Time is flying by!

Where has the time gone? It's already been three weeks of being in Anchorage. I've settled into work nicely, adjusted my body temperature to the colder weather, am working on my core balance walking on the very icy sidewalks and roads and have gotten involved in some of the activities around this most northerly city.

Work is..well, work. It's the usual fare working in an acute care hospital that's also the biggest hospital in AK and the only trauma hospital in AK. They will medivac people via helicopter from all over the state...and have you seen how big the state is? I've already met people from various areas of this vast state...Nome (the end location of the Iditarod, about 1100miles from Anchorage), the Aleutian Islands (that tail that extends west of the main part of the state), Pribilof Islands (two small islands in the middle of the ocean north of the Aleutian Islands - look it up, it's amazing that people live there), Fairbanks and places in between. I actually met a patient who lives in a small cabin that doesn't have running water, he uses a port-a-pottie for an outhouse and showers at the local laundromat (he lives in a cabin a couple of hours from Anchorage). It's amazing to me that people still live like that - and he loves it!

So the temperature in the last 3 weeks has yo-yod (?spelling) from -17F to 42F which melted all the pretty frozen ice off of the trees as well as the packed snow on the roads and sidewalks which covered the several inches of ice beneath. This created havoc on the first day of the warm spell during which it rained. It was a compete mess because the roads were so icy that cars couldn't make it up some of the hills around town and would slide down or it was scary coming down those hills. There were over 150 mishaps of cars sliding off the road (nothing serious - mainly into snowbanks) and plenty of accidents for the police to handle. The buses weren't even running for a couple of days because of the icy conditions so one day I ended up walking and the next day I was lucky enough to have a co-worker pick me up on the way. I had to eventually break down and buy these stabilicers which go over the soles of my boots so that I can walk on the sidewalks without feeling like I'm slip sliding away! And I bought them at the REI store here!
For those of you who can relate, the -17F (about -26C) is so cold that your nosehairs freeze when you breathe and you can't expose your hand for more than 30seconds without it feeling like it's frozen. Now it's about 20F (-7C) which is very comfortable for winter weather.

I've joined some meetup groups here in town so I've met up with some gals for drinks and dinner and am going to learn some cooking techniques from a professional chef. I've already visited a local bar for dinner and drinks and was supposed to visit another but I flaked because I was too tired and it was past my bedtime. And that was on a Friday night! Boy, am I getting old! I walked around the downtown area a couple of weeks ago and saw these awesome ice sculptures honoring the 50th anniversary of AK's statehood (1959-2009), visited the Anchorage Museum (which showcases amazing pictures, crafts and artifacts chronicling the the city's and state's amazing history) and saw the souvenir shops.

Since it's so cold, I've joined a local gym to take fitness classes. For those of you who know me, know that treadmills, stationary bikes, weight machines and I are not the best of friends. I have to have someone telling me what to do and others to egg me on (if they can hang in with the class then so can I!) A little internal competition never hurts. The gym's expensive but it's necessary in this weather since I can't exercise outside. I'm not about to go out and get all that ourdoorsy equipment just for a few months, although I did buy a pair of ice skates for $10. I had a New Year's Resolution to lose a few pounds and to have fabulous abs for this summer. I'll let you know how it goes.

I've also gotten my library card which will come in handy. That's something I like to do everywhere I go. The selection may vary but it never hurts to have some books to read, no matter what the genre.

Well, that's all for now, folks. Will keep you posted.

Close encounters of a MOOSE kind!

I arrived in Anchorage Friday night with a temperature of -16F (-27C). BRRRR, it's cold here...the only saving grace is that it's dry (as evidenced by the static raising my hair on end) and there's not really any wind to speak of. As long as I was appropriately dressed and my body parts were covered, it was tolerable. It did look beautiful as I got my first glance outside the window at the trees. The branches were all covered with frozen ice and it really did look like a picturesque winter wonderland. It's definitely a vision that I had never seen before, not even back home in Canada.

The next couple of days I got myself settled, went to the grocery store, joined a gym and walked around a bit. I saw this spectacular view of the Chugach mountains to the east of the city that seemed so close that you could almost touch them. It made me want to go there and hike up but since I didn't have the equipment, I did forego that thought! Before I arrived in AK, I had joined some meetup groups and I met up with some of them from one group Saturday night. We got together at a local bar/restaurant for drinks and dinner and then watched fireworks celebrating AK's 50th year of statehood. They were beautiful against the backdrop of the dark black sky and the stark white snow/ice. Everyone was very nice and friendly...I look forward to more activities with them.

My first couple of days of work were spent in orientation and reading manuals...boring!!! I had a quick orientation on Monday and was told that I would be free to go home. However, I thought I'd drop by the dept. to introduce myself to the supervisor since I was in the neighborhood. Well, it's a good thing I did as she wanted me there to start the dept. orientation. (I got a phone message later from HR to go there). The hospital has a lot of useful equipment to make things easier for staff but from what I've seen, some of their programs/protocols are lacking therapy involvement.

So how does a moose fit into all of this? Well, I had been told that it's not unusual to see moose around town. Little did I know how true that would be for me, in such a short amount of time. I was walking out of the satellite building where my orientation on Monday was and on my way to the main hospital. To my utter surprise, I turn the corner and see a giant moose eating leaves from a tree. It was less than 50ft from me, just chomping away on the tree branches, not a care in the world. It looked at me for a moment and then went back to its business of filling its stomach. After I picked my jaw up from the ground and my eyes went to their normal size, I walked to the other side of the street. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera because it would have been a really cool pic!

The end of 2008

I can't believe how fast the past month has flown by. I finished up my assignment in North Carolina, flew home to Canada for the holidays and then off to the greater White North, that's Alaska! I'll get to that last part later but let's see how my last few weeks in NC panned out.

The weekend after GA was my birthday and it was uneventful. I didn't even go out to celebrate, had a mellow evening at home. I guess I was exhausted from all the travelling around I had been doing...it was nice to be home for a change. The people at work did put on a celebration for all of us who had a December birthday and there were 4 of us. One of the techs made this fabulous hat which I wore all day. However, one patient commented that it was hard to take me seriously with it on!

The following weekend I was on the road again, this time to Charleston, SC. It's a lovely city with a alot of history which includes playing a part in the Civil War. There were still cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages that you could ride and an open building market that was 3 blocks long. I walked around the downtown area and along the shore but not for very long as it was cold. It did warm up on the day I was returning to Jacksonville. I had heard of this 2-3 mile bridge that spanned from downtown Charleston to Mt. Pleasant on which people could walk, run or bike across. However, I had heard about it late morning of the day I was leaving and while I did walk across about 3/4 mile across, I ended up returning to my car as it was getting late. If I'd had more time I would have gone across and back...you know how I love a challenge like that! As I was driving across the bridge to get out of dodge, I could see for miles (it was a clear sunny day) and wished I had heard of this walk before. Oh, well, c'est la vie!

During the last week of work, the rehab dept. had a Christmas party. There was a gift exchange (the one where you can pick from the pile or steal from someone else, etc), plenty of food, parting gifts from the dept to me (which I thought was very touching) and I took plenty of pictures. This picture is with me wearing my birthday hat and riding a "horse" that we had built for a TBI pt who liked riding horses.
Before I knew it, I was done working my last week in NC and it was time to pack up my things and organize it in such a way that I would be bringing my winter apparel to Canada and ultimately Alaska. It took several packing, unpacking and redos before I finally settled on 2 big suitcases, a carry-on and my computer bag. I barely got under the weight limit with my checked bags at the airport but boy were my carry-ons heavy! I had to think about what I would need over the next few months and be sure to bring that along...most importantly, was the paperwork to do my taxes early in 2009.

I was fortunate that a friend offered to drive me to the airport and keep my car for me while I was in AK. I know it's in good hands and will be well care for. I said my goodbyes to those I was leaving behind and flew off into what was coming next (after a most enjoyable holiday with my family)

Hope everyone had a safe holiday and a good start to 2009