Icewind's Ramblings

Two nights going on about coffee, who'd thunk? Last night brought about a breakdown on the highway after work. It was cold, dark, and snowy. I tried to nurse the vehicle back to my house until late into the night but to no avail. Finally I had it towed to the dealership for repairs. Remember that question when you signed up for your vehicle insurance, “Would you like to add the emergency towing service?” Always, always, always say YES to that question. It will keep you from going over the deep end when you have to use the service. You make the phone call to the insurance company toll free number and they call and send help to tow the vehicle. It is not quite “Onstar” but helpful none the less. The wrecker service took about 45 minutes to show up and take my “rig” (Alaskan term for truck) to the dealership. It was almost painless other than the time wasted trying to get home. I wish I could say the same for the repair cost so I can't wait...

Today I had several meetings and talked with several people after each of them. The conversations usually wound up to the subject of the long nights coming here in Anchorage over the winter and how people felt about it. Today was snowy and grey with the darkness approaching about 4:30 in the afternoon. You could feel it in the air. I was reminded that people here are affected by the long winter nights and lack of sunlight. SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder is a type of winter depression that affects an estimated half a million people every winter between September and April; in particular during December, January and February. I attended a seminar for work after I first arrived in Alaska and remembered a story that the instructor had told us about stress, and how you approach life. When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, Remember the mayonnaise jar...and the coffee... A professor stood before his philo...

20 minutes to travel 4 miles to work this morning during the snowfall. All of the ditch divers and idiots were out in force today raising our insurance rates with all of their claims. It's nuts out here today with a little snowfall, traffic like the world to my south . . . remember folks . . . Please don't bang the car in front of you! Ice

I first posted this on The Amazon Basin forums on 7-21-05 I have a friend over there named Russtovich who is known for his "wireless" setup for his computer and wandering all over the house playing our Diablo game or browsing the internet. Russ' wife works out of town so he has a tendency to browse "pantless" . Everyone kids Russ about his play style and there is an ongoing addition to the "pantless" crowd whenever someone goes wireless or now "bluetooth" and posts about their new found places to play from. I moved over the summer to a house that is nestled in the trees without anyone right up next to each other. It is in the city but is kinda remote up on the hillside. I don't have wireless yet but with my recent move I moved my computer out on the back deck until my office is set back up using a long cable. It works great when the weather is good and a few days ago I was enjoying the breeze pantless drinking a Gui...

I think some things have changed since we had little ones around the house. Or maybe I just don't remember the kids doing this stuff. I was watching my grand daughter this past weekend. I call her "Pudge" because it is hard for me to call out her real name as it is one of my ex's name and it doesn't roll off the tongue like it did when I was in my 20's. Every time I would get anything out of the refrigerator she would go over sit in the door and close it so there was barely any room for her. And she would sit there giggling. For a long, long time. This happened over and over the three days she was with us. "Pudge in the Fridge" I commented to my wife and she said she does it every time she stays with us. Has anyone else seen this behavior? I am curious if this is a normal occurrence. "Pudge having a snack" I am amazed by all of the new things fo...

I've been in the construction business for over 30 years now and was recently reminded of this story. Take this to heart and make everyday count. An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife, enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not at work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front door key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you.” What a shock! What a shame! If he...

I saw this on a Bumper sticker once and think it is quite true. God grant me the senility to forget the people that I never liked anyway. The good fortune to run into the ones that I do . . . And the eyesight to tell the difference. Ice