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The constant cold has started to push my tolerance for being trapped indoors – definitely going a bit stir crazy. So last night, I decided I needed to get out and went to the indoor Fairbanks Ultimate Frisbee practice. It has been a while (about 1.5 years) since I have played. Showing up was good. The awesome part of this is that while warming up throwing a frisbee (no running, just standing), I managed to strain my hamstring. Oh, it has been a long long winter.

It was nice to see a few friends that I had not seen in a long while. That part was really good.

A very strong inversion has set up over Fairbanks. After having my boiler go out a couple times this week (due to cold heating oil), I have given some (passing) thought to selling my house and moving up into the hills.

The weather station near Smith Lake is showing a 8.5C (~13F) difference between the 1 and 8 meter sensors (~22 ft).

You can very much see the inversion in from UAF. Looks like Los Angeles did (minus the size) before their air control measures took effect.

The glow from my winter holiday has nearly been worn off. It has been very cold in Fairbanks for a while now. One of the problems the cold is causing is that my heating fuel is very very cold. The cold fuel has caused my boiler (the primary source of my heat & hot water) has gone out in the middle of the night twice this week. As many of you, I like to keep my house pretty toasty. A chilly home results in a little bit of grumpiness.

The good news is despite the super cold temperatures, I felt heat from the sun at lunch today. This is the first heat (although minimal) I have felt this year. A sign of good things to come!

No doubt it has been a long while since I have blogged, but I have decided to start up again as one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Last year was the first year that I had not taken a winter holiday in a long time – or at least been somewhere new and different, if not warm and sunny. Last winter ended up being pretty long and hard, so I decided at that time that I needed to ensure that I go somewhere to recharge my batteries with sun and warmth. The warmth and sun I chose was Kauai! Definitely warm and definitely sunny! Very relaxing and needed.

There were some definite highlights. Snorkling with a sea turtle (wish I had an underwater camera), seeing a number of humpback whales, a 5-month old monk seal, some nice day hikes, and camping on the beach. I’m already starting to look forward to the next winter holiday (especially now that it has been so cold this past weekend).

Humpback Whale, South Coast Kauai

Monk Seal, East Coast Kauai

The rest of the pictures can be seen in my image gallery.

Only in Fairbanks . Well, probably not… I find the people (most) that comment on the letters to the editor pretty absurd. I guess that is why I read them.  However, this one was good enough to post. A first for everything.  Enough for now.

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5/26/2009, 10:10 a.m.

In a couple weeks, I am participating the Relay for Life, a nationwide fund raising event for the American Cancer Society.  I am on Team Spiritus and it seems like it is a fun, good, and amazing group.  The team goal is to raise $5000 and my personal goal is a bit less than that.  Needless to say, I am off to a slow start in getting to my goal.  I would appreciate any help you can offer in supporting me in the worth while effort.  The link to my Relay for Life page and instructions for donating is located here. Thank you very much!

Alaska is a crazy big place, so different than nearly all the places I have been these past couple years.  In the past month, I have seen a lot of this incredibly big and beautiful state.  The 2nd week of work was spent with Kenji traveling all around the state and helping a bit with his outreach program.  I have mentioned this before, but I really like what Kenji is doing.  The kids really seem to respond to Kenji, Tunnel Man, and what he is doing.  An incredibly lucky opportunity for me.

A couple weeks ago, I took a road trip down to Anchorage to attend the AWRA conference.  I made a quick trip into Denali NP as the weather was unbelievably good – amazing sun and over 20C.  It is really really difficult to beat that hanging out in the park with such fantastic weather.  The conference was good – saw many people I had not seen in a while. Very good for me to re-introduce myself to the community here. It was also great to see Gayle, Alex, Crane, Wendy, and Jer (and a whole bunch of little ones).

Last weekend, I went with Ann, Kat, and Sveta down to Denali for the pre-season bike ride. This is one of my favorite trips I enjoy.  Before the tourists arrive and the buses begin to run, the road is opened up until mile 30 for vehicles.  After that point, the road is closed to vehicles, but bikes and hiking is allowed.  So we biked up to Polychrome Pass and back (50 km total). We saw most all the big animals, except wolves – but we did see tracks.  Great, great day.

Here are the rest of the pictures with Kenji, the road trip, and bike trip into Denali.

After about 2.5 years, I have finally made it back to Fairbanks.  On the return from Nicaragua, I stopped in Boulder for a few days to visit with Peter and Jen. We went up to Brainard Cabin – a place Peter has been visiting since he was a wee lad.  Very fun and very nice.    It had been too long since I had seen them.  Hopefully I will make it back there fairly soon.

My return to Fairbanks has been good.  The transition back into town has been a bit rougher, but not bad, than I was expecting.  I spent a lot of time visiting friends and family and getting logistically set up – bank accounts, car, starting to work again,  etc.  At times it was a little ovewhelming going from Nicaragua to USA. For example, going to Safeway in Boulder was completely overwhelming. I spent much time just wandering around with just so much stuff.  Another example of the strangeness was going from this little village in Sabana Grande where I was walking everyday on dusty dirt roads to driving around in a (almost) new hybrid car.  It just did not seem right.  Alaska is different than many places, but it very much feels like I have been going from extreme to extreme.  I guess this will settle down a bit.

I left Nicaragua with mixed feelings.  It was definitely a great experience. I have been asked if I got out of it what I was hoping.  The answer to this is definitely ‘Yes.’   I think I managed to experience most every emotion – frustration, anger, happiness, being proud, etc.  I did manage to learn much about myself, step back and take a look at what is going on around me, and many other things.  At this point I feel this was a once in a lifetime sort of event for me and I am glad I was able to take advantage of it.

Now that I am back in Fairbanks and things are sort of settling down, I hope to be able to do a better job of keeping up with posting on the blog.