Keeping warm in the cold

It's been really cold out recently.  At night when we walk Bannie it dips down into the teens.  So, to cope I made the greatest $6 investment--a hot water bottle.  At night I fill it up and put it in the bottom of the bed to warm my feet.  It's been great, especially with our new polar fleece sheets we just got at costco.  Ahhh...

Today at work the fun and fitness group brought in a lady to do a tea tasting with us.  It was pretty fun.  This lady's hobby is tea so she brought in her tea cup collection and a ton of different teas.  She told us a little bit about the history and about the kinds (black, oolong, green, and white) which are all from the same species, it just depends on how long the leaves ferment (they don't really ferment, but that's what its called when they're laid out to dry).  We had little cookies and then in the end she gave us a bunch of tea bags to bring home.  I was like Ruth in a yarn store.

Obama Human Sign on YouTube

Greetings form the Great North.  The campaign is coming to a quick close.  I entered data today at the headquarters about calls to Nevada while Emily was at swimming.  There is a big GOTV movement this weekend - Get Out The Vote - and Emily and I are helping out by letting our house be a staging ground for the canvassing.  Basically, we will open our house up to strangers from Saturday - Monday so people can stop by, pick up some doors to knock on, and head out. We'll help compile the data as people return.

They put a little video about our human flag/Obama sign-making this weekend.  Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lffB7B8jKE

They are trying to get 500,000 viewers before the election, to tell everyone you know to look it up.

The human obama sign

On Saturday we went to an obama event.  They handed out red, white and blue ponchos for people to wear and then they had us stand in out in the formation of the american flag, and then the Obama symbol.  I haven't been able to find the posting of the pictures and video that they took, but I heard that it turned out pretty well.  They rented a hotel room from the third floor of a building across the street from the park that we were standing in.  For a video guy and a camera person to take pictures.  For the last formation we were supposed to remember where we were standing and then we all cleared out of the frame and then all ran back into the frame like a spontaneous crowd coming together to make the symbol.

Afterwards we were really cold so we went to the gumbo house with some friends.  Neil and I shared jumbalaya, which I didn't really care for.  It was too hot.  Then after we warmed up we went out to go snow shoeing with Kari, Jared, and Rachel.  There wasn't quite enough snow out, but it was perfect for sledding.  The whole time Banjo was runnign up and down the hill with us. 

Random pictures for October

We Voted!

Today Neil and I got out the vote!  We walked down to city hall with Banjo, one of the two early voting places in town.  We took turns going into the poll so the other person could stay outside with Banjo.  All three of us did our accomplished our civic duty.  Later on the news we saw that Mark Begich (who is running against Ted Stevens) voted in the exact same booth as Neil and me.  The campaign is trying to get as many people to vote early as possible.  At the head quarters there's this huge Obama Biden mural and everyone who votes can sign the mural.  

Apparently the plan is to call supporters a minimum of 12 times to make sure that they vote early.  Seems like overkill if you ask me, but I'm not running the winning presidential campaign.  

Debating fun

Today I hosted a debate watching party at our house.  Several friends from work and swimming came, and another woman invited a bunch of her friends.  The Obama campaign even told the media about our event, however, no one came out.  It was pretty fun...although it was pretty  much same old same old.  Afterwards we all wrote a bunch of postcards.  This time it was to undecided women voters in Indiana.  We had to a few talking points like equal pay, working benefits, and expanding day care services.  With only 3 full weeks left till election week we're really stepping up our volunteering.  Yes we can!  

Oh by the way our Obama 'lantern turned out pretty good.  I'll try to post some pictures next time. 

Guilty!

If you haven't heard, the legislative report about the Troopergate scandal was reviewed yesterday.  Republicans dressed up as clowns and protested outside of the courthouse in Anchorage, because they think its unfair.  They were chanting "Go Sarah Go" and "Sara is the best mom ever".  I don't really get what that has to do with Troopergate, being vice president, or being a clown, but that's what they said.

The report found that PALIN WAS GUILTY ON ETHICS VIOLATIONS.  Last night when they interviewed the Alaska head of the McCain/Palin campaign she had this huge smirk on her face and was so happy, because the report vindicated Palin.  Even the new castors called her out on it and asked if that wasn't the opposite of what the report found.  She was scary.  

Black holes

 Today we went to another Whitman gathering. UJ Sofia, the astronomy professor from Whitman came to Anchorage to give a lecture/lunch on black holes.  (THis is not a picture of a black hole, a black hole is black and boring looking).  The talk was at the Glacier Brew House, where we went to eat when my mom and dad came to town for Fur Rondy.  It was pretty good.  A lady from my swimming was there, and one of the women we volunteer with at the Obama campaign (her son went to whitman).  Apparently everyone there thought black holes are really interesting--including Neil.  Personally I'd never given them any thought before.  And although Neil thought the talk was interesting, I didn't really get it.  The food was good though.  We got to choose between pork loin, salmon, and chicken.  I had the salmon.

Snow, Target, and Snow

Here is a view from the dog park.  Don't know why it looks so bright since this was taken at 8pm.
Here I am infront of the new Target.  Hooray!
Welcome to Alaska!  Where you go to work with clear roads, and roll home on snow.

The Termination Dust is quickly coming down the mountains.  We had about three weeks of fall.  Now most of the leaves have fallen, it's cold out, and snow is on the ground.  The last picture was taken out our living room window tonight after work.  

But the good news in all of this is that Target officially opened yesterday!  And since Target is Emily's favorite store (well, maybe second favorite behind Value Village) we stopped by to check it out after going to the dog park with Banjo.  It's 172,00o sq. ft, which is a little smaller than 4 acres.  The place was packed with people.  We tried to buy some Doritos and some socks, but the lines were way too long so we put them back.  But when we were leaving we saw the express line, which we could have used, and was way shorter.   Ooops.

Cute 'Dood

We just love Banjo so much, we had to put a few more pictures up.  He has some strange habits, like sitting down on the couch.  And look at how big he is now!!!  Almost as tall as Emily.

A 14 mile hike...

On Saturday Emily's friend Laura from swimming asked if we wanted to join her on a hike down by Seward.  We decided it sounded like fun, so we decided to go.  We met in town at 6:00am to drive down to Seward, which is on the Kenai peninsula (it's about a 2 hour drive).

 As we got closer to our destination, it started to snow.  The first part of our trek wasn't too bad b/c we had a lot of cover from the trees.  Then when we got to the top of the pass, which was completely unprotected, we got bombarded with snow.  It took us about two hours to cross this part of our trip, and at times it was pretty miserable.  We wanted to eat lunch b/c we were all really hungry, but there wasn't a place to protect ourselves from the falling snow.  Finally we just broke down and ate right in the middle of the trail, wind and snow blowing.  An Everything-Costco bagel never tasted so good.  We even brought a little food for Banjo to eat as well (he carried it in his new doggie pack).  His demeanor went from night and day.  He was a little sluggish before lunch, and afterwards he was racing up and down the trail.  He definitely felt better after a little Puppy Kibble (his last bag before moving onto Adult Kibble - ahh).

Once we (finally) got to the other side of the pass and into some tree cover, we all felt a little better.  Dragmar, Laura's friend, had some salted chocolate that she shared with us.  The sun started to shine, and the decent was nice and gradual.  By the time we were a few miles from the end, we could tell that the snow was melting and we started to see more greenery.  We finished the hike in just under 7 hours, which I think is pretty good.  Then the 4 of us went into Seward and ate Calzones - except for Dragmar, she had soup.  All in all it was a real fun trip.

Happy Birthday Dood!

Saturday was also the Doodle's birthday!  In the morning while I was at swimming, Neil took him to the dog park.  They walked around the lake three times.  Then that evening we had our friends over for dinner to celebrate.  We had T-bone steaks, which Neil cooked up on the bbq.  They were really tasty.  Then afterwards we gave one of the bones to Banjo.  He ate it all in one sitting (I thought they weren't supposed to eat the bones).  For Banjo's birthday we bought him a pack that he can wear when we go hiking so he can carry his own food and water.  Kari and Jared also got him a big raw hide bone, an orange bandana (because that seems to be his color), and some doggie treats.  I think Banjo had a good day.  At night he was really tuckered out from all the excitement of turning one.

Obama Rally

On Saturday Anchorage had yet another Obama Rally.  Despite threats of snow and hail about 1500 people showed up.  This one had Ethan Berkowitz and Tony Knowles as speakers (the the democratic candidate for house (running against Don Young--whose even more corrupt than Stevens) and the past governor (who lost last election to Palin).  There was also a live band that played weird hippy music.  Neil and I volunteered for a few hours at one of the tables to give people information about Obama and the head quarter office here in Anchorage.  It was pretty fun.  

Apparently the competition held a rally during the same time and only 350 people showed up.  This mom and her son decked out in all McCain/Palin gear came up and took some of our information and asked for Obama buttons.  It was a little weird.  But they didn't say anything rude.

The great debators

or at least the great debator.  Biden was awesome!  Tonight we went to the Beat Tooth--the big theater/restaurant in town to watch the VP debate.  The doors opened at 4:30, but we got there at 4 to stand in line (well, I stood in line while Emily went to the yarn store across the street for a little while).  And it's a good thing we got there early, b/c people started lining up behind me right when I arrived.  

The crowd was very much a pro-Biden crowd, bar the lone booth of McCain/Palin supports seated directed behind us - I'd say about 96% - 4%.  The crowd was a little rowdy at times, clapping loudly and shouting remarks at the screen, mainly when Palin was talking.  She got a lot of "Liar" and "Bullshit" when she was talking about Alaska.  And of course those Palin/McCain supporters would clap whenever Palin would say anything.  

This nice lady, Caroline, sat next to us, and I (Neil) recognized her - I had sold her some Obama bumper stickers on Tuesday while I maned the front desk of the Obama HQ.  She was pretty cool - and she used to work at the crime lab.

All in all it was a really fun event.  There were lots of news cameras there, even one inside the theatre that filmed the crowed during the event (it was a little annoying to tell the truth).  And there was a guy in a suit filming one of those on-site local TV bits in the lobby as we were walking out, talking about "450 people and Pizza, popcorn, and Palin."  We might watch the local news tonight to see what they report (if we stay up to 10pm).

There is a BIG Obama rally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, from 1-4 on the downtown park strip.  Emily and I are going to volunteer somehow, although we don't know how we'll be used quite yet.  We'll make sure to bring our camera with us this time to take some pictures (we've been a little negligent on that front lately).  

Mooooooooose

The weather has been really nice here over the last few days.  It definately is getting colder (on Sat while I was driving to swimming a reader board said it was 1 degree Celsius).  The moose also know that fall is here.  We've seen 6 moose in the last few days.  While we were bike riding on Monday we had to turn around because two moose were blocking the road and we didn't want to push our luck.  Then today while we were walking Banjo he came within 3 feet of a moose, and proceeded to bark his head off.  Silly doodle.

Scrabble Fun!

Neil and I have started our new work schedule.  The first part of the work is great!  We take every Monday off in exchange for working 10 hour days Tuesday through Friday.  It hasn't been too bad so far.  We leave for work when it's pitch black out.  On Saturday we went to Kincaid park (the park we went to with everyone this summer) and took Banjo for a big walk.  It ended up being even bigger, because we got lost and ended up walking almost 2 hours.  I got really hungry, so I made Neil run back to the car and drive to pick me up.  

On Saturday night we played a great game of Scrabble.  It was great because I won (although afterwards Neil realized that I didn't spell cabage correctly).  The best word was scored by Neil (72 points).  Afterwards he typed it into the Meriam's DIctionary and had the machine repeat it over and over again.