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It cannot be Memorial Day next weekend…

The last 5-6 months have been a whirlwind. Starting a new job right before Christmas and having a 15-credit load at college didn’t leave much time for a great deal of downtime, yet looking back I also took three LIFE classes at Eden seminary, flew back up to Alaska to help run tech for Cama-i, moved to a new house, and had two or three weekends in Iowa. Now that college has been finished for a couple of weeks and we’re settled in to our new house, it’s nice to have some time to relax for a little given the upcoming summer plans.

Heading back to Alaska for Cama-i was somewhat weird. Everything was familiar and hadn’t changed, and it was great to catch up with friends again and be a part of running Cama-i. The traveling to and from wasn’t so great, but it was nice to fly Alaska Air all the way from St Louis. And, and having been back in Alaska for literally 5 minutes, I was sat in the bar (of course!) having an Alaskan Amber when Iditarod champion John Baker walked by

Bethany and I moved at the start of the month to a new house still within Maplewood, and we’re pretty much settled in now. The back yard is a little bigger and Kenai seems to like it, and we’re also 5 minutes from the dog park which is great too. Ace seems a lot happier with extra places to explore in this house and a lot more windows to look out of.

Work at SLUH has been going good, again, starting to get settled in, be able to find my way around, and know most of the people working there. It’s a nice place to work, with the atmosphere being pretty laid back and open most of the time. Wednesday evening was nice with the end of year staff which was held on Windows on Washington, a pretty smart banquet area overlooking Washington Avenue in downtown St Louis.

It’s only a month until we get married, and I’m really looking forward to having family around for a little while. We’re also heading back to England for our honeymoon the first week which we’re both really looking forward to. Trying to cram everything in to an 8-9 trip will be pushing it a little to much, but I’m sure it will be great.

So, it’s nearly August, and we’ve been in St Louis for a month. Quite a bit has gone on I guess…

We finished off our time in Bethel and then spent a week traveling around south central Alaska with one of Bethany’s friends, Shannon, who flew up from Phoenix. It was a great way to end our time in Alaska. I’m still working through all the photos, but will get round to them.

After Alaska, we flew down to Bethany’s parents in Iowa and spent three weeks or so in + out getting ready to move to St Louis. We went to the Iowa Conference UCC annual meeting in Grinnel, headed off to meet some of Bethany’s friends in Omaha, Nebraska, then planned our first trip to St Loius for a few days. First, we needed a car, and we got a great deal on a 2001 Ford Taurus SES with only 63k miles on it:

Once in St Louis, we managed to find a really nice two bedroom house for rent in Maplewood, 10-15 mins from downtown, and I got to see the sights of St Louis. The following week we came back down to finalize things and check out some more places, and then moved for real on July 1st. The U-Haul we rented was ridiculous, but worked out really well:

By chance, we had the Alaska detail on the side of our truck It was a good drive down though and we managed to get unpacked okay, and slowly got things we needed.

Job hunting has been slow, and I’ve been setting up to work as a freelance IT consultant which gives me the freedom to work on college classes as I need and not be tied in to working certain shifts. I got to head to Chicago for the first time as one of my projects, and finally sampled Chicago style pizza (it’s all upside down…). It’s working out good though.

A pretty hectic weekend flying out to Seattle for a wedding and re-union of a bunch of Bethany’s peace corps friends rounded off our planned traveling, so we were then able to finally get a puppy

He’s a 10 week old yellow labrador retriever we named Kenai. After waiting so long for a puppy, it’s great to have one around the house now. He’s settling in okay and has his first vet visit tomorrow morning!

Even though I only have three weeks left working at LKSD, I’m determined to make the most of it. There’s a big project building up for the summer with a large scale Open Directory deployment going on district-wide, with 40 or so Xserves that have come in to the department along with three Promise RAID arrays, fibre channel switching and other network gear. I’ve taken the opportunity to put myself up for travel duty to install Xserves at our village sites.

So, on Monday I flew in + out of Kwethluk, Tuesday I hit up Toksook Bay and flew back to Bethel via Newtok, then Wednesday I flew down to Kwigillingok and then on to Kipnuk where I camped out overnight at the school before coming home on Thursday. After getting things squared in the office through Thursday afternoon and Friday, I then helped figure out next week’s installs So, this Monday I fly to Mekoryuk (where it wouldn’t be awful I got stuck overnight…) and then Tuesday I’m scheduled for Kasigluk to do installs at Akiuk and Akula, before then heading to Atmautluak on Wednesday. Phew!

It was really nice to get back to Nelson Island again and spend the day in Toksook Bay, and then getting down to Kwigillingok and Kipnuk on the coast was great after being out here 4 years and Tunt being fairly close to them. It was quite, quite different to what I expected. It was a lot more desolate than I thought it would be – pretty much every day direction was completely flat and devoid of shrubbery or elevation change. The climate was also totally different. Kwig had 4ft high snowdrifts alongside the boardwalks where they’d plowed the way, and Kipnuk had boardwalks impossible to walk on at times because of the snow! I rode a snowmachine back to the airport on Thursday and really got cold in howling winds, before then driving around in Bethel not two hours later with sunglasses on, window down on the truck, and no snow to be seen at all! I’m quite intrigued as to what Mekoryuk will look like, as Nelson Island was still covered in snow.

So, it’s now the end of April; Saturday ushers in May. The days are rapidly counting down to leaving Bethel on May 30th, and Alaska itself a week later. Hotels, rental car, and day trips are all booked for that, as are our flights. I’m all moved out of my old house, got the deposit back and banked, sold my snowmachine, have sold my truck but am thankfully getting to keep it until we leave, and today have pretty much sold my boat. As of yesterday I’ve mailed out 24 boxes and have a running total at the post office hitting $650 now. I guess it’s a little too late to change my mind!

I’ve got one final paper to write for my GOVT101 class, and finished off my PHIL101 class a few days ago. I’ve got ENGL111 and SOC101 coming up this Summer for 6 weeks, and I’m registered for four classes this Fall at St Louis Community College which I’m really looking forward to. Not quite sure how I’ll handle 12 credit hours whilst (hopefully) working full time, so we’ll see. I’m sure it will be okay, and will at least know to only try 9 for Spring if it’s too much.

I’m definitely loving my iPad which I bought on our way through Anchorage a few weeks ago Combined with the Kindle app, it’s fantastic. I’ve read half a dozen books on it, and it’s great to have Whispersync go between my iPad and iPhone so I can pick up on one device right where I left off. I’m eagerly awaiting Barnes & Noble releasing their dedicated iPad app, and think it’s very smart Amazon and B&N are focusing on still delivering eBooks to the iPad, which is where their primary market should be (selling books).

At the moment, we’re looking at figuring out plans for June. It’s starting to look pretty busy! The plan is to be moved in to St Louis by the start of July

Last week Bethany and I headed up to Fairbanks for a few days. Checking in to our flight on the Wednesday morning, they had a full body 737 so were re-assigning seats to balance it out. Bethany was upgraded to First Class as is an Alaska Air MVP, and I was shuffled to row 9. We asked to try and sit together, but they couldn’t then figure out how to downgrade Bethany again to sit next to me. No worries, so I went to park the truck. Came back in and Bethany had a First Class ticket for me as the check-in staff just upped me too to make it easier I could get used to flying First Class…

Anyways, Fairbanks was a little different than we expected. Was good though once we got used to the layout. Downtown was pretty run down and not much going on, but elsewhere was fine. We headed up to see the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, something I’ve wanted to see for a long time:

Something else we both wanted to see was the Northern Lights. On our way north of Fairbanks, I stopped to watch the Ice Road Truckers make their way home:

A little after midnight, we finally got to see the Aurora:

We were like 40 miles north of Fairbanks and totally on our own. It was pretty awesome! We got a couple of short shows which kept us happy:

On Friday we headed 20 miles or so out of Fairbanks to North Pole, which was quite a surreal place. The street lights were colored like candy canes, trees had lights and decorations on them, streets were named ‘Santa Claus Lane’, etc. No trip there would have been complete with going to Santa Claus House (though Santa himself was on holiday…):

To get over North Pole, on Saturday we drove out to Chena Hot Springs, which was just awesome. It’s nestled away in the mountains all by itself, and has geothermal hot springs which feed a couple of pools. The outdoor rock pool was very, very relaxing. Surrounded by snow capped mountains and trees whilst in the warming pool was great, and it was about 45F out, so even lying on the rocks in the sun kept us fairly warm. It was also nice to then wander around the resort and check out all the old and rusty machines and gold panning area and stuff:

For more photos, check this flickr set of Fairbanks

Overall, it was a great few days. Felt weird once we landed in Anchorage and were waiting on our flight back to Bethel. Would be the last time I would be flying out here (assuming I don’t get roped in to helping with Cama’i for Pat’s final year next March). Plus, it matched up that 7 weeks to the day I would be flying back in to Anchorage from Bethel for the last time, and then 8 weeks to the day, I would be leaving Anchorage to the lower 48. I’ve flown to Bethel something like 20 times over the past 5 years, and will be weird leaving. Last night I sold my snowmobile, and have my boat up for sale too. Hopefully that will sell soon. I’ll be mailing off the last few boxes in a couple of weeks when I’m done with my desktop computer and winter clothes and stuff, and then that’s it

We’ve just got back in to Bethel after our weekend in Anchorage for the Iditarod. It was a great weekend, though tiring! For the ceremonial start on Saturday we were in the woods around University Lake which was very quiet and exciting watching the teams make their way along the winding trail. On Sunday we then headed up to Willow for the official restart.

After dinner on Saturday evening with friends Beth + Loren, we snagged their press passes which meant we could wander around amongst the mushers and teams setting up for an hour or so which was awesome! We then headed over the lake to where the teams pull off and in to a little wooded area. It was really good fun seeing the teams start their Iditarod journey, and I’m now resigned to following the race progress via the GPS tracking on Iditarod Insider.

Today we had a lazy day around Anchorage as the weather wasn’t too good for heading down Turnagain Arm, but it was still good fun. Back to work tomorrow, and with 3 x 8Gb memory cards full of photos to process on the evenings. At least it’s Spring break at UAS so I don’t have much college work to get done over the next week or so and have time to process them. I’ll have photos on flickr as slowly over the next few days hopefully.

Bethany and I are heading to Anchorage this evening for the start of the 2010 Iditarod. Very excited! It was great seeing the Iditarod start last year out of downtown Anchorage, though going to be a little further out around University Lake this year where it should be a little more scenic and peaceful as the teams come by. Also going to head up to Willow on Sunday for the official restart, which I didn’t get to do last year. Monday is a day relaxing and hanging around town.

I haven’t packed any clothes yet, but at least am checked in on-line and have my camera gear packed I’m taking a little more than I had for the K300 races and Holiday Classic where I stuck with the 18-200 the whole time, as I’m hoping to get a little more landscape shots done around Turnagain Arm and such, we’ll see. My poor MacBook is rapidly running out of space and will barely hold one 8Gb memory card, let along the three of them I carry! So, it might need to wait until I get back to Bethel to post some photos.

Of course, it’s blowing snow and IFR here in Bethel right now, and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and Alyeska Resort are closed along Turnagain Arm due to severe weather, but hopefully we’ll be okay and have a great weekend! If nothing else, will be nice to get out of Bethel for the weekend. Heading up to Fairbanks for 4-5 days at the start of April, so at least gives us a couple of trips out of the delta to keep us going as winter rolls on.

Deep breath…

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I will try to blog more. I usually can’t be bothered and end up with short updates on twitter or Facebook. If you’re wanting to keep up, that’s probably easier. And my flickr photo stream.

I haven’t exactly had a quiet week or so. It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m lying out on the couch with the sun streaming through the window and loving it. This is the first time in 10 days I’ve just been able to slow down and rest.

Last Thursday I headed out for drinks with a friend which became early morning walking home with the sun still up. That was just weird. Friday night we then celebrated Jamie being crowned intercontinental teacher of the year (well, teacher of the year at ME, but Jeff + I didn’t think that sounded quite as grand), that rolled on til gone 2a.m. Normally, such a finishing time would be respectable, however when you are then woken up less than hour in to bed by firefighters coming in your house and up the stairs telling you to get out, it does not bode well. My neighbour had a small fire in the chimney flue which was cause for concern with smouldering roof timbers, and my side of the duplex being the only way way in to the attic. Cue fire hoses dragged up the stairs, through my bedroom, and getting to sit in a fire truck and look at the purty buttons and dials. At 4a.m after drinking a tad, this was the best I could figure with the camera:

I finally got back in the house around 5a.m, but then had to be up at 7a.m to get out to the airport to head to Anchorage for the weekend. When you’re boarding the plane and the stewardness says “don’t worry, sir, there’ll be coffee shortly” you know you look rough So, I made a sensible choice of not renting a car and called Beth for a ride. I spent the day with her and Loren before heading out for a meal at Orso and some drinks, before the draw of Chuck E Cheese won us over and we went to play skeeball. Quite surreal, but incredibly good fun. I won a bunch of coupons so traded them in for activity books and stickers which the guys in the office didn’t seem impressed with…

After poker til 3a.m which gave me a few of those green beer vouchers, Sunday was a lazy day with shopping, a barbecue with Beth + Loren’s friends, then off to the hockey game to see the Aces play in the conference final (which they ended up taking 4-0 a couple of days ago and now go to the Kelly Cup!). Tim Miller and a friend met up with us, and was a great game with plenty of fights. More poker ensued until the early hours of Monday morning, and then a quick medical appointment on Monday before heading back to Bethel. Where I needed a canoe to get home:

There was a waist-deep water down 6th avenue which was bizarre, especially since it ended up all clearing away within a couple of days. But, was fun whilst it lasted. Got some awesome photos too, some of which I’m hoping get printed in the Tundra Drums, such as Katrina Dominic rescuing Spencer:

I spent Monday night at a friends to let the water recede a little, then Tuesday evening went out canoeing around the slough with Sarah which was good fun. Figured since I could just about walk home with water boots on, was a good sign. Wednesday all hell broke seemed to break loose, but stayed remarkably together. I had a lot of stuff hit me at once I wasn’t quite sure how to deal with, but getting out the office with Dennis for lunch helped diffuse things to the point I can smile about it now. Opened my eyes up a lot and made me appreciate those I have around me. Feel like I’ve become a lot closer to some people as result of the trust and friendship they’ve shown.

Thursday night brought guy’s night at Ted B’s, so I snagged a ride to ACE to pick up a couple of cases of IPA to donate and save on a cab ride! It was a good warm up for last night, since my house was picked to host happy hour, which was really good. Was so nice to be able to have all my best friends round, plowing through case after case of beer, and munching on pizza. We also found the buzzer on the dryer, when bumped in to, is a perfect signal for everyone to take a drink! I also managed to get Bethany and Brent to don a Sunderland shirt to start the Bethel branch of the the Sunderland AFC Supporters Association. Honestly, I don’t think they had a clue what they were wearing:

Outside, a highschool graduation was quietly going on (seriously, they were all very well behaved) with a bonfire as the focal point. By 1.30a.m, we were like moths to a light bulb and being drawn in. For what it’s worth, wearing a cap on backwards does not let you blend in. Even as the youngest of our mob, I felt old! But, we had a good few minutes hanging out before deciding we needed another drink and some snacks and retreated back home.

By 3a.m I made it to bed, and then got to deal with the clear-up this morning, generally involving an insane amount of empty bottles + cans! Good times though. Thinking a barbecue is in order next weekend. Anyways, my plan is to leave the house as little as possible this weekend and spend as much time on the couch as I can.

The last few days in Anchorage have been pretty good. On Saturday I met up with Tim to stay at his house in the Muldoon area. Was nice to have some company, know he enjoyed it too. We headed out to the ice hockey on the evening where the Aces won 2-0 to lead the first round of the playoffs 2-0 after winning on the Friday evening. The remaining games are down in Utah starting tomorrow. We got good seats behind the net where both the Aces goals were scored.

I’d also been for a wander down by Point Worzanof on Saturday as the tide was out and got some good photos looking across the inlet. The ice is breaking up pretty much right round the area, leaving big chunks of ice stuck in the mud along the shore. This is looking across to downtown Anchorage with the Chugach mountains behind it:

On Sunday I took a walk around Connor’s Lake area. The lake itself was still pretty much frozen over, but gave so good views across to the Chugach range and Flat Top mountain:

Monday I met up with Damond for lunch which was really nice. I’d needed it after Friday. He’s always so encouraging and full of energy and enthusiasm. He’s hoping to get all the paperwork sorted to become a fishing in the Kenai area this summer, and took me back to his house to teach me the basics of casting with a fly rod and then making up flies. Would definately like to get out this summer fishing, and was a good few hours. I then skipped down to get an eye exam since on Friday it had highlighted a little weakening in my left eye. I’ve been struggling with eye strain a little recently, and was offered glasses even though it’s a pretty mild prescription on the lenses. Since the insurance will cover it all, I got a pair, and am surprised how much of a difference they make. I never really thought I had problems, and the exam didn’t point to really needing them, but they do sharpen things up quite a bit:

I knew years of constant computer use would catch up, am impressed I’ve gone so long without them, and hopefully these will help keep down on the strain so they don’t get too bad. To make up for it, I then went to Gold Rush and got 4 cases of beer shipped back to Bethel. Should last a week or so…

Am sat at the airport waiting to fly back to Bethel at the moment making the most of internet, was weird not having it really for 3 days at Tim’s. Did figure out mobile Gmail access via my cell phone which helped, but was late last night before I even thought of the idea. Nice to know for the future. Yes, I’m that sad and get withdrawl symptoms Seems like a clear afternoon, so flight should be on time and fairly smooth.