Alaskanization

It struck me very strange today, as I drove in to school. I didn't look at the weather. I didn't check out the thermometer.

When I first arrived in Alaska, as winter encroached, I would check with the weather almost every day. I was eager to know if it was going to get to be negative such-and-such, since negative such-and-such was bound to be a new personal record. I'd find a way to sneak "Oh, it's -23 out today" into just about every conversation. I used to swing past a couple different temperature signs, wondering which would register the lowest.

But today... today, I drove past the temperature sign and didn't even look at it. No, that didn't surprise me... what surprised me is that --when I stopped and pondered my emotions on the subject-- I didn't care. It was cold, yeah, but not eyeball-twisting cold.

(Here's a movie I did last winter, to the tune of one of those weather reports I like so much..)

ps. the photo is from last Jan -- you can tell by the gas price :)

Win some, loose some

Ugh. Last night the Nanooks took a beating. (The 'nooks are UAF's hockey team.)

I first started heading to the games when I moved up here, 'cause it seemed like a "community" thing. Boy, was I right. Everyone shows up to the games... I mean, The population of the town of fairbanks (excluding outlying areas) is suppsedly something like 40000. Well, on a good night, such as our games agains Michigan, or --even better-- against Anchorage, we have a sellout crowd of 4500. That's more than 10% of the population showing up for the games.

When I moved to Alaska, one of my first purchases, aside from thermal underwear, was a pair of hockey skates. The people I worked with (at that point, volunteered with) got together once a week to play a friendly game of pick-up hockey. We played in the neighboring town of Esther, next door to a fire-department that would spray down an outdoor basketball court. Temperatures being as they are here, it only takes a few layers of water before you've got instant hockey rink.

Back then, I'd only been on skates once before-- at someones birthday party, I'm sure. It was difficult to see anything as we skated around at minus such-and-such, with eyelashes knitted together. Mostly, I just did small circles in the center of the rink, as people better (and faster) than I whizzed about in every which direction; occasionally, during the persuit of a rogue puck, they'd plow into a snowbank. Skating too close to anyone was a sure-fire way to drop them to the ice.

As the years (oh my, it's been more than two point five years, now!) progressed, the game has gotten a little more sophisticated. The transistion wasn't without growing pains. Pretty soon, the whole afair was moved indoors, to the Patty Center skating rink. Well, soon after that, it became apparent that 25 people all on the ice at the same time was an awfully rough way to try to run a game. Luckilly, collisions were still happening at slow speeds.

Soon, the field of players whittled down to teams of 6 or 7, with subbing for effect. When we decided to play intramurals, we even introduced the concept of off-sides into our "practices". Intramurals helped us with any self-esteem issues we may have had... yep, all delusions of grandure were stripped away as our 7-point handicaps were whittled away at the rate of a goal every minute or two. Invariably, the tete-a-tete became a shuffling of both-teams players as we salvaged the rest of our alloted time-slot.

These days, we're renting a bigger and better rink -- the Big Dipper. With it's luxurious lockerrooms and great ice, it's easy to be a little spoiled. The speed of the game has increased tremendously, and now, in full padding, our crashes tend to send people, pads, and sticks in every which direction. As march starts to creep up on us, the idea of intramurals is also seeping into the back of our conciousness... and this time, I look on it with interest; we just might be able to hold our own (a little) out there.

Ah, but this started with me talking about the 'nooks. They kicked butt on friday, a really fun game against Northern Michigan. But Saturday was a little painful..

Radio

Wow! I'm listening to the AK program about volcanoes right now. It was almost like a reunion-- Several cohorts from the Western Aleutian trip were interviewed. Gabriel did a great job of sifting through my interview and keeping the coherent bits :)

I've backloaded my logs from the Western Aleutian trip. Photos are still being added to them, slowly.

Listen up

Well, here's my first blog post. Finally, I've decided to join the legions of bloggers out here, 'cause I'm just too lazy to keep up with my regular website, yet, I still have this burning desire to post photos and stuff up at a whim.

Today was interesting; it started with an interview at a radio station, where I talked about the sound of seismic signals. A snippet or two just might make its way onto the airwaves on AK, a show that is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer on Alaska Public Radio Network at 10am on Sundays. It looks like the volcano show might be on this weekend! Anyway, I think the interview went over pretty well, but talking to yourself in a padded room is always just a little unnerving ;)

Anyway, I'll be backposting some photos soon (hopefully).

The grand ball!

Who says we don't have culture in Fairbanks? There was a grande masquerade ball at belfair, complete with a quartet and a live performance from The Phantom of the Opera. A lovely time was had by all... Thanks Sharon & Lars!!!

On the ride home

Sitting on the plane in King Salmon. This 737-200 is about 1/2 cargo and 1/2 people....

Interesting to note: I can see a King-Salmon wireless network from the airplane! That is just another sign of how connected the world is. Right now, the sun is about to set, and the sky and colors are absolutely beautiful... well, if it weren't for the fact that almost everything is brown, it would be.

Weather in Adak: Rain, wind. surprise.

Also of note, someone cruised the Adak class website and found my volcano sounds. It's great to get feedback...

Visiting class

Adak time is rushing past! I didn't sleep too well last night, tossing and turning without much comfort or warmth. I was listening to my music all night on headphones, but feel like I had a grand total of maybe 2 hrs. Oh well.

This morning, I fixed a quick breakfast burrito, and then marched on over to the school with Jess, Michelle, Tina, and Ed. Jessica gave the preliminary talk on Volcanoes and volcano monitoring. I chimed in, as did Michelle and Tina. Then, I talked a little about earthquakes (Apparently, according to Tina, I have excellent body language when I convey the idea of wave motion ?!?) and played some volcano sounds. It was about this point that I learned the school has an internet connection, which I proceeded to take great advantage of.

I showed some photos of the station installation, and then Guy showed up with an old, dug-up seismometer which he hooked to his computer and gave a demonstration. I was impressed with how well Guy explains this stuff to the children. By the end of the two hour session, we had the children in 3-4 groups and were answering questions and demonstrating stuff.

It turns out that both the helicopter (Bill & Anthony) and the Maid left today, with only Cyrus stopping by to say G'bye.

I spent the afternoon checking email and deleting spam. Had a talk with a couple locals, including the husband of Blue (The lower-grade teacher) who set up the wireless connection, and Allan, a very talkative guy. I was saved from the conversation by Pizza for dinner (being carried out by Jess & Tina). At home, a quick call from Katie, a half-game of scrabble, and then a couple movies : "Crash" and "The life and death of Peter Cellars"

Looking forward to getting home, though.

spitting in the wind

Friggin' windy today. Today was spent making the CD for Gerry, and starting the video for Eich, as well as packing up for the coming trip.

Early evening, we explored the White Alice station, along with the 60+kt winds. Also, we explored some of the old ghost town, which was just begging for further exploration with a flashlight. The town is better stripped than the FWS office, but the sudden emptiness is a bit spooky.

Evening brought about a great enchilada dinner, cooked by the ladies. Then, a bit of heavy getting-ready for an upcoming chat with the school children of Adak (tomorrow 10-12)

BackinAdak

We've been at dock for an hour. I've been spending my time with the final packing. No one is rushing to get off the boat, except perhaps Anthony and Josh.

organizing

Today, I mostly spent organizing photos to return to Gerry. We're staying in the bunkhouse, a safe-haven for FWS people.