A turd sandwich

This is Neil. Apparently I need to identify myself when I write a blog. So Emily and I took Banjo on a big walk today to the frozen lagoon that's a skating rink. Banjo liked to bound in the snow that covered the lake. After we got back, we let Banjo and Rio (the other dog that lives here) out in our backyard to run around. When I let them back in, Rio had what looked like a stick in her mouth. Then Banjo wrestled it away from her, and took it to his dogbed. I thought the stick looked a little funny, and after further inspection by Emily, it turned out to be a turd sandwich. Yes, Rio took a chunk of frozen dog poo and brought it back inside our house. Needless to say, Emily shooed Banjo outside quickly so he could take it back there.

After the drama, Emily and I went to the Bear Tooth Theature and Pud to watch Enchanted. I was surprised that it was a pretty enjoyable movie. Emily and I got burritos for dinner and shared a giant piece of ice cream pie. Yummie!

I'm a failure

So for weeks I've been looking forward to the big caucus. Today instead of caucusing I sat in traffic for over an hour and a half. Margaret and I left right after work to drive to the caucus site (there was only one for the entire Anchorage area), but the traffic was just gridlock. So we didn't even make it to the middle school where it was located. By 6:30 we were still a few miles away and the doors closed at 6pm. The only plus side is that Margaret was going to vote for Hillary, so in the end we probably canceled each other out, because i think we're in the same precinct.

It's been extremely cold here these past few days. Last night I took Banjo for a walk, and I managed to stay pretty warm in Katie's giant sleeping bag coat and Neil's face mask, but the steam from my breath caused my glasses to steam up and then freeze. My eye lashes also froze together. Now that's pretty cold. Banjo was a trooper though. Even when we had back track 4 blocks to find his missing booty he kept on trucking.

Arctic Investigations

These past few days at work I've been helping out with a study for the Arctic Investigations Program. We hang out in this pediatrician's office and recruit kids to enroll in the study. It's fairly painless. Their parent completes a short questionnaire and then they get a q-tip shoved up their nose to check to see if they have a pnuemo germ up there. Then in return they get $25. The enrollment is somewhat boring--although it's fun to be out of the office and talking to people. But they've guaranteed me that if I help out with recruitment here in town I can go out to the villages with them while they do the study there. Here in Anchorage we only accept kids 3 months to <5 years old. But in the villages the whole family can enroll. Apparently it gets pretty crazy, which is why they like for you to practice in the slower paced environment first.

Skate skiing

This morning at swimming I got to test out my new goggles. They aren't prescription, but they are close enough to my glasses that I'm able to see the tiles on the bottom of the pool, and the clock. I felt ever so enlightened. After swimming I went over to REI to rent some skate skis. Brad offered to teach Jared and Kari how to use them, so I tagged along for a free lesson. It was pretty fun. Although I'll need a few more tries before I don't feel completely uncoordinated and awkward blazing down the trail. I have the skis until tomorrow at 6, so I think I'll take them out for another round tomorrow with banjo. Tomorrow is the Ski for Women--a 5K ski race for women (apparently it's to get them out of the house during the super bowl (which happens to be the day with the greatest incidence of domestic violence. Too much testosterone I suppose.)

Banjo now has his own snow gear. We got him some red boots that have a rubber bottom on them so that his paws are protected from the cold (It's been pretty cold here these past few days. I think it was -1 when we took him out for a test.) It's pretty funny watching him in the shoes. For some reason he thinks that if he picks his legs up really high with each step it will be more comfortable. Rio does the same thing when she wears her boots. Actually, Matt has given up on putting them on her and instead sprays PAM on the bottoms of her feet. We tried it with Banjo, but he just sat there licking them and wouldn't walk anymore. Banjo eventually got used to the boots, although they're a tad too big.

Bad Banjipants

Last night when we took Matt out for his birthday we left the dogs at home. Banjo was in his kennel and Rio was out in the living room. And when we returned we found a little --not so friendly--note taped to our door. Apparently Banjo was pawing at his cage and barking a lot while we were gone. And apparently our neighbor downstairs likes to go to bed really early (directly under Banjo's kennel). So she wasn't too happy about that. In Clinton Court we lived below a girl who wore steal toed marching boots, so I know how annoying it can be to have a noisy neighbor. HOpefully Banjo will be better next time if we also put Rio in her cage. Otherwise, maybe we'll try moving his kennel. Silly Banjo.

Being sick in Alaska (by Neil)

So it took Neil a whopping three days before he got sick. He probably picked up a bug on the plane when he flew up. We went to the doctor on Friday so he could get a nebulizer treatment (the Dr. was really nice, but like 105 years old). And he gave Neil some pills to boot.

It seemed that Emily caught Neil's cold on Saturday, but my Sunday both of us were feeling better, so we went out to Value Village to look for a bigger food bowl for Banjo and to check things out. Turns out the VV is way cooler and bigger in Seattle, go figure. Then we walked around a Bed, Bath and Beyond and grabbed a hot drink before we headed home to celebrate our roommate Matt's birthday.

Matt turned 29 on Sunday so we took to out to the Moose's Tooth Pizza and Pub, one of our favorites. We had a grand time eating drinking pitchers of beer, eating our chicken, bacon, cream cream, roasted garlic, red onion, and spinach pizza, and concocting a way for Matt to leave his phone number for the waitress.

Who's who?

It's getting tricky to tell which one's the dog and which one is my husband.

A slippery slope

On MLK day we were invited to my co-worker, Yvonne’s home for dinner. She was making pot stickers and her daughters and cousin came too. She lived out in the Rabbit Creek area, which is up in the hills overlooking the sound. And all the houses were really big and fancy. On our way there, we got slightly lost (apparently the turn off we were looking for didn’t have a sign labeling the street), so we ended up heading down this “no outlet” road with a giant ravine on the right hand side. Ooops, not a good idea on a day when the temperature had warmed up some to melt the snow just enough for it to turn to a humongous sheet of ice. So we drove along, until it became apparent that there was no outlet. And, when we tried to start again, it became apparent that we were driving on a sheet of ice. Neil got out of the car and started slipping around. I thought he was trying to be funny, but it really was that slippery. We had to end up calling Yvonne. She brought her whole family to come help push. Except it was too slippery for anyone to get their footing, so Neil ended up slowly backing the car down the hill until he reached a driveway to turn around in. It was quite an adventure, but in the end we had a good time at dinner. The pot stickers were tasty.

We're Alaskans

Today was Neil and Banjo's first day as Alaskans. After a very long flight (which was delayed over an hour), Neil and Banjo made it here. Of course when the lady brought out the cages from the cargo hold one cage was shaking and barking (that cage being Banjo). Boy was he excited to see people.

Banjo is loving having a younger pal around to play with. He and Rio race around in the backyard. Rio is much faster though and shows her dominance by tackling Banjo into the snow.

Banjo seems to love playing in the snow. He travels off the path to leap and bound through the snow (which could well burry him). His hair seems to keep him quite warm, although it collects tons of balls of snow all under his belly and on the backs of his legs.

Tonight we ordered Thai food and watched the season finale of the Amazing Race. (It culminated in Anchorage coincidently.) The restaurant was voted numerous years as Anchorage's best Thai restaurant--but, there are only about 3 in town. And this one wasn't too hot.

Up before the crack of dawn

Last night I went to the Anchorage Folk Festival. It was like a scaled down version of Folklife. We heard a few local bands of varying talent (including a group of senior citizens who were into "clogging". (All I can say is, at least they enjoyed themselves.) They were like tap dancers. It was pretty funny. The final band of the night was a band brought in from San Francisco--The Stairwell Sisters. They were really good! One of the band members "clogged to a few songs, and her clogging was pretty cool. It was like a more folk-d-fied version of Lord of the Dance. Any how, they were great performers, and one of the things they said was how they'd been working till the crack of dawn (meaning since 10 am).

Only a few hours till the boys get here!

Back in business

Well, after a long span of no internet, I'm finally re-wired! Our apartment is still pretty desolate ever since Meghan left, but now that I'm reconnected to the world I think I'll work on getting a few chairs and things. I am enjoying using her old bedroom--it's more than twice the size of my previous room!

I'll post some pictures soon. Today I took a few pictures of a moose eating snow in our yard. There's plenty of snow around town, and it's been really cold, so I don't think it's going to melt anytime soon. I heard today that with the wind chill it was -15F in Anchorage. Needless to say it's not too encouraging of an environment to go outside, even though playing in the snow is always a fun option.

Today I created a profile on the Barack Obama website. The new direction of campaigns is pretty cool. I tried to download free Obama ringtone, but I'm apparently I'm not that tech-savy. On the website I found a posting for an organizing event this Wednesday, so I think I'll go after work and check it out.

Only 5 more days until Neil and Banjo move up! I suppose I should try and enjoy the calm before the storm.

What gives?

I move up to Alaska---where we currently have only big patches of ice, and then it snows in Seattle. Sheesh. Here are some pictures of our son's first steps, pee, and play in the snow. I think he's going to enjoy Anchorage (if we ever get any snow).

Today the Native Heritage Center had a craft bazar. It was pretty neat. There were lot's of carved whale baleen, walrus ivory, and even a doll made of walrus bladder (apparently the stuff is really water proof--it's also used to make rain coats).

Walk up-date

So, every race has to have a loser, and apparently team SHREK took that role for this one. Although I think some walkers weren't really walking, because I've never met anyone who can walk 6.5 miles in 30 minutes. I'm still proud of us for all of our hard work. Yay walking!

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was great! It was fun seeing little Banjo (I'm pretty sure he grew during the short time that I was there.) And traveling over to Spokane on Saturday to see Jimmy and Mary's wedding. It was a really fun reception--complete with the filipino national dance---the electric slide.

Then we rushed home for the big race on Sunday. We had perfect weather for the event. And it was fun to explore the city on foot. I'd have to say I've never walked 13 miles around seattle before. And I think team SHREK won the prize for being the slowest half marathoners of the event. While we were walking through the I-90 tunnel the police and another car were right on our tail making sure the road was clear so that they could open up the road to traffic. They were packing up the water station and the sanicans as we walked past. Nonetheless we had a great time. Next year I think I'll try to run it.

RIP Yuniesky

So, I recant my previous statement about Banjo being our first child. I forgot about our dwarf hamster Yuniesky. It seems that Neil also had forgotten about him, because when I went home for Thanksgiving I discovered him dead in his cage (the hamster that is). No one knows how long he'd been dead, but he was pretty cold and stiff and smelled bad. Poor little hamster. We got Yuniesky one night while we were walking along eastlake. He was sitting out in his cage in front of a restaurant with a sign that said he was free to a good home. His owner no longer wanted him. He was a cute little guy and liked running in his ball. Hopefully we have more luck with Banjo. (By the way he is the cutest dog ever!!! and quite smart too.)

We're Parents!!

Yesterday Neil chose the newest member of our family! He's a golden doodle, and just about the cutest puppy I've ever seen (although I may be a little biased). He's currently still living with the breeder, but as of Sunday he'll get to come home, just in time for me to come home. Does anyone have any name suggestions? We're currently calling him Banjo, although Jasmine, his breeder mother previously called him Sugs.

Winter's here!

It's been snowing up a storm here! I took Rio for a walk yesterday along the trail and she had accumulated tons of snow balls in her fur. There were already a few people out skiing along the trail. It made me excited to get some skis!

Refugee Nation

This Saturday I went to a play that a coworker was recruiting people to see. It was about the Lao-American community in the US, and their stories. Apparently there are around 2,000 Hmong in Anchorage. So these three people have been working on developing this project where they travel around and talk to Lao refugees and incorporate their stories into the play. It was somewhat interesting, but I thought the stories seemed pretty typical of immigrant groups. And they painted a picture that made it seem as though no one in America knows that Laos is a country or where it is. Maybe I was too critical, because everyone in the audience really liked the show and gave it a standing ovation.

Sledding fun

Neil visited this weekend. We took a trip to Flattop to play in the snow. Even though it dips into the 20's each night Anchorage still hasn't seen much snow since the first snowfall that melted a week or so ago. We bought our first snow gear (the plastic sleds) and headed up the hill for some sledding fun.

Moose in the driveway

Note to self: When there are two moose in the driveway, stay in the car until they leave. Getting out of the car only causes the moose to charge.

These pictures aren't the greatest quality. But if you look closely you can see one of the moose that was in my front yard.