Tag: Alaska

Alaska

Hitting the road …

I am taking a few minutes before my work day officially starts to write this. We are hitting the road tomorrow, for our move to Olympia. There are certainly things I will miss about Alaska, like the ravens, the aurora, the endless summer days, the sheer vast beauty of the place… There are a few things I won’t miss though, like the smell during break-up, the short winter days, the bitter cold (I don’t need to do another interior winter to know that -50F is no fun), snow (no really, I’ve had my share, Washington state could outlaw it for all I care at this point.)

Anyhow, the move (as I said) happens tomorrow and we will be on the road for several days. The last couple times I drove the ALCAN I did it in 3 days or less. This time we are taking our time, seeing a few things along the way and generally trying to be sane about it. As I find wireless on the way I will update twitter so those who care can see where we are.

Alaska

Back up and running

We have moved into our new home (sort of – most everything is still in boxes) but we are back up online and rockin’ again. We are now located in Fairbanks, just 105 miles south of the Arctic Circle. And I’ll tell you what – this is a hip little town with a happening music and arts scene and a fantastic University. You should come visit some time, you won’t be disappointed. In the summer there are all sorts of things happening for the tourists, and in the winter (and late autumn and early spring) the Aurora just kicks!

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Alaska

Making moves

I didn’t want to post anything about this until I had given notice at work, so here it is. I was contacted by a head-hunter about a position in Fairbanks. I hadn’t planned on changing positions at this time, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. The position is as a PHP developer with a company in Fairbanks, Alaska. They would like me to start on the 17th of this month, and I am trying to get everything together to make that happen.

The house is currently in underwriting and should close soon, and we are getting everything packed and ready to roll. I will definitely miss working with the crew I am leaving behind, but I am looking forward to learning lots of new (to me) things, including interfacing with touch screens and some serious AJAX.

The downside of all this is that both this site and talkingfox.com will be down for anywhere from one day to a week (or if we have difficulty getting an apartment lined up possibly longer – although I don’t want to think about that right now.)

Alaska

Why I love June in Alaska

This is why I love June in Alaska. Here’s a couple shots I just took about 30 minutes ago (about 5 minutes past midnight) and it’s not even Solstice yet!

East at Midnight West at Midnight

Alaska

Seward trip

We just got back from a few days in Seward, and it felt great to get out of town and spend some time on the beach. Our cabin was right on the beach (I highly recommend Angel’s Rest cabins) and we were able to watch sea otters, sea lions, whales and countless sea birds right out the front windows.

We took a short 1/2 day whale watching cruise, (the whole day cruises don’t start up until tourist season actually begins) and even though we saw more wildlife from the cabin than we did on the boat, it felt good just to be out on the water.

Cabin-from-the-water.jpg View-from-cabin-window-2.jpg View-from-cabin-window-1.jpg

Alaska

TN ad agency uses AK photo in Outdoor Mag

Since it is National Recreational Sports and Fitness Day, I thought I would pass this one along:

The Tennessee State Tourism Agency took out a half-page ad in Outdoor Magazine (among others) inviting mountain bikers to visit. The problem was, as Tim Woody noticed right away, that the picture was from a 1997 National Geographic story by Alaskan Roman Dial about traversing the Alaskan Range by mountain bike. The picture? Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park.

Alaska

Where to put the snow?


half_the_driveway_snow
Originally uploaded by Sjan.

With 2 more months left, and lots more snow to come (for sure) I am having a hard time figuring out where to put all the snow that I am shoveling out of the drive.

If it wasn’t for the way the snow compacts under it’s own weight that berm would probably be well over the roof now. And yes, we did just have our roof shoveled off two weeks ago, thanks.

Not that I’m a photographer by any stretch of the imagination, but I did put a few more shots from around the house up on flickr. I was thinking about maybe doing a sno-b-q (a winter barbecue) and even got as far as where the barbecue is, but then I realized the charcoal and tools are still waaaaay out there in the snow.


Alaska

Ken Starr to fight Free Speech in AK

Rather than try to explain the entire case, which the article at CNN does so well already, I’ll summarize:

In 2002, Joseph Frederick, a Juneau, AK senior was suspended for displaying a banner reading “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” on a public sidewalk outside the school. School officials suspended him because, in their argument, it was a school function, since the students had been let out of class to watch the Olympic torch go by, and were accompanied by teachers.

Frederick’s family brought a suit against the school board for violation of his First Amendment rights and the 9th US Circuit Court agreed.

Now the school board, represented (pro bono) by Ken Starr is preparing to appeal.

My take on it is this: the school does not have the right to impinge on the free speech of students when they are off-campus, not in class, and it does not have an effect on the educational mission of the school. Even when that speech is offensive, counter to the school’s standards, or as in this case, lacking any reasonable common sense.

Alaska

Decisions

It seems that Alaskans have made their decisions. Let’s just see how this plays out …

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