Amanda's Alaskan Adventure

One girl, one big journey

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Monday, November 30th

I'm alive, I swear

mood: Sleeeeepy

Sorry for being quiet for the last two weeks, its been rather interesting around here.

First, the amount of research required for my college class has been mildly ridiculous and taking up way too much of my time.

Second, issues at work caused us to have to start pulling shifts 24 hours a day. And I got stuck on night shift last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. So, I slept through Thanksgiving. And my body is now utterly and completely confused as to what time it should be awake/asleep.

Late Friday / early Saturday, as that was the one night I had off, I did a grocery run (yay 24 hour WalMart). There's an expressway that runs through town - only lasts from one end to the other, and its the quickest way for me to get to WalMart as I'm on the opposite end of town. As I was about to get on it, I saw some cop cars, lights going, turn on it. I contemplated taking some other road - never good to follow the blinky lights, right? Well, I followed the blinky lights.

Arrive on the scene of some accident, they've got the road closed, and so I sit there for a while. Then about half a dozen more blinky lights show up, and more cars are piling up behind me. Eventually they get the road closed off so that cars quit piling up. Then they get a ramp closed off so that we can get off the expressway.

Now, I was about the third car to get stopped. The first two were on the shoulder, and I got directed to pull behind them. Too easy. Then some guy pulls up behind me (left lane) so I pull into the middle lane so I can shimmy between him and the cars on the shoulder (backwards) to get where I was told to get. Well, this guy pulls right behind me, parking me in (crookedly) behind the first blinky lights. So I'm in a very awkward position.

For some reason, the trooper picks me to be the first person to try and turn around. Why he didn't start with the cars at the back is beyond me, so now I have to back up past about half a dozen cars, to include a cop car w/ door open, then try to make a u-turn in reverse, when the shoulder is all full of snow. At about 4AM. Then I had to negotiate an obstacle course of more blinky lights and flares to get off the stupid expressway.

According to the radio this morning, it was a suspected drunk driver who went through the guard rail and dropped 40 feet to a rail yard. Critical condition, suspected back injuries.

So much for me thinking that most of the drunken idiots would be off the roads by then.
Amanda on 11.30.09 @ 06:30 PM AKDT [link]


Wednesday, November 11th

Happy Veterans Day!


Yay federal holidays!

I spent my morning shopping. Got some curtains for the living room, to cover up the blinds (and help block heat transfer in front of the window). My pictures looked horrible, so I'm not posting them - the curtains look way better with my eyeballs than my camera. I hate taking pictures indoors. In any case, they're a medium dark beige (a smidge darker than my couch) with some shiny flowers, kindof asian looking. They don't contrast very much with the wallpaper on that wall, though. I had a heck of a time hanging the curtain rod... about 10 feet wide, and the brackets don't stick out from the wall as far as the blinds, so there's a bit of a lump towards the top. And because I put it higher than the blinds, the blinds kindof stick out at the bottom, but its still better than staring at blinds.

Though I will show you this one, should make Grandma happy (since I put Grandpa's birdhouse out, once I found these I knew they had to be displayed too):



Most of the pictures in the background should look familiar if you've visited my DeviantArt page. Except for the one of me and Belle.

The doily I finished crocheting just before having to pack all my stuff up. Oi, that thing felt like it took forever, and caused much cramping of the fingers.

I also got a little fountain, that is now happily gurgling away next to the TV. They had some that sprayed mist into the air, but I wasn't sure I really wanted that much of a humidifier effect (and its actually in my lease to not have a humidifier. Sounds like they've had issues in the past).

I also got an actual toaster. Now I can toast my bagels! :)
Amanda on 11.11.09 @ 07:40 PM AKDT [link]


Sunday, November 8th

Penguins




Happy now?
Amanda on 11.08.09 @ 03:52 PM AKDT [link]


Thursday, November 5th

Static and Answers


I hate static. With a passion. I think I zapped myself 3 times today just trying to turn on the TV. And about a half dozen while sitting down at the computer. And these are the really good zaps that you can feel for about 10 minutes.

You don't even want to know what my hair does when its brushed. Luckily the fact that I keep it braided through the night keeps it from getting too bad in the morning, since my hair still holds some moisture.

Yesterday morning we had a Class A (fancy uniform) inspection. I saw some fuzzies on my legs, so I brushed my pants real quick with a lint brush. BIG MISTAKE! I got attacked by static cling, big time. Luckily we were in the barracks and I snagged a dryer sheet and rubbed it on my socks.

Friggin' static.


Anywho, to answer Donna's questions:

so where do you go shopping? on base or in town? do you use your truck on base at all? do you have a garage for it? when you go to town, do you leave the truck running? maybe instead of running shoes, you need snowshoes for running. That would really keep your legs firm!!!!

Depends on what I'm shopping for. About the only thing that I get on base is military stuff and food, since the commissary tends to have some of the best prices, if not always the best selection. I do use my truck on base, that's how I get there! And I have to drive around to take care of odd stuff throughout the day. I do not have a garage, I just have an assigned parking spot. Here the assigned parking spot is very important because you control the power to your outlet that you plug your vehicle in at when its cold, for the engine block heater. I do not leave the truck running, its not quite that cold yet, and my truck warms up pretty quick. And then I would have to use one set of keys to keep it running, and my other set of keys to lock/unlock it, and that would get annoying. Funny you should mention snowshoes, because as we get some more snow, and it gets even colder, I'm told that we may do snowshoe or cross-country skiing for PT - we haven't been issued them for the season yet though.
Amanda on 11.05.09 @ 06:56 PM AKDT [link]


Tuesday, November 3rd

Daylight Savings Time


I'm fairly certain this is one of the most pointless places on the planet to bother with the whole Daylight Savings Time thing. We just did our "fall back" this weekend, and I can barely tell the difference. The sun doesn't actually peek above the horizon until almost 9AM, and I'm not sure when it sets because I'm still at work then. Because of the way that it kindof creeps along the horizon, moving more sideways than up and down, dawn and dusk last a really long time, so even though the sun isn't really up at 8am, its plenty light, same for when I go home at night. For now. In about a week it should be about the same as it was before we changed the clocks. I just don't get why we even bother. *sigh*

On another tangent:

According to the almighty Weather Channel, it is currently -4. (yes, you saw that right, more on that later) The low for the night: 1. Someone needs to check their math.

So, back to the temperature. Monday it was somewhere in the negative single digits when we were forming for PT. So did that slow us down any? Of course not! We went for a good old 3 mile run. At least the trail that we run on has been mostly cleared of last week's snow. This morning was a balmy 11 degrees. More running.

For the most part I don't have too much of a problem. Except for trying to breathe through my "neck gaiter" (think scarf, but a tube instead of having to wrap it around your head). And the fact that your average running shoe is largely made of mesh, so that your feet can breathe. Right now I don't really want any extra airflow to my feet. So I need to go shopping for some new running shoes. Which isn't too big a deal since I'm overdue a new pair anyway. It just means I have to actually make a decision on shoes, instead of getting the same shoes I've been wearing for the last 5 years.

Fun times. And it'll only get colder. Joy.
Amanda on 11.03.09 @ 08:24 PM AKDT [link]


Sunday, November 1st

Happy Halloween!


First off, let me apologize for being a little quiet. My company had a Halloween party Friday, and I was scrambling to get a costume together. I took a couple shortcuts to get it done on time, but it turned out OK. No, I don't have pictures, hopefully one of the other people that was running around with a camera managed to snag one of me. We'll see.

It snowed for a couple days straight last week. Which meant that, being the first snow to stick, everyone was driving retarded. I heard on the radio that there were more than 50 accidents, none serious. One guy in my company hit a patch of ice while taking a corner and clipped a school bus. *shakes head*

In all of the scrambling to get my costume wearable, I managed to get my apartment up to livable. Its not perfect, but there's not too many boxes still sitting around, and I've at least got most of my stuff in some semblance of organized. I definitely miss having a second bedroom, though. On the flip side, I am loving having a pantry.

So here's what its looking like:

The bedroom:



Yes, there is a nightstand on the other side of the bed, the lamp is not just floating in midair.

The living room:



And the kitchen:



I think I need a few more refrigerator magnets. :)
Amanda on 11.01.09 @ 02:27 PM AKDT [link]