Icewind's Ramblings

While we were on vacation one of the treats was ‘spa day’ where everyone get a nice massage, pedicure, and manicure. The really funny part was the guys all agreed (somewhat reluctantly) to go ahead and defy the ‘manly thing’ and go and have a fun time with everything. We were in Mexico so we wouldn’t know anyone and if it turned out really bad our secret would remain with the Mayan women who worked on us. Scott and I had a ball with it and had the whole spa rolling on the floor laughing. There were several older women in with us having manicures and they said their husbands would not be caught dead getting a manicure. We ran with the idea and I can honestly say that my hands and toes looked great several weeks after returning to Alaska and the weather that sometimes takes it toll on my body parts. You know your feet are bad when . . . the young woman giving you your pedicure looks like she needs to be resuscitated after she finishes working on your crusty feet. W...

Well after months and months it’s over . . . the ‘change’ is in the air and a night full of celebration is over. I am reminded of a line in one of the best movies about political campaigning, “What do we do now?” Solidly the best movie about a political campaign and the rigors of the campaign trail The Candidate , the charming, unapologetically liberal Robert Redford vehicle from 1972. I was considering writing a post on the ways in which the movie predicted this modern campaign but I was busy and like many of us never got to it. See for yourself . . . The question that ends the segment is the question that ends the movie, and it’s the question that’s before our nation today: What now? When Obama was announced last night even an hour before the polling places closed in Alaska , it was Obama and now his party will finally have to come up with an answer. To its credit, the film doesn’t attempt to provide one and we were left with the promise of John ...

Benjamin Franklin said, "Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing". An old friend recently emailed me that her mom had passed and I could sense the loss in the brief words that were wrote informing me. I knew that loss from my own dad’s passing when I was young. I wrote a few words and wanted to fill the void I knew was missing but as I wrote I drew from my own loss years ago. I filled the rest with my experiences here in Alaska. Not much I thought but the reply seemed to find its mark. Solace over the miles. I was told it’s never too late to write my book or two. I have one nearly completed that is gathering dust on my hard drive that I should finish and work to find a publisher and another that is started but that too sitting in my mind that is waiting for that much needed down time to find my loving fingers on the keyboard. Sadly it is like many things that get put on the back burner until that time it is brought to the top of the pile. My...

There’s a moment in the movie “Apocalypse Now” where the colonel played by Robert Duvall looks out over a burning battlefield and says wistfully “someday this war’s going to end.” That’s how a lot of people feel after the 18 month contest our country and the candidates have run. It hasn’t always been ‘pretty’ or nice as both sides have run a hard fought campaign to the Presidency. But it has been an ‘Amazing Race’, a historic election on so many fronts, with unconventional nominees and enough twists and turns to fill a feature film or a long running television show of the sorts of “The West Wing” . Today was D-Day of sorts, and we now know the 44th president of the United States and after months of being in partisan mindsets we need to begin transitioning back to thinking about, yes, Country First. If you care about the Country First, which all of us should, than the wounds left by even successful low-blows are troubling if they divide the country, dumb...

Tonight there was a lot to laugh about as SNL’s Presidential Bash 2008 brought plenty of old and new skits for everyone to enjoy. Some of the old greats were remembered and the current nominee’s showed a slightly fun side of themselves much needed in this long campaign. There is only a few hours left to exercise your right to vote . . . Get out and cast your ballot as the poles have already opened on the ‘left coast’ in New Hampshire. I am reminded of an old child’s fable that sheds light on my feeling of what I fear of Barack Obama`s campaign and possible tenure running the country. Once upon a time there was a scorpion that desperately wanted to cross a river because on the other side was a lovely female scorpion waiting for him. But since scorpions can not swim he was sure to drown if he tried to cross the river. Hop, hop, hop along came a frog intent on crossing the river too. Now frogs are perfect swimmers so it would be a piece of cake for our l...

This was one of those nice sorta different weekends for me. After a really busy week at work (that’s nothing new) I found myself enjoying my Saturday breakfast with friends. The morning was clear with developing ice fog for a few hours as the sun came over the mountains. I decided I was only going to run and do a couple of chores this morning while it was early then kick back and relax. I have been working this week getting my new computer set up, changing and installing programs from one to the other. For the most part things have gone smoothly but one of my games is giving me fits installing the files, patches, and other updates. I have tried installing, un-installing, and re-installing the game about eight times now but it still is not working correctly. I found an article today that may have the answers so I will try again once my head is in the right frame of mind. I did install Homeworld and played it for a few hours to see how good this video card i...

A friend in Florida sent me an E-Mail circulating around Orlando which detailed the following . . . A small business owner who was resigned to the probability of Obama winning the Presidency had done a little preliminary financial calculation & came to a realization he would at a minimum have to raise his pricing 7% to 10% just to meet the minimum increased costs for what he anticipated the healthcare costs from Obama`s plans would be. With sad realization he knew in his business field, most customers would be unwilling to accept the increased costs. He estimated that perhaps 10 of his 30 employees would have to be laid off due to a projected loss of business. This individual felt very sad about the situation, particularly given that these employees had been with the company for a long time & he considered them to be almost like family. Pondering who would most likely be the ones who would have to go, during his lunch break he took a walk around his busines...

It’s down to the wire now and people will stand up and make a choice for President based on whatever it is that they think is the right information. I guess part of the problem is both side tend to skew the information to support their claim to be the next President. One seems to be a better ‘showman’ than the other and seems to possibly “look” better than the other guy. Some people only see what is on television or in the papers without really understanding what the issues are and will vote based on those assumptions . . . whether or not they are valid or not. Sometimes a simple example might be effective to help those understand an issue and this was sent to me by several readers which illustrate the “share the wealth” plan of Obama. Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed. Once in the restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preferen...

Wednesday is Hump Day where your brain tries to fool itself that the week is almost over. It may be the idea that the last part of the week will be easier than the first half. After several long hard weeks it crept into my brain this afternoon. Sometimes it feels like the world is trying to show its dominance over me by humping my leg like an oversexed German Sheppard. I came home this evening and the dog that my wife brought into the house after I lost Levi earlier this year was there eagerly waiting my arrival. A little history about this dog . . . Gus as I named him, was asked to give him his name to help me get over the anger of bringing another animal (dog) into the house. I thought about it for a bit and decided on naming him after a character from one of my favorite series, Lonesome Dove. Robert Duvall played Captain Augustus “Gus” McCrea a true cowboy and a romantic figure whose happy-go-lucky nature and good fortune with women and prostitutes, especially Loren...

Everyone needs a good laugh and today is no exception. Too much to go into right now but this was sent to me today and brought with it a smile. Maybe one will find its way to your face. To bad we cannot have commercials here like Australia with that little bit of fun. Enjoy! Ice

Today has been a mixed bag of things going on here in the northland. Anchorage finally dropped the price of gasoline to below $ 3.50 a gallon today while word on the news is saying the Lower 48 is seeing gas prices about a dollar a gallon less than here and a few areas that the price has dropped lower than $ 2.00. That’s great for those areas and hopefully we will see something around two fifty before long. There was the rumor of traffic here today as the traffic engineers were working on the traffic lights by the Dimond Mall. They turned them off at 9 AM this morning for maintenance and other work and should have them operational around midnight. It did not make for a fun day for anyone who had to drive around the area as there were vehicles backed up in all directions while the flaggers directed traffic in the below freezing temperatures. It was only 9 degrees this morning and rose only to about 25 when I left the office at 6 PM tonight. I could see th...

It’s getting colder here in Alaska and once again its time for more great food as our freezers are stocked now from another season of hunting and fishing. There is also much talk about Sarah Palin since she was asked to be John McCain’s running mate. She is an outdoor’s woman who hunts and fishes with the best of them and like many Alaskans has done her share of preparing game meat for her family. And speaking of PETA I have been getting some crazy feedback from my new recipe book I have been working on. It is a kind of recipe book on “Road Kill” from Alaska and many Nations and other such nonsense. Now before the PETA folks all get in an uproar there are varying organizations of PETA. There is the P rimary E ducation T eacher’s A ssociation And the P eople for the E thical T reatment of A nimals But the one I like best, P eople E at T asty A nimals My section of Alaskan Fare in my area includes: Moose and Squirrel Meat Balls ...

I awoke this morning to the sound of thunder . . . It was the early morning departure of several F-22 Raptors heading out in the cold clear darkness of an Alaskan morning. As I looked skyward I could the Big Dipper and the North Star directly overhead. The Raptors headed straight up into the night sky as if to fly over the large ladle in the sky. The cold penetrated my unshaven face and my Hawaiian shirt felt out of place without a jacket. The sound quickly faded in the coldness and I hurried back inside after taking the dog outside for his first morning romp. I left the house to meet up with the Saturday morning breakfast club, a group of friends I have spent my Saturday mornings with for over five years now. The only time it has varied is if one or some of us are not in town. As I turned south towards my breakfast meeting I could see the faint glow of first light silhouetting the mountains to the east. The clear sky and faint breeze made it feel colder th...

I needed this one after a long grueling week. This came along to brighten my day. Enjoy! It’s getting colder outside this week and the radio said that Fairbanks today was minus -15˚F this evening while I was driving home from work. It’s only October what’s up with that? Have a great weekend! Ice

Money will buy a fine dog . . . But only kindness will make him wag his tail. I miss my dog Levi who went on ahead back in March and part of me misses those little things when you come home from a hard day at work and I do not find him waiting. There are so many things . . . our time together on Saturdays when we would head out to breakfast regardless of how hard it was snowing or the times seeing Moose in our yard or almost anywhere in town during the winter. He was a great friend who still impacts my thoughts and I as recently found a couple of pictures I didn’t realize I had taken bring back so many fond memories. Ice

There are certain images of Alaska that are embedded deeply within the American consciousness . . . images of sentinel pine trees frozen in time; of glaciers blanketing the peripherals with giant walls of white; of huskies hopping through a snow drift, the tips of their fur crystallized and glistening. But when it comes to the authentic Alaska , these icons are merely the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Here is part 2 of Alaskan Vocabulary to get you in tune with some of the topics in my blog and to enhance your experience if you travel to our great land in the north. Iditarod : Known as the "The Last Great Race on Earth". From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. Ice fog : Is what occurs when water vapor meets bitter cold air that can't hold any more water in 10 seconds or less. Water cooled that fast forms tiny ice particles. Collectiv...

Somewhere at the jumping off point at the north end of the earth . . . the edge of what's known. Where I'm going is another plane ride away on Kodiak Island , where there are 3,000 brown bears and around 10,000 humans. I had flown into Kodiak Island a couple of years ago and had written down some thoughts and filed them away. It’s funny sometimes how you come across a few things here and there that are bits and pieces of times past. Do you do this also? Put a few things on paper and put them away so that later on when you find them it will trigger a memory or event. It is nice sometimes as the surprises they bring can almost put you in the mind frame as if you had returned there . . . if only for a brief moment. Here in Anchorage I'm four time zones from Peachtree Street where I used to hang out, 1,500 miles away from Seattle , as far north as Helsinki , and farther west than Honolulu . It’s true, look it up on a map as it is a great trivia ques...

Every once in a while I get asked about Alaska and some of the terms I use to describe things in my blog. This post will be the first part of several on Alaskan terms, events, or places. Alaska is unique in every way . . . it even has its own vocabulary. As Alaskans, we offer you a guide to some of the words and phrases, ancient and recent, known only to those who inhabit Alaska . Study these terms and you just might convince the locals that you are a true sourdough. Outside : Anywhere outside Alaska but generally means the continental 48 states. When a local goes on vacation, they are headed "Outside". Eskimo Ice Cream : The fat of a Seal or Caribou is whipped to a creamy texture and mixed with chopped meat or berries. Yummy. Muktuk : An Eskimo delicacy consisting of the skin and attached layer of whale blubber. It can be eaten dried or cooked, but usually prepared raw. Muskeg : Swamp or bog composed of layers of decomposing plant life. Often found in tundra...