I can see the sidewalk!

Yes, Virginia, spring is finally here! Or so I thought until the snowfall last night that left about an inch of snow on the ground. Oh, how I wish for the warmer climate of...anywhere! The only consolation is that the days are definitely getting longer...we're at 14.5hrs between sunrise and sunset which doesn't include the light that comes before the sun actually rises and sets.

I have not seen any moose lately. Now I am hearing about bears that are a part of the landscape should I decide I want to go hiking. Not so much now! For some reason, moose don't seem as scary as a bear, call me crazy. Fortunately, bears aren't as common in the neighborhood as the moose.

So I saw Jake Shimabukuro, the ukelele player. Isn't it ironic that I would see him in Alaska when he's actually from Hawaii and I was there this time last year? It was pretty amazing what he can do with that ukelele...if I didn't know any better, I would think he was playing a guitar. There were a lot more people than I thought would be there..there's much of a Hawaii base than one would expect. I also went to the first tap at Bear's Tooth with a bunch of people from work. We had dinner beforehand at a place that doesn't accept reservations during prime dinner time. We had to wait for a table, for a bunch of people that were just hanging out after paying their bill. We kept giving them the eye to urge them to get up and leave. I ordered a chicken and chorizo pizza which was missing the chorizo. I don't know how they could have missed such an integral ingredient as one that is included in the name of the pizza. They brought me a side dish of chorizo which doesn't quite make the pizza and I got a free dessert out of it. First tap was fun, just hanging out with my friends, I definitely don't go for the beer.

A friend invited me to an arena football game. Each time only plays 8 players, on a shorter field, about half the distance and width of a regular football field, and it was played indoors. It reminded me of the flag football league that I played in while living in southern CA. Arena football is new to Anchorage and so the team they played, all the way from Maryland, smoked them. There's always the next game or next year.

Well, it was first for me...going to a roller derby game which is fairly new to Anchorage as well. A co-worker is on a team that was playing during the half-time of the main event. It was and wasn't what I imagined. Definitely ladies in their costumes on roller skates going around a short track but not as fast moving nor as physical as I expected. I pictured the roller derby of the 70s. Not so much as it seemed some of the gals seemed like they could barely stay on their feet. it was another night of fun and frivolity, hanging out with the crew from Providence. There was quite a contingent representing the dept.. We got to try a drink called "Hop, skip and go naked" which is a mixture of lemonade concentrate, vodka, pale beer and water to taste. Not as bad as it sounds and not as beery as I would have thought. A bunch of us were outside tailgating during part of the 2nd half of the game, reminiscent of the good old college days. Afterwards, a group went out to eat and then it dwindled to where only a couple of us went out afterwards. We had so much fun that we're planning another night out in a couple of weeks where we can stay out later (a lot of the crew had to work the next day so couldn't stay out late). Looking forward to it. I must be getting old because I was tired the next day and now today I'm fighting off a cold, hoping it doesn't get past the stuffy nose and headache stage.

Spring is upon me in AK

Has it really been 2 months since my last entry? Wow, how time flies! Not much has happened that's newsworthy. A couple of weeks ago, I agreed to stay longer in Alaska. So I'll be here through the summer, reportedly the best part of being here. It's the reason I decided to come to AK during probably the worst time of year, the middle of winter. Actually, with the exception of about a 2 week period where it was -20F, the weather has been really tolerable. Now the spring's coming, the warmer weather is upon us which makes the road a nightmare. The snow and ice are melting, leaving a slushy, wet mess. Some places on the road are a huge collection of dirty water that drivers love to go through quickly, splashing the sidewalk and beyond. Fortunately, I have chosen not to walk right now, otherwise I'd be very pissed off because I'd be soaking wet. The daylight is getting longer, it seem like by leaps and bounds. Today sunrise was at 7:35am and sunset is 8:37pm so that's more than 12 hours of pure daylight. Of course, it starts getting lighter before sunrise and stays lighter past sunrise. Last night, because of the cloud cover and the snow falling, it seemed like it was lighter which was probably due to the lights of the city reflecting off the clouds.

Earlier this month was the infamous Iditarod Snow Dog Race where mushers and their team of 10-14 dogs travel over 1100 miles from Willow, AK (about an hr outside of Anchorage) to Nome, AK. It usually takes them about 10-12 days and some don't make it for various reasons. The ceremonial start takes place in Anchorage downtown area the day before the official start. The dogs are so excited and hyper that they have dog handlers who try to keep them in line while waiting for their staggered start. The dogs wear little footies to protect their paws from the cold snow/ice. There's over 3000 volunteers along the way. There's also a smaller dog race the week before and snowmobile race. I had a patient who was in the snowmobile race and crashed the first day. For 8 days prior to the start of the Iditarod Race, there's a festival called Fur Rondy. Included is a Running of the Reindeer (reminscent of Running of the Bulls in Spain), an outhouse race (where people build outhouses and race them), dog sled rides, exhibits/displays of Alaska.

In the past I've written that I've seen moose in the city. The closest has been 2 blocks at the bus stop where I was waiting. Well, the other night, I saw one across the street from where I'm staying, just chomping away away on the tree branches. I was so excited, running around the house, grabbing my camera and putting on my boots and coat. My roommates were laughing at me but I was so fascinated by a moose being so close to me in the city! Wouldn't you be too!

I had an opportunity to work at an outpatient hand therapy clinic here but my schedule at work didn't work out. I would have worked every day but all the daylight would have helped me feel more energetic. It just makes me want to work in outpatient with my next assignment.

So I've been the popular Bear's tooth bar/restaurant and seen a movie on their screen for only $3. They have a First Tap on the first Thursday of each month with a band playing. I plan on going on April 2nd and Flowmotion is playing. Then I'll see Ozomotli which I heard about in L.A. and they sound really funky and fun! I would like to see the BoDeans during their June First Tap. Then Jeff Dunham, the ventroliquist/comedian is playing here in June. They have some pretty firstrate performers coming all the way to AK. However, I am noticing that they're here in the summer, not in the winter! Tomorrow I'll see Jake Shimabukuro, a ukelele player...how cool is that!

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

It's been awhile....

I know, I know, it's been awhile since I've written anything. But I've been busy! Between taking a kinesiotaping course over one weekend, seeing the sights in various states and starting to pack up because I'm seeing the sights, I've had little down time. First things first, I took a course not only for CEUs for licensure but for the learning experience. Some of it I had learned beforehand, some of it was new. It wasn't a complete waste of time and it sends me on my way to possibly becoming certified as a practitioner once I take the 3rd part of the training.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I went with a co-worker/PT traveler to VA, Williamsburg to be exact. We spent time taking in colonial Williamsburg where they preserve the historic buildings, atmosphere, culture of the 1770s when the U.S. was just getting started. It's amazing to imagine that almost 250 years ago, people were about to become part of a revolution that would give birth to this nation. Yes, even this Canadian knows a little about American history! Of course, we also spent time shopping at the outlet mall, but I didn't buy anything which is truly miraculous! On our way back to Jacksonville, we drove to the Outer Banks of NC, specifically Kitty Hawk. For those of you that don't know, that is where the ability to fly airplanes was born. We saw where Orville and Wilbur Wright were first airborne....now that's amazing! To see how little they flew in their first flights and zip to the present where we can travel almost halfway around the world on one flight is jaw-dropping. I can also see why they chose that area to test out their ideas...it was windy and it was cold on top of that. Oh yea, gas was at the lowest I've seen it in a long time..$1.57/gallon in VA.

The next week was a short week, due to Thanksgiving and the clinic being closed on Black Friday. I didn't partake in the shopping extravaganza but I did get a 4-day weekend so I decided to go on my furthest venture to date. It was an almost 8hr drive to Atlanta, GA. The weather was sunny and warm on Thanksgiving day and again gas was $1.57 in SC, a little higher at $1.78 in GA, both of which were lower than NC. The weather in GA was overcast and rainy but I still got to enjoy my time there. The Friday morning I relaxed and then went to walk through downtown Atlanta, which included Centennial Olympic Park, and the Thrashers (NHL team) be outplayed by the Nashville Predators. As a hockey fan, I had to say it was not the most enjoyable game as Atlanta's team played terribly and lost in overtime. I was going to try and take in a Christmas concert but I felt too much pressure to be on a schedule so I had to forego that option. I got to ride the MARTA which is Atlanta's rapid transit train which saved me money from parking downtown. The next day I returned to the downtown area, which was an iffy proposition due to the downpour that morning, to go on a trolley tour of the area. I figured I paid for the tour I might as well try and enjoy it, considering that the trolley was enclosed. Fortunately, for me, the rain lightened up on my way to the MARTA station and stopped once I arrived at downtown Atlanta for the tour. In that respect, I was lucky with the weather. That night was lowkey as I decided to return to NC early in the morning as I had plenty of things to try and do before returning to work on Monday. All in all a terrific holiday weekend. Hope everyone else had a memorable holiday!

Where has the time gone?

I feel like the last almost 3 weeks have flown by! Maybe because I've been so busy with work and seeing what's out there. The 4-10 hr days sometimes seem long when it's not that busy but it's a nice break with a 3 day weekend. It has allowed me to travel around without feeling rushed or too tired afterwards.

The first weekend after the football game I returned to Charlotte to visit with my friend, the OT traveler, for what was initially going to be a wild, well, sort of, wild weekend. It didn't turn out that way. I guess you could say we weren't as young as we used to be. I arrived in Charlotte around 5pm and met up with my friend Molly at her place. It was a little rainy which was par for the course for that day. We ended up going to an area known as NoDo which is a shortform for north downtown. It's supposed to be the artsy area with restaurants and small drinking establishments. We had a good meal and then went down the street to listen to some local music. It was fun but we were both exhausted by the time we got home about 1230am.

The next morning we slept in and then got on the road to the Lexington bbq festival, reportedly the best in the area. We both had a taste of NC bbq and it's very different than what I'm used to. The bbq sauce is more vinegar based rather than tomato based so it doesn't color the pork, it doesn't drip and get messy like the usual bbq sauce and there's none of the usual bbq taste to it. Honestly, it's really not to my liking. In addition, they give you the option of coleslaw with the meat...crazy, don't you think? There were several smaller stages and a grandstand for music. The highlight was the main concert where Lee Ann Womack was the featured performer, singing with acoustic guitar accompanionment, along with 3 other male performers. It actually was enjoyable..I think country music is beginning to grow on me!

We got home and had to take a nap. When we woke up, we barely had enough energy to force ourselves to get dressed to get something to eat. We drove to downtown which is actually uptown, can you say confusing? We ate at this Irish pub which had pretty good food. Since it was the Saturday before Halloween, there were costumed people running amuck which was quite hilarious. It was a fairly early night for us.

The next morning we woke up and went for a walk around her area, saw the Bank of America football stadium in the light of day, saw tailgaters whooping it up for that afternoon's game and sat on top of the world (actually a huge globe by the stadium). We had brunch at a nearby restaurant which was yummy and filling! We went back to her place and watched the Panthers game on tv. I left at halftime so that I would miss the stadium crowd leaving and to get home at a decent time to relax before going back to work the next day. What a weekend!

The following weekend I went overnight to Myrtle Beach, SC which is only 2 hrs away. I had a late start and figured I'd be there mid-afternoon. But noooo, I get caught up in a triathalon that is going on in Wilmington which is about halfway and backs up traffic for what seems like miles. I try and work my way around it, only to be led astray and after having found my way back I realized that if I had been patient I would have gotten back on the right track within a few hundred yards after detouring. I finally was on my way to SC and to the outlet mall! I figured while I was there I would take advantage of the mall and go Christmas shopping for my family as well as myself. As it turned out, I think I bought more for myself than for them. I spent so much time at the mall and because of my late arrival, I completely missed out on the Christmas show that I was interested in seeing. Oh, well!

The next day I spent some time on the beach in front of the place I was staying. It was such a beautiful day, sunny and warm in the 70s with the sun reflecting off the water. The beach here was different than on the west coast, particularly southern CA, because the sand grains seemed bigger and there were so many seashells. I was told later that the seashells, both complete and broken, were due to the many storms that pass by the area. It was so warm that I could have easily gotten a tan. As it was, I had to drive back to NC.

Last weekend I drove to Cedar Island, NC and took a 2.5h ferry ride to Ocracoke Island on the southern part of the Outer Banks. The island is small and most of the things to see are right off the ferry within 1-1.5 miles so I spent a little over an hour walking around and went right back on the next ferry to return to the mainland. A lot of people took their cars so that they could drive to the other end of the island north where you can ferry it to Cape Hatteras. I didn't do that because of the time factor and that the ferry between the Cape and the Island only runs a couple of times in the evening and I wouldn't have made the schedule. The ferry ride to the Island was wonderful, it was warm, sunny and of course, breezy. It wasn't crowded so I was able to sit up on the upper deck and enjoy the rays and catch up on some reading. I spent more time reading that day than I have the whole rest of the time in NC. How relaxing!

The next day I went to another outlet mall where I really did do some damage with Christmas shopping for everyone including myself. Again it was a warm and sunny day. I arrived just before noon and started out. Within a couple of hours and few dollars spent, I noticed people driving around to find a parking spot...the mall was getting crowded. There were plenty of sales going on and I was in spending heaven...however, my credit card was smoking and my bank account wasn't going to like it! Hey, you only live once and that's what credit's for anyways, right? Honestly, I'm glad I was able to find what I did and I didn't break the bank so it's all good.

How's your all's Christmas shopping going?

It's only 5 more weeks to go here in NC and then home for 2 weeks with the family. How excited am I?