Eric The Nome

Rambling thoughts

2009-03-07T18:40:00.002-09:00

I really have no thought process in mind for this post. There isn't anything really going on worthy of a post all to itself.

The weather here has been insane in the past month. We're in the process of getting what seems like our 5 or 6th blizzard in the past 4 or 5 weeks. It's important to understand that the term "blizzard" isn't thrown around here like in other places. For example, I walked into someones backyard this weekend. Sounds normal, except that I walked right over an 8 foot fence on top of the snowfall.

Liz and my's apartment is coming along very nicely. She got us an area rug in Anchorage because we hated the dog hair infested one that came with the place. Not to mention it was ugly. This one has moose, fish, canoes and other outdoorsy stuff on it. Very cool.

We've also acquired some art for our bare white walls. A large piece of baleen, a piece of walrus bone with a mask carving, an orca whale carved from baleen and ivory, and a framed commemorative photo and stamps from Alaska's 50th anniversary.

That's about it for now I guess. Sorry nothing exciting to writte about :)

Fairbanks

2009-02-20T19:46:00.003-09:00

Good evening from Fairbanks, Alaska! Right now I'm killing time before taking Liz to the airport in a couple hours. She's going to Anchorage tomorrow and I'll follow tomorrow morning.

I have some pictures to share from our time here the past couple days:

1. A street in North Pole, Alaska. It's Christmas year round here, with a name like that how can't it be!

2. The Christmas Wendy's. Out front is an ice sculpture celebrating Alaska's 50th year of statehood.

3. Fairbanks. A view of Fairbanks from the hills outside of town along the North Steese Highway.

4. Liz and I at the Alaska Pipeline.

5. Me with a sculpture at the pipeline. The silver line running down the state is how line the pipeline is.

King Crab or Subway?

2009-02-17T20:01:00.003-09:00

Tonight Liz and I enjoyed one of the benefits of living in such a remote place. The meal above of eggs benedict and king crab was cheaper than a dinner at:

You can be jealous if you want :)

2009-02-13T01:19:00.004-09:00

Since I slept in so late today, and I can't go to sleep now it seems, I thought I'd add some 'original content' to the blog. Here's a picture of me standing next to a drift beside my house. When this picture was taken, it had been snowing for about 6 hours I'd say. It wouldnt surprise me if that drift is much taller tomorrow after a full night of snowing and wind. There was a guy in town a few months ago that kept telling me how "6 inches of snow is nothing compared to Minnesota" where he was from. Of course it isn't, but throw in 35-40 mph wind for 12 hours, and 6 inches quickly becomes over 6 feet, moron.

Anyway, here's a short video I took while I was out with the camera. I really didn't mind the wind because it's fairly warm outside (18ish), but the snow was killin me when it hit my face. If there's some cool drifts tomorrow, I'll head out and take some more pictures.

Blizzard Time Killer

2009-02-12T19:08:00.002-09:00

We're in the midst of another blizzard. I'm sitting in what will be my home this summer waiting for Liz to get here. Problem is, she's out on a search and rescue and there's no way of knowing when she'll get back. Blizzards here are no joke, and it's not uncommon for someone to go missing during one. Thankfully, our town and region in general have dedicated people to help those when they need it most. I'm certainly proud of Liz for helping to keep Western Alaska safe!

I mentioned previously that I may be going to Fairbanks and Anchorage next week, now it's officiall. I'm leaving Thursday morning and returning Sunday afternoon. Liz will be with me up till Friday night, it'll really be nice to spend some time outside Nome with her :)

Losin it?

2009-02-08T23:03:00.004-09:00

Well it's about that time again, I'm starting to go stir crazy. Living in such a small town isolated by hundreds of miles of ice in all directions, it wears on you after a while. In previous "stints" living up here, I had no way to get out and regain my sanity, but thankfully, those times are no more! Next week I'm going to fly with Liz to Fairbanks for a couple days, then spend a day in Anchorage by myself on the way home. She's going to Fairbanks for work and I'm just kind of tagging along. It's amazing what justa few days outside of Nome can do. I think that'll recharge my battery and I'll be able to make it to spring no problem!

Get on with it!

2009-02-03T10:47:00.002-09:00

I mentioned a few days ago that we're waiting for Mount Redoubt to erupt. Well, we're still waiting. There's frequent small earthquakes at the volcano going on, but no eruption yet. A glacier on the side of the mountain is melting quickly though, which is a sign of great heat being built up beneath the surface.

Aside from checking ADN daily to see if it's blown yet, there's not much going on in Nome. This morning a lady that was up here to film a reality show flew out. She works for a company that produces Ace of Cakes and they're putting together a piece to try to sell for a reality show about Nome. I talked to her briefly and she mentioned A&E, Discovery, and TLC as possible channels that may be interested in the show. I don't know exactly how I feel about the idea of cameras running around my town..if it was done correctly and didn't go out of it's way to portray us in a negative light, it might be cool. Personally I think they're continuing to drill the "Alaska" well dry for reality programming. Deadliest Catch, Tougher in Alaska, etc have been popular, so now it's Nome's turn I guess. We'll see. I'd rather they come in the summer and focus on the gold mining on the beach, or something else kind of away from the town, and not the town itself.

Winter

2009-01-29T22:19:00.003-09:00

I remember my first go around in Nome, the darkness of the winter really got to me. I didn't know it at the time, but I was pretty unhappy and irritable. This year I've done much better I think at handling my mood and emotions during this time of prolonged darkness. Here's a picture of "high" noon in Nome during one of the darkest times of year.

2009-01-27T10:37:00.002-09:00

In December, Liz and I got engaged while we were both in Fairbanks for work. I had planned on buying her engagement ring while I was there, but I hadn't really planned on proposing there. Early in the trip it became clear that it was going to be very difficult to sneak away long enough to pick the ring up, and even harder to keep it hidden during our trip and on the flights home. So in order to keep the element of surprise, I picked the ring up on my lunch and proposed as soon as I got back to the hotel. I owned the ring less than 20 minutes before it was on her finger!

Since then everything has been kind of a whirlwind. Wedding planning fills a lot of our downtime lately, as I imagine it will up to the wedding day. We'll be getting married on July 18th, 2009 up here in Nome. A lot of thinking went into how to go about he wedding, and we felt a wedding in Alaska is definitely what we wanted. This is our home, and we want to remember it as the place where we met and got married.

Since my last big writing, Liz was promoted at the college. She's now the Registrar of the U of Alaska Fairbanks NW Campus! Very exciting stuff. More responsibility and more work, but much better pay and more flexible hours. Well, more flexible than working the front desk was anyway. Her raise, coupled with our marriage in 6 months, has led to a new apartment for her now, and me after the wedding! It's all you could want in an apartment located in Alaska. Fresh air exchange system, heated wood floors, vaulted ceilings, etc. She's living there now and once we're married, I'll move in. It's a really nice place to start off in!

Work is going really well for me out here. Each day I read the news and see the economy in the tanks, I thank God I made the jump from retail to government when I did. The job I came up here for used to be one that was very hard to fill across the country, but that's changing quickly. It's something I love doing, and carries with it very good job security.

I love how much traveling I've been able to do in the past 8 months. I've been to Chicago twice, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and New York City, and Newark, NJ. It's amazing how much travelcomes into your life when you live so far away from everything.

Vacation courtesy of Mother Nature?

2009-01-25T19:30:00.005-09:00

Well, it looks like I might be getting some unexpected time off of work. Yesterday morning there was a 5.7 or something like that earthquake in southern Alaska near this volcano, Mount Redoubt. Apparently all the signs of an upcoming eruption are there, so we're all watching and waiting to see what happens. If it DOES erupt, it could launch tons of ash into the air around Anchorage, effectivly grounding many flights in and out of the state's main hub.

Airplanes can't fly through ash (I'm not an avation expert, but I imagine it messes up with the engines), and considering the happenings in New York this month, I imagine they'd be extra careful for safety's sake. Below is Mount Augustine in Alaska during an eruption. You can see how easy it is to screw up the flight patterns of commercial jets: You gotta love mother nature!

Reset

2009-01-25T19:27:00.003-09:00

Well, I certainly slacked off a little on updating this thing, didn't I? I've gotten rid of everything and have decided to just start fresh. A few new chapters have opened in my life, which I'll write about soon. Just wanted to let everyone or anyone know I'm still up here and life is going very well!