Shit hits the fan at DQ

Today after puppy class we went out for a treat since it was Neil's first day at work (blog forthcoming). After a 30 minute wait and raised blood pressure, the following message was submitted to the Dairy Queen headquarters. I know that Blizzards are a tasty treat, but next time you're in the mood for one think twice. It's the principle ;-).

Here is the message that we wrote. We'll see if it gets any results. (It is no exaggeration. If anything we were going easy on them, because I could only write so much in the tiny two inch square comment box. )

"We visit this location several times a month, and although there is usually a rather large line, until today we have been satisfied with the service and food. Following today’s experience we will not be visiting the Tudor DQ ever again – unless my concerns are addressed. While waiting for over twenty five minutes for our order (a small dipped cone and a medium blizzard) we had plenty of time to observe the inability of the staff to fulfill their jobs. A young employee named Rebecca was working at the counter to call out the ice cream orders. For the duration of the twenty five minutes that we waited she never once smiled. Other waiting customers discussed how unhappy she looked to be at work, which was putting in nicely. Numerous orders were incorrect. The orders that were made correctly were presented in a sloppy fashion with ice cream dripping all over the side of the cups. One customer had a strawberry cheesecake blizzard that was completely overflowing and smeared all over the sides. When she asked for a larger cup to put the overflowing blizzard into Rebecca placed the messy smaller cup inside the larger cup, not resolving the problem. It still spilled all over the customer’s hands and floor.

When it became apparent that our order was skipped over. (She was calling out #s 15 and up) I told her that our number (#12) hadn’t been called yet. Rebecca asked for the receipt, then asked the other staff members who were behind the counter making the desserts about it. When they said that they didn’t know her response was, “That one was called a long time ago.” I informed her that in fact it wasn’t (I was standing directly in front of the counter the entire time, and the number was never called, nor did anything that matched our order ever get placed on the counter.) Rebecca’s response was, “well that was a long time ago and they aren’t going to remake it.” She then proceeded to turn around a walk away to help another customer. Another customer who had been waiting, and said that she could vouch that our number was never called, asked for the manager. We then showed our receipt to him. The manager was able to make our order, although not before making it incorrectly on the first try. I can understand needing to wait when a store is busy, however, it is completely unacceptable to be told that they refuse to make my order that I had paid for and had been waiting 25 minutes for.

I expect a written apology, detailing how you are going to address these problems of awful customer service and extremely long wait times. Only after receiving such indication will I consider returning to your establishment. You can also expect that I will report your poor service to my friends and family. This is absolutely unacceptable."

First Day Fighting Crime

Today was my first day as a forensic scientist for the state of Alaska. There are three of us newbies - myself, Stacie, and Veronica. Stacie and I started today, Veronica is coming next week. My office is actually in the actual lab I'm going to be working in b/c the lab is so crunched for space. Which is kind of lame, b/c that means I can never eat at my desk.

Our supervisor, Michelle, gave us a tour of all of the different parts of the lab. The evidence room, the ballistics lab (there is a firing range, but we didn't see that), the DNA lab, the biologics lab (where they get the DNA off of clothing, etc.), latents, etc. I saw a car in a garage with a piece of paper on it that said "Evidence - do not touch". They were testing it for tire marks.

After the tour, Stacie and I filled out a mound of paperwork (it took about an hour and a half). Then we went out to lunch at this nice little cafe, and Michelle was nice enough to pick up the tab. We then went back to the lab and read all sorts of boring Quality Assurance and safety manuals and CRF's (that's Code of Federal Regulations).

I'll only have to do do this for a week before I fly back to Seattle next Tuesday afternoon for my impending surgery.

The Amazing Race - Anchorage Casting Call

Emily and I love watching The Amazing Race together, a show about teams racing around the world for $1,000,000. The first weekend I moved up here in the middle of January they had the season finale of their latest race, and wouldn't you know it they were in Anchorage, AK and the finish line was in Girdwood.

Anyways, CBS is accepting applications for the next race. So Emily printed off two applications and we filled them out last night. Then today at 1:30 we headed down to Bailey's Furniture Warehouse where the local casting call was. It ran from 2-7, but by the time we got there there were already about 20 teams lined up ahead of us. A friend of Emily's co-worker was there 3 spots ahead of us, which we thought was pretty funny.

So at 2 they let us go in the furniture place. They had one camera ready and were working on setting up a second one. So we waited in a line and watched as people film their two-minutes of fame for the camera. Basically they just roll the film and let the two people talk. Emily was getting a little nervous b/c everyone could see your take. There were two police officers, a father and a daughter, and so on.

Then when they got the second camera up and running, they split the line up. So were were actually the 3rd team to tape on the second camera. And Emily was put at ease a little bit when we saw that this taping was done in a private room so no one could see what we did.

Of course we went into the room to do our taping with no real plan thought out. We just kind of talked, a little about us, a little about the past teams that we've liked, a little about how competitive we are with each other, etc. We're not expecting a call from CBS anytime soon, but it was quite an experience trying out for a reality/game show.

Emily's 27th Birthday Spectacular Spectacular!

Emily and I celebrated her 27th birthday yesterday. I made pulled-pork sandwiches in the crock pot, complete with homemade BBQ sauce. They were very tasty and made a bunch of left-overs as well. I also made some cole slaw to go along with the sandwiches. And for dessert, I made Creme Brule (sp???) - I need to give Ruth shout-out for giving me the idea and the recipe. Since Tuesdays are pretty busy for Emily with swimming and Banjo's class, I actually ate our wonderful meal by myself and Emily ate it in the car as I drove to Banjo's Puppy Class.

After Puppy Class I put the finishing touches on the Creme Brule (broiling the sugary topping) and Emily opened up presents. Of course, she only had presents from myself and my parents to open up because - ahhemmm- some people failed to send her anything (when she got home from work she quickly ran down to our mailbox to see what great Birthday Treats people had sent her - when she came back empty handed she looked so sad and forlorn). Emily did listen to the birthday wishes people left on her phone. She did get a nice mix-CD of cheesy music made by me, a golf disc, a croquet set, and a set of The 12 Days of Christmas dessert plates. Good stuff!

Flat Top

Living in Anchorage we are surrounded by mountains and places to hike. The quintessential-Anchorage hike has to be Flat Top, in the Chugach Mountains that border the town to the east. Emily, Banjo and I had gone to the area a bunch of times before (we walked along Power Line Trail with Carrie and Jared in the snow, tried to cross-country ski once, and went sledding back in October), but we had never done the actual climb to the top of Flat Top. Apparently on the Summer Solstice people are constantly hiking to the top all day long, sometimes with some "adult beverage" in-tow, for a super-gigantic all-night party. Anyways, since it's getting really nice and warm out, we decided that it was time to conquer the mountain.

So we set off with Banjo and our lunch. Even though it's really warm now (mid-50's to 60's) and there isn't any snow around town, I was surprised how much snow was left on Flat Top. It made for some treacherous footwork at times (I bit it once coming down the mountain). Also, when there is so much snow on the trail, it makes it a little difficult to walk on the side of the mountain b/c you might slip right on down it. There were a few parts that were a little sketchy where you felt like one wrong step could send you slipping down a hundred feet, but we made it OK. After a while we arrived at a little bench where we had our lunch. It also happened to be a spot right before the last big hike to the top. Since this part was very steep and still covered in snow we decided not to hike it (I had also read not to attempt this part of the climb, at this time of year, without an ice ax). So we relaxed, took in the view, and ate up.

On the way down Banjo started running up and down the mountain during the sketchy portions of the hike. Emily and I were worried for a little bit when his leave was stuck on a tree, b/c we thought we would have to scale down a little bit to free him. But smarty-pants Banjo freed himself and ran right back up to us. I was a little surprised to see how many dogs that day were hiking, too.

Saturday Breakfast

As everyone knows Emily and I love cooking. Here's a little concoction Emily created after swim practice on Saturday morning. It's a fried tortilla with beans, eggs, cheese, salsa and other goodies. She calls it "A breakfast feast in Mexico City". Sounds like a mouthful, but it sure was tasty!,

It's bloggin' time

We've been derelict in our blogging duties lately, so here are a bunch at once. Last Friday we went fishing for hooligans with Emily's co-workers, their friends and significant others. The spot was about 45 minutes south of Anchorage, a little past Girdwood for those familiar with the area. Basically we just pulled over just off the highway and walked about 200 feet to the shores of the Twentymile River. We had these gigantic nets on even more gigantic poles, and people would just scoop the river looking to catch there buggers (hooligans are only about 5 inches long or so). Emily and I didn't partake in the fishing b/c a fishing license for one day for us (non-residents) would cost as much as a fishing license for the entire year for residences. It's a good thing too, b/c no one caught anything. We had some food to munch on and some beer to drink and it was a beautiful night, so fun was had by all. But it was rather cold and little windy (I had to alternate which had I held my beer in so it wouldn't get too numb).
Oh, this guy Walter got a little stuck. He waded into the river a little with his hip-waiters, but the bank is SUPER muddy, and well, he got stuck. And like quick-sand the harder you struggle the worse it gets. It took 4 guys and about 10 minutes to finally free him.

Seventy, boxers, and garage doors--oh my!

At Neil's pre-surgery appointment they measured the size of his mouth. It was a size 70. I'm not sure exactly what that means, except that it was the largest mouth the lady had ever seen--by 10 points too. I'm so proud.


Banjo is making a fine recovery from his surgery, although he keeps licking his wound. The cone is a little too small for his for his long nose, so he's still able to lick. Neil's boxers work great. They even have a built in hole for the tail.


The other day we had a little accident with our garage. I had opened the trunk of the car, and then Neil pushed the garage door to close it, so it pushed the door down, but didn't close it. We couldn't open the garage, because the trunk door was caught and getting pulled up, so with about a half foot opening I crawled under to close the trunk door.

It's a go

So I had a grand 3 hours of fun at UW this afternoon. After taking x-rays (one set twice, and on two different machines because the first one kept hitting the back of my head and stopped working), taking 2 sets of impressions, and having doctors looks at my teeth, I was given the good word - I am cleared for my surgery. I have my pre-surgery appointment tomorrow morning, and the actual slicing of my jaw will commence on June 4th. Don't worry, I promise grusome pictures for all.

100th Blog Spectacular!!

Today's posting happens to be the 100th posting to our Alaskan adventure. And it happens that today we ate Emily's favorite food - little chicken wings! Also, it happens to be the birthday of Emily's friend Molly! Other than that, it wasn't so spectacular. I leave for Seattle on Wednesday morning for another orthodontics appointment. If everything looks good (which I hope it will) I can schedule my jaw-surgery for June 4th. Whoo-hoo!

We have attached a picture of Ruth's new foster cat. Apparently it was cared for earlier by a very elderly woman who was going to put it down because she couldn't take care of it anymore. Luckily she didn't. But it's hair was very matted and it needed a little shave.

Random Pictures of the day

Today after work we made empanadas for dinner. They were pretty tasty. Some had chicken, mango, black beans, and avocados; and, the others had potatoes, red pepper, onion, and cream cheese.

Banjo is perking right back up. It's funny to see him eat. As you can see he's already cracked another hole in his cone.

Tonight while we were cleaning up after dinner there was a moose right outside across the street eating a tree. It was funny to watch all of the cars slow down and take pictures. My favorite is the pose with the cat.

Map

Here is a map of where Emily went. Toksook Bay is over on the west, by the water (inside of the bay).

Toksook Bay

My trip to Toksook Bay was tiring, but it was pretty interesting. We flew to Bethel, and then got on a "puddle jumper" to Toksook Bay. Toksook Bay still has quite a bit of snow (the entire bay is still frozen over), so we were met by a snow machine with a "sled" in tow. I wish I had a picture of the sled. It was a coffin sized plywood box that the 4 of us, and a tribal elder climbed into and were towed across the tundra to the clinic. (Let me tell you, the tundra is quite bumpy.)

At the clinic we were enrolling people in the study. This is the first year of a 5 year study looking at the carriage of Streptococus pneumonea---a germ that can be found at the backs of peoples' noses. It's a fairly common germ (~1/3 of the population has it, and usually don't get sick) but it can cause pneumonia, meningitis, ear infections, and strep throat. So the study is trying to figure out how many people have the germ (lives in the body around 10 days) and which sub-types they have. Everyone who signed up got a $25 check for participating. All they had to do was answer a few questions and then have a nose swab, which consisted of a skinny and flexible q-tip being shoved to the very back of their nose.

Toksook Bay seemed much more remote than the last village I went to--even though this one was considerably larger. There were about 500 people in Toksook Bay (428 signed up for the study). Everyone spoke Yupik. In fact, their schooling is only in Yupik until the 3rd grade.

My son is not a man!

Today I took Banjo in for a little...surgery. That's right, Banjo is now neutered. I took him at 7:30 this morning. When I was leaving I could hear him yelp for me to stay. They said I could call back at noon to see how he was doing and pick him up. I got a call at 10AM, saying that he was ready to go home (I could hear him yelping again in the background of the phone). He looked a little pathetic when I picked him up, and he has one of those cones over his head so he won't scratch at his stitches (he needs to wear it for 7-10 days). He has just been lying around the house all day today, making a few wimpers every now and then. He still hasn't drank any water or eaten any food yet today. But he seems like he's doing better as the day goes on. I'll put some pictures of him up when Emily gets back from the Bush tonight (she has the camera).

A Sign of Spring

Today after swimming we ran a few errands, and then at home we worked in the side lot where we're going to try to plant a garden. Hopefully it will work. We have seeds for beets, beans, snow peas, green onion, lettuce, and chard. Even though during part of the day the plots will be in the shade, the long days will hopefully help them grow.

Later after dinner I found a free barbecue on craigslist out in Eagle River. We picked it up (although as Neil put it, they should have paid us to hall it away.) The thing was absolutely disgusting. Rusty. Food drippings. And nearly falling apart. Right now we have the grills soaking in the bath tub (it was the only place big enough for them to fit.) But hopefully it will still be okay for a few bbqs. The craig's posting said that yesterday they grilled a chicken on it. But they didn't give us the gas tank, so we'll have to guy one. Hopefully tomorrow we can test it out.

Bulletin

Here is the link to the bulletin that I wrote.

http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/bulletins/docs/b2008_12.pdf

It's nothing too exciting. But hopefully it will help get my surveillance system started. I put a nice plug for it at the end.

Work is going pretty well. I've been keeping busy, and I just found out that beginning in June a get a raise. This monday I go out to the bush again. I'll be helping with the CDC study. Neil and banjo will be alone to fend for themselves. (On Wednesday is his big operation that will end the progeny of future Banjos)