I have had a request for a picture...I don't really have a picture of me on this computer. I do have this one of me and my sweetie that I scanned so I'd have it with me up here. So, here is a picture of me and Mike.
Another wonderful day in Alaska...but, it is colder! Today was 40 but there was a bite to the air! The "real" Alaskans tell me that snow is way over due and that they will be glad when it snows because it is not as cold (????). There is no snow in the forecast for the week through the weekend.
When I got home today I put on my insulated underware shirt, a turtle neck and a fleece vest with my jeans and headed out for my walk-feeling very pleased with myself thinking, "I'm looking like a real Alaskan now." Not so much....I didn't wear my cap and I only have light weight gloves. So my ears, my face and my finger tips got pretty chilly!
My destination was the bus terminal-I wanted to get advice about riding the bus. If you've read the posts in my other site you will have heard about my mission to figure out how to ride the bus to work. Well, it took me almost 30 minutes to get to the bus terminal-everytime I stopped someone and asked directions they would tell me to "walk that way and you will see it." When I finally got desparate enough to ask "how much longer will I have to walk to get to the bus terminal" the nice man pointed to the building across the street from where I was standing (I guess it was between bus time as there were NO buses anywhere around). Of course there was also no person at the bus terminal to help me with the issue of buses...I don't know if they were closed or if there is never anyone to help at the bus terminal. So, I found the most unlikely person I could find-one who was most certainly homeless, and looked to be Native Alaskan, to ask which bus I would take to the ANMC (Alaska Native Medical Center). He advised me to take bus 13: mission... this weekend I am standing on the corner at the bus stop to see if a bus 13 shows up and if it goes to the ANMC. So, progress has been made!
I was so cold that I cut through the mall on the way home....no, I did not shop! But, I did look in one store only because it had Cassy stuff...just like Shawna carries in her shop. I told the guy it made me feel at home which resulted in a recruiting talk for the state of Alaska. Did you know that every citizen of Alaska gets money from the state of Alaska-it is called the PFD and that is all I have heard about for a couple of weeks on TV and radio (come spend your PFD here...get a new car,...a PDA with your PFD...etc, etc, etc). They got $1000 this year-every man, woman and child! If that is not enough motivation, there is no sales tax and no state tax in Alaska! I can hook you up with the man at the Nature's Source store for further recruitment.
I begged off by telling him I needed to get home before dark-both he and the security guard for the mall who had joined in the recruitment effort assured me that it was a pretty safe area to walk in (even though there were lots of homeless and a couple of homeless shelters and the Salvation Army in the neighborhood)- the crime was low.
By the time I got home I had walked an hour and fifteen minutes not counting the pause in the at Nature's Source. Not bad, huh???!!!