. Any movie where Burt Reynolds starts the slow clap automatically gets a star taken away. They should make an originality scale for movies where they take away a certain number of points every time they do something that's been done a million times before. Slow clap: minus 5 points. Burt Reynolds doing the slow clap: minus 10 points. Last minute comeback: minus 5 points. Best player gets injured and a fill in with hopes and dreams replaces him: minus 5 points. Depressed locker room before final period/inning/half that gets pumped up by the key player: minus 5 points. The game somehow mends a broken father/son relationship: minus 5 points. So the movies with the lowest scores are the most cliche. Really, we should be warned about this stuff ahead of time.

I trust The Man because if I do I save 40 cents on milk when I shop at my local grocery store!

2008-06-09T01:16:00.006-04:00

I signed up for the local grocery store savings card the other day. Those things make me laugh. I remember when they first started coming out and people didn't understand why you had to have a card to save. They didn't get why if they're giving out membership for free and they're willing to give the discount that they wouldn't just give the discount and forget about making people carry a silly card. You can get a discount card almost anywhere now. I think whoever thought those things up is brilliant. Nevermind that maybe people will shop at the store more often because that's the card they have. That seems more like an afterthought to me. The real value there for the stores is for the analysts. They can keep track of peoples shopping habits, which is gold for a store. Just think about how much information they can deduce from those records. They know what you buy, how often, when you splurge, what brands you tend toward and more. They can tailor specials to specific regions based on those buying trends. If they find that most consumers are buying milk once a week on the weekends, they might put milk on sale just shy of a week so that people buy it sooner (and probably waste some of it because they don't need the milk yet so some of it may go bad, in which case they'll be back at the store buying more). They could also have big sales on days of the week the store is historically slow to ease the pressure off of the busier days, thereby possibly reducing the amount of staff needed on hand, which increases their bottom line. I wasn't kidding when I said before that I analyze everything.

On the same line of reasoning here, think about GPS units for cars. I know I'm going to sound like a conspiracy theorist here, but I'm really not. I happen to use GPS in my car, so it's not like I'm afraid of The Man or something. Think of the information they could gather from those things. How fast you drive, where you drive, when you drive and more. How long before everyone has GPS in their car and we start getting speeding tickets in our email inbox? I'm just saying. Soon the whole world will be trackable. Woohoo!

This is my 100th post

2008-06-08T16:04:00.003-04:00

yikes, I've written a lot, huh?

Last night the Greeks were here and we put the fire pit to VERY good use. We had quite a fire going. We actually cooked some chicken on the fire, which came out perfect. It was made with lemon and pepper. They got in late, so we didn't eat until maybe midnight. Time matters less when it's light out. Afterwards we stayed around the fire and had some beers.

I'm sure everyone will have some idea of what I'm talking about here from their wild days. One of the worst things in the world is when you're up so late partying that it starts to get light out. It's like the world is saying, "quit while you're ahead, dumbass." Well that happened last night, but Because it doesn't get completely dark here it took us a while to figure out that it was starting to get light out. Tough life out here.

The party train is rolling in

2008-06-08T01:38:00.002-04:00

Last night Frenchy called me and it sounded like she was in a bar because it was so loud behind her. Apparently she has some rowdy guests. Today I got another call from her saying that the party is moving down here. Tonight those guys from Greece, who I talked about in an earlier post, are headed down and tomorrow two couples from Canada are coming. I'm told the Canadians are"LOTS of fun."

I'll be glad to have some company besides spiders and bees. I've told everyone about my spiders, but I haven't mentioned the bees much. How surprising, right? There are a TON of these little tiny bees around here that sort of hover and check things out. They actually don't bother me as much as other bees, but I still don't like them at all. I've killed more bees and spiders in the past week than I've killed in the past 5 years. I'm definitely less freaked out about spiders than I was before. When I sleep in Spider Cabin I fall asleep knowing I'll probably be visited by a spider at some point in the night. Before that would freak me out and I probably wouldn't sleep there. Soon I will be one with the spiders. That is, if I don't kill them all first.

So I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about after party time tonight. Woohooo, I get to use the fire pit with some company! I got some beer for the occasion. When I bought the beer the woman behind the counter was from Massachusetts. Seriously, I can't stop finding people from Massachusetts. It's ridiculous.

Ron the Plumber

2008-06-07T15:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Ron the Plumber was here for hours. When the new well was put in they didn't put a sand screen in, so sand is getting into and clogging all of the valves in one of the cabins. He spent forever flushing everything out and cleaning the valves.

Ron is a little guy that does plumbing, but has also done lots of other stuff. He was a loadmaster and a wildlife photographer in previous stages of his life. He's been all around Alaska, so he knows it all. Nice to meet someone that's been everywhere in the state and chose to call this place home. When we were talking he saw my license plate and said "Massachusetts?" then asked if I had driven all the way up. When I told him I had, he said "did you know how far it was going to be?" Too funny. Finding I was from out of town, he also told me if I'm looking for a church, he's got a great one for me. I politely declined. I told him I was raised catholic, but I'm all set with church for a while. I wasn't sure what reaction I'd get to that, but he replied that he was also raised catholic and was happy to be away from those 'oppressive folks.' He became very religious after finding this church, I guess. To each his own.
As much as I like talking to Ron the Plumber, I hope he doesn't have to come back for our sand problem. What a mess.

The well guy is supposed to be coming out one of these days to take a look at what's going wrong here. I can't wait to see how that goes. What are the chances he admits that he screwed up? Ron the Plumber said this is the third place that had wells done by this company that he's had to fix and at one of them they actually had to excavate to fix it.

The smelly girl in the woods

2008-06-06T15:00:00.002-04:00

That's me!

I just thought I'd let everyone know that I'm avoiding taking a shower. We're on well water here and the water smells faintly like metal and sulphur. Not the most pleasant shower experience, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I'm told it's harmless. I'm still not sure if it's alright to drink it. I'm thinking that's a big N-O.

Okay, have to go take a rotten egg shower now!

Wildlife

2008-06-06T14:14:00.004-04:00

The frequency of moose sightings has shot through the roof since I've been down on the Kenai. In Anchorage I was seeing them maybe 3 times a week, while down here I'm seeing them multiple times a day. Yesterday alone I had 3 separate sightings. My favorite was a mommy moose with a baby right near the cabins - there's a little clearing about 100 ft before the driveway that they were standing in, just munching on some trees. The babies are just so cute. The moms don't care at all that you're sitting there watching them, but the babies haven't had the same exposure to cars, yet, so they get a little scared.

I don't know if I wrote about this yet, but I drove down this long road in Anchorage that goes into the foot of the mountains because I was just exploring. I saw some great houses down that road - funky looking houses perched on the side of the mountain, overlooking Anchorage/the valley. While up there, I saw a mom and baby moose on the side of the road. As I pulled up the baby started to sort of run away, but, when the mom didn't run away he ran back to her. He was right in the middle of the road standing a few feet from my car just running back and forth trying to figure out what to do. He was really young and was still a little clumsy so he looked really silly trying to change directions quickly. When he moved I drove past and turned around down the road so I could come back and take a picture and there was a guy on a motorcycle coming out of the road I turned around in. He started to go, but when he saw the baby he stopped and backed up because he didn't want to scare it, then he waved me ahead. How nice of him. Unfortunately, I only had my cell phone and it's a piece of crap so I can't get the picture off of it.

So, back to the wildlife sightings here. Last night I was out by the fire pit bringing some boxes out there when I heard something in the forest. I figured it was the little bunny that lives back there or a robin, like it usually is. Then I looked up and saw a big giant moose a few trees away walking toward me. I hit the fire pit stones a few times with a stick and spoke to alert it of my presence before she got too close to me without realizing I was there. She just looked up at me and stared at me for about 20 seconds. Longest 20 seconds of my life. After that she just walked away casually then as she reached the woods she started trotting off. Moose look hysterical when they run. Earlier in the day I saw one running through the backyard and up into the woods - that one was really hauling ass. When I see them run I'm always expecting them to tumble forward at any second because they're so awkward.

I keep finding fur out back. I think it might be bear fur, too. I originally assumed it was moose fur because I see them all the time, but, on closer examination, it's far too black to be from a moose. It's about 3.5 inches long and it's really fine and soft. I think bear fur is pretty coarse, but it could be the matting part. I'll take a picture of it later today. I'm really glad it's light for so long here because I'd probably be a huge wimp about going outside late at night if it did get really dark. It's comforting to be able to see my surroundings when I know there's wildlife around.

In my bear fur research, I came across this awesome article.

The USPS website is horrible

2008-06-05T21:58:00.004-04:00

Today I packaged up my paintings to be sent off to Sweden. I didn't do it in time to make the post office, but they'll go out tomorrow. I stared at them for a while before I packaged them up. Sad to see them go, but happy someone actually wants them, too. I can't wait to see how much it's going to cost to get there.
I asked a woman at the post office what the size limits are before they start charging me an arm and a leg to ship and she just wouldn't give me an answer. She actually told me to package up what I needed to ship and then call the post office to see if the size is OK. Uhh, I sort of want to know what the size limits are BEFORE I go over them, ya know? Whatever, I think I'm within. I looked it up online, but the website is a piece of crap, so who knows. I did the calculate shipping thing they have on there to figure out how much it might cost. I click the international large package option right off the bat, then it asks me all the information so they can calculate. Then it asks me what zip code I'm shipping from and to and it's a REQUIRED field. HELLO! I said INTERNATIONAL in the beginning, not domestic. So I figured I'd just enter the numbers that seemed zip codeish on the address I have - no go, it didn't recognize it. I use the 'lookup zipcode' feature thinking it will have something you can put in there for country codes or something. Nothing. I leave it blank and it still doesn't work. Basically you aren't allowed to calculate international shipping, even if you specifically select that option in the beginning. Websites that are stupid like that piss me off.

I thought about calling until I remembered they have one of those stupid phone systems where you have to speak to a computer. You know, the ones that NEVER understand you and you end up yelling "No." "NO." "I SAID NOOOOOOOOOO, YOU STUPID #*&$@#^$#&." At least that's what happens to me. Pretty much you try really hard to make it understand you, but it never does, so then you have to figure out how to get to a spot in the system where you can use touch tone or speak to an actual person, THEN by the time you get to speak to an actual person, you're fuming so the conversation doesn't usually go well. I feel bad for those people answering the phone.

King Salmon Cabin

2008-06-05T16:35:00.004-04:00

King Salmon is the main cabin here that was the existing structure when Frenchy bought the place. I LOVE this cabin. It's sort of my second home down here when I don't feel like being in Spider Cabin (That's what I like to call my shack because of all of my roommates).

This cabin is a little A-Frame that an old military guy built for himself out here. He really did a great job, too. The cabin itself has a bedroom w/bath, 2 sitting areas, a kitchen, a half bath and then there's a loft area which is treated as a bedroom. It's simple, but it has a lot of character. Just have to see it to know what I mean.

Out back he has a big fire pit, a horseshoe pit and all these little table that are at the right level to put a drink down if you're standing out there. The little tables are just existing stumps with a circular piece of wood screwed to the top to make the tabletop that are painted red, stump and all. It's really a neat little area. It's cool, also, because the vegetation back there is neat looking. The untouched ground beneath the trees grows this thick moss-like stuff that's squishy if you step on it. There is also a bunny that lives out back that I see out there everyday.

Aside from the actual cabin, the guy also built a garage, a fish house (now converted into my Spider Cabin with the help of a small addition) an outhouse and a tool shed. It's really a neat little property. The other two cabins stick out like a sore thumb here. Everything existing is dark green or red and the cabins are HUGE with light-colored vinyl siding. It's too bad they weren't built to fit into the landscape a little bit more, but that costs money! There are some really great log cabins on the way to this place that I just love.

And as for the neighbors. It's hard to describe. It's like I have them, but I don't. The ones across the street are down long driveways and I can't see the houses at all because of the trees. Can't see my next door neighbor, either, because of trees. I probably see cars drive by about 5 times a day and more often than not it's the same car. I'm pretty much at a dead end. There IS a road that extends beyond, but it's all private. Basically, I could walk around naked in the backyard without worrying.

To get here off of the main road I take a side road and go a little over a mile and then it's a little over a half mile of dirt roads from there. The dirt roads are BUMPY. I've started to learn the bumps, though and can get down it pretty quickly now. I was driving down the road the other day wondering if there would be enough room if a car came from the other direction then lo and behold, an ESCALADE comes around the corner. We made it by each other without slowing down much and it was even on a scary part of the road where if you go too close to the side you'd tumble down a slope. Because the road leads to a bunch of dead ends (not ALL dead ends, but if you're going down that way, you're not just passing through) you know that everyone you see on the road is a neighbor (by woods standards) so everyone waves. I was pulling onto the road and a guy was coming up in a big old jelopy of truck that had a fancy paint job. He slowed right down to give me a nod as I pulled in and his little adorable son (or grandson, he seemed too old to have a kid that young, maybe 6 yrs or so?) had climbed over and was practically sitting on his lap to get a look at who was going by. I gave them a smile and a wave, because that's what you do here.

I didn't really think much of the property when I first saw it. There wasn't much to think. Just a couple of brand new cabins that are actually more like houses. After seeing this cabin, I love it. I want my own little cool military man cabin.

My Mailing Address

2008-06-04T22:47:00.001-04:00

I now have a mailing address:
PO Box 1379
Sterling, AK 99672

So Cute

2008-06-03T19:45:00.003-04:00

The following is from Erica's (My sister) blog and it's a hysterical conversation between her and Tyler (my nephew). I would just give you a link, but it's from a non-public blog, so I'll just repost it here:

Tyler and I were talking the other day about where people are.

Tyler ~ Where's Mamma Rain?
Me ~ She's at home.
Tyler ~ Where's Bampa?
Me ~ He's at home too.
Tyler ~ Where's Leah.
Me ~ She's at work.
Tyler ~ Daddy's working too.
Me ~ Yes he is.
Tyler ~ Where's Tara?
Me ~ I don't know, where is she?
Tyler ~ In Laska, I can't find her.

It was actually quite funny. Tyler will definitely enjoy seeing Tara when she comes home, even if it isn't for good! He doesn't have a clue what Laska (Alaska) is other than the fact that he knows that's where Tara is.

"Welcome Home"

2008-06-02T23:19:00.001-04:00

I had to pack and get ready to head to the cabins so I couldn't finish my post before about my latest specimens. I love to analyze, so it's fun to have guests coming and going. Fresh meat! The current guys at the B&B are the best guests yet, which I've already gone into. Last night (2 nights ago when I post this finally) we stayed up and talked over a few drinks and some food. Their eating style is similar to mine, too, which I don't see often. I eat a lot of mediterranean foods in a very simple manner with little prep.. I could live off of tomatoes, cheese, olives and olive oil, and I pretty much do! I may have found someone that likes olive oil more than I do. Imagine that! I love it so much that I'd drink it. He actually makes it and has started to sort of sell it. His dad is in Greece tending to the olives as we speak. I'll definitely be getting some of that one way or another.

They'll be in town for about two weeks, but Andreas (I suppose I should just use their names at this point. Sorry, guys, no aliases. I hope I spelled it correctly) is considering staying a bit longer and flying his wife out here, which I hope he does! I've become a cheerleader to get as many people as possible up here to see this place because it's just amazing. Andreas and Rick are considering visiting the cabins, I'm assuming work/time/desire to drive 2.5 hours away permitting. Once again, hope they do! It'd be fun to hang out with someone here in my new home away from home. There's a fire pit here and those are always fun. The only problem with that is that it doesn't get dark, so sitting around a fire just doesn't have the same effect as it might in the dark.

Tonight before I went to bed Frenchy said "welcome home!" It's nice to really start to unpack my things and settle into my little home. I like my little cabin, no matter how ill equipped. I had to do another spider sweep tonight, which I was hoping wouldn't be necessary. I'm such a wimp with any sort of bug that can bite me because of my reaction to the bites, but I'm thinking I may have to overcome the spider thing. I'm hoping once I paint in here they'll start to dwindle. Yes, I actually think that there will be less spiders when I paint, as nuts as that may sound. First off, I think bare wood is easier for them to adhere webs to and it's an organic substance which I would think would be more appealing to a spider. C'mon, do you think spiders are programmed to build webs on synthetic materials over wood? I would imagine, to a spider, wood equals tree, which equals bugs flying by to get caught in their web, while paint or other synthetic materials equals WTF?!?! I've famously said it before; all spiders are engineers, albeit pre-programmed ones. okay, I'm going to shut up about spiders, now.

I forgot to mention my other funny for the day. There were some christmas lights still on a tree in Frenchy's front yard in Anchorage and we decided they're tacky and had to go. The other day I finally got around to it and, boy, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I'd love to know who put these lights on that poor little tree. the thing was just COVERED in them with no rhyme or reason and even stapled to the tree in some spots. I figured I'd be able to just unwrap them and be done with it. Oh, no. There were nine strings of lights on this one tree and I'm pretty sure whoever put them on was practicing basket-weaving. They were all intertwined so I had to work my way up the tree taking all of the strands off at once instead of one at a time. Did I mention this was over a bed of freshly planted flowers? In an effort to not step on the flowers I was standing on a rock trying to reach over and I had one foot on a knob on the tree. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was sitting up in the tree. I spent so long balancing on some of the knobs of previous branches that finally I just ended up climbing the tree and sitting up in it while I unwound the lights. I'm sure the neighborhood will miss my antics. (I still can't believe the neighbors washed my car. Even though I helped them do it, I should really be neighborly in return. Maybe I'll bake them muffins - the most cliche neighbor thing ever.)

I just got the internet working at the cabin here, so I can finally post this! I've got a backlog of posts in my computer. Yes, even with the amount I already post, I've still got lots of material. You guys may never shut me up now.

How 'bout that weather?

2008-06-01T17:54:00.001-04:00

As I'm sure you've figured out, I didn't get to go on that flightseeing tour - I would have been spewing about it on here if I had. That was the number 1 thing I wanted to do here in Anchorage. I'm going to see if I can do one from somewhere on the Kenai. I refuse to leave Alaska without doing one!

This afternoon sometime I'm headed down to my little cabin. My shack, I mean. I'm really excited to get down there, but a bit sad to go at the same time. We finally have some guests here I can actually relate to instead of watching them like they're in a zoo like I do the others. Two guys from Greece by way of Cleveland (as I understand it). They're here doing some AV work for one of the military bases. They're interesting, personable people and I've found I have a lot to talk about with them. So far with the guests I've felt the same way I do when I see someone from High School that I haven't seen since we graduated. Usually you spend all of your time talking about stupid superficial stuff that neither one cares about, but you do it to be friendly and to cut the awkwardness of not knowing each other. You know, those 'how 'bout the weather' conversations where you revert to talking about stupid stuff because you've got nothing else to say to each other. For some reason we feel obligated to catch up with people simply because we recognize them, which I find to be a bit stupid. Yeah, I know I went to high school with you, but I also know you probably didn't know anything about me then and you don't know anything about me now, so why do we have to talk about the weather like we care? And all that based on the fact that you know what I look like and nothing more. Meaningless!

Whoa, tangent. Back on track here: It's a friendly atmosphere with all of the guests, but there are no real conversations. It's been a pleasant surprise to have like-minded guests that I can actually talk with like a human. I'm more than okay with anyone that can follow my nerdy line of thought and reasoning!

More later, gotta go get packed up and ready to go.

Help a Sister Out

2008-05-31T18:55:00.003-04:00

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. . .

2008-05-31T16:55:00.005-04:00

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

2008-05-31T10:56:00.004-04:00

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

2008-05-30T20:33:00.002-04:00

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

2008-05-29T18:09:00.005-04:00

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.