Re: the animal's journal
Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2017 2:46 pm
@ Dragline- Thanks. I've thought if I leave Alaska, Montana would be the place to check out. The similarities make it appealing, but for now I don't really have an interest in leaving the state.
@Jason- Haha, funny post. No meth heads up this far, they all get trapped in Fairbanks. The antlers are purely decorative. Sometimes people will have them to show off the size of the animals they shot to assert their manliness. It's the equivalent of driving a big pick up truck. Though that attitude isn't common among the residents. As long as the structure is sound, it's best not to shovel off snow. The added snow provides for more insulation. Over the past couple weeks, roofs that are south facing have soaked up all the sunlight and will crash down without warning. Hearing one of those things slide is like thunder or an earthquake.
Finding a woman that is sane that wants to remain in the area seems to have similar odds to winning the lottery. The Air National Guard will fly up in Blackhawks for emergency rescue. I wonder if the situations you describe fall under that category.
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This post is kind of random and will bounce all over the place.
I competed in the ski race I mentioned previously, but it didn't go as well as I would've liked. I had to bail at the checkpoint halfway through the race with bad foot blisters. After getting back home, I also found out that I got superficial frostbite on most of my fingertips. The race was a lot of fun, but disappointing to back out. Its also quite embarrassing to get frostbitten, especially as the only local in the race. Needless to say, I learned a lot. I put up a post on one of my blogs that has more info and photos if anyone is interested.
I spent the week and a half after the race kind of in a funk. My feet were still recovering, I didn't work out very much and I mainly lounged around reading. Then this past weekend I went on a snowshoe trip with a couple friends in the area. The snow is really wet right now so it was a slog at times but overall pretty enjoyable and seemed to be just what I needed.
Early this week, I left to do a little Alaskan road trip, where I'm checking out some other towns and visiting friends elsewhere. I'm in Valdez now and the area is absolutely stunning. On the drive in, every new view seemed to elicit me saying "wow" out loud.
Since my last post, I've Gary Taubes books ( Good Calories, Bad Calories; Why we Get Fat;The Case Against Sugar) and reviewed much of the writings of Peter Attia and Dom d'Agostino. The research seems convincing, at least enough for me to give it a shot. So I've been following the ketogenic diet for a few days now and will for a month at a minimum. I was consuming pretty low amounts of sugar before but did have carbohydrates in the form of beans, brown rice and whole wheat flour. The major thing I notice so far is the level of satiety. I've been less hungry and stay full for much longer then how I was when eating normally before.
All the potential summer income opportunities I mentioned earlier have dried up. Client for market gardening has extremely poor communication so I decided to abandon that. If I worked in mining, I'd have to work with a big asshole violating my adopted no asshole policy. People who have expressed interest in having me as a backpacking guide didn't respond to further communications. And finally, the tour business I was trying to start was stalled by not having a phone. I applied for a phone application almost a couple months ago but still haven't received one yet. Such is life in the Arctic. Anyways, my summer schedule is essentially blank in terms of work right now. I think I can still make the tour business work so I'm going to pursue that but I have low expectations.
It doesn't really bother me not having work, I can and will find things to do. As I mentioned previously though, I do feel like I may be stagnating or at least not growing to my full potential by remaining in the Arctic. Something that bothers me is the feeling that I have very limited skills. I've been thinking that I want to apprentice as an electrician and am sending in my application in the coming days. I often feel plagued by deciding among so many alternatives. But I don't want to become like the donkey, who couldn't decide whether he wanted hay or water and ended up dying. The best thing to do seems to select an option and move full speed ahead.
Atop a high pass on the race
Camp
Valdez
@Jason- Haha, funny post. No meth heads up this far, they all get trapped in Fairbanks. The antlers are purely decorative. Sometimes people will have them to show off the size of the animals they shot to assert their manliness. It's the equivalent of driving a big pick up truck. Though that attitude isn't common among the residents. As long as the structure is sound, it's best not to shovel off snow. The added snow provides for more insulation. Over the past couple weeks, roofs that are south facing have soaked up all the sunlight and will crash down without warning. Hearing one of those things slide is like thunder or an earthquake.
Finding a woman that is sane that wants to remain in the area seems to have similar odds to winning the lottery. The Air National Guard will fly up in Blackhawks for emergency rescue. I wonder if the situations you describe fall under that category.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This post is kind of random and will bounce all over the place.
I competed in the ski race I mentioned previously, but it didn't go as well as I would've liked. I had to bail at the checkpoint halfway through the race with bad foot blisters. After getting back home, I also found out that I got superficial frostbite on most of my fingertips. The race was a lot of fun, but disappointing to back out. Its also quite embarrassing to get frostbitten, especially as the only local in the race. Needless to say, I learned a lot. I put up a post on one of my blogs that has more info and photos if anyone is interested.
I spent the week and a half after the race kind of in a funk. My feet were still recovering, I didn't work out very much and I mainly lounged around reading. Then this past weekend I went on a snowshoe trip with a couple friends in the area. The snow is really wet right now so it was a slog at times but overall pretty enjoyable and seemed to be just what I needed.
Early this week, I left to do a little Alaskan road trip, where I'm checking out some other towns and visiting friends elsewhere. I'm in Valdez now and the area is absolutely stunning. On the drive in, every new view seemed to elicit me saying "wow" out loud.
Since my last post, I've Gary Taubes books ( Good Calories, Bad Calories; Why we Get Fat;The Case Against Sugar) and reviewed much of the writings of Peter Attia and Dom d'Agostino. The research seems convincing, at least enough for me to give it a shot. So I've been following the ketogenic diet for a few days now and will for a month at a minimum. I was consuming pretty low amounts of sugar before but did have carbohydrates in the form of beans, brown rice and whole wheat flour. The major thing I notice so far is the level of satiety. I've been less hungry and stay full for much longer then how I was when eating normally before.
All the potential summer income opportunities I mentioned earlier have dried up. Client for market gardening has extremely poor communication so I decided to abandon that. If I worked in mining, I'd have to work with a big asshole violating my adopted no asshole policy. People who have expressed interest in having me as a backpacking guide didn't respond to further communications. And finally, the tour business I was trying to start was stalled by not having a phone. I applied for a phone application almost a couple months ago but still haven't received one yet. Such is life in the Arctic. Anyways, my summer schedule is essentially blank in terms of work right now. I think I can still make the tour business work so I'm going to pursue that but I have low expectations.
It doesn't really bother me not having work, I can and will find things to do. As I mentioned previously though, I do feel like I may be stagnating or at least not growing to my full potential by remaining in the Arctic. Something that bothers me is the feeling that I have very limited skills. I've been thinking that I want to apprentice as an electrician and am sending in my application in the coming days. I often feel plagued by deciding among so many alternatives. But I don't want to become like the donkey, who couldn't decide whether he wanted hay or water and ended up dying. The best thing to do seems to select an option and move full speed ahead.
Atop a high pass on the race
Camp
Valdez