What a Rip Off!

I don't get to vote in the primary! Alaska is one of the states participating in the Super Duper Tuesday voting on February 5th. In 2000 we had regular voting for delegates--you had to be republican to vote for a republican candidate, but other wise, you could vote in the democratic primary or with any other party you wanted.

I am a Green party member. I often vote Democratic, but I think it is important to be registered Green, to help bolster the numbers in a 3rd party and to demonstrate that I support the Green party agenda.

Well, this year the Alaska Democrats are caucusing. You have to be a register Democrat to caucus. I really want to vote in the primary, but I am unwilling to change my party affiliation to Democratic in order to vote in the primary.

So drat, I am left out of the process. I really like voting. I like having a voice (even if AK usually goes Conservative/Republican). Plus, this year I am really up on the candidates (on all sides) and I feel well informed about their platforms.

I feel cheated!

p.s. The democrats are caucusing at a prestigious research institute/aquarium here, while the republicans are polling at a local dive bar here. I think this is an interesting commentary on the different parties priorities.

Weather Video

Check out this link--it has a video of our weather last week. This should give you a pretty neat picture of what it can be like here in the winter on an average day--bald eagles and all.

weather link

The video starts off with a view by the boat harbor, and then down the street closer to the bay. We have a lot of winter eagles (although not as many as end up where my parents live). Usually the waves are going to the left (from the water). When they are coming from the left (inland) is when we tend to have the bigger storms. Later there are a few shots looking back at the town from over the water.

A Smart Idea

Yesterday we had training on using the new Smart Boards our school received. I finally got the system hooked up today and had fun playing around with it.

A Smart Board is a white board that is linked to your computer. You can project whatever you want (images, videos, documents, websites) onto the board. What is cool is that with the Smart Board your finger is your mouse. So you can touch links on the Smart Board and click to new slides or new web pages, ect... You can also use the Smart Board markers to write onto the board/screen. You can then save what you have written, if you want, or just erase and start over.

The projected picture above is from the Alaska Earthquake Information Center. On that site you can see all the most recent earthquakes in Alaska. The one in the image is of small earthquake this morning near where we live. You can check out that page by clicking here.

I could spend way too much time trying to find ways to use this board. I hope that I will be fluent with the system pretty soon. It is quite cool!

Summer plans

I am so excited. I get to do an Elderhostel trip this summer. The Elderhostel program is an international educational focused travel program available to those 55 and older. You can learn more about EH a http://www.elderhostel.org/about/.

Now, I know what you are thinking. I am not 55! (nor is Phil, for that matter). I am actually going on as a group leader for Elderhostel. I will work for the Elderhostel organization, but according to the ship I am a passenger. So I get to take a cruise of the Inside Passage of Alaska and get paid to do it!

I have done this trip several times over the past 10 years, but it has been a few years since I have been on board. We start in Vancouver, but we end here, so the trip home will be very quick!

My job is basically to give several talks about Alaska ( I usually do the natural history of Alaska, Glacier Basics and teaching in rural Alaska). I also will give small orientation talks to each port of call (the picture at left shows a street in Ketchican, which is one of the ports), and then will lead my group on all the shore excursions (another fun thing I get to do).

What better job could you ask for? I will get paid to talk, travel and look at animals. Plus, have my room cleaned and turned down each day, have sit down 5 course meals, and otherwise enjoy the cruising life style. What a gig!

A view from the deck, cruising into Glacier Bay.

Where did the day go?!?

Saturdays go so fast. Usually I sleep in on the weekends, but I let the cats in my room last night (an experiment to see if I get woken up less by them being in, than by them scratching at the door to get in...) and needless to say, I was up early. That did give me a chance to say hi to Phil when he got home (he is in the middle of six, twelve-hour night shifts at the hospital).So today I went about my errands early--dump, post office, grocery store. When I lived in town we had trash pick-up, but here, just 2 miles out, we have to haul our trash to the dump ourselves. With bears and dogs and other scavengers, it doesn't work well to have cans of old trash outside. Luckily, we usually can get away with just one bag of trash a week (although that bag is pretty full by Saturday).

I don't mind having to go to the post office for my mail, but I do mind having to pay for it. You can not get home delivery in this town, so everyone has to have a PO Box. The rip off is that we have to pay for that box. How many of you have to pay in order to get your mail?!? There are 4000 boxes in our post office, and only about 2500 residents in town (and many are families that share a box). There is no competition for boxes and it has to be much cheaper to just put mail in the boxes at the facility than to have workers and vehicles delivering the mail. So why do we have to pay when the rest of the people in the country get their mail for free? It really doesn't seem fair.

Okay, I know I am ranting a little--but that really bugs me! I do have one good thing to say about our post office. The other day I was picking up my mail and looked down the hill to the bay just two streets down. I saw a humpback whale blowing and then taking a dive. How many other post offices in the world have that kind of view?!? Anyhow, about the day slipping away...

I came home, did some cleaning, sat down to read a book and the next thing I know it is 4 o'clock and I had fallen asleep for three hours. I guess I really didn't sleep well last night. Now I find today has quickly slipped by. Tomorrow I have to do all my school prep and gear up to tackle another week of tweenies who's first priority is certainly not math or science. Still, I do love what I do and I am fulfilled doing it.

Last week two of my previous students stopped by my classroom after school. They hadn't seem me in a year or so, certainly not since I have lost so much weight. One girl said, "you are so beautiful," and gave me a hug. It is one thing for Phil and my mom to say I am beautiful (they are a bit biased, but I still cherish when the say it). It is quite another thing when a student spontaneously compliments me. It is very rare and very sweet.

Why the name?

I was enamored with Alaska as soon as I came here (although I admit that I didn't really even know much about AK until I got the chance to come). For a year I lived above the Arctic Circle in a tiny Athabaskan village, so it seemed fitting for my email address to be arcticgirl.

Phil does NOT like the cold. Luckily, the beauty and quiet pace of Alaska (our town in particular) is dramatic and magnificent enough to make up for the snow and ice and freezing wind. When I met Phil I discovered that his email address is coldwhiteguy.

Coldwhiteguy and arcticgirl go well together.

School Today

We did a big lab in science today, and this was me getting ready this morning . One of my students directed me in this pose. Too funny!

I should point out that I don't usually wear mardi gras beads as bracelets, but it was school spirit day today and I needed the silver and blue.

Finally!

Okay, I know this may sound pathetic, but for years I have been trying to find a hobby. There are lots of things I think are interesting, but I haven't been able to find anything I can actually do well. Finally, a break through and it is all thanks to Phil.

Coldwhiteguy came through at Christmas. He bought me a portable baby grand piano keyboard. I love it! The sound is amazing, the keys are full sized and it feels like a real piano.
I used to play when I was a kid, but haven't in probably twenty years. So I bought an adult piano book and I am working my way through it. I play every single day!

My favorite song so far is "Alpine Melody". I love playing that song. I can also play "When the Saints Come Marching In," "Beautiful Brown Eyes," and "Its a Gift To Be Simple." I have ordered a few other song books (that line up with where I am in my piano course book) and am looking forward to playing longer pieces.

He had his cofee that morning

Phil on a boat in Prince William Sound this past summer. He's always like this!

Getting me figured out

This past December was a bit stressful. I found out in late November that I have a stenosis in my aortic valve. A stenosis is a thickening in the valve that will eventually stop the flow of blood.

So right before Christmas I had a scoped echo cardiogram (a sedated procedure where a scope is passed down the throat to look closely at the heart). The scope showed that I have a bicuspid aortic valve—this means that instead of three leaflets that open and close, I only have two. This is a congenital heart defect that effects about 1-2% of the population. The good news is that the leaflets are opening and closing well, and it appears that the stenosis is not as severe as the original echo indicated. So while open heart surgery still looms in my future, it could be a decade or more away (I hope!). Plus, they are now developing the technology to grow your own replacement valve, so by the time I get there I should have some good options.

I was so focused on the heart stuff that I didn't really process what getting my wisdom tooth out the next day would entail. Luckily I only had one, on the lower right. The surgeon had me unconscious and the tooth out pretty easily. The next thing I new, Phil was standing over me as I was waking up. Unluckily, I developed quite the infection. My face was swollen on the right and hot to the touch. I doubled up on the Percoset and it just managed to kick the pain down. So, Phil insisted on taking me to the ER. It is pretty handy living with an ER nurse, plus the hospital is so small that going to the ER is not stressful, there are no long waits, and we know everyone there. I ended up on a ten day course of antibiotics, which took me from Christmas right through New Year. I am glad to report now that all is well.

2007 was my year of medical issues, starting with the spring when I fractured my back in two places falling on the ice all the way through New Years Eve and the last pains of the wisdom tooth infection. All that is behind me now.

2008 is my year of Lilly. This year is all about getting ready to be a mom

Let it Snow

For the last three days it has been switching between really wet snow and very cold rain. We had at least a foot of snow over the weekend. And with the heavy snow comes the thunderous sound of snow falling off the upper roof, onto the lower roof and then on o porch. The entire house shakes, the cats all freak out and we slowly get buried. No sooner do I go out and shovel the front steps off then another dump of snow slides down and I am out again. Last night the plow guy came with a front loader and was here for about 45 minutes trying to get everything cleaned up. Snow is now actually pressing up on the living room window.

This picture was from several weeks ago. Now the snow is over the top of the railing on the right.

a new pic of me