A Florida Cracker in the Last Frontier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4 - The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle The version from Disturbed is really really good!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4 I meant to write this a long time ago during the Winter Solstice back on December 21st. Back when I lived in Florida, the Winter and Summer Solstice didn't mean a whole lot to me. The length of the day and night aren't all that different. Here in Alaska there is a huge change. The Winter Solstice is the when we have our darkest day. It meant that the sun came up around 11am and went back down around 3pm. If there is cloud cover like in this picture taken at noon on 12/21/2017 you can't really tell it's daytime. After the solstice the days start to get longer and here you can really tell. We average an additional 4 to 5 minutes of daylight until the Summer Solstice when it will be day even at night. I love how the light shifts and looks different throughout the year. How th...

Cheeseburger in Paradise - Jimmy Buffett Unfortunately I didn't take pictures but maybe I will in the future. Every Friday for the last two months or so I have taken the family to different local burger places in Anchorage. Lorrie had the idea and I had been thinking about it too, list each place and talk about what we liked, didn't like, cost, etc. Tommy's Burgers $$$$ - Lorrie liked the burgers here best. The fries were good. The thing that                                         bothered me were long wait, small cramped restaurant, and by far the most                                         expensive place we went. Hamburger Haven $ - Best value by far. They had the best onion rings and fried okra. The fries                  ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itcMLwMEeMQ  - Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms It's one of the busiest times of the year so I haven't written as much as I wanted to. Last Saturday, I did the Jingle Bell Run at the University of Alaska Anchorage to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. I wish I had brought the kids because they had Home Depot crafts, Santa, hot cocoa, doughnuts, and much more. One of the employees that I manage, Kathryn was there and it was fun to hang out with her before the race. As a Florida boy I am not versed in the ways of running in Alaska during the late Fall / Winter. I wore my base layers (wool long underwear), running shorts, running shirt, and a hoodie. I did not own any ice cleats, especially ones that are used for running. The blue shoes are mine and as you can see this lovely lady with the long socks has some nice ice cleats. The race started on a slippery ice surface but transitioned quickly to sidewalks with gravel, then c...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX6LmojEWy4 E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen Growing up in Florida the only "shuffle" I knew was the "stingray shuffle". If you don't know when out at Florida beaches it is wise to drag your feet in the sand when walking in the water because if you lift your feet up and step down on a stingray, which can happen during certain times of year, you will get stung. I don't mean like a bee sting it's a huge ugly gash akin to being sliced by a small harpoon. Lately I've been doing a different shuffle. The streets and sidewalks are plowed but covered in ice and light snow. It makes them extremely slippery and some way more than others. I try to walk to the edge of the road or sidewalk is to walk in the plowed snow to keep from slipping but sometimes that's not practical because the snow is really high. So, I've adopted a type of shuffle that is like playing broom hockey on ice. It's like half skating a...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLIppgE45wM Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa As the temperature reaches the single digits and we have received more snow I have been trying to get the boys outside to do some fun (frozen) activities. We started with sledding, and we are still getting the hang of it. I think we might need to have two (or more). Gracen loves just being pulled around while he sits in the sled. It got me to thinking that we should look for a place that does sleigh rides.  I was thinking just the other day that we need to research how to make a snowman because our snow has been too powdery / dry but I'm sure with a spray bottle or something we could do it. I noticed on my last trip to the park to go sledding that there were little patches of yellow snow near the entrance. I understand that people let their dog pee on the round all the time and I just don't see it but... come on man! What really makes me audibly sigh is when people don't ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU&list=RDC4_yFX4cvE8&index=5   - " Sweet Disposition " The Temper Trap Sweet disposition Never too soon Oh, reckless abandon Like no one's watching you A moment a love A dream aloud A kiss a cry Our rights Our wrongs A moment, a love A dream aloud A moment, a love A dream, aloud This is one of my favorite songs. I recently went to Portland, Oregon for a seminar about FCC funding for Library and School internet connectivity (called Erate it is managed by USAC), and when I looked for a Spotify playlist I found one entitled "Portlandia", the first song was this one. I left late Saturday night (1:25 am) and arrived in Portland around 8:30 am. I had a connecting flight in Seattle that was delayed and the plane was not big enough for all the baggage. Guess whose bag was not on the plane... mine. So when I arrived in Seattle and could not find my bag I went to the Alaska Airlines baggage window. The...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpadYhXHgw A Jump Into the Fog - The Wombats I love, Love, LOVE this song and the Wombats. Oh, since 1998 when the did a cover of an Operation Ivy song. It has been very foggy here. We had fog ALL Day for like 5 days. I've never lived in a place where the fog got denser as the day went. On most week days I go to the gym at 5am. On Wednesday I say frozen fog, it's really interesting. It looks like sparkles all over the air. I tried to take pictures but nothing does it justice. It made for a very spooky atmosphere for Halloween. I must say I found Halloween a bit odd here. There were people with porch and drive way lights blazing and they didn't answer their door or hand out candy. Jerks! Halloween had some cute kids and some even wore coats, not my kids which I was proud of. They weren't bothered by 40 degree weather even though they are Florida-born. Pumpkins last longer in this cool, cold, (today) frozen weather. In Florida a...