This weekend I went to the camp my church operates. I was a cook helper in the kitchen during the Deaf retreat. It was a great deal of fun and a great deal of work. I had no idea how much work it was to keep 40 people fed. We'd finish one meal, get it cleaned up, and immediately start the next meal or snack. My signing had been deteriorating from lack of use, but it improved greatly this weekend. One of the most important signs was, of course, coffee. We kept a pot going at all times. There were lots of incredibly cool people to meet and talk with (hearing and Deaf). I even managed a few conversations in sign without any help. I might try attending Deaf church and/or Bible Study (in our regular church just a different room). And camp is just beautiful, so even with all the work in the kitchen, I had an amazing time. I really enjoyed the work in the kitchen; I loved working with the other cooks. One of the other cooks and I drove out late due to work commitments. (And the drive is incredible - see the picture section for more detail). We got there and the gas wasn't working (which means no stove, no oven, and no hot water. They did get it sorted out. Camp has its own generator for power, its own well (pumped up by the generator), and a propane tank for heated water and cooking. I gather when the head cook showed up the desperately hungry men had decided that since the oven wasn't working, they would cook their pizzas over a fire. Yes, brilliant. They basically ruined a pan. Cooking was delicious once the equipment started working and the head cook took over. So much yummy food, so much fun. It rained the whole weekend and was gloriously muddy. The sun finally came out on Sunday as we were packing to leave, but it didn't matter. The whole weekend was almost perfect - I even only got one mosquito bite (which is a basic miracle).

( click for more pictures and descriptions )

So in closing, I had a great weekend. I was severely sleep deprived, but I had today off work so I got caught up on sleeping and errands.

I have not been complaining. I've been smiling and going with it. Summer has been colder and more overcast and rainier than I expected, but I was not going to be complaining. This is in line with one of my new mottoes - Don't Be Wimpy! So I didn't complain and then the natives started complaining. That's when I learned that this is an abnormally cold and rainy summer. Actually we're currently the second coldest summer on record. If we don't get over 65 for another 10 days (we didn't yesterday and we won't today), we'll be the coldest summer on record. Last year there were 23 days that went over 70, this summer so far we have had 3. Lots of rain the last two weeks especially. I tried to go to a ball game (Alaskan Baseball League) but it got rained out. Sadly.

However I have been enjoying myself. This weekend I am going to "Camp" which is the camp operated by my church for Bible Camps and the like. I'm going to cook and be an extra hand in the kitchen for the Deaf retreat. I'm very excited. It's still cold and rainy, but it will nice to be out of the city and just relax.

So I haven't posted in two weeks, and it has been a doozy of a two weeks. It included a trip to Seattle, and my parents coming up here. Thus I will give you the details in a bulleted list format that allows me some laxity in chronological order.

• Went to Seattle to see my sister get graduated from University of Washington. She is now the proud processor of a bachelor's degree in math. Go Susan! Graduation was a bit of a spectacle though.
  
• While in Seattle with my whole family, we went to a winery tour. Drank lots of yummy wine. And we saw a beautiful peacock at full spread. He was showing off for some lady friends and it was quite impressive.
  
• After trying and trying to find a restaurant after graduation with less than a three hour wait for dinner, anything not big and chainy, not that there is anything wrong with those restaurants, we just wanted something more special. But we also were very hungry. And we eventually ended up at... Olive Garden. Oh well, it was good.
  
• Mom and Dad left early Sunday morning to catch a train to Vancouver and their Alaskan cruise. John left a little later for Kansas City, leaving Susan and I there to play.
  
• Susan and I shopped, and I enjoyed the variety of stores not available here. I got some clothes, shoes, and kick-butt sunglasses.
  
• One of things about being in Seattle with my sister was the chance to see the Sex and the City movie with her. We'd waited to see it with each other. It was a ton of fun. I didn't love every minute, but it was good. Definitely a movie for the fans.
  
• Also in Seattle was my friend Jeff. Jeff is a friend from library school who now lives in Texas. He was in Seattle to go to a library conference. We met up, saw the space needle, and ate dinner.
  
• It turns out I like guacamole and sour cream. I have always thought I disliked them and requested them off of tex-mex or Mexican food. Or I scraped them off. I tried them, and I liked them. Very much. Coolness. I would make my own guac except produce is ridiculously expensive up here. I will end up doing it some time though.
  
• Came home Monday evening from Seattle. Proceeded to work my butt off Tuesday through Saturday. I also cleaned frantically Saturday night and was up a bit later than intended. That made my early departure on Sunday a bit more painful.
  
• Left early Sunday morning to drive to Seward (2+ hours south of Anchorage) to pick parents up from cruise boat. I used my super cool coffee cup that plugs into the cigarette lighter and thus I had warm coffee the entire drive. It was a pretty drive, but also very windy around cliffs and it was raining so I was focused very much on not going off the side of the road. Picked up Mom and Dad no problem.
  
• We did some stuff in Seward. Ate lunch at a little diner that was sadly out of caribou burgers, went to a quilt store, etc.
  
• We went and explored Exit Glacier and they we took an "ididaride". In an Ididaride we explored a kennel of a family of Iditarod racers. We took a ride in a wagon behind a team of dogs. Our lead dog was a three time Iditarod finisher. Then we learned about the equipment at the Iditarod and got to play with some adorable puppies.
  
• Took mom and dad on the long drive back to Anchorage. Got back to Anchorage, explored the city a teensy bit, picked up some of mom and dad's lost luggage from the cruise, etc.
  
• Monday morning we headed to Denali in hopes of seeing Mount McKinley. It was rainy the entire time so we couldn't see the mountain, however it was a really nice bus tour we took. (They only let you drive in so far into the park.) Saw lots of pretty stuff.
  
• The Denali trip was a birthday gift from my parents. It was great. My actual bday was rather a bust. I worked and one of my last patrons of the day was a complete jerk who cursed me out and called me names. It happens. We also celebrated my bday and father's day as well as Susan's graduation in Seattle. And both Denali and Seattle were awesome.
  
• We stayed in Talkeetna at an adorable Bed and Breakfast. I slept in a loft.
  
• Drove back Tuesday morning in time to have lunch at my apartment and for me to work the afternoon while parents played around. We picked up a halibut pizza from Moose's Tooth (an Alaskan specialty) and ate dinner at my place while parents packed. Drove them to the airport and came home and collapsed.
  
• While I worked the rest of the week, I collapsed each day. After sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night for five nights I am beginning to feel normal again. Those two weeks really and totally took it out of me.
  

Perhaps I really didn't need a list to tell that story. But I like lists so I used one.

It turns out I'm not dead. I've just been busy. Summer is always the busiest time of day at a children's section of a public library. Loads of extra programs. In addition, it's been nice in the evening and I've been elsewise engaged or uninterested in journalling. But now I sit in an airport with wifi and nothing else to do. I'm too tired to do much else. It's 1am here in Anchorage. Flights live Anchorage in the middle of the night so that you can get somewhere else at a reasonable time considering long flight times and time differences.. I'll arrive in Seattle at 7amI'm really starting to understand why this is called the land of the midnight sun. When I left my house just past midnight it was still light out. Not full light, but very light. Definitely early twilight or a bit lighter than that. Very cool.

I'm heading off this middle of the night to Seattle. My sister is graduating from the University of Washington. Go Susan! My whole family will be there which will be great fun. John gets in a couple hours later than me so I believe the plan is to go get breakfast than return for him. We'll hang out as a family, celebrate Susan's graduation, father's day, and my birthday all in one swoop. (Total side note, my work department celebrated my bday this week and sent me home with half a cheesecake, both a curse and a blessing.) Mom and Dad will leave on Saturday for an Alaskan cruise (booked before I moved up here). I'll stay til Monday evening to hang out with Susan. Then my parents will be up in Alaska for a few days. We're going to Denali (I just asked for the days off) and we'll see Mt. McKinley (tallest mountain in North America). It should be great fun and I'm hugely looking forward to seeing my family again.

Now I'm sitting here trying to remember if I turned my lights off. Surely I did so. It was just enough dark that I had lights on for safety. However I haven't had to put my lights on in so many weeks that I'm out of the habit of turning them off. The car would have beeped at me, right? But I was so focused on getting into the airport with my baggage that I might have not heard it. Grrr... This is going to dry me crazy. I most likely turned them off. I definitely turned around and hit my beeper a second time to double check the car lock. And I'm pretty sure that I saw the lights flash on then. I need to put aside this obsessive worrisome part of me and LET IT GO. I just want to get on the plane and go to sleep.

Well gang, we're in Canada. People keep laughing when they ask where we're going and we say "anchorage". And they sort of ask why I would move to Anchorage in January. I am beginning to wonder that too. The weather has been relatively balmy in Anchorage (30 F) while very cold on the plains that we drove across. We drove today from Sioux Falls, SD to Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. It's a decent sized city, about 32,000 people, hotels with internet access. The temperature was very cold when we started (5 F) and dropped all day. At one point we got to NEGATIVE 3 to NEGATIVE 7 and stayed there for hours. It actually got warmer when we got into Canada. By the time we stopped for the day we were UP to 9 F. It was above zero, we'll take it. We heard one forecast for -34 and almost flipped, until we realized it is metric. Today has been a lot of converting in our heads.

Getting into Canada was interesting. The guy was interested in why I didn't have tags on my car (because I just bought it and don't plan to register it until I reach my new residence in Alaska). He didn't ask to see the health certificate for the cat. When he asked about weapons, he mentioned pepper spray and I said I had a can on my keychain (Dad gave it to me). They made me surrender the pepperspray before they let me in the country. Oh well, not a big deal. I got in and that was exciting. Manitoba looks just like North Dakota which looks just like South Dakota which looks just like Iowa. It is flat, farms, and packed or blowing snow. The dirt is really black in the Dakotas and that is your only difference. We drove past DeSmet, South Dakota (home of Laura Ingalls Wilder where many of the books are based). I had thought about stopping, but we really couldn't spare the time. Some other trip.

We made it about 650 miles today. We didn't get a very early start (something we plan to rectify tomorrow) and we got really slowed down when we hit Canada. Mom and I almost croaked when we saw our first Canadian speed limit sign and it was 100 km/hr. I glanced down at my spedometer at the little numbers that are km instead of miles and realized that is around 60-65 km/hr. That is 15-20 less miles per hour than we had been getting. It is sooooo frustrating because the road is straight, well paved, two lane divided, clear, and straight as an arrow. I could easily do 80 mph on it. Grrr! This may make my trip longer.

Jane Austen the Cat is doing well. In the mornings we let her out, she "explores the car" and then crawls into my lap to cuddle for a few minutes. Soon she is back in her carrier. Her carrier is propped up so she can see out the window and we'll leave the flap open so she can crawl out. She will poke her head out every so often, once maybe twice she'll climb out, but she always goes back to her carrier and just sits in it and watches out the window. When she is in my lap, she makes the truckers laugh. Mostly she just loves to watch out the window (same as at home) or sleep.

Bed now. Updates when I can. Photos when the scenery gets more interesting.

I'm in Seattle visiting my fabulous sister (michaeljfoxfan). She never updates her journal, but there it is. We (my mother and I) flew in Thursday and just sort of hung out. Yesterday, we went to a chocolate factory, a winery, a library (but not the big Seattle library - that's today), Susan's campus (University of Washington), Microsoft campus (where brother-in-law works) etc. The winery was great. At first I wasn't sure which one it was. And then I realized we were going to Chateau Ste. Michelle. When we got there, I recognized the labels as being a wine I have previously consumed. The tour was interesting (and smelled great) and ended with trying of three wines with some education about tasting/smelling/etc. I have had some of that type of education before, but I always learn more and appreciate more. The wine was really good. Then Susan and I did a tasting with four more wines. Even after tasting portions of only three wines, Mom was feeling it, so she dropped out before the additional four. Susan and I had a total of seven wines (tasting portions). Yummy wines. I bought some Chocolate Port Wine sauce for ice cream/cheesecake that I can't wait to try. Most (all) of the wines are available at my local liquor store. I also got to have dinner with adrinna and meet her boyfriend Ian which was fabulous. It was good to see her. I wonder if there is anyway to consolidate all my people to one place? Except then I'd have no one to visit and I love to travel.

Seattle is just beautiful (by Seattle I mean the entire area since Susan lives in a suburb). It helps that this is (apparently) the prettiest time of the year. All green and mountains and water. I'm such a child of the midwest that anytime I get anywhere near an ocean I want seafood. And we've had some delicious seafood. Yummmm.... Could I move here? Perhaps... I like the pretty area, but I am not sure about the area culture wise. Perhaps though. I need to stay where I am for a while for career reasons, and I just made a Junior League commitment so not now. But this area is a nice calming place.

I brought my camera with me (my pretty new camera) and took (and am taking) pictures. This should also answer the "what does my haircut look like" question.
( clicky here for a couple of pictures )

Tomorrow I'm off to Seattle with my mom to see my sister (and her husband who is also very cool). I'm quite exctied. There will be a winery, a chocolate factory, and the Seattle Public Library (which was a big deal in the library world when it opened, is supposed to be either very "revolutionary" or "weird" depending on your point of view). And yes, in order, those are my priorities: family, winery, chocolate factory, public library, good seafood, the rest of the city.

And I'll see Bri!

This weekend was nice, I worked a bunch so not as restful, though I do therefore get to take comp time for part of this vacation.

huckleberrycake and I had a Bourne marathon. Saturday night we watched the first movie because I couldn't remember it. I couldn't remember if I'd seen the second one at all. We were going to watch it, but we kept getting caught up talking (which happens to us rather a lot and is why we almost never make it through movies, too much to say), and it got too late. I took the second one home and watched it. Turns out I hadn't seen it. Then on Monday we went to the Theatre to see the third one.

The entire time we were sitting there making little fists and pumping them in the air, bouncing in the seats, and cheering for Jason Bourne (mostly pretty quietly). We're such geeks. One movie website I read describes him as the "thinking man's action hero". That seems pretty much about right to me. Jason Bond is too polished, too smooth, and seems to operate a lot on luck, gadgetry, and such. Bourne is just cool. He thinks, he always thinks, he never turns it off. Everything he does, every move he makes is a completely calculated thing and he never misses a beat. He's smart and he knows how to use any situation to his advantage. He can use anything as a weapon (in the third movie he beat a guy up with a book), and it is just an awesome thing to watch. Plus he's unbelievably hot, attractive, handsome, etc. Matt Damon is pretty much incredibly cute, but in the character of Jason Bourne, he just sizzles. Yummy.

Someone expressed surprised that I like action movies, but I do like them. I also really enjoy big scifi blockbuster type things. Pretty much what I don't like is gross/stupid humor (see Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, Something About Mary, and pretty much anything that stares either Jim Carey or a Saturday Night Alum). I also like horror movies, but I can't handle them. I always think I can handle them, but I can't. I end up at home, with the hall light on, and my laptop for a nightlight, singing/praying my terrified self to sleep. Part of the problem is I do believe in devils, demons, and evil spirits. Just as I believe in God, I believe in the existence of the devil and his ability to control and command demons and evil spirits. I believe in spiritual warfare that can literally exist on our plane of reality. So it is a little harder for me to "shake off" or write off those horror tales as flights of fancy.

I seem to be on a string a borken bits and pieces in my life. Perhaps God is showing me that I've gotten too comfortable with my material things. Or I'm just hitting a bunch of random coincidences. I alluded to it in this entry, but here is a full story.

( broken and fixed )

All in all I came out of the laptop thing relatively unscathed. I have a laptop that works better now than it has in a year and will hopefully last me another two years or so (it was originally purchased in 2004 making it 3 years old, but it has had a new hard drive now, a mother board a year ago, a new power source 18 months ago, a new screen 9 months ago, etc. It's practically been rebuilt).

And best of all, I used the money I didn't spend on a laptop to buy a really fun new digital camera this weekend. Yay! I'm all ready for my seattle trip!

I'm fairly behind on my posting. Well, I'm not obligated to post, so I can't be behind. But there are things I wanted to say. Last week (two weeks ago actually August 16th - 19th), I had that rare thing of all rare things - a vacation. It's been a long busy summer, and while it has been very good, it also has been very stressful. On a "slow" week, I was doing four programs a week. Most weeks it was more than that. Plus the library was just so much busier because of summer reading program and such. It's our busy time, and it is a lot of fun. I love it, but it is fairly easy to reach critical burnout phase. And I was pretty close. I just needed a vacation. So I took myself off to Phoenix.

( read the adventure )
It was a quick visit, but in some ways it was the perfect length. There were a few things I didn't get to do that I wanted to, and not everything went exactly as planned, but it was a very good, low key, and most of all relaxing trip. I didn't need a super jam packed trip full of THINGS TO DO, I needed downtime and that was what I got.

So I'm back in Kansas City and I wonder, could I move back to Phoenix? The answer: probably. But not now, not yet. I'm happy where I am. I want a minimum of another year in my job, and probably more. I love Kansas City, love being near (but not living with) my parents, love my church, love my friends here. Not everything is ideal, but this is a good place for me now. And if I did move, I'm not sure it would be Phoenix. Washington would be nice (and has the benefit of family being there too), or Alaska appeals to my (newly emerging and growing larger by the day) adventerous side, going farther South (Texas or Georgia or Kentucky) also sound nice. However none of that is right now, now I stay in one place for career reasons, to give myself a chance to just be for a year or two. And because if I moved huckleberrycake would track me down and kill me. Plus I just made a two year committment to the Junior League so that ought to keep me in town. But that too is another entry.

The symposium in San Jose, California is over, I'll be heading to the airport soon. It was just a few days, but it was a very worthwile experience. I learned a lot of fun stuff. There wasn't really a chance to do any touristy things (I toured a beautiful library, but few people count that), but I really did enjoy the little walking around this downtown area in San Jose that I did do. I got to eat seafood twice. As a Kansas girl, whenever I get within striking distance of an ocean, I try to make it a point to have some fresh seafood. Yum, yum.

An odd thing happened to me. I flew from KC to LA and from LA to San Jose. The flights were fine, except that we did some weird bank/turn/altitude shift at one point on the second flight. It wasn't turbulence and no one seemed effected, but it knocked me for a complete loop. My ears buzzed, my head swam, my vision darkened, and I got totally nauseous. I've never been prone to air sickness, car sickness, or any type of motion sickness. In fact, I adore roller coasters and what not. But I really was quite close to passing out and/or throwing up on that flight. After we landed, I was still feeling unsteady. I don't believe the fluid in my inner ear (or whatever, not a doctor) quite settled right because for the rest of day (and to a much lesser extent the next day) whenever I got in an elevator (and I was doing this tour and in a lot of elevators) and we went up and down I would get a wave of vertigo/nausea. That was three parenthetical citations in one sentence, it may be a new personal record. I'm feeling better and it was only really in that shift when we were on elevators, but it was very bizarre. I didn't like it.

I loved the conference and loved hanging out with librarians and learned a ton. It is so rejuvenating and refreshing to have that time with colleagues to be inspired and to remember why I chose to be an underpaid, overworked public servant. I'm heading home now reinvigorated.