I got back the roll of film I had developed yesterday and began to flip through them. Lo and behold, some of the pictures were from back in early June! So here's a little trip from June to August.
A man, a platform, a dream: Tom surveys the start of our new home. It was just some slabs of wood back then.
A few days later, framing went up for a wall.
And the next thing you know, you've got four wall framed! It looks small, but remember there will be a second story.
Tom has been a very dedicated, if not experienced, builder. He especially excels at painting, since I refuse to climb up on scaffolding to do it. I'll make up for it by painting the interior. Purple.
There's some sort of tradition, possibly Norwegian, that builders must put up this small tree on the roof when the roofing is done.
This interior wall will be part of our Arctic entryway, and will also hold the circuit box.
If you look past the grinning Tom, you can see that there are no exterior walls in the second story. Nor is there a ceiling.
Ahh, what a difference a few days makes!
In order to get electricity down to the cabin site, a big ditch had to be dug from Savage's cabin. Tom's foot is in the picture to give you a sense of scale. Bear in mind that's a size 15 foot. The ditch was two painful feet deep.
Normally you can see for miles. But then the smoke from wildfires rolled in. Unlike last year, it rolled back out after only a week or so.
We prefer to smoke ourselves the old-fashioned way: In the Hidden Hill sauna! Savage destroyed the MacGyver stairs this summer, so I am building new ones.
There's a family of grouse that hang out between Savage's cabin and the building site. They're not smart, but they're too fast to become dinner.
For right now, I'm living in a room upstairs in the main cabin. Fortunately it's a big room.
Unfortunately, I live in it with all my stuff, so it's also a very messy room.
Chinese Try to Get Chimp to Quit Smoking
XI'AN, China - The handlers of a smoking chimpanzee in a zoo in northwest China are trying to get her to kick the habit.
The 26-year-old female chimpanzee has been smoking for 15 years. Her mate died recently, which caused her to smoke even more.
Now, the chimp's keepers are worried about her health as a result of her intense smoking. So, they're trying to give her milk instead of cigarettes.
She started smoking years ago by picking up butts from tourists.
But what if she's lactose intolerant? Or what is she gets hooked on the milk?
Last night was the kick-off of kraft*nite. What is kraft*nite? A group of ladies getting together to work on craft projects. But this isn't your grandma's knitting group. Far from it.
Inspired by Craftster, we're looking for a few like-minded individuals who want to get in touch with their crafty side, while staying subversive. As Craftster says, "No tea cozies without irony."
My renewed interest in crafts began last fall, when I started planning a Christmas gift for my sister. She's a cross-stitcher, and while I had experimented briefly with cross-stitch when I was younger, I usually teased her about her "Old lady" hobby. Then I found Subversive Cross Stitch. When I realized I could show her up in my own little way, I began working on a Candy Ass cross-stitch for her. It was either this or make her a sofa-sized cross-stitch of the last supper. Just as long as I was showing her up, I was happy.
When we talked on Christmas Day, I had to admit the truth: I had found the cross-stitching ... soothing. I soon found another cross-stitch project to embark on. I designed and made a pattern based on the movie Freaks for some friends who were moving back to town. Next I tackled record bowls, with moderate success. I continued to sew clothing all the while, but soon picked up my old high-school habit of reconstructing granny dresses.
Now it's a few months later, and I've gathered friends and friends of friends to join me in crafting. Last night Susan Godwin, Melissa Hart and two of Melissa's friends, Melissa K and Devin, came out to Hidden Hill to work on some projects. Melissa K brought a knitting project, while Devin brought along a kit of fingerpaints. Susan was working on repainting a mirror frame to better fit her goth tendencies.
Melissa H and I were using our awesome MH powers to silk screen T-shirts. We used a technique I found on the Internet that involved making a screen out of an embroidery hoop, tulle and Modge Podge. This technique met with some success, but I hadn't counted on how annoying it would be to cover parts of the tulle with Modge Podge. The lovely font I'd chosen for our logo (Cooper Black, a lovely rounded serif font, in case you care) came out rather pixelated due to the nature of the tulle screen. Nevertheless, our shirts rock.
We've exchanged e-mail addresses and have discussed future kraft*nite project ideas. Toothbrush bracelets? Liner note coasters? Anything's up for grabs at this point. I've posted our plans on Craftster, and Melissa's got a notice in Square. Kraft*nite is here, and it's growing.
It's no secret that I'm a strong advocate of outhouses. Sure, they can get a little stinky, and there's always a high risk of spider encounters, but they are a lot easier on the environment. I didn't realize just how much water they save until the toilet in Tom's apartment stopped working. The cold water wasn't working in the building, so we had to fill up the tank with hot water from the tub to flush it. It took 12 liters of water to flush one toilet. 12.
That's a lot of water. I usually do other things to make sure I'm cutting down on water use, such as turning off the water while I brush my teeth and using the drained pasta water to wash the dishes. Now I've realized that I'm saving countless liters of water every time I sit on that blue foam. Plus, I don't feel so bad about the occasional long, hot shower.
Nun's wild dancing earns her a reprimand
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A Belgian nun's acrobatic and indecorous dancing with a missionary during the Catholic World Youth Day in Germany over the weekend earned her a reprimand from her mother superior, a Belgian paper said Tuesday.
Daily Het Laatste Nieuws showed pictures of a dancing Johanne Vertommen being held up in the air by the missionary, and then clinging to him with her legs wrapped around his body.
"I wouldn't do this at home but at such occasions I get carried away by the enthusiasm of the group," the 29-year-old told the paper later.
"My mother superior raised the issue today: she thinks I should watch out a bit and bear in mind that I represent our community," Vertommen said.
Pope Benedict attended the celebration at the Marienfeld, outside Cologne, in the presence of some 700,000 people.
I've got a million naughty Catholic schoolgirl comments running through my head, but I'm not going to share any of them here. I'm trying to keep from going straight to hell, though that may already be a foregone conclusion.
The cabin is still progressing. On Friday, Robert and I put in the front door and the two windows in the bedroom. A while ago, a ditch was dug from James' cabin and the new electric and phone wires were buried. Steve came out Friday and finished hooking the wiring up to the cabin. Now we need Jim Cheydleur to do the interior wiring, which is in the works. We've discussed lighting and outlet placement, and he has a plan that's ready to go.
During Meeting on Sunday, Tom and I went down and worked on insulating the bedroom ceiling. Several people came down after meeting to help out, and the bedroom and living room ceilings are now insulated, sealed and hung. There's even a kitchen window in place.
I apologize again for the lack of pictures. I'm filling up another roll and will get it developed as quickly as possible. And may I just say once again that not having a digital camera sucks.
Survey Finds Fewer Drug-Free Schools
WASHINGTON - More teens are saying there are drugs in their schools, and those who have access to them are more likely to try them, said a Columbia University survey released Thursday.
Twenty-eight percent of middle-school-student respondents reported that drugs are used, kept or sold at their schools, a 47 percent jump since 2002, according to the 10th annual teen survey by Columbia's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.
The number of high schoolers saying drugs are at their schools rose 41 percent in the last three years, to 62 percent, the survey said.
Twelve- to 17-year-olds who report that there are drugs in their schools are three times likelier to try marijuana and twice as likely to drink alcohol than teens who say their schools are drug free, the survey showed.
"Availability is the mother of use," said Joseph Califano Jr., the center's president. "We really are putting an enormous number of 12- to 17-year-olds at great risk."
Most of the teens surveyed — 58 percent — said the legality of cigarettes has no effect on their decision to smoke or abstain, and 48 percent said the fact that marijuana is illegal doesn't affect whether they use or don't use the drug . Meanwhile, the survey found teens who viewed drugs as morally wrong were significantly less likely to try them, as were those who felt their parents would be "extremely upset" to discover drug use.
The report found that teens who confided in their parents were at much lower risk of drug abuse than teens who turn first to another adult.
"If this survey does anything, it really shouts to parents: You cannot outsource your responsibility to law enforcement or the schools," Califano said. "I think when parents feel as strongly about drugs in the schools as they do about asbestos in the schools, we'll start getting the drugs out of the schools."
The survey also found that teens who say they watch three or more R-rated movies in a typical month — about 43 percent — are seven times likelier to smoke cigarettes and six times likelier to try alcohol than teens who do not watch R-rated movies.
The correlation between R-rated movie watching and the risk of substance-abuse remains even after controlling for age, the report said. This was the first time the annual survey asked about R-rated movies.
"There's no question the correlation is very strong and it obviously wants further study," Califano said.
The survey was conducted by phone and involved 1,000 randomly selected teens aged 12 to 17 years old and 829 parents. Twenty-six percent of the teens said someone nearby could hear their answers. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points for the teens and plus or minus 3.4 percentage point for the parents.
OK, I don't want to shock anyone, but kids do drugs. Are these numbers accurate? Probably not. Do I believe that 28% of middle-schoolers know people in their school who use or sell drugs? No. Those kids are lying. And do you know why they are lying? Because doing drugs is cool. Bottom line: that's the problem the anti-drug czars are facing. Kids know that doing drugs is a sign of being a mature rebel. And being different is fun! Of course, most kids choose to be different in the same way, but that's neither here nor there.
Do you want to know how to keep kids from doing drugs? Parents should talk to them. Oh, not about the dangers of drugs or the joy of keeping clean. They should talk about all the drugs they did back when they were Brianna or Connor's age. Wax rhapsodic about smoking pot, dropping acid or shooting heroin. Get a far-off look in your eyes and sigh a lot. Nothing will scare a kid straight like thinking they have something in common with their parents.
Last night I wandered over to Tamarack Knoll, the commune next to my commune, for dinner. It's always an interesting bunch of people over there. Nancy was cooking, and she invited her friend Karyn along as well. Carol, Jay, Margaret, Trusten and Robin rounded out the group. Our conversation seemed to focus a lot on drugs:
* did that house on our road burn down because it was a meth lab?
* is the house across the street from it a meth lab?
* Nancy always hated anti-drug school presentations that gave false information
* milk, not marijuana, is the true gateway drug
On a side note, Margaret, who also works in a library, seemed excited to hear that permafrost is now an official Library of Congress subject heading. No one else cares.
Completely unrelated to dinner: I got my hair cut yesterday. I decided to chop a good bit of it off. When I got home, my new wig had arrived, so I guess I have "fall-back hair" if I get paranoid about it. Savage decided that I looked like a hooker in the wig, jeans and halter. Sadly, he only offered me $20 to go to his cabin. I'm worth so much more than that. $25 at least.
Thanks goodness, Sean Coombs--I mean Puff Daddy--I mean P. Diddy--I mean Diddy has finally made it easier for all of his diehard fans (Hi Mrs. Diddy!) to figure out what to chant at his concerts. It took him four years, but now we'll all know what to yell during his concerts. Shut up and go back to New Jersey being my choice. (Note: I am aware that Sean Coombs aka Puff Daddy aka P. Diddy aka Diddy is not from New Jersey. It's just what I feel like yelling, 'kay?)
Diddy Drops the P.
"It's the era of Diddy."
So proclaimed the hip-hop impresario formerly known as Sean Combs, Puffy, Puff Daddy and now P. Diddy on Tuesday's Today Show, as he explained that he was changing his name once again.
The rap mogul last switched it up--from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy--in 2001, while seeking a "fresh start" after being acquitted on gun charges.
As for what brought about the latest change in moniker, the entertainer admitted that his previous name change left his fans uncertain of how to address him.
I felt like the 'P' was getting between me and my fans and now we're closer," Diddy said.
"During concerts, half the crowd is saying 'P. Diddy'--half the crowd is chanting 'Diddy'--now everybody can just chant 'Diddy.' "
He confessed that his unwieldy name was even starting to befuddle him.
"I even started to get confused myself--and when I'd called someone on the telephone it took me a long time to explain who I was. Too long," Diddy told the New York Post.
"One word. Five letters. Period," he added.
Of course, just talking about his new name isn't enough for the scene-making mogul, who's planning to throw his latest title a coming-out party of sorts when he hosts the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 28.
"To be honest, the unveiling of Diddy, you gonna see that at the [Video Music Awards]," he told MTV News.
"You gonna see that in the entrance. You gonna see that swagger. You gonna see how I'm gonna navigate you through the journey. I'm gonna play my position, my role. The artists are gonna play their role. We're gonna have an incredible, incredible party."
As usual, it's been a busy year for Diddy.
In April, he announced a deal with Warner Music that gave the company a 50 percent interest in his Bad Boy Records label. Though exact figures were not released, it's estimated that Warner shelled out a cool $30 million in the deal.
Meanwhile, the multi-monikered one has also been dealing with various legal issues.
Last month, he settled a lawsuit with Random House over a $300,000 advance he received to pen his memoirs, which he never completed.
Diddy has also been battling his ex, Misa Hylton-Brim, over child support payments for their 11-year-old son, Justin.
After he was ordered by a judge in April to dole out more than $21,000 a month for the care of his son, the rap mogul vowed to appeal the ruling, claiming that Hylton-Brim was acting out of greed, rather than in the interest of their child.
UKIAH, Calif. - A Ukiah elementary school may not open in time for the new academic year because of an army of Norwegian rats that has invaded its garden.
Since June, local officials have poisoned about 60 of the rats that have taken over the garden at Oak Manor Elementary School, but the rodents have been reproducing faster than they can be killed.
In their latest offensive to overcome the rats, officials on Monday deployed smoke bombs, explosive gas, dogs and a bulldozer.
"It really is a war, no question," said Tony Linegar, Mendocino County's assistant agricultural commissioner.
School officials don't know yet whether the latest effort to get rid of the rats worked, so until they hear otherwise they plan to ship Oak Manor students to other schools when classes start on Aug. 29. Estimates of the number of rats outside the school range from 100 to 1,000.
The brown rats were discovered living in the school's compost pile and garden, which became lush and overgrown after students abandoned them during the heavy spring rains, school officials said.
I think my only question here is how officials decided that the best method to get rid of the rats involved dogs, smoke bombs, explosive gas and a bulldozer. I mean, I use a.44 Magnum to kill spiders in my house, but that's completely different. A woman's home is her castle, after all.
First pot brownies, and now a pot entree.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's long winter will just fly by for a herd of Russian cows which, a newspaper reported on Tuesday, will be fed confiscated marijuana over the cold months.
Drug workers said they adopted the unusual form of animal husbandry after they were forced to destroy the sunflowers and maize crops that the 40 tonnes of marijuana had been planted among, Novye Izvestia daily reported.
"There is simply no other way out. You see, the fields are planted with feed crops and if we remove it all the cows will have nothing to eat," a Federal Drugs Control Service spokeswoman for the Urals region of Sverdlovsk told the paper.
"I don't know what the milk will be like after this."
Drug use in Russia took off with the decline of the Soviet Union and police have been fighting drug smugglers -- often shipping heroin from Afghanistan for years.
Such large hauls are relatively common, although they are normally burned.
Please forgive the ABBA reference. On Friday and Saturday, Tundra Caravan performed at the Tanana Valley Fair in Fairbanks. With two different performances, we were all able to perform solos and a variety of troupe routines. Since this is my blog, the pictures are very Mary-centric. All pictures courtesy of Jacob and Gretta Stone.
Chandani (Teresa Ortego), Samira (me) and Zara Noor (Terri Massa) performing a sword dance. I struggled a bit with the sword, which only made Chandani and Zara Noor look better as they easily balanced their swords.
Samira, Myriah (Suzn Hanson) and Zara Noor perform Talakik, with choreography by Hadia. This routine is new to the troupe this year, but we all enjoy the lively steps.
Zara Noor and Chandani during a veil performance choreographed by Margo Abdo O'Dell. Margo was the guest instructor at the 2004 workshop in Fairbanks. She taught the troupe this routine, but we've added many small changes since then, tweaking the choregraphy here and there for different numbers of dancers.
Souzana (Susan Chapa), Samira and Myriah spin around the stage during Amayguena. I didn't think I was ready to perform this one in public, but the troupe said I was. They were right. The dance is a fun, Spanish-inspired number with lots of dramatic movements.
Finally, my solo! This is an original choreography I created after 6 months of Middle Eastern dance lessons with Zara Noor. I got to add in lots of veil work, shimmies and floor work. The dance is performed to "Salma Ya Salama" by Alabina. I've developed another solo routine since then, but it's a Bollywood number. It's high time I create another Middle Eastern dance solo. Tom has recommended Istanbul (Not Constantinople). I was thinking of something more serious, but that could work.
Our friends from Juneau, Tim and Jenna, came up for a visit last week. Were Tom and I happy to see them? Does a bear shit in the woods? Tim was proud to capture this image of a bear relieving itself alongside the road. I was happy to borrow pictures from them. Check out their pictures for yourself. Warning: A lot of the photos do not involve me and are therefore boring.
Jenna and I enjoy one of many evenings drinking and smoking down at the cabin site. I shamelessly brought them down there repeatedly so that I could get updated pictures more quickly. I like friends with digital cameras.
See? Work is progressing. In fact, there is now a roof on the lower section as well. I will try to invite someone else with a digital camera over soon so you can see.
Tom and I are proud to show our Alaska pride by supporting two local breweries, Alaskan Brewing Company and Silver Gulch. I am holding the Silver Gulch because my thrifty nature just adores their Free Beer Fridays. We took Tim, Jenna and Larry out to Fox for this experience. Then we followed it up with buck beers at the Golden Eagle in Ester. Quite the drinking tour.
If you want to be invited back, always do the dishes. Tim's mother taught him well.
Look! There's Tom and me! We were enjoying our open, airy bedroom. Robert will finish putting up the other walls soon, and then it won't be quite so open and airy. A lot warmer, though.
Tim does his best thinking on the pot, and our outhouse gave him a lot to think about. Why does the floor have orange carpet? Shouldn't there be a door for privacy? If I fall off the shoddy deck, how long will it take for searchers to find my body?
Don't worry, Tim, we'll fix up the outhouse before your next visit.
Tim and Larry enjoyed a visit to the Hammer Museum in Haines on the way to Fairbanks. Tim told us that it was really quite interesting. I'd say that we'll check it out one day, but, honestly, we won't.
You can take the kids out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the kids. Tim's cowboy hat also made an appearance at Chena Hot Springs, accompanied by a pair of pimp glasses. Tim sure does know how to stand out in a crowd of Japanese tourists.
While looking for a subject heading for a fatal dog mauling, I came across this:
Maul, Darth (Fictitious character)
also present was
Skywalker, Luke (Fictitious character)
but Skywalker, Anakin needs to be written as
Vader, Darth (Fictitious character)
likewise, Princess Leia Organa is technically
Leia, Princess (Fictitious character)
There are no subject headings for Chewbacca, Yoda or any of the droids, yet Lando Calrissian gets a listing.
Since I feel the need to prove that I'm really a dork, I took this a step further. Yes, I boldly went where no indexer has gone before.
Picard, Jean Luc (Fictitious character) I thought his name was hyphenated
Riker, William T. (Fictitious character) The T is for Thomas
Troi, Deanna (Fictitious character)
No Beverly Crusher, no Worf, no Geordi LaForge, no Data, no Tasha Yar.
Kirk, James T. (Fictitious character) The T, the generic Star Trek middle initial, is for Tiberius
Spock (Fictitious character)
McCoy, Leonard (Fictitious character)
Scott, Montgomery (Fictitious character)
Sulu, Hikaru (Fictitious character)
But no Pavel Chekhov or Lieutenant Uhura.
I'm not going to take this investigation any further because, quite frankly, Deep Space Nine was crap.
See, if you're passive, bad things happen to you. It's all about making choices and sticking to them. And on a side note, has the Associated Press been using some sort of voice-recognition typing program? It's the only reason I can think of that would explain why the second paragraph says Teddy Claire Akin (the name of someone who would kill a hitchhiker if I ever heard one) was charged with petit theft. Unless he also stole small pastries, in which case they should fry the bastard.Cops: Man Invents Story to Make Wife Leave
OCALA,
Fla.-A man made up a story about killing a hitchhiker and burying the body in the woods in an effort to persuade his wife to leave him, authorities said.
Teddy Claire Akin, 28, of Ocala, was charged Tuesday with making a false report and petit theft. He was being held without bail.
Akin's wife, Felicia, called the Marion County Sheriff's Office Monday to report that her husband had told her that he killed a hitchhiker, authorities said.
Akin told investigators he had picked up the hitchhiker, who wanted a ride to Tampa. He said he hit the man in the neck, causing him to gasp and make a gurgling sound, when the two got into an argument over how far Akin would drive him, authorities said.
Akin said he dumped the body in a forest near a gun range and kept the man's wallet, which contained the license of Utah resident Dennis Legrande Allen, authorities said.
Deputies searching the area Akin described with dogs and an air unit failed to find a body Monday evening, Capt. Thomas Bibb said.
Akin eventually told investigators that he was going through a divorce and had hoped the murder story would make his wife leave him, said Sue Livoti, a sheriff's office spokeswoman.
"It seems he wanted to get a little attention and sympathy from his wife," Bibb said.
Akin told investigators he found the wallet on top of a newspaper stand. Investigators reached Allen in Utah by phone; Allen said he did not know Akin.
The sheriff's office would probably bill Akin for the cost of their seven-hour search, Bibb said.
"This was something that cost us a lot of time and energy," Bibb said.
A message left early Wednesday at the county public defender's office was not immediately returned.
Sausage Vendor Fights Lemonade Stand
I think my main problem with this is that the "lemonade" is made from a powdered mix, according to one boy's mother. The only thing powdered "lemonade" should be mixed into is vodka. Make real lemonade, for crying out loud. And what's the the commission saying they'd "probably" waive the fee? If you want to waive the fee, that's fine. But just remember that these kids will then learn that if they turn their big eyes to you and start to cry, you'll give in. Never let children see you cave.
SALEM, Mass.-A sausage vendor has given two Salem boys trying to make a buck selling lemonade a lesson in cutthroat business techniques. Police shut down a lemonade stand on Salem Common run by Dominic Serino, 9, and Ryan Decker, 11, on Saturday after getting a complaint from a local sausage vendor about the boys selling lemonade without a vendor's permit.
"He said we were taking business away from him," Serino told the Salem News. "The police came," Serino added. "They didn't want to kick us out, but I guess they had to."
Salem police said they had no choice but to evict the boys. Lt. Scott Englehardt said that while "it is ridiculous that little kids can't sell lemonade," they have to enforce the rules.
Sausage seller Jarrod Clowery said he regrets ever calling police, and added he's been getting icy stares around Salem. Clowery told The Boston Globe he just wanted police to ask the boys to move their stand to a different location where the two operations wouldn't be competing. The sausage stand also sells lemonade and pays $2,200 for a permit.
"I didn't tell the police, 'Listen, throw these kids out of here,' " Clowery said. "I am superapologetic. I just didn't want them to be within direct line of sight. It's a tourist area. We
spend big money for the spot."
But the owner of the sausage stand, Kevin Kefalas, was unapologetic about the incident.
"I'm not the bad guy here," Kefalas told the Salem News. "I don't care if kids want to make a little money, but why can't they go to Pickering Wharf? Why do they have to do it 40 feet
behind me?"
Ryan Decker's mother, Angela Decker, said the boys started selling their powder-based brew on the Common last summer and made a "killing" — $130.
After Saturday's eviction, the boy's relocated to a spot in front of Serino's house, just down the street.
"We got a few customers, but not nearly as much," Serino said.
The boys can't afford a license. But city's Licensing Commission chairman Harold Blake suggested it might be worth their time to come before the commission for a permit.
"We'd probably waive the fee," he said.
Last night Tundra Caravan, my bellydance troupe, got together after rehearsal to celebrate Terri Massa's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is.
In true bellydancer fashion, we gorged ourselves on chocolate cake and ice cream while watching bellydance videos and being catty when the dancers were off rhythm.
Once we got the timer on the new camera figured out, we managed a group self-portrait. Back row, from left: Barbara, Suzn and Susan. Front row from left: Me, Terri and Teresa.
My pinkish hair shows up much better in this picture. I will have to get some fake hair for performances.
Dillon says my posts aren't visible with my new blog skin. Coldfoot says this one is better, but not to stop working on it yet. He also said the last one looked like a porno cross between James Bond and LSD. I've resolved the comments field issue, I think. I'm also on the lookout for a better picture, as Dillon has ever so helpfully pointed out that I'm not that skinny. He's a catty one.
Though I liked the Pieces of Me template, others did not. So here is a new attempt at a new look. Maybe this one will prove more popular.
And now, the long-awaited photos of the cabin.
When we returned from camping in Denali, we found that the cabin had acquired walls for a second floor. We discussed it with Robert, and agreed to add side walls as well, thereby totally encasing the second floor.
A few days later, and presto! Side walls and a roof. Tom and I also spent a long time at Home Depot playing with their paint computer before selecting "Hazel Woods" for the exterior. It will blend into the surroundings in the summer and totally stand out in the winter. The paint computer, I should note, gave us absolutely no options remotely similar to the cabin to try the colors on. They should really add a shed to the list, as all their houses are McMansions.
Here's a lovely dark look at the interior. It keeps getting wet from the rain. This is where a roof will come in handy. It will also be brighter once all the windows are installed.
From the bottom of the hill, the cabin looks pretty big. All the scaffolding helps to enlarge it as well.
Since these pictures were taken, the window and door holes have been cut out, and the cabin is now throughly green. We realized that the stairway opening is not large enough to get the bed through, which prompted plans to hoist it up the side before the walls were enclosed. Instead, we are going to build a platform for the bed and just use the mattress, which can be squished through the hole.
Tom and I spent more time with the paint computer to pick out interior colors. Again, I don't believe we'll be having high ceilings or crown moldings in our cabin, and there were no other options. I've found a lovely fabric for curtains which Tom doesn't like. He's gone from not liking it to agreeing to use it for the bedroom curtains. With persistent nagging, I should be able to get it downstairs as well. Unless he's reading this, in which case I totally respect his wishes because he's an intelligent, handsome man with great taste in interior design.
While picking up my film, I noticed that a major mass market retailer had a twee little digital camera for $21.67. I was briefly tempted, but realized that it would likely take horrible pictures.
Since it was nice and sunny on the morning of Day Two, we decided to head for the McKinley Bar Trail for a hike. First we suckered some guy into taking our picture. It was by the sign for Wonder Lake, which is a very novel idea that no one probably ever thought of before.
After battling mosquitoes for more than an hour, we arrived at the McKinley Bar. Please note the following things:
1) It was warm. Tom is wearing a hat for mosquito protection.
2) I seem to be allergic to 100% DEET. My fingers were little sausages.
3) Despite the name, there is no actual bar along the McKinley Bar Trail. Unless you count the river bar, which, frankly, I wouldn't want to belly up to a drink.
Tom looks short in this picture, and that's funny.
The famous Wonder Lake. Note how I carefully used the little spruce tree in the foreground to draw emphasis away from the lake. That's the stuff they just don't teach you in photography class.
I'm not saying anything, but it looks like some people from Connecticut do come to Alaska to visit people. Hint. Hint.
I dropped off some film earlier this week so I could try to update the cabin progress with some pictures. Apparently, "two-day developing" doesn't necessarily mean two days. For instance, if I drop the film off on Tuesday after 11 a.m., they won't pick it up until 11 a.m. on Wednesday. Now, one would think that this would mean two days after Wednesday, namely Friday. No. Saturday. But Saturday after 2 p.m. I'm downtown now. I'm not coming back after 2 p.m. just so I can get the pictures and post them. You'll just have to wait.
Man, I've got to get a digital camera one of these days.
Hmmm. No comments. Except for Dillon, who told me last night he didn't like it. He said the text was too hard to read. So I toyed with the HTML to make the text larger and a different font. Then I started adjusted the colors of the navigation bars. Then I began adding links. Then I put in a comments field and a hit counter. Oddly enough, I also told Dillon last night that I'm not a computer geek and don't know much about Web sites. Guess I was wrong. Maybe I ought to help him with that webcam after all.
Before I go tweaking all my settings, what do you think of this look? Leave me a comment to let me know.
Actually, it's Virginia, but don't distract me. I'm bored with this blog. I must change it, somehow. This is probably all because of stupid Tom liking stupid Dillon's stupid blog. See? I told you I'm fine with it.
Anyway, if I can change my hair almost as often as I change my clothes, why can't I change my blog just as much?
My boyfriend read my blog last night. For the very first time. I was wondering why his phone was busy for 90 minutes. Apparently he also read Dillon's blog, and said he likes it better. It has something to do with all the pictures. That and a general disregard for my feelings. I think the only thing that will make this better is if I buy a digital camera and start posting daily pictures. Isn't it enough that I dropped off another roll of film to be developed yesterday? I'll have more pictures by Sunday, dammit!
I guess the only thing I can do is accept the fact that Tom prefers Dillon's blog. It wouldn't be fair of me to attack his blog or attempt to disparage it in any way. I can accept that Dillon and I are different people, and we have different blogs. But ... NAMBLA. That's all I'm saying. Dillon is a friend of mine, and I'm totally not jealous that Tom likes his blog better than mine. Even though I am his girlfriend and Dillon is just a guy who blew us off for dinner the other night. I'm fine with it.
Just fine.
Everytime I vow to stop posting news stories, something like this comes along...
HUNTSBURG, Ohio - Callers complaining about loud music coming from a buggy led deputies to charge a 19-year-old Amish man with stealing house numbers and flower pots. David Byler was charged with theft and underage consumption of alcohol, both misdemeanors.
Callers to the Geauga County sheriff's office told dispatchers early Sunday about a buggy playing loud music and stealing items from outside houses in a rural area of northeast Ohio.
"When our officer caught up with him in the middle of the road, there were flower pots and house numbers in the buggy," sheriff's spokesman John Hiscox said.
It's come to my attention that a friend of mine often reads this blog, though she hasn't admitted it to me. So I just want to give a shout out to Midge After Midnight. Yeah, you know who you are....
I took this picture off of Dillon's blog. It's a quite shameless bit of copyright infringement, I'm sure, but we look so darn cute that I couldn't resist. It's nice to see that Tom always, um, supports me.
I know I've been posting lots of news stories lately. And I swear I'll try to cut back. After this one.
We've all seen stories about people (usually elderly women) who have about 150 cats in their homes. But this is a new twist.
LONDON - An animal welfare group confiscated 550 gerbils that had been kept in stacked containers in a small house in southern England, and asked the British public for help in caring for the animals.
The gerbils were found in a variety of cages and makeshift containers, including badly ventilated wine boxes, stacked to heights of more than 6 feet throughout the one-bedroom home in Portsmouth, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
"The hallway was full, and there were about 35 containers in the bathroom alone," group inspector Mick Garrity said. "The male and female gerbils had not been separated, so they were continuing to just breed and breed."
Many of the animals were in poor condition and needed veterinary attention.
The owners of the house agreed Tuesday to hand the animals over to the animal welfare group, which took them to a nearby animal shelter in Fareham.
"Many of the females will be pregnant, so it is possible that we will see the number of animals double, creating even more of a problem," shelter manager Mike Ward said. "With so many gerbils to care for, our staff have been stretched to the limit."
The shelter has called in volunteers, and was appealing to the public for help in caring for the animals.
"We are running short of suitable temporary accommodation and food for these animals, so we are hoping the public will be able to help," he said.
"Many of these animals have come to us in a poor state and will need ongoing veterinary attention," he said.
"Others are in good condition," however, and could go to new homes "as soon as
possible."
Now I think I may have come up with a very practical solution to finding a place for these 550 gerbils and their soon-to-be offspring. I'm sure that someone, somewhere has an excessive number of pet snakes in their house. And the snakes probably aren't too healthy, since they guy (And yes, I'm going to assume that this one is a guy. In Florida.) probably can't afford to buy them all food. Do you see where I'm going with this one, people?
Had a lovely time biking to see Shakespeare last night (I totally predicted the pratfall into the fountain onstage, too). I even almost made it all the way back on the bike. Then Jen told me that the QIRs (Quakers In Residence) will be arriving on Saturday. That's 8 days before they were supposed to arrive, 8 days in which I had hoped to pack and move. Me, happy? No.
Are our children not coddled enough? They already have complete control over thier lives and the ability to compel their parents to buy them all manner of expensive, unnecessary items. Cell phones and sneakers come to mind.
And then I see this:
LONDON (Reuters) - The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed.
Members of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) argue that telling pupils they have failed can put them off learning for life.
A spokesman for the group said it wanted to avoid labeling children. "We recognize that children do not necessarily achieve success first time," he said.
"But I recognize that we can't just strike a word from the dictionary," he said.
The PAT said it would debate the proposal at a conference next week.
Words fail me. Or rather, my words have deferred success.
At our Monday rehearsal for Tundra Caravan, Terri suggested we get together for a fun dinner - no troupe business, no practice, just enjoy spending some time together and have some good food at Bobby's. So at 8 p.m. yesterday, I met up with Terri, Teresa, Susan, Suzn and Barbara (the other understudy).
At the table, Terri stood up and started to pull out gift bags. I thought, Man, it's someone's birthday, and I didn't know it. I didn't even sign the card! Much to my surprise, the bags were for Barbara and me, along with cards and crowns. The troupe had agreed that it was time to move us both up to full membership, so we are now officially members of Tundra Caravan!
In celebration of this, I am posting some pictures of myself in costume.
I don't think I really need to say how happy I am, but there's an added bonus. The troupe performs at Bobby's frequently. Bobby's is a great Greek restaurant in downtown Fairbanks that will be celebrating its second anniversary with a private party next week, and I'm invited. Oh, free Greek food..... I hope I can still fit into my costumes.
I have a certain line that I've drawn about what I will and won't take from a transfer station (that's essentially a dump for those of you who don't live in Alaska).
- Furniture - Yes
- Appliances - Yes
- Outerwear - Yes
And I don't normally belittle people who choose to take other things. But today I stopped at the Chena Ridge transfer station, and no sooner had I set down a bag of my old underwear (clean, mind you) then a browser swooped in on it. At least it was a woman, not one of the old men I always see at the Farmers Loop transfer station.
This is some smurfin' good news.
Fans of a certain animated tribe of small, blue woodland creatures haven't
Now, finally, things are looking rather smurfin'.
gotten a lot of love lately: No new TV episodes, no old TV episodes on DVD
(outside of a couple of import releases), no real news on a long-rumored movie.A 3-D, CGI-animated Smurfs feature film will bow in theaters in 2008, Daily Variety reported Tuesday. The extravaganza from Paramount's Nickelodeon Movies will be the first in a planned trilogy, it said. According to Newsweek, the project has been trying to get off the ground since at least 2003.
Word of the done deal comes a week after DreamWorks and Paramount set a July 4, 2007, release date for The Transformers, another animated TV series due for a big-screen makeover. But while Transformers fandom has thrived, fueled by new series and product, the smaller legions of Smurf faithful have waited.
"Dude, a Smurf movie?" went a message-board post on TheMovieBlog.com last month after Newsweek noted a film was nigh. "That's the smurfing best thing I've heard in smurfing forever."
Like the Transformers, the Smurfs were a phenomenon of the 1980s, unless one lived in Europe, where the characters have been mainstays since 1958, when Belgian artist Pierre Culliford, better known as Peyo, introduced them in the comic pages. The new movie's planned release date supposedly is tied to Smurfdom's upcoming 50th birthday.
Peyo's creations--the aforementioned small, blue woodland creatures who lived in homes shaped like mushrooms, whistled happy tunes, conjugated the word "smurf" in any way they saw fit, and named themselves Ramones-style (Papa Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, etc.)--blew up as big as any Transformer robot in 1981 when The Smurfs debuted on NBC. The Hanna-Barbera-produced series won two Daytime Emmys, moved much merchandise, from Smurf-Berry Crunch cereal to countless figurines, and dominated Saturday morning TV until 1990. A 1983 big-screen adventure, The Smurfs and the Magic Flute, grossed $11 million, per the box-office site The-Numbers.com, even though it was nothing more than a retitled, redubbed version of a 1976 Belgian-produced movie.
There was no word on voice actors for the new film. The Smurfs' family recently lost Gargamel, the bad, and Baby Smurf, the good, in the death of performer Paul Winchell. Don Messick, who voiced Papa Smurf and others, died in 1997. Smurfette, meanwhile, lives. Lucille Bliss, who gave high-pitched voice to the tribe's lone female member, is 76, and still working.
As for Peyo, he died in 1992. His progeny, however, has kept right on their merry way.
Only someone trapped in the 80s (like myself) could be thrilled by this. I suspect I may be drunk or stoned when I go to see it, though.
So, I checked my Gmail today, and found an e-mail from an unfamiliar address.
Coldfoot said...
Just found your blog. Keep up the good work.
It seems that someone has found my reviews at Deft Palate and liked them.
So, what do I know about this mysterious Coldfoot? Well, he lives in Fairbanks and has a blog. That's about it.
To flatter myself, I'm going to pretend that he was so smitten with my writing that he's taken to prowling around area restaurants, looking for someone scribbling furtively under the table. Yep - you heard it here first. I have a fan.
I found the following item in the June 25-July 1, 2005, issue of New Scientist. I've highlighted what I feel is the important part.
Well, no shit it's a small area. But perhaps Mr. Kell should have investigated whether it was capable of blocking off functions of other areas. And is that the best gay pickup method you've ever heard of? I'm a scientist. I'd like to put you in an MRI scanner and stroke your body with a soft brush.
Let's ignore for a moment that 'purplicious' is not a word. Let's try to overlook the fact that Hostess is, slowly but surely, turning into a specialty marketing tool. Has anyone forgotten what they did for Shrek 2 ?
No, I think what upsets me most about these sugar-laden treats is the fact that the Web site is claiming that they are 'making magic in stores nationwide.'
All complaining aside, do check out the Hostess snack cake recipes. I'm just itching to debut the Twinkie-misu at my next dinner party.
I returned home on Tuesday at around 1 p.m. Tree still on lines, no electricity. With a heavy heart, I dialed GVEA (again) and asked in a small voice if it might be possible to maybe get electricity back perhaps by Wednesday. The man on the line said he'd look into it and asked for my address. When he told me he also lived on Goldhill Road, I said, Well, Roger, can I come over to your place for dinner? Because I haven't eaten at home for a few days. He laughed, and said we'd probably have power back later that afternoon.
I tried to distract myself with cabin painting, but hunger began to gnaw at my stomach. My master weight-control plan is to only buy food components, with the idea that I won't snack if I have to cook something. This plan was working against my current situation. In desperation, I rooted through James' section in the main cabin and found some pilot bread, which I ate. You have to be pretty desperate to eat pilot bread.
Finally, at 3:08 p.m., more than 48 hours after we lost power, GVEA took down the tree and restored our power. About 15 seconds after the power came back on, thunder rumbled across the sky. Always polite, I yelled Thank you!!! over my shoulder as I ran to the building site to cover the stacks of plywood and move the painted boards to a covered area.
I believe I watched lots of TV last night, just because I could. I may have also turned on lots of lights, used a space heater or two, and used an electric pencil sharpener to fine-tune my collection of writing implements, but I'll never tell.
Tom and I returned to Hidden Hill Sunday morning after a pleasant brunch with Amanda Bohman and Dillon, only to find a large spruce resting on the powerlines. No problem, I thought. Sure, the power company is busy, since the 60-mph winds are knocking down lots of trees, but I'll just call and let them know about it.
I notified Golden Valley Electric Association, then put some pink streaks in my hair and read myself to sleep with my headlamp on. Monday dawned, but the power remained out. Not to worry, I said. I'll just put a hat over this head full of Saran wrap and hair dye, and go shower on campus.
I returned home after my teleconference and was a little perturbed to see the tree still laying across the power lines, but I called GVEA again. No, we're not a business, I reminded them. We're a group of residences with no power. They reassured me that my power would be back Monday night or, at the latest, Tuesday morning.
I spent the night at Tom's and stopped home on my way to work. You guessed it - tree still on lines. No, we're not a business, I said once again. Yes, you may have received several calls, since there are 8 people living here (now technically that's a lie, but since there will be 8 residents by September-ish, I don't feel too bad) The nice lady said that I was on the list and that power would be restored later Tuesday morning.
I sincerely hope that GVEA keeps track of who gets their power back last. Because the next time the power goes out, I expect to have mine turned back on first. That seems only fair, as it will balance out the electrical power karma in Fairbanks. I wait 48 hours this time, Ralph Seekins can wait 48 hours next time.
No one else may care, but 'permafrost' is now an official Library of Congress term. Until now, I've had to use 'frozen ground', which doesn't really sum up permafrost.
Other fun LOC tidbits:
hovercraft is known as ground-effect machine
taste test is known as food--sensory evaluation
I sent my friend Dillon a query about whether it would be morally wrong to take pictures from his blog for the express purpose of featuring them in my blog. His response?
Justin Boucher threw quite the party on Friday. As usual, no one could stop Melissa Hart from playing whatever damn music she wanted. Not even if the stereo was all the way on top of the bookcase. Nothing stops Melissa, the party Nazi.
Even though I had put on a nice sari, I wasn't above rolling around on the floor with my good friend, Amanda Bohman. See what too many Margarita Surprises can do to a girl?
On the Fourth of July, I joined Deirdre Helfferich and Kate "Bonecrusher" Billington in the Ester parade. We proudly represented the Ester Republic, the finest newspaper in the borough. I rode in style as my alter ego, "The Deft Palate." I feel the stuffing in my bodysuit was an accurate representation of what I'll look like when my metabolism catches up with me.
We gave out candy and copies of the newspaper. Calypso Farm gave out radishes. I thought we'd be a crowd favorite, but it seems my boyfriend is taking this 'healthy eating' stuff too far. Uh, Tom, it's a holiday. If you don't eat candy, the terrorists win!
Melissa and I were jubilant at the end of the parade. We won the award for best float, though that may have been a pun, since we stopped in front of the judging booth and bribed them with root beer floats. Throughout the day, I alternated between inviting people to punch me in the stomach or clasping my giant gut tenderly and cooing "I felt it kick."
Who gets paid to come up with this stuff?
Though it does lead me to ponder making Pot Peeps. And I'd have to be really stoned to eat a Peep in the first place.
And speaking of mind-altering substances...
Sex on the Beach sno-cone, anyone? Of course, one could just use an ice crusher, but is it really any fun without the Kool-Aid man? This is a great way to get kids to drink, by the way.
I finally got the first roll of pictures for work on the cabin developed. This would be a lot faster if I had a digital camera. I've taken more as the work has progressed, so stay tuned.
I think it may be time to go back to being interesting. I mean more interesting than I have been of late. Perhaps the first step should be some Run Lola Run-style hair.
Then maybe I'll start running around Fairbanks trying to round up $100,000 to save Tom from drug dealers. Or just get another nose ring. Whatever.
It's Saturday morning, and I'm all alone in the UAF library, which is closed for the holiday weekend. I had to walk down long hallways, through the stacks and descend several flights of quiet stairs. And I'm wearing a sari. I expect any minute now that a strange man with a big knife will find me and kill me.
On the bright side, since no one else is in the builiding, I used the bathroom with the door open. Ha!
Mortimer T. Clement ran for Alaska State House in 1974. What a great name. Why don't more people name their sons Mortimer these days? I mean besides the fact that it sounds like the name 4-year-olds give to their stuffed elephant.
After returning from our weekend in Denali, Tom and I found a second floor on our cabin. Outside walls are going into place, and we've decided we'll paint the building green with brown trim.
However, it doesn't look like the cabin will be finished in time for the arrival of the Quakers in Residence. I had a meeting last night with Jim, June and Kathy, and it looks like I'll probably move into the upstairs addition until the cabin is ready. I'd rather not have to move at all, but I'll lose a battle to win the war. Plus, my presence up there will disrupt several groups, which may encourage those groups to actually help out with the cabin. Robert's a great builder, but he can't do it all by himself.
The biggest downside? Nibbles will have to live somewhere else for a while. Pobre gato....
Tom and I took off Saturday morning for a camping trip to Wonder Lake in Denali National Park and Preserve. With construction traffic, it took us about 2 1/2 rainy hours to reach the park - just enough time to catch the camper bus. Our driver was very nice and didn't make us stop constantly to look at caribou miles off the road. Unless it's really interesting, let's just skip it, OK?
The weather cleared for the drive in, which took about 5 hours. Wonder Lake is a 4-mile long lake with a stunning view of Denali, if the mountain chooses to show its face. After setting up the tent and stashing our food in the bear-proof locker, we wandered down to the lake and waded in, unwisely exposing our flesh to the mosquitoes. It rained later in the afternoon, so we retired to the tent for a bit of reading. After the rain cleared, Denali came out and we enjoyed dinner and a brief hike.
The next morning, we set out on a hike along the McKinley Bar Trail. Sadly, no bars were to be found anywhere along the trail. We had been warned about the mosquitoes, and were coated with 100% DEET, but they still kept swarming us. Although they didn't bite, they were rather annoying. It took us about an hour to reach the McKinley River. On the way back, the wind picked up and kept all but the strongest mosquitoes away.
After our return to camp, it began to rain again, so we opted for a nap and late lunch. In the evening, a NPS Ranger came out and gave a lecture on the history of attempts to summit Denali. As he finished, the mountain became visible once again.
On Monday, we woke up early to catch the 8 am bus, which took us out to Kantishna before starting the 5-hour journey back to the park entrance. This bus was pretty empty, and the driver let us get off during the Toklat River rest break so we could walk ahead for a while. She picked us up about 40 minutes later. After three days of coating ourselves with DEET, we wanted nothing more than to come home, shower and eat. Fortunately the weather was beautiful for our return trip, with many great views of Denali along the way. Despite some early rain and a lot of mosquitoes, we had a wonderful time.
I received this long-awaited e-mail from Ron Inouye today:
The State Library has funded the continuation indexing of the "All Alaska Weekly"! In celebration I'm offering up a pair of tickets to each of you for a Sunday evening ride on the RiverboatDiscovery as part of the "Stone Soup" fundraiser. Folks board at 6:30p;the cruise is from 7:30 to 9:30. Bring a picnic or food can be purchased aboard according to the NM ads. Let me know if you're interested! I'm sorry for the late notification, but it's time to celebrate!
Ronald K. Inouye
Bibliography of Alaska & Polar Regions
UAFRasmuson Library
Fairbanks, AK 99775-6808
Now, it's not the cruise that I'm so excited about. It's that with the continued funding, I will be staying in my position at the UAF library for at least another year. Goodbye worries, hello job!!
It's good timing, as I had a job interview yesterday for a part-time graphic designer position at UAF University Relations. It went OK, but I was distracted by one of my interviewers. She probably thought I was thrown by her two-toned Goth haircut or the giant tattoo across her chest. Actually, she was the spitting image of an old friend, Amy Hannum. Same nose, eyes, eyebrows, facial shape, haircut, etc. It was freaky.
Now, on the off chance I should be offered that job, I will accept it. It's 20 hours a week with benefits, so I could theoretically work there, at the library and at Mushing. But if I don't get it, at least I know that by November-ish, the library will be forced to give me benefits, as I will have achieved 'extended temporary' status.
Actually, it's my cabin that's floored. And getting walls, to boot. I will get the pictures developed and online soon.
The last few days have been hectic. Melissa and Ian rolled back into town on Monday evening. Unfortunately I had to get up at 2 a.m. on Tuesday to go downtown with Terri and Suzn for the live broadcast from Golden Heart Plaza. Not a good scene, especially when wearing cabaret bellydance outfits and full makeup. We had breakfast (in costume, no less), then I headed off to Mushing to work. I did a few hours, then dragged my weary self home for 4 hours of sleep. Then I was back up and fine-tuning a solo, and headed back downtown for a 3 p.m. performance at the Midnight Sun Street Festival. Yes, that meant more makeup and another bellydance costume. After changing back into my street clothes, I crashed the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner company picnic for some free food. Soon enough, I was back in costume, with makeup refreshed, for the 8 p.m. performance.
On the bright side, the crowds were very appreciative of our efforts, and cheered throughout our shows. However, macaroni salad, hamburgers, giant cups of ice cream, gyros and soft pretzels do not make for a happy stomach. I was still feeling ill yesterday.
Today I'm just working at the university library, and I've got an interview for some part-time graphic design work this afternoon. Fingers crossed!
Well, actually, I did have a hammer yesterday. And I used it to work on the cabin. We now have the cement pads set in place, and the timbers for the frame are in, too. We started nailing in boards for the base yesterday, but that's where things went a little bit awry. Somehow the boards didn't all get cut, which we only realized halfway through the nailing process. We stopped, but by then our square little cabin had become a bit of a parallelogram. Robert and Tom are going to fix that this afternoon.
In other news, Melissa and Ian will be back in town today!!! Hooray!!! They'll bring with them Harley, the rockingest dog in the history of rocking dogs, and Julianna, who was only traveling with them and will return to the East Coast shortly.
Also, tomorrow I will be performing at the Midnight Sun Solstice Street Festival in downtown Fairbanks with my troupe Tundra Caravan. I'll be doing a 3 pm show with Chandani and Souzana (better known as Teresa and Susan), and an 8 pm show with Zara Noor, Chandani, Myriah and Barbara (better known as Terri, Teresa, Suzn and Barbara). It should be a busy day, so I'd better go figure out how to cut the floor work from my solo. No need to do floor work on the pavement!
I expect to catch shit for this opinion, but here I go anyway.
Yesterday was the big BRAC hearing in Fairbanks. And I understand that keeping the Air Force base open is very important to some people. I grew up near a Navy base, and I'm familiar with the military. But I don't appreciate them. To me, military people are like blind animals, mindlessly obeying any order they are given. Have we not learned from the mistakes of the past?
Anyway, the hippies managed to get out and protest the BRAC hearing, and News-Miner photographer Eric Engman captured the scene.
And here's the worst part: according to the caption on the photograph, the woman in red (whose clutched cigarette and lighter shall remain unmentioned. Oops.) apparently told the other person that WalMart wouldn't have opened a store here if the bases weren't here. Oh my. I think she just managed to make my argument against the military for me.
Sometimes, and this is just my opinion, the United States is fucked up. Like when one person can make a town pay 3 employees to work 13 hours each, just so he can vote to approve the issue. Which, as far as I can tell, would not have been an issue if he hadn't called a referendum.
"I hate to see them incur cost but it's probably worth the cost," he said. "It all worked out and I think it will be of mutual benefit."
Asshole.
First of all, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is going overboard with their BRAC and Save Eielson coverage. I mean, I understand that the possible closing of the base would affect the local economy, but we haven't had this much overkill since Reagan died. On Sunday, they had a special double-truck (think centerfold, but without the nudity) poster. Today is the meeting and they put an opinion on the front page, above the masthead. Cut it out.
Second, can we talk about the Anchorage Daily News? Oh ADN, you used to have a nice Web site, if a tad difficult to load on a slow connection. But now? Oh, now you fugged up your site something bad. Seriously.
OK, I'll stop bitching. For now.
I'm thinking of being a foster owner. This dog is available through the end of 2006, and will be subsidized by his owner while she's in Japan.
His owner says he's kind of ... dim. Which actually makes me want him more.
I found another lovely gem, courtesy of the Associated Press. And if the beer had been PBR, the bear might've started dancing on picnic tables in a suggestive manner.
Dunbar, W. Va.- Larry Gaynor and his brother had to cut their latest fishing trip short after a black bear ate their food and guzzled their beer. Gaynor, 67, and his brother, Billy Bob Gaynor, 53, were camping at Summit Lake near Richwood on Friday when the bear wandered into their campsite at about 9 p.m.
Hearing a noise, they looked outside their tent and saw the bear with its mouth clamped on their cooler. Larry Gaynor said the bear dragged the cooler 30 yards into the woods and flung it against a tree, scattering a case of Coors Light.
"He only drank three cans," Larry he said. "He would've drank all of them if it would've been Budweiser."
Billy Bob Gaynor said the bear ate all of their food so they returned to Dunbar the next day.
"Either relocate them or let me eat them," he said.
I found this gem a little while ago and couldn't help but smile.
It reminds me of the time I grabbed a Storm Trooper's white, plastic ass in a bar, but that's another story. And I hope he looked better than this under that helmet.
I'm not sure what happened, but two of my programs are no longer working. Of course these are the two vital programs required to make backup copies of DVDs, so I'm upset.
When I say they're not working, I mean the free trial versions have stopped, and I keep having to uninstall them, remove old files from the computer, reinstall them and run cracks. It's not that this makes it impossible, but it does take up some of my time. But then again, the programs are free this way, so I guess it's worth it.
Secretly, I blame Tom, who actually owns the computer. He had a problem with the programs shortly after I installed them, so he removed them and tried to reinstall them without asking me first. Now there's something hidden somewhere in the bowels of this machine that knows I haven't paid for the programs yet.
I just realized that I never posted my job updates. So here goes:
Current jobs
Mushing magazine: Heading for freelance status. Greg has not yet finalized the purchase. I hinted that he may want me to edit both magazines. We haven't discussed my pay rate yet.
UAF library: No word on a new grant. Current grant expires June 30. Working as many extra hours as I can before then.
Possible jobs
Alaska Sea Grant publications coordinator: Nope. They hired the other candidate.
Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau advertising and PR: 1 1/2 hour interview on Monday. Went well, but they're interviewing many people. In wait-and-see mode.
Arctic Region Supercomputing Center science writer: No word. Probably didn't get an interview.
Golden Valley Electric Association public relations: No word. Sincerely doubting I got an interview.
UAF University Relations graphic designer: Dropped an application and portfolio off today. I'm still irked they went to external recruitment immediately. Now I have to compete with everyone in town.
Last night as I was preparing to head over to Tamarac Knoll (the splinter commune behind Hidden Hill) for dinner, I heard a strange noise coming from the driveway. It was Robert, with his friend Maurice, starting to cut some wood. I do believe this means that construction is under way.
On a sadder note, it seems that friends Melissa and Ian have become stranded somewhere outside of Alberta as they attempt to move to Fairbanks again. The garbled message on my cell phone said their car died and it was awaiting an official diagnosis, and they were holed up in a hotel in the meantime. I hope the car is fixed soon and is cheap, because those hourly hotel rates will kill you. In the meantime, enjoy the Magic Fingers!
It occurs to me that I started this blog to chronicle my attempts to get a cabin. And now I going to get one. What am I supposed to write about now?
All right, I guess I'll have to start investigating some modern technology and start posting pictures. Keep your eyes peeled for those.
Tom and I walked down to the cabin site a few days ago and Robert has laid out the stakes for the cabin. Of course, first the Quakers had to hold a clearness meeting about the site. See, Robert didn't want to build it on the tent platform site, which makes sense since the chosen site was William's old cabin site, which was already cleared. William, however, didn't like the idea of just plopping the cabin on the old cabin site. See, years ago William built a new cabin on that site. Then, during a dispute with the Quakers over who owned the cabin, he moved it off the site and onto the neighboring property. Hence, a new cabin would be visible to him, because there are no trees in the way.
So, the new cabin will be going on the old site (is this getting confusing yet?), but will be angled. Actually, it will be angled partly across the path, but let's not get into that.
On the bright side, it will have a lovely view of Ester Dome. On the downside, the old outhouse at the site needs a bit of work....
I can't quite believe it, but it worked. It freaking WORKED!!!! Yesterday the Meeting for Business basically rubber-stamped the cabin plan. Somehow I never quite pictured Hidden Hill actually expanding, but there will be a brand-new cabin shortly, all for little ol' me.
This all happened in record time, too. The idea was first bounced around at the March Meeting for Business, and it was approved in June. For anyone familiar with Quaker process, this is rather amazing. I mean, we spent 45 minutes yesterday debating 'hopes' vs. 'envisions' vs. 'desires' for one sentence in the handbook. 45 minutes for one word, but 3 months for a new building? Unbelievable.
I don't know what else to say. I'm kind of giddy.
I just found out TJ Maxx has a shopping Web site. I can hear people now, telling me I don't NEED to buy anything. And all I have to say is "But I WANNA!!!!"
We're getting closer to lift-off. Cabin lift-off, that is. At last night's meeting, the Hidden Hill board voted to move the cabin proposal forward to business meeting, setting aside a budget of $15,000. The vote was six people in favor, one person standing aside (which means he still has some misgivings, but does not want to stop the process).
I, of course, will be at the business meeting on Sunday to put a face on the whole project. But it's really looking positive.
Tonight I'm having the new owner of my old house over for dinner. Just in case I still need to move. But maybe Melissa and Ian, two friends moving back to Fairbanks, could move in there. Of course, Jen still says she'll be moving out of Hidden Hill at the end of the summer, and if that happens I will try like hell to get Melissa and Ian over to HH. Commune coup!
