The Last Train Home

Tonight we saw the film The Last Train Home. It's about a migrant family in China and the family dynamic that emerges from their rural-urban divide. It was interesting, and I'm particularly curious as to others' insights.

Postino Yumminess

Postino is one of my favorite places to dine in Arizona. And, my favorite item is the bruschetta. John and I like to get the brie and apple, prosciutto and figs, tomato jam, and salami with pesto bruschetta. Mmmm... my mouth is watering. So, while I can't take advantage of this offer that was emailed to me, many of you can... and I thought you might want to :) Happy Monday!

Scared Scriptless Coolness

Tonight was John’s first Scared Scriptless show. It was awesome!!!! We feel so supported here in Anchorage. Three of John’s co-workers and two of my co-workers PLUS their guests all came to support John. Then, John, and really the whole troupe rocked the show. Congrats John! I’m so proud of you.

Air Pressure

When I taught sixth grade science I taught about air pressure. I taught that cold air is high pressure (we visualized people who were cold crowding together for warmth) and warm air is low pressure (when you’re hot, you want people to get far away from you).

I posed the challenge question—“Why can’t you fly a hot air balloon in Phoenix in the middle of the day in the summer?” The answer is that the outside temperature has to be cold in order for the air blown into the balloon to be lighter/lower pressure than the regular air and to float.

Tonight I swung by Fred Meyer to get John a “congrats” balloon for his big debut. I carefully chose this particular balloon because it was fully inflated. By the time I got to the car, there was a full inch of depression and sag. What the heck?!

I realized that the cold air was compressing the balloon and the low pressure helium. How wild!

I left the balloon in the car and, by the time we got back to the car from the show, it looked like a 4 day old balloon. By this time, though, I’d figured out what was going on and told John. As soon as we got in the house and the balloon hit the warmer air, it filled right back out. You could hear the foil crackling as it expanded. I wish my 6th graders (who are now in high school!!) could see this :)

Fur Rondy Carnival

John took some neat pictures of some classic carnival rides, including the dreaded Gravitron. I loved the Gravitron when I was a kid UNTIL I rode it at the Mill Avenue New Year’s Party. I think I was about 10 and Mom let Kyle and I each choose 1 way over-priced ride before we left. I chose the Gravitron, which I’d been on before. Unfortunately, the ride operator decided to take a smoke break and left us on for over 10 minutes. By the time I got off the ride, I literally could not see. Mom had to come up the stairs to get me. Alas, no more Gravitron or serious motion rides for me… but the pictures are still great!

Fur Auction

The crux of Fur Rondy, theoretically, is the fur auction. Here are a few pictures from our brief visit there.

Incidentally, auctions are engrossing and, thankfully I don't have an excess of disposable income available to purchase furs... but, it brought back memories of my brother's Boy Scouts' cake auction. My dad and brother supposedly baked and decorated a cake (a dinosaur in a Boy Scout uniform--which I think my mom did most of the work on) and then it was part of a cake auction. My parents gave me authority to bid to a certain dollar amount and Kyle and I sat in the front and bid. Ahhh... adrenaline... I was ready to buy a wolverine and a blue fox and... thankfully John was there to rein me in ;)

World Championship Dog Sledding Races

Today we watched part of Day 2 of the World Championship of Dog Sled Races. Here are some pictures from the event:

What to Wear to Fur Rondy... to stay warm

The obvious answer to what to wear to Fur Rondy is fur, which is clearly what the people pictured here had in mind. (If you could see it from the front, the one's pelt actually has the face of a wolf and the other the face of a bear.)

John and I were about as comfortable as we could be without a Balaclava mask...

*I was wearing a thin sweater shirt and a down jacket, a hat with ear flaps (and occasionally, I had my hood up), sun glasses, a scarf, thin exercise pants with jeans over them, wool socks, a good pair of calf-high winter boots, and leather gloves. Changes I'll make for next week-- ski gloves that have more insulation and double socks.

*John had on an undershirt and hoodie, a cashmere coat, a hat that covered his ears, khaki pants, regular socks, winter boots, and leather gloves. He doesn't think he'll make any changes.

(You can tell from the difference of what we wore who the winter wimp is!!)

Oh, yeah, and lip balm... definitely lip balm, especially if it's windy.

Fur Rondy

Fur Rondy, which stands for Fur Rendezvous, is a giant festival. It used to revolve around sports competitions and fur sale, but now involves all sorts of fun events.

It started this past Thursday and will continue through next weekend. John and I checked it out today and can hardly wait for Fur Rondy part 2-- the start of the Iditarod, the Running of the Reindeer, and the Miners and Trappers Ball-- all of which we'll enjoy with Mom and Kerry!

Oscar Shorts

They were good... fun was had by all :)

My predicted winner: Day and Night

My favorite: tie-- Madagascar, because it was beautiful artistically, and The Gruffalo, because I enjoyed it the most


Day and Night--


Madagascar--


and a clip of... The Gruffalo--


Honorable Mentions (including the film shown as a "highly commended" but not actually nominated)--

1) A clip of "Let's Pollute," a nominees--


2) A clip of "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger," one of the highly commendeds--

An Honor

My student's father is an Alaska Native of the Inupiaq tribe and an experienced guide who has developed a book of his photography. He ordered a proof book, which arrived today.

At 4:45pm, my student's father came into my classroom with his book in his hand. He's headed to Seattle soon to pitch it to a publisher, and I'd hoped to see it eventually. Instead, he brought the proof in and asked me if I'd look at it. He was eager to share it and it was an honor to be invited to look at this book. He showed me and the librarian. We were some of the first people to see it. This was an incredibly welcoming gesture that helped me feel a part of the Alaska community.

If you'd like to know more about the Inupiaq tribe or see a video from my student's father (it's in the "watch video" section to the right), you can click on this link.

Oscars Coming Soon

Today my friend and co-worker, Lori, told me about the Out North Art House. Apparently each year, Out North screens the Oscar-nominated short films. I've seen "Day and Night," but not the other films. John and I got tickets and are excited to see the shorts! I'll let you know how they are.

P.S.--I'm not sure of what the "rules" for Oscar short films are... however, if you haven't seen it, you can watch the uber creepy "The Millhaven Curse" from one of my earlier posts. I would have thought it Oscar-worthy-- so we'll see how tomorrow's films compare.

Live from Anchorage-- It's the Supreme Court!

In 2010, the Alaska Supreme Court introduced "Supreme Court Live". It's a program where the Justices hear one (or maybe more--I'm not actually sure) in front of high school students. It's so cool... I would have wanted to go if they'd done this in Arizona when I was in high school. Here's information from last year from the ADN. As a clerk, John was able to attend today. He took these 2 pictures from before the proceedings.

Interesting Timing

As you may, or may not, recall-- John became a trial member of Scared Scriptless, our local-- and funny, improv group. John has been practicing with the troupe and attending shows for several months and THIS Saturday is John's first performance. I am very excited :)

Then, this morning, I wake up and check Groupon... and there is Scared Scriptless. Today's Groupon is Scared Scriptless! How crazy ;) It's the first time that John has performed and the first time that the Groupon has been for a non-chain that we'd actually attended before.

I think it must be a "sign" of awesomeness to come!

Why we had his pasta sauce...

John made his pasta sauce a couple weeks ago. We ate about half of the sauce last time and froze the rest.

We'd planned to have this Curry Butternut Squash Soup that I made in October. After I cooked it, I couldn't stand the texture or the smell... I put it in the freezer and planned to use it as a curry sauce for shrimp and rice later. I like curry; I really do. However, this was *disgusting*. I defrosted it, put it on the stove, took one whiff, and finally, finally abandoned this soup. Imagine curry baby food... BLECH!!! Just say no!

John's Would-Be World Famous Pasta Sauce

A couple weeks ago John made us a pasta sauce from (canned) scratch. It was delicious and would be world famous if everyone could taste it. Alas, you will have to make it for yourself or come visit us...

INGREDIENTS--
1-2 T. olive oil
1/4 onion- diced
1 large can fire roasted and stewed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
spicy pepper sauce (the Asian condiment)
Italian seasoning
garlic powder
salt
pepper
pre-cooked and seasoned ground beef or turkey (We cooked this separately for use in soup and had a half pound-ish left over. We cooked it with salt, pepper, garlic, and taco seasoning, then strained it.)

First, in a large skillet, add 1-2 T. olive oil and the diced onion. Stir over medium heat until translucent. Add the pre-cooked ground beef and stir.

Add the stewed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir.

Add the seasonings to taste.

Continue stirring until heated through.

Add pasta and yummmmmm.

Disappointment TBA

Tonight John, Joe, and I went to see The Comedy of Errors put on by the TBA Theater Company. It was a production of the Shakespearean script, as written, but set in pirate-times.

The theater itself was difficult to find. The play was performed in Grant Hall on the campus of Alaska Pacific University. APU is just Northeast of UAA; so, it's a bit hard to see where one ends and the other begins and APU's building aren't very well labeled. That said, we did find the theater in time and got good seats in the small, but well equipped venue.

Both actors for the Dromios and the actor who played Antipholus of Syracuse did a really nice job, and the actress in the role of Luciana was also good... but the rest of the cast faltered frequently.

The whole performance was off-kilter--it just didn't come together, there were too many weak links. By intermission, we'd had enough. Although we felt a little guilty, we bailed and went to eat dinner, missing the second act. Hopefully it improved for the more tenacious theater-goers.

100 Days of Downtown Dining

Instead of "Restaurant Week"--like in many other big cities, Anchorage has 100 Days of Downtown Dining.

RURE

I didn't want to say anything until after my interview-- so only Mom, Dad, and John knew (and some co-workers who wrote letters)... but, I applied for the Rose Urban Rural Exchange-- Educator Cross Cultural Immersion Program, i.e.: I applied for a mouthful ;)

The program is sponsored by the Alaska Humanities Forum and is an opportunity for educators to visit rural parts of Alaska to learn about different Alaska Native cultures. The exchange program involves flying to a village and, for 5-10 days, attending a culture camp led by Elders to teach their tribal youth about their culture. You, essentially, get to sit in as the tribal traditions are passed from one generation to the next.

What you get to learn varies vastly from camp to camp... you can see the different camps and what they focus on by clicking on the camp diary map.

Anyway, I applied last Friday and was contacted Monday to schedule an interview. I had my interview yesterday. I won't find out if I'm invited until late March. I really hope I get it... it's truly a once in a lifetime opportunity... but am trying to put it out of my mind until I hear one way or another. Please think good thoughts, as then I'd really have a lot to share!

Matting

John ordered some State Park/WPA and vintage Disney posters this summer. We brought frames back from IKEA and had them matted locally. I'll post pictures when we get them up. (We got into a serious stalemate with the IKEA frames...ugh.)

In the meantime, feel free to check out the cool pictures from their websites...

Vintagraph-- we have the Carlsbad one and the Arches... and have a few more from elsewhere that Dad gave us

Poster 57-- we have the Matterhorn and the People Mover... makes me miss Disneyland

Yikes!

People all over the world are reading the junk I write. Why? I have no idea. I'm utterly flattered, but utterly boring. Thank you for reading... even though I don't say all that much of interest :)

Eagles

Only in Alaska (at least, I think only in Alaska) would a school whose mascot is an eagle actually have a stuffed bald eagle in the school.

Last week, when I was at West High School for Battle of the Books, I saw their mascot-- a stuffed bald eagle. Unreal.

Then today, while I was on bus duty, Jeannette pointed up in a tall tree and showed me a bald eagle... on our campus. Again, unreal.

What's black and blue...

...and white everywhere else? It's not a newspaper! (I never really got that joke). It's me!

Yesterday, I was walking down some stairs when I slipped (again, revisit the Home Alone video) and landed flat on the left side of my bum.

On one hand (not the left one, that also hit the ground) I'm SO, SO thankful that I did not land in any other way or on any other body part. On the other hand (probably the left one), I have a bruise on my bum that is bright purple and is larger than my hand can cover.

I alternate being incredibly thankful with incredibly sore. It's a deep bruise that makes sitting, standing, and walking all painful. To add to this-- I have parent-teacher conferences this week. Ugh!--long days of sitting on my rear (otherwise I like the conferences thankfully).

Anyway John saved me tonight by picking me up early from my evening-- my Aleve wore off (how about "almost" all day strong??) and I was in serious pain. So John braved Hayden's obedience lessons and picking up pizza for us all on his own.

NO-meo and Juliet and Ronnie

John and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going to see Gnomeo and Juliet. The few funny parts from the film are covered in the previews. Its one saving grace is the Elton John music throughout (He's the executive producer.). To add to the irritation was the running narration provided by the people sitting behind us. To give you an idea--I thought perhaps someone in their party was blind... they read EVERYTHING! EVERY sign-- "Montague and Capulet-- ha ha ha" "or thereabouts-- ha ha ha" and announced every event-- "they're throwing blueberries" or "she's stuck"... so rotten-- be quiet!

After Gnomeo and Juliet we went for sushi. We visited a place our Anchorage hair stylist recommended-- Ronnie's Sushi. So far, the best sushi in Anchorage by far! The rice and fish are fresh and the rolls are very thick. Yum :) It made up for the movie! (As a side note, the restaurant walls are filled with pictures of customers with head sushi chef Ronnie. The 2 "featured" pictures were of Ron Jeremy, the porn star, and Lisa Murkowski, the senator.)

More than anything-- John and I got to spend Valentine's Day together.

We both hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Battle of the Books-- from the news

These aren't my students, but the Anchorage Daily News covered Battle of the Books.

Idioms

Idioms are tricky... and sometimes we make them tricky.

Yesterday while I was at Battle of the Books, my sub had a little difficulty with one of my students. (This was the same student who was almost $2 poorer and a mustache richer.) Anyway, she told him to glue his butt in the chair for the rest of the day.

My ever-so-creative student, who knew perfectly well what she meant, decided to put glue all over his chair. The sub caught him before he sat in the glue and had him clean it all up. So, it was mostly a wonderfully good laugh for me the day after. Needless to say, the sub characterized her choice of words as "regrettable".

Home Alone

Remember the movie? The scene where Marv struggles to walk down the slick stairs?



Our stairs are so, so icy... it's the first time they've been seriously icy. I had the image of that stair scene going through my head. Thank goodness the roads aren't nearly so icy!! Anyway, we both managed not to fall. I went back out and used our table salt on the stairs (we didn't have any other salt or sand). I wasn't sure if it would work... I was pleased to see, on the Morton's website, that apparently it does.

Battle of the Books

Phew. Today we had our Battle of the Books competition. It was super stressful from a logistics standpoint, but it all went smoothly. My kids had fun and I learned a lot. Kind of reminds me of Oktoberfest... except for with kids and without beer... but the fulfilling exhaustion that follows. We'll celebrate next week :)

Wet Floors

In Arizona, if a bathroom floor is wet, I (if possible) go find another bathroom. Not in Anchorage. It has taken me 2 months to adjust to the fact that a wet bathroom floor most often just means people traipsing in with snowy boots. It's funny how conditioned we become ;)

The Postal Service

Apparently Nelson is trying to mail himself. I've explained that a shoebox (particularly one he doesn't fit in) isn't an appropriate mailing box... but he doesn't seem to care. Perhaps he's seeking warmer weather??? Little does he know that this doesn't typically go real well. [Here's a story that features a picture of Kyle and Tracy's dog, Taro (although he's not related to the photo)... don't worry it doesn't end badly, thankfully!]

Here's Nelson's "too-cute-not-to-share picture"...



And... this is Hayden's "what-about-me picture"...

Barnes and Noble Groupon

I know I mentioned Groupon before, but right now there's a great deal in the Anchorage Groupon. It's $10 for a $20 Barnes and Noble gift card. We definitely purchased one for ourselves and are looking forward to spending ours on a new game :)

The Northern Lights

Last night John and I almost drove out of town last night because we heard it was a great night to view the Northern Lights.

It's actually more complicated than that... It was a very clear night last night, which would make it *perfect* to view IF there was anything to see.

Fortunately we checked the Geophysical Institute and saw that there was a very low probability of any aurora action.

What are the Northern Lights? Here's some information from The Northern Lights Centre in Canada.

What are Northern Lights?

The bright dancing lights of the aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere. The lights are seen above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. They are known as 'Aurora borealis' in the north and 'Aurora australis' in the south..
Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are the most common. Shades of red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have been reported. The lights appear in many forms from patches or scattered clouds of light to streamers, arcs, rippling curtains or shooting rays that light up the sky with an eerie glow.

More information from "Everyday Mysteries" and the Library of Congress.

Vega

We saw Suzanne Vega perform tonight. (This was the subject of a few comments this summer.) It was a great concert. I got to hear 2 favorites...



and



Though I have to say learning that "Blood Makes Noise" is about a panic attack sort of dimmed my juvenile joy on this one.


...but missed the third.



Of course, much to John's disappointment (but not surprise), she also played "Tom's Diner".

We felt it...

Last night about 8:30pm there was an earthquake. The details are below... but (and very thankfully) so far, when we've felt earthquakes we always think it's something else. I thought Hayden was scratching herself and just kicking the couch. So you can imagine the feeling. My sincere hope is we never have to feel anything stronger! (To give some perspective on this map, the epicenter was 36 miles SSW of Anchorage.)

The Weather

I never, ever expected that it would be colder (or, at least, as cold) in Phoenix as in Anchorage. NEVER! And yet... this was Wednesday's forecast. Burrr. The sun is the big clue that the top is Phoenix.

Reservation to talk about weather

I'm definitely coming back to talk about the crazy AZ vs. AK weather... warmer here than there!!! But, I've got a really rotten headache and had a fever last night... so, I'm holding my place to talk about this later. Hope you're staying warm!

Groundhog's Day

...apparently doesn't mean a whole lot to Alaskan kids. They evidently don't care whether a glorified rodent see his shadow or not. At first I thought it was because winter is what it is here and for as long as it wants. But then, I remembered that Arizona winter is relatively meaningless on the other side of the spectrum. (Except for today... more later.) So, what gives? Unclear... but interesting anyway.

$2

Tom (pictured at left) is our school's music teacher. My students had music today. As we're walking out of music class, one of my students turns to Tom and says, "I'll give you $2 for your mustache." Needless to say, Tom didn't take him up on the offer... even though I warned him he wouldn't be getting an offer like that again soon ;)